2016 golf gift guide: Equipment, clubs and clothes that you must have this fall

With the 2016-17 PGA Tour season about to kick into gear, it’s time for you to stock up so you can get in some cool afternoon rounds as we head towards the winter when you have to put the sticks away for another long offseason.

I have a few items you should check out over the next few months as you enjoy those last few rounds of 2016. Let’s jump right in.

New Era Ryder Cup Beanie

My favorite new addition to an ever-growing collection of headwear. I’m ready for my first U.S. Ryder Cup next week. Now we just need to lower the temperatures by about 35 degrees.

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$25.99 | New Era

Titleist Vokey SM6 Wedges

I have been absolutely loving these wedges this summer. I have a 58-degree, 54-degree and 52-degree wedge and love them all. Could not recommend more highly.

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$169 | Titleist

Johnnie-O Russell 1/4 Button Sweater

This sweater is incredibly versatile. I can tape video segments with it (and I do), or I can go hit balls for a couple of hours (after the weather cools down). A terrific addition to any golfer’s closet.

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$145 | Johnnie-O

EvolveGolf Little Black Box

I’m a big fan of what the folks over at EvolveGolf are doing here. The concept is to take the Netflix monthly subscription model and send you tees and ball markers and other little golf accessory items you need ever four weeks. The upshot is that I don’t have to go to the store and purchase in bulk because I know a new box is coming every month.

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$13/month | EvolveGolf

Enertor Performance Insoles

I use a standing desk in my office most days, so sometimes the last thing I want to do is go to the course and walk around a lot. These insoles help alleviate some of that stress on my feet and back and are incredibly comfortable to boot. Usain Bolt also uses them, which makes me feel more athletic than I actually am.

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$60 | ENERTOR

Source:cbssports.com

Parnevik: Woods is ‘flushing everything’ in practice

As Tiger Woods‘ return to competition draws near, questions continue to surround the current state of his game. According to fellow proJesper Parnevik, Woods has plenty of answers.

Woods has not played since the 2015 Wyndham Championship while he recovered from multiple back procedures. He announced last month that he intends to return to the PGA Tour at next week’s Safeway Open.

Parnevik told Golf Digest in a recent interview that he has played with Woods at Medalist Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla., and that the 14-time major champ seems ready to go.

“By the way, he’s been hitting a lot of balls, and he’s hitting it great,” Parnevik said. “He’s pounding it a mile and flushing everything. On the range at least, his trajectory and ball flight are like the Tiger we knew 15 years ago.”

The field for next week’s event in Napa, Calif., will be finalized on Friday. In his Sept. 7 update, Woods also announced intentions to play in the European Tour’s Turkish Airlines Open Nov. 3-6, as well as the Hero World Challenge in December, which his foundation operates.

“My rehabilitation is to the point where I’m comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do,” Woods wrote. “Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery. My hope is to have my game ready to go.”

Woods will turn 41 in December, but after watching him at Medalist Parnevik believes that Woods may still be able to turn back the clock.

“Comebacks are never a sure thing,” Parnevik said, “but something tells me his might be spectacular.”

 

Source: golfchannel.com

U.S. Wins Ryder Cup Over Europe for First Time in Eight Years

CHASKA, Minn. – After Davis Love III holed the putt that won the 1993 Ryder Cup at the Belfry in England, he was so excited that he forgot to pick his ball out of the cup. He never saw it again.

Love watched Ryan Moore clinch America’s first Ryder Cup victory in eight years on the 18th green at Hazeltine National on Sunday, then saw Moore make the same mistake. Love retrieved the ball, and when he went to Moore for a celebratory hug, the captain handed it to him.

“And then Ryan gave it back to me,” a moved Love said a few hours later at the winners’ press conference.

Moore, the last of Love’s four captain’s selections, didn’t win this Ryder Cup, although his clinching point made it official. Patrick Reed didn’t win it by beating Europe’s biggest hitter, Rory McIlroy. Phil Mickelson didn’t win it with his 10 birdies against Sergio Garcia, and Rickie Fowler didn’t win it by knocking off Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose.

This is a cliché, the most trite of all sports clichés, but America’s 17-11 Ryder Cup victory over Europe was truly a team effort. And it’s maybe been longer than anyone wants to admit since the United States fielded a true team, and that the U.S. had won only won two of the eight previous Ryder Cups was no coincidence.

“I’ve never seen a team come together like a family before,” Love said.

If Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson volunteered to be vice captains and subjugated their egos to be part of this revamped effort, you had to believe it was a step into a new frontier.

It all paid off. This marked the first time since 1975 that all 12 players earned at least one point (and 10 won at least two points) and the first time since ’75 that the Americans swept the opening session. The captain of that team? Arnold Palmer, whose golf bag from that year loomed on the 1st tee as inspiration.

“Arnold was looking over us this week,” Love said.

RELATED: Patrick Reed Taunts Rory McIlroy in Singles Win

As for the finish, after a player who had been picked for the team only a week earlier scored the point that won the Cup, Love said, “If you wrote that in a movie, nobody would probably believe it.”

Moore, 32, was left shaking his head and at a loss for words. “It’s kind of hard to explain,” he said. “I didn’t even know I’d be here a week ago.”

But when teammates and new best friends Reed and J.B Holmes came out to cheer him on at the 15th green, with Moore two down in his match against Lee Westwood, he said he told himself, “I’ve got to try to flip this match around for my team.” He did just that. Not a long hitter by trade, Moore nevertheless reached the par-5 16th hole in two and sank a short eagle putt. Then he evened the match with a birdie at the watery par-3 17th. At 18, he hit the iron shot of his life in close and watched Westwood miss a par attempt. Moore lagged it close, and the match and the Cup were conceded. Pandemonium ensued, although compared to Ryder Cup celebrations past, it was pretty tame.

Moore was mobbed by his teammates—his other newly acquired lifelong best friends—after he shook hands with the classy Westwood.

Photo: Getty ImagesDavis Love III finally got his Ryder Cup win as a captain.

Davis Love III finally got his Ryder Cup win as a captain.

It was the first U.S. victory since Paul Azinger captained the 2008 squad at Valhalla in Louisville and only the second since the Americans rallied improbably at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., in 1999.

Love, the captain in 2012 when the Europeans made a stunning Sunday comeback from a four-point deficit, was chosen by a task force to turn around the Americans’ fortunes. His appointment came after an embarrassing loss in Scotland in 2014 and an even more embarrassing session of blaming, shaming and finger-pointing during the post-Ryder Cup press conference.

“It all started when some dumb-ass opened his mouth two years ago at the press conference,” Mickelson said, making a joke at his own expense since it was he who made clear his dissatisfaction with the team’s direction under captain Tom Watson. The result was a new system modeled after the one used by the Europeans. The vice captains would learn the team system and be groomed to take over, so when the reins were passed on the change would be seamless. Until then, the newly appointed captain would rip everything up and start over every two years with nothing learned, noted or gained from the experience.

But maybe this win was as simple as this: The Americans just played better. They ran the Euros off the field on Friday morning with a 4-0 sweep and led at the end of each session. They out-putted the Europeans, a reversal of form, and even had more fun, possibly a first. The week was capped with a session for the ages.

It began with McIlroy versus Reed, a sort of Ryder Cup Match of the Century (well, the 21st century, anyway). Their duel got emotional and heated early on amid some stellar play. After Reed pulled even at the par-4 5th hole with an eagle, they halved the next three with birdies and exchanged one-upmanship theatrics.

McIlroy made a putt and shushed the crowd, copying Reed’s gesture from Scotland. Reed made a putt and did an exaggerated bow, mocking McIlroy’s bow on Friday after he’d finished a four-ball win with an eagle. McIlroy responded with a monster 50-foot birdie putt at the 8th hole in which he held one hand to an ear and shouted, “I can’t hear you!” to the gallery. Moments later, Reed rolled in a 30-footer for a matching birdie and wagged a finger directly at McIlroy, then began flapping his arms and celebrating.

At that point, McIlroy could only laugh. As Reed came off the green, McIlroy was waiting for him with a fist bump and a smile. They exchanged pats, Reed kept grinning and the Ryder Cup not only enjoyed a moment of sportsmanship when things were heating up a little too much, but also a stretch of remarkable golf—an eagle and seven birdies over a four-hole span.

RELATED: The Full Scoreboard From a Wild Sunday Singles Session

They had to cool off. “We didn’t run out of gas on the back,” a mildly offended Reed replied to a questioner, “we just went back to playing normal golf.”

Reed moved ahead for the first time after McIlroy bogeyed the 12th, went two up with a birdie at 16, gave a hole back with a bogey at the next and birdied the 18th for a 1-up victory, rendering Rory’s closer birdie attempt irrelevant. Reed seemed dazed after his donnybrook match finally ended with the day’s first point for the U.S. “It was hard,” he said. “I watched some of the coverage last night. They were saying Rory hadn’t been down in a match all week. I knew it would be tough. It was a fun and hard-fought match. Having my first team event at home was amazing. To play the way I did this week, I don’t really know what to say.”

The Europeans needed a big early rally to cut into the Americans’ three-point advantage and they responded by winning three of the first five matches, but captain Darren Clarke sent out four rookies in the last six games and all trailed most of the afternoon. So the Americans had a big finish cooking most of the day even if their front end failed, which it didn’t.

Jordan Spieth lost to Henrik Stenson, shaking hands with him in bare feet after Spieth hit into the hazard at the 16th hole and ended up conceding the match. In a match in which neither player had more than a one-up lead, Rickie Fowler edged Rose, who had a tough day with the putter.

It fell to Mickelson to score a criticial halve that helped inch the Americans closer to the magic number of 14½ points. He and Garcia played superbly. Reed-McIlroy may have been the Match of the Century, but this game was better. Neither player had more than a one-up lead. Garcia settled for a halve despite making nine birdies. The last came at the 18th hole, after Mickelson had rolled in a longer attempt of his own. “This was a hard-fought battle today, a lot of emotion,” Mickelson said. “We both played really well. It’s probably a fitting end to have a tie, but I wanted the W there. These guys [U.S. teammates] have played some incredible golf.”

Photo: Getty ImagesPhil Mickelson of the United States celebrates with champagne after winning the Ryder Cup during the closing ceremony of the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Phil Mickelson of the United States celebrates with champagne after winning the Ryder Cup during the closing ceremony of the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Mickelson’s halve got the U.S. to a 13-10 lead.

“It was amazing,” Garcia said of a match that featured 19 birdies. “He played well, he definitely putted very well, and I played extremely well. I was out there to get a point, not half a point. I tried to deliver. I was a little bit short, but I was very proud of the way I played all week.”

When Brandt Snedeker closed out Andy Sullivan at the 17th hole, Moore needed only to halve his match with Westwood to secure the Cup. Moore hit it tight at the tough 18th and earned the full point.

There were tears in the eyes of many Americans. Zach Johnson said he woke up feeling sick on Sunday, but he gutted out a 4-and-3 victory over Matthew Fitzpatrick. “I was so happy for Davis and the vice captains,” Johnson said. “This was a real team victory. This is complete joy. I didn’t feel great this morning, but I had a peace. I just played. I hope this is just the beginning.”

At the closing press conference, the giddy U.S. contingent seemed like a team. They joked, they tossed champagne corks at each other when no one was looking—Rickie, you know you did. They sometimes answered questions that were directed at their teammates.

Tiger Woods was asked if this experience as vice captain made him want to be a future Ryder Cup captain.

“A vice captain?” Woods asked with a big grin. “Yeah.”

The journalist repeated the question, emphasizing “captain.”

Woods smiled again. “Yeah,” he repeated. “A vice captain.”

Woods gave a serious explanation, saying how much more complicated his role was than he thought it would be and how much work he watched Love put into his job. “I like playing,” Woods said.

The next U.S. team won’t have the pressure that this one had, though as they prepare for the 2018 event in Paris, the Americans will most certainly be reminded that they haven’t won on foreign soil since Love holed that putt at the Belfry 23 years ago. “Well, the thing is that we need to build on this,” Mickelson said. “Otherwise, it’s all for naught. We created a very solid foundation. For us to go to Europe and try to win the Cup in two years will be a whole different feat that’s going to require a whole different level of play, of solidarity, of fortitude. It’s great that we had success this week, but it’s about a multitude of success for decades to come.”

A champagne cork popped loudly, interrupting Phil. Love was the guilty party. “That’s my cue to shut up,” Phil said with a chuckle.

The members of the U.S. team at long last had something to laugh about. Make that Team with a capital T.

 

Source: Golf.com

Golf will miss the King

We lost a wonderful human being with the passing of Mr. Palmer. He meant a tremendous amount to the golf community and the game is where it is today largely in part to Mr. Palmer. He has done so much for our community through his endless charity and giving. Mr. Palmer is a person everyone should look up to for how he lived his life. His constant smile and thumbs up will be missed by so many. While it is sad that Mr. Palmer has passed, I think we can all take joy in seeing the many pictures and stories everyone is sharing throughout social media today. This proves just how much he has meant to all of us!  We will Miss the King.

https://youtu.be/Ptj2JUP0_Fg

Source: teesnap.com

Northern Michigan Accolades

Those of us living in Northern Michigan know what an amazing place we are fortunate to live in. We feel a deep connection to the area and don’t always need to hear how great it really is. Check out what others are saying about Traverse City and surrounding areas.

Blog for Lifestyle & Travel (September 2016) named Torch Lake one of the Top 10 Clearest Lakes in the U.S. You Have to See to Believe

Blog for Lifestyle & Travel (September 2016) named Torch Lake one of the Top 10 Clearest Lakes in the U.S. You Have to See to Believe

25 Coolest Midwest Lake Vacation Spots (August 2016) – Midwest Living

America’s Favorite Beach Towns (August 2016) – Travel & Leisure

Best American Vacations for Beer Lovers (July 2016) – Thrillist 

Best American Beach Towns for July 4th (June 2016) – Coastal Living

Best Small Town in America (June 2016) – Livability

Runner Friendly Community (May 2016) – Road Runners Club of America

Thrillist (May 2016) – 25 Best Small US Cities to Spend the Weekend

Forbes Magazine (April 2016) – Top 25 Places to Retire in 2016

Midwest Living Magazine (March 2016) – Midwest Living Greatest Town

Newsmax.com (January 2016) – America’s Best Small Towns

Condé Nast Traveler (January 2016) – “The Most Beautiful Towns in America

Hughesnet.com (February 2016) – “9 Most Romantic Cities

USA Today (September 2015) – ” Best Scenic Autumn Drive

CNN Money (September 2015) – America’s Best Beer Towns

Huffington Post (July 2015) – “11 Of America’s Best Small Towns, Perfect For A Long Weekend Trip

Pure Wow.com (July 2015) – “The 12 Cutest Small Towns in America

Zagat (July 2015) – “6 Hot U.S. Food Destinations to Visit This Summer

Coastal Living (July 2015) – “10 Best American Beach Towns for Fourth of July

Matador Network (June 2015) – “20 Coolest Beach Towns in America

House Beautiful (June 2015) – “50 Most Beautiful Small Towns in America

Successful Meetings (June 2015) – “Top US Cities for Summer Hotel Stays” 

Livability (June 2015) – “Top 100 Best Small Towns

Lonely Planet (June 2015) – “Best Places to Travel in September 2015

Country Living (May 2015) – “20 of the Most Charming Beach Towns Across America

Thrillist (May 2015) – 14 Best Beach Towns in America

Smithsonian Magazine (April 2015) – “20 Best Small Towns

Condé Nast Traveler (April 2015) – “Up-and-Coming Food City

Horizon Travel Magazine (February 2015) – Must See American Cities” 

Golf Digest Magazine (February 2015) “Best in State” golf courses including Lochen Heath Golf Club and Grand Traverse Resort & Spa (The Bear)

Livability.com (July 2014) listed Traverse City as a Top 10 Small Town as well as a listing in June 2014 as one of America’s Top 10 Foodie Towns

Coastal Living (May 2014) named Traverse City, Empire and Suttons Bay “Michigan’s Three Best Beach Towns

Family Fun Magazine (April 2014) listed Sleeping Bear Dunes as one of the Top 10 National Parks for Families

Travel + Leisure Magazine (April 2014) listed the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail as one of America’s Most Scenic Waterside Drives

Travel + Leisure Magazine (February 2014) listed Traverse City one of “America’s 20 Most Romantic Towns

Redbook Magazine (January 2014) listed Traverse City among its “Best Travel Finds for 2014

Lonely Planet (December 2013) named Grand Rapids, Traverse City and Michigan’s ‘Gold Coast’ as the “Top US Travel Destination for 2014

Travel + Leisure Magazine (October 2013) named Traverse City one of  “America’s Favorite Towns” (#12 out of 20)

Fodor’s (March 2013) named Traverse City one of the “10 Best Small Towns in America

The Travel Channel (July 2012) ranked Traverse City among the “Top 7 Beer Destinations in North America

Draft Magazine named Traverse City one of its 3 “Emerging Beer Towns” for 201

Good Morning America viewers voted the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as “The Most Beautiful Place in America” (Aug. 2011)

Bon Appetit named Traverse City one of America’s five top foodie towns (Sept. 2010)

Preserving golf history is something the Golf Collectors’ Society takes seriously. Very seriously

After joining the Golf Collectors’ Society in the last year, I attended its annual meeting earlier this week in the Poconos. There I encountered a collection of golf lovers that thrives on the very idea of being in “way back” mode as it seeks to preserve golf’s past—even as the sport speeds forward. And I also made my first venture into hickory golf.

The GCS has been around since 1970, begun by collectibles icon Joseph Murdoch and Robert Kuntz. From the beginning, the GCS’s goal was to have its members bond in the common pursuit of the collection and preservation of golf’s treasured artifacts, which would ensure the game’s history would not be lost and forgotten. In time, the GCS was the place to turn to for research and understanding about the way golf life used to be. It’s a multinational group whose membership was in the 2,000s at one point but now stands at 860 and is suffering from the Internet cutting in on its grip of being the authority on all things vintage. How to grow the membership was a big discussion topic at the gathering. 

I may be a GCS newbie, but I’m in my fourth decade as a golf journalist so I couldn’t turn off my reporting mind as the four-day meeting began. I found that my first-hand experience with the society met my expectations about the group. The members skew on the senior side with the financial wherewithal to collect iconic items, focusing on old and rare as the best purchase.

At the PBA Galleries-run auction last Sunday, by my unofficial statistics, 134 lots were sold to the roughly 50 members onsite and numerous others connected electronically for $66,535, not counting the buyer’s premium. But the members weren’t going to have market prices dictated to them and didn’t even offer a bid on 67 of the 201 lots offered up, plus, 102 items went at prices lower than the estimates. Only 20 were bought at prices within the estimate.

Some of the antique clubs up for auction at the Golf Collectors’ Society annual meeting.

The typical GCS member is not withdrawn or timid. Members are engaged about the game, love it to the point of excess, even to having a collection of 179 Bulls Eye putters, as William Fry of Reading, Pa., has. You may ask “why” but you can’t help but admire the devotion to golf history. Many members pick a specialty area they focus on, whether it is equipment or ephemera, as is the case with Phil Kostolnik of Minnesota, who was a go-to guy for me in asking questions about the auction. Members were approachable, first-timers were recognized, and vintage members recognized, as with member Gene Boldon, a former Tuskegee airman, who was given the GCS Founders Award in an emotional speech. Members from Canada and China attended, and next year’s event at golf mecca Pinehurst should be an even bigger draw. 

Ultimately, I didn’t join the GCS to report on members’ buying habits or necessarily be a “player” in the artifact field; I wanted to experience the historical appreciation the group possesses. And I felt that the most where it really matters: with vintage hickory on the golf course. Adorned in plaid shorts (I left my plus-fours at home), equipped with eight wooden-shafted clubs loaned out by Bill Reed of Des Moines and vintage balls by event organizer Greg Shayka of the Metropolitan Hickory Society, I headed over Monday to the Donald Ross-designed East Course at Pocono Manor with more than a wee bit of consternation. I was already having a bad golf year with modern clubs, so hickory was playing with my mind as I tried my first iron on the driving range.

However, I found myself focusing on the feel of the club more than I had all year, and spurred on by the contagious hickory love of playing compadres Jason Ross, Ari Flaisher and David Reh—the Philly Phanatics of hickory golf—I settled into the round as best I could. Some early 8s hurt the scorecard more than my mind, but I parred my sixth hole, felt myself slowing my swing down and swinging with less stress, especially feeling it with the Brassie off the tee. I was hitting the niblick better than my regular short clubs. I played my last 10 holes three over par, with a birdie. Later that night at the banquet, which featured former amateur star and Philly native Jay Sigel, I was mildly shocked and plenty amused to be called up to get a third-place medal in the Open Hickory event, but saw that some things hadn’t changed for me, hickory or steel: I’d won my medal in the net competition.

Source:Golf Digest

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/preserving-golf-history-is-something-the-golf-collectors-society-takes-seriously-very-seriously

Watson favored to land last Ryder Cup spot

Bubba Watson is favored to land the fourth and final captain’s pick from U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III – at least, in the mind of a few offshore betting markets.

Shortly after Love added Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar and J.B. Holmes to the American squad, odds were created to gauge who will get the last selection after next week’s Tour Championship. Skybet, which is based in the U.K., listed Watson as a -250 favorite, meaning bettors have to put up $250 for every $100 they hope to win if he is chosen.

The odds on Watson are understandably short considering he is ranked No. 7 in the world and finished ninth in the automatic qualification race, with the top eight players securing tickets to Hazeltine. But Watson hasn’t cracked the top 10 in a PGA Tour event since Doral, and he was a notable omission when Love announced his first three picks Monday.

Daniel Berger is next in line behind Watson at 7/2, while fellow sophomore Justin Thomas is listed at 5/1. Jim Furyk is listed at 12/1 despite having been eliminated from the playoffs two weeks ago, while Ryan Moore is alongside Furyk at 12/1 and Kevin Na sits at 16/1. Tiger Woods, who Kuchar hinted was in the mix for the final spot, has 50/1 odds to switch from assistant to participant.

Sportingbet.com, which like Skybet is a British outlet, opened with similar odds: Watson at -200, followed by Berger at 10/3 and Thomas at 6/1. They list Furyk (12/1) ahead of Moore (16/1), with Gary Woodland at 33/1, Na at 40/1 and Woods well down the list at 200/1.

Love’s final pick will be announced during Sunday Night Football on NBC Sept. 25, with the Ryder Cup beginning Sept. 30 in Chaska, Minn.

Via: http://www.golfchannel.com

Connecticut man on pace to crush Guinness World Record for most rounds of golf played in one year

Meet Barry Gibbons, a man who will play more rounds of golf this year than many golfers will play in their lifetime. That’s not an exaggeration. By the end of 2016, the Ridgefield, Conn., resident hopes to play 850 rounds of golf. That’s right, eight HUNDRED and fifty rounds of golf.

We know what you’re thinking: This guy has to be retired. Yep. This guy has to be single. Nope.

Gibbons’ wife, Joy, has supported her golf-fiend husband in his attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most rounds of golf played in a year. In fact, she’s played many of the rounds with him and even started a website, breakthegolfrecord.com, to track Barry’s progress. At the time of this post, he’s completed 572 rounds. By the time you finish reading, he’ll probably have gotten another 18 (or two) in.

RELATED: 15 wacky golf Guinness World Records

The record is a measly 611 rounds, set in 2010 by Richard Lewis, a retired Texas insurance executive. Gibbons also began his quest in Texas, where he owns a second home. He played nearly three rounds per day for the first few months of the year, and returned to Conn. in June with 350 under his belt. There, his pace has slowed down (public golf in the Northeast isn’t fast) while playing two rounds per day at Ridgefield Golf Club, which is located a convenient three minutes from his house.

“‘Are you the guy?’ they ask me,” Gibbons told The Ridgefield Press. “Then they usually follow it up with, ‘are you the crazy guy?'”

Gibbons walks and carries his bag, a requirement to break the official record. So far in 2016 he’s walked 4,220 miles, another stat his website tracks.

“The golf isn’t the hard part, it’s the walking,” said Gibbons, who worked at IBM for 30 years before recently retiring. “My biggest expense is golf shoes — I’ve used 11 pairs.”

Keep it up, Barry, you’re almost there.

Source: www.golfdigest.com

Tiger Woods Announces Return to Golf, Targets Three Tournaments

Tiger Woods’s intended return to competitive golf is a mystery no more.

Woods announced on his website Wednesday he plans to play the Safeway Open (Oct. 13-16), the Turkish Airlines Open (Nov. 3-6) and the Hero World Challenge (Dec. 1-4). The announcement also included a note about Woods taking part in the Tiger Woods Invitational, scheduled for Oct. 10-11.

“My rehabilitation is to the point where I’m comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do,” Woods said. “Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery. My hope is to have my game ready to go.”

Woods is returning from multiple back surgeries and did not compete on the PGA Tour during the 2015-16 season. His last event was the Wyndham Championship in August 2015, where he finished tied for 10th.

Woods underwent back surgery in September 2015 for the second time that year. The 14-time major winner originally targeted early 2016 as a return date, but a follow-up procedure to “relieve discomfort” came at the end of October.

This year was the first since 1994 that Woods missed all four major championships, as he said his return would come when rehab reached a point where he was comfortable.

“It was difficult missing tournaments that are important to me,” Woods said. “But this time I was smart about my recovery and didn’t rush it.”

The Safeway Open will take place in Napa, California; the Turkish Airlines Open (which Woods played in 2013) in Antalya, Turkey; and the Hero World Challenge (which is run by the Tiger Woods Foundation) in Albany, Bahamas.

Source: www.Golf.com