When James Corden & Jimmy Fallon deigned to invite Danny Willet onto their prime time American TV chat shows following his astounding Masters victory, they assumed Danny would say 'what time?', 'how high?' etc. But he didn't. He got on a plane and flew home. And this is why...
2020 Ryder Cup Captain elect Padraig Harrington invited GolfPunk to go All Back To His with him where he treated us to a trick shot spectacular, showed us his man cave, took us on at pool & table tennis and let us hoist the Wanamaker Trophy and Claret Jugs!!!!
The Willetts are off to America!! Yes, indeed, following his scintillating Masters win, the world has opened up for the Sheffield lad.
Golfer's Gaffs: And by that we mean their incredible houses that we are insanely jealous of... No1: Hunter Mahan's overblown man cave which we are thinking about buying, converting into GP office space and putting a ferris wheel through the middle of it so we don't have to walk up stairs...
Ouch. Pushing for a playoff, Chris Wood three-putted the final green to finish second by a shot, leaving China's Wu Ashan to take his third European Tour title.
Fancy setting up up your own personal golf club? No 'You can't do this' and 'You can't do that' signs to irritate you? Check out Bradshaw Hill Farm, set within 20 acres of rolling open fields on the outskirts of Bury and Rochdale.
It's the news we have all been waiting for this side of the pond. European Tour golf is to return with the first tournament in a six week 'UK Swing' kicking off with the Betfred British Masters hosted by Lee Westwood, which will take place between 22nd and 25th July – a week earlier than originally scheduled. Dates have also been announced for four Rolex Series events including the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.
Coming to a store, or computer, near you on Friday 21 August is the latest iteration from the folks at 2K, PGA TOUR® 2K21. The game will be available on several platforms and will be the first golf game for some time to feature actual PGA Tour Pros.
The LPGA announced its revised calendar for 2020 on Wednesday with a planned return to play at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in Michigan on 15th July. There will also be more cash available due to increases in the purses for many of the events. Players will compete for an average of nearly $2.7 million per event.
Players such as Rory McIlroy may believe that a Ryder Cup without fans is not a Ryder Cup and so should be postponed but the truth is Europe cannot afford to postpone the event if the knock-on effect is the pushing back of the 2022 match.
A quite mind-boggling act of vandalism took place at Walton Heath at the weekend as thugs on motorbikes delighted in churning up a green one of the courses. This truly unbelievable video footage shows the animals doing doughnuts on the green and then riding off as walkers watched in disbelief.
As the Coronavirus crisis rumbles on golf tours facing an uncertain future. Every week that passes means that both the PGA Tour and European Tour are losing millions in TV and sponsorship revenues. The Americans have a plan for survival but their European counterparts face the perfect storm of challenges that threaten the existence of the European Tour itself.
The European Tour today confirmed the cancellation of the BMW International Open and the Open de France and the postponement of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, a Rolex Series event, due to the continuing threat posed by the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). At the same time, the PGA Tour announced its plans to resume the 2019-20 season with the Charles Schwab Challenge between 11th and 14th June.
As the various tours are losing millions each week in TV and sponsorship income and the Coronavirus trundles on the R&A continues to put out woolly statements about continuing to look at the options. Given the likely time frames for the lifting of social distancing and the issues over international travel, the R&A must postpone.
Golfers on the European Tour have come together to record a message to encourage everyone across the world to follow the World Health Organisation’s guidelines amid the coronavirus outbreak, reinforcing the #STAYATHOME message.
I must say as a lefty I am in awe of these young pros who seem to be able to switch around and bomb the ball, playing left-handed. It is well known that lefty-in-chief Phil Mickelson is very handy playing right-handed, but it seems a couple of the world's best can switch round with ease and bomb it!
PGA TOUR has announced an expansive media rights deal that brings in ESPN with its streaming services alongside incumbent broadcasters CBS and NBC. The deal aims to increase the reach with more video content reaching a broader audience.
As previously reported, the Golf Hall of Fame recently amended the qualification criteria moving the minimum age for both male and females to 45 from 50. So, it was hardly a ‘dropped my bacon sandwich’ moment when we learned that Tiger was on the list of finalists.
GolfPunk favourite Ian Poulter saw red following comments by Paul Azinger at the weekend suggesting the European Tour was a lot easier than the PGA Tour. Poulter took to Twitter and did not hold back on what he thought about what was said by the ex-Ryder Cup captain.
There was plenty of excitement at the last week’s events and plenty of great play. Here is GolfPunk’s pick of the best shots and we use the word ‘best’ in a rather loose way for one of them!
We thought Brooks Koepka had rather put the boot into Patrick Reed with his comments about building sandcastles but ex-CBS golf commentator Peter Kostis went even further this week inferring that Reed was a serial cheat.
Ok as nobody else seems to be doing it, I am going to come out and defend the seemingly indefensible, or at the very worst add a bit of perspective. Hank Hainey made a pretty unwise statement and was clearly mistaken in taking what might be described as ‘locker room humour’ to the airways. But, was he being ‘racist, xenophobic, and sexist’ as stated by the PGA Tour’s lawyers?
It was great to see Graeme McDowell win again on the European Tour but had the tour applied the slow play rules more strictly come Sunday afternoon might it have been a different story? The Northern Irishman was carrying a ‘bad time’ after a transgression during his second round and playing in the final pairing come Sunday he and partner Victor Dubuisson became detached at the back of the field.
We love a good 14 club challenge at GolfPunk. In an all European clash, Spain's Sergio Garcia took on Sweden's Henrik on the 170 yard par three 16th hole at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club ahead of last weeks Saudi International. As always it made for some amusing viewing.
Call us old cynics but are the latest set of changes at the Golf Hall of Fame just a dressed way to get Tiger Woods inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame a few years earlier and boost the quality of the list of possible inductees for the 2021 draft? The rules were only changed some four years ago to move the minimum age from 40 to 50 and now it is being edged back to 45.
A lot of us have old clubs languishing in the garage or in the attic gathering dust. Those of a certain age may also have a modern-day antique - a wood actually made out of wood! But there is a man who has not one but over one thousand woods tucked away in storage and all of them made from what was the holy grail of golf manufacturing materials – persimmon!
It looks like the PGA Tour are moving to close down the debate on the Patrick Reed saga. Rumours have it that Cameron Smith has been admonished by the PGA Tour for his outspoken comments on Patrick Reed's behaviour at the Hero World Challenge.
GolfPunk Hall of Shame inductee Sergio Garcia has been chucking clubs again. This time he has jettisoned all his Callaway clubs and replaced them with a selection of PINGs along with TaylorMade fairway woods. Garcia announced ahead of this week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship that he has ended his two-year relationship with Callaway golf clubs and ball.
No one can ignore the terrible fires ravaging Australia and to help in the relief efforts of those affected by the fires, a number of LPGA players including the Korda sisters, Marina Alex, Australian Sarah Kemp and England’s Charlotte Thomas, have publicised that they will be making a donation.
The European Tour has a real headache on its hands following Iran’s recent threats to "destroy" parts of the United Arab Emirates if there is retaliation after the attacks they launched on Iraq in reprisal for the US killing of Qassem Soleimani.
The gods were smiling on Justin Thomas in Hawaii on Sunday. Two clear, with three to go it looked like he had the Tournament of Champions in the bag. However, two sloppy bogies in his last three holes saw him have to win a play-off against Patrick Reed and defending champion Xander Schauffele.
The FootJoy folk never seem to stand still and the latest iteration is the Tour X which seeks to combine all that was good from previous tried and tested FootJoy models. The new Tour X has been born from the synthesis of 3 Tour-proven models, the DNA, Tour-S and Fury.
2019 is behind of us but it was not a great display by some who let down our great game and so have been inducted into the GolfPunk Hall of Shame. So which five golfers find themselves with the unwanted invite?
Well they’ve had the boxing, Tiger and Rory have declined big pay days to play there and now Saudi has made history by announcing the first-ever professional women’s golf event in the Kingdom. The fully-sanctioned Ladies European Tour event will be staged in collaboration with Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation and carry a purse of $1 million.
GolfPunk send it condolences and prayers to Tom Watson and his family on the sad passing of Hilary Watson just before midnight on Thanksgiving Eve. Hilary, who Tom described as ‘my hero’ had been battling pancreatic cancer for two years.
Hats off to the European tour for coming up with another little classic for us all to have a laugh at. A few years back the tour let Little Billy loose on the players. Billy gave the pros a complete grilling with a series of cheeky questions, the Rory McIlroy one is a classic. Three years on, a documentary crew follow him as he returns to Dubai for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Gareth Bale will trot out on to pitch this evening at the Cardiff City Stadium hoping to help Wales beat Hungary and qualify for next year’s European Championships. Meanwhile back in Spain he is getting a lot of criticism for playing too much golf – as if you could ever play too much golf!
In the final Hero Challenge of the year South African Erik van Rooyen defeated former Masters Champion Danny Willett. You know the Hero Challenge, it’s the one where 6 top pros compete at target golf, hitting to a floating green out in an expanse of water. The closer to the flag you are the more points you score, with the closest ring being 50 points the next 25, well you get the gist.
This coming weekend the LPGA Tour reaches its climax at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida. The winner will pick up a cheque for a cool $1.5 million. Meanwhile, the members of the ladies European Tour are sitting out yet another week. Their last event was the Hero Women’s Indian Open back at the beginning of October.
In a week where there has been much discussion about the Billy Mayfair affair Russell Henly has reminded us all that the vast majority of tour players are honourable golfers. On dishing out signed golf balls to fans after finishing his second round at the Mayakoba Golf Classic Henly realised he had violated the One Ball rule and called an eight shot penalty on himself.
Everyone loves Beef Johnson, what’s not to like? He is a lovely chap and is nice to everyone both on and off the course and boy can he play golf. That’s why it was sad to see Beef’s loss of form and subsequently learn that this great bloke from London was struggling mentally. In this, Men’s Mental Health Month, we really enjoyed watching the video of Beef and Tubes, the Soccer AM presenter, playing a few holes and chatting about mental health and other stuff.
We love a golf challenge at GolfPunk. That’s not to say we are any good at them but the general consensus after watching Niall Horan have a bash at the Pressure Putt Challenge from our friends at American Golf, is that we could have taken him.
Take one tour pro, 500 golf balls and a 165-yard par three hole. The challenge, to make a hole-in-one. The odds of an average golfer making an ace are roughly one in 100,000, while stats suggest a European Tour pro's chances are closer to one in 2,500. Step up Thomas Pieters.
It’s been a while since this fine course has featured a major event and it’s been even longer since GolfPunk played it. If we recall correctly you head south out of Dublin on the M9 and you can’t miss it – well you can as its in middle of nowhere, if we recall.
Stop Press: Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam is set to become the first female professional to compete in the PNC Father Son Challenge. We’ve just picked the Brigadier up off the floor spluttering something about it never happening at West Hill or something. Yes, it is called a father son event but this is 2019 and actually the fairer sex has competed before.
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama will go head to head in a globally televised skins game, the first in a series of annual competitions staged by GOLFTV. "The Challenge: Japan Skins" will take place on the 21st October ahead of the PGA Tour's Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino C.C. in Chiba, Japan, and we will not be watching.
Take one bike, one set of clubs, 14 different Open venues and one complete nutter and you have the ‘The Great British Open Challenge’. London-based PGA professional, Luke Willett, he with a famous golfing namesake, is to pedal his way between all the Open venues playing 18 holes at each and cycling with his clubs on his back!
We love a good 14 club challenge at GolfPunk. We’re not very good at them but watching the pro’s go at it is always a scream, especially when they manage to hit the green with a putter or equally unsuitable club!
It’s probably fair to say that amongst top golfers, elite or amateur, that the Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x ball is the market leader. Titleist also offer a range of more budget friendly options for the lesser mortal and are now replacing the DT TruSoft, their budget distance ball, with the TruFeel which, they claim, is engineered to deliver longer distance and excellent control.
They may have been looking to run up high scores in the Ashes over the summer but yesterday three of England’s heroes were looking to go low at the ProAm event at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club.
With stunning views of the China Sea along with the city skyline Sentosa Golf Club is home of the Singapore Open and more recently has been the venue for the HSBC Women’s World Championship.
The techies at Cleveland believe that the keys to success are control and feel which gives confidence in putting and their new Huntington Beach SOFT range does just that, so that we make more putts, "plain and simple!"
The Tour Championship is looking like it will provide a thrilling finale to the men’s season on Sunday as at the halfway point as Brooks Koepke leads Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas by one stroke, with Xander Schauffele and Paul Casey still very much in contention.
There was lots of concern that the new format of the Tour Championship was going to result in the FedEx Cup leader running away with things and there being a lack of drama at East Lake Golf Club over the last big weekend for the PGA Tour. Well things didn’t really work out like that as Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka all start day two tied on 10 under with Rory just one behind.
Hot on the heels of the success of the ISPS Handa World Invitational Men | Women event in Northern Ireland presented by his Modest! Golf Management outfit Niall Horan has announced he will be teeing it up in the BMW PGA Pro-Am on 18th September at Wentworth. Horan who is a member of the Wentworth Club in Surrey will take to the fairways of his famous home club alongside some of world golf’s biggest names.
The finale of the PGA Tour season is upon us and already we have a leaderboard in the race for that crazy payout of $15 million to the winner. Thirty men, honourable and true, will tee it up at the East Lake Golf Club just outside Atlanta with dollar signs in their eyes. Justin Thomas already leads by two, crazy we know but then again, the whole thing is.
Motocaddy, is upgrading its popular free-to-use GPS app to incorporate potential lifesaving features that indicate the location of on-course defibrillators and provide golfers with CPR instructions to administer to anyone suffering a cardiac arrest when playing golf.
The The European Tour has announced a concrete four-point plan aimed at tackling the issue of slow play in professional golf. The plan will be implemented at the start of the 2020 season and focuses on four key areas: regulation, education, innovation and field sizes.
After exhaustive reseach, including feedback from tour players, their caddies and PGA professionals, Titleist have produced their latest tour bag collection. This is a glimpse of what is to come from Titleist in 2020 and clearly the theme is a sleak jet black look.
The European tour has been pretty creative with its content of late, who can forget the ‘Content Committee’ or Eddie Pepperell’s prank on Matt Wallace. By far our favourite though are the ongoing 14 Club Challenges.
If you are playing partner or opponent is hitting the ball remarkably straight have a quick nosey at what ball he is playing. If you see the name ‘Polara’ then that will explain why and you can show the seaky devil a red card, as the ball is illegal. Having said that it also sounds fun!
Less than 24 hours after the Evian Championship was wrapped up by Jin Young Ko, 49 of the top 50 women in the world hightailed it to Milton Keynes to somehow prepare themselves for the very different test that Woburn Golf Club’s Marquess Course will offer. Or at least most of them would have been preparing had Lexi Thompson not left her passport in her bag!
As we sit and watch the various trials and tribulations of the players at the 148th Open, something pops up and immediately the whole team at GolfPunk are in total agreement, an event which I can assure you is as rare as rocking horse poop. The chance to own a luxury residence at the Hamilton Grand one of the most iconic buildings located virtually on top of the 18th hole of the Old Course at St. Andrews and in time for the 150th Open in 2021. The very definition of lovely stuff!
Lee Westwood backed up a first day 68 with an impressive 67 and is currently tied in 3rd position with Tommy Fleetwood, just one shot off the overnight lead. Based on his recent form this is somewhat unexpected. What has changed you might ask? Well he’s brought Helen Storey, his girlfriend, in as his looper and, despite her not knowing much about golf, it just might provide the fairy tale story for one of the finest golfers never to win a major.
There were a number of rulings made by the R&A officials on day three of the Open but none was more interesting as that for Lee Westwood. And hats off to the 46 year-old Englishman who showed pure class and honesty in dealing with the situation.
Each year the winner of The Open receives the famous claret jug which he must return before the following year’s event. But what is the history behind this iconic trophy?
I have played in a couple of competitions over the last few weeks and twice on the first tee my playing partner has announced they are playing a Titleist Pro VI number 1, no markings, no logos, nothing, just a fresh new pill straight out of the box.
Fantastic news that British Open champion Georgia Hall has been awarded an MBE at the age of 23 in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. “I couldn’t believe it when I got the letter and it’s such an amazing honour and very cool to have that after my name,” the Bournemouth golfer said.
Matt Wallace is riding high, particularly after his strong performance at the USPGA at Bethpage Black. However, his pal and GolfPunk favourite, Eddie Pepperell, decided to bring him down to ground in this hilarious European Tour video.
GolfPunk's resident tipster, Nick Fleming, picked 2nd place Joel Dahmen as an each way bet at Wells Fargo Championship at the weekend and sadly missed out on Jorge Campillo, who down as a winner, faded to finish third as Mikko Korhonen came through to see off France’s Benjamin Hebert at the first play-off hole.
Last night at our team get together we were discussing all things golf and one of the team asked what our Top 5 golf related movies were sparking heated debate until the boss put his foot down and decided what they were and also the order (which was perhaps even more hotly contested as you will see!).
Harpenden’s Joss Gosling implemented a smart irons-only game plan in winning last weekend’s 60th Berkhamsted Trophy in association with Bushnell Golf, at Berkhamsted Golf Club.
Nick Dougherty chills out with a fourball so cool he’ll need an icepick instead of a 9-iron. Fairway fun with Jennifer Aniston, John Travolta and Steve McQueen....
A free and easy-to-enter competition this Saturday, running across all 19 Crown Golf clubs, will help raise funds for a charity nominated by English golfing superstar Georgia Hall.
It's Masters Monday and to celebrate here we bring you the Top 20 Masters Dramas Ever...
The Masters at Augusta is coming up and PUMA Golf has been inspired to launch its Union Camo Collection, a unique take on the ubiquitous camouflage trend that is sweeping the sportswear world.
The 25th anniversary edition of the RMB 20 million Volvo China Open will once again be tri-sanctioned by the China Golf Association and the European and Asian Tours when the tournament is staged at The Genzon Golf Club in Shenzhen from May 2-5.v
We've all had a bad haircut or three over the years, but the pictorial evidence is probably buried deep down in some box of memories only to be opened when suitably drunk. The PGA Tour pros don't have it so lucky...
If you want t really REALLY good laugh, take a look at this brilliant compilaiton of golf fails from the 'cart jumping maniac' to the lake dancing bafoon!
Long-driver and rising social media star James Wiltshire is looking to add further yards to his game after agreeing an ambassadorial role with Callaway, which includes a full club fitting for his new clubs and an apparel contract.
Titleist is continuing its support of dedicated golfers across the UK & Ireland by rolling-out its Loyalty Rewarded promotion once again in 2019.
It's the Players Championship this week at TPC Sawgrass - check out these Top 10 Putts on the infamous 17th hole with shots from Tiger, Bubba and more.
Introducing Belinda Whent, PGA professional and England amateur international. Belinda joins our GolfJunk Editor Daniel Owen in the golf-geekery department and will be bringing us her take on the latest equipment every issue.
We all long to hear success stories of people in various fields. There are top professional golfers who have soared so high and The Golf Punk team sought to learn how they made it to the levels they are at today, and below are the betting stories of the best golf gamblers.
The great players won everything right? Well, not the USPGA they didn't. The USPGA proved elusive for many serial major winners. Here's the Top 7 players never to win the PGA.
Laguna Golf Phuket will become the first golf course to host a PGA TOUR Series-China event outside of mainland China when it hosts the Tour’s third and final Global Qualifying Tournament from March 5-8.
Leading golf club rental agency Clubs to Hire is now offering Titleist products for the first time.
Today Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) announced that Francesco Molinari, the reigning Open Champion and 2018 Race to Dubai winner, has joined its Tour Professional Staff.
When Padraig Harrington took one on the elbow whilst giving an amateur a lesson, he thought his career was over. In very ludicrous fashion. Padraig, you are not alone. Check out these Top 10 bizarre golfer mishaps.
Ahead of the Sultanate’s biggest sporting event, the Oman Open, European Tour player’s Matteo Manassero and Marcel Siem competed head-to-head in a golf challenge with a difference at host venue Al Mouj Golf.
Gleneagles, the world-famous Scottish hotel and sporting estate, is giving all golfers the chance to celebrate its hosting of The Solheim Cup, September 9-15, with the launch of a special four-ball green fee that runs until the end of April, 2019.
Motocaddy, the UK’s leading trolley and cart bag brand, has launched a revolutionary dual-purpose stand bag which has also been designed to fit perfectly onto any Motocaddy trolley.
Across a week at the start of February, 934 American Golf customers took on the Battle of the Brands Driver test and found the Callaway Epic Flash to produce the biggest distance increase, with an average improvement of 8.3 yards.
La Reserva de Sotogrande Invitational, a Ladies European Tour event sponsored by La Reserva de Sotogrande and organized by Deporte & Business that will be played from 16 to 19 May, will mark the first of three visits to Spain for the LET in 2019.
Golf fans visiting this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Fla. will have a special opportunity to immerse themselves in the life and experiences of the tournament’s iconic namesake in the Arnold Palmer Experience, a series of interactive experiences designed to celebrate the life of Mr Palmer.
After hosting Regional Qualifying for The Open Championship and the English Boys’ U16 Open Amateur Stroke Play (McGregor Trophy), during a benchmark year in 2018, Kedleston Park has been named as one of four finalists in the Championship Venue of the Year category of the England Golf Awards 2019.
With the new SX500 growing in popularity among tour players, SkyCaddie’s top mapper is heading to this season’s Staysure Tour venues in Europe to ensure that all course measurements are up to date.
Callaway Staff Professional Phil Mickelson claimed his 44th career win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with the help of Callaway’s revolutionary Triple Track and Epic Flash Technology.
What do you mean it's your first time? Well, let us hold your hand and walk you through the basics...
