Yeah, well, things have changed quickly over the past couple of months.

According to figures from industry research firm Golf Datatech, the numbers from July for the sales of all categories of golf equipment were moving into record-setting territory. In some categories (notably the biggest ticket categories of woods and irons), sales were more than 50 percent higher than what they were last July. Each of the club and ball categories were up more than 25 percent in both units and dollars compared to a year ago. Specifically:

Balls: Up 27 percent in units, 28 percent in dollars
Putters: Up 32 percent in units, 36 percent in dollars
Wedges: Up 64 percent in units, 74 percent in dollars
Woods: Up 74 percent in units, 68 percent in dollars
Irons: Up 83 percent in units, 93 percent in dollars

As calculated by Golf Datatech, iron sales set an all-time high for any month the research firm has tracked in its more than two decades of looking at industry numbers.

What record did it beat? The one set just last month.

But not only were the numbers overwhelming in the big categories, wedges, too, set a new all-time high, the research firm said. Sales for shoes, gloves and bags also were up, the latter 60 percent higher this July than last. For the year, though, equipment sales are still lagging behind last year’s numbers, largely because sales of balls, woods and irons were off by 30-75 percent through much of March, April and May.

The big equipment turnaround seems to tie directly to positive rounds played numbers, which also have been reported to be up in May, June and trending that way in July.

“One element we’re seeing is that the more folks play, the more they think about equipment,” said David Maher, president and CEO of Titleist and FootJoy parent Acushnet, on the company’s recent quarterly earnings call. “So I think that’s been an accelerant to the strong equipment sales we’ve seen over the last couple of months, but fair to say that this participation we’re seeing is coming from all angles. And it only affirms, again, that correlation between rounds of play and the commercial element of the game and the spending component of the game.”

TaylorMade CEO David Abeles was bullish even before the industry started its comeback, telling Golf Digest in June, “This is a great opportunity for our industry and this sport to take two steps forward.” He likes what he’s seeing barely two months later.

“It has been very encouraging to see our industry’s resilience to bounce back so well since golf’s national landscape began reopening in May,” he said in an email to Golf Digest. “With an increase in participation at all skill levels combined with new players entering our game, rounds played growth across the country has been very strong, and subsequently retail numbers continue to advance. At TaylorMade Golf we are doing everything we can to further enhance the energy in our sport and satisfy the strong demand for our products.”

One big part of this equipment purchasing resurgence has been e-commerce. Callaway President and CEO Chip Brewer noted that the company’s e-commerce business is up more than 50 percent year-over-year. Though Acushnet and Callaway reported sales declines through the first half of the year (Acushnet was off 20 percent vs. 2019, while Callaway was down 23 percent), both companies touted big directional shifts forward in the latter part of the second quarter. Brewer also pointed out that while the traditional early part of the buying season equated to nothing in some places, the company’s golf equipment business has “significantly exceeded expectations over the last few months.”

“The surge we have right now, some portion of that is pent-up demand,” he said on the company’s recent second-quarter earnings call. “And some portion of that is the increased interest in the game and the increased participation. The participation and the interest in the game, I can’t help but believe are positive indicators for the long run.”

At the street level, the assessment seems just as positive. The stock price of golf’s largest retailer, Dick’s Sporting Goods, has more than doubled since its low when it closed its physical stores on March 18 at the start of the shutdown. And though the rush of sales has left some custom orders with delays of several weeks or more, it hasn’t slowed buyers’ enthusiasm, says Buddy Christensen, president at Golfdom, the long-time golf superstore based in the Washington, D.C., metro area, and one of the country’s leading independent retailers.

“We had our best July in 10 years last year, and we’re up 40-50 percent over that in some categories this July,” he said. “That has been phenomenal.”

Christensen also said he thinks the forecast looks encouraging, too, with several factors that might extend the trendline.

“We have a ton of open special orders, so those are future sales for us,” he said. “Couple that with football uncertainties, virtual work and school, all the majors we will still be watching and months of potentially ‘the best weather of the year for golf,’ and we are feeling very strong that this will continue. Golf equipment could find itself on more people’s Christmas lists than ever before.”

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By Brian Wacker
Bryson DeChambeau drinks six protein shakes a day. Viktor Hovland prefers a half-dozen Red Bulls, or at least he did on his overnight drive from Colonial Country Club and the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth to Hilton Head Island, S.C., for the RBC Heritage three weeks ago.

The trip spanned 16 hours and covered more than 1,100 miles. Most of it was in the dark.

“I didn’t see a whole lot and I didn’t feel very good,” Hovland said. “So that wasn’t very smart.”

Not that it has deterred him.

With the PGA Tour a month into the resumption of its season after hitting pause because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 23-year-old Norwegian, who won his first tour event in February in the Puerto Rico Open, has kept on driving, from one tour stop to the next. From Oklahoma, to where he lives, to Texas, to South Carolina, to Connecticut, to Michigan, where he is playing in this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit and beyond.

“I was thinking I just want to drive because I like to drive,” Hovland said.

Clearly.

To date, Hovland has covered just over 3,000 miles and done almost all of the roughly 45 hours of driving himself. The only time he didn’t was when he and his caddie, Shay Knight, who has a house in Charleston, S.C., shared wheel duties on the way from Hilton Head Island to Cromwell, Conn., for last week’s Travelers Championship.

While the pandemic wasn’t the reason behind Hovland’s decision to drive, it certainly made it easier, given the flexibility to be on his own schedule, rather than that of the tour’s charter flights from one city to the next. (He’s also not the only player doing it; C.T. Pan is as well after buying an RV.)

“Even though I have to get in the car and drive 15 hours, it’s still a lot more convenient because I can go whenever I want to go and I can also pack more stuff in the car,” Hovland said. “It’s just a little bit more freedom in that way.”

How does one pass all that time with nothing but open road and an endless stream of thoughts?

Podcasts help, specifically Joe Rogan’s as well as Making Sense with Sam Harris. So does some heavy metal when a little more energy is needed.

All that driving also doesn’t seem to have affected Hovland’s play much if at all.

In his first three starts back, he has finished T-23, T-21 and T-11. It hasn’t hurt, either, that he has a sweet ride—a Lexus RC F, a plush, luxury sports coupe that boasts 472 horsepower and does 0-60 in 3.96 seconds—to make the ride a little more comfortable and go by a tad faster.

Hovland says he’ll continue to drive, too, to next week’s Workday Charity Open and the following week’s Memorial tournament, both at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio. Why wouldn’t he? It’s a measly 200 miles and three hours south of the Motor City.

After that, however, he’ll head home to Oklahoma—another 881 miles and 13 1/2 hours, for those keeping score—and said that he’s likely to fly the remaining few weeks of the season. With the PGA Championship being played at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, that’s probably a wise move.

But perhaps the most amazing part of the journey? That he hasn’t gotten a single speeding ticket.

Said Hovland: “Not yet.”

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By Golf Digest Middle East
We are all slowly coming to grips with the new norm that is life after lockdown. Some things don’t change, of course, like the fact it’s as easy as ever to hit that drive you always seem to hit into trouble into the same troublesome spot as before. Or to fluff that seemingly simple wedge into the green. Three putting away a certain par? Yup, that still happens too. And yes, stroke index 1 at your favourite course is still as tough as it ever was, perhaps even more so now after such a prolonged period away from the some of the world’s finest fairways.

Like us, we suspect you’re just thankful for the chance to try and right these typical golfing wrongs with courses slowly re-opening across the Middle East. Sadly, some things remain trickier than others in our new reality, like getting your hands on the region’s No.1 source of golf inspiration. Fear not… Golf Digest Middle East has a solution for that too.

Simply fill out the form below and the May edition of Golf Digest Middle East will be whisked to your home address or office (in the UAE) free of charge. The free delivery is our little thank you to those of you who have remained loyal to the Middle East’s leading golf title in these extraordinary times. The exciting news is you’ll find tips inside on how to split the fairway, pure that wedge and hole the first putt…not the third one. There’s also oodles of fascinating reading besides including our cover story on European Tour star Tommy Fleetwood and an in-depth look at the Middle East’s favourite holes. Chances are, stroke index 1 at your club is featured.

So what are you waiting for? Fill in the form below and the May issue of Golf Digest Middle East will be with you shortly.

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By Joel Beall
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are reviving “The Match.”

A sequel to the 2018 Thanksgiving pay-per-view event, hinted at by Mickelson on Twitter in March, was officially announced on Wednesday by Turner Sports. Woods and Mickelson will be joined by NFL greats Tom Brady and Peyton Manning for the exhibition. The event is titled “The Match: Champions for Charity,” with all donations and fundraising to benefit COVID-19 relief.

According to a Turner Sports press release, the competition will air live on TNT. It is planned for late May, with details on the specific date, venue and charitable causes to be announced in the coming weeks. One of the reported possible venues is Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., a course dozens of PGA Tour players call home, including Woods.

To play in the event, both Woods and Mickelson will need to obtain a release form from the PGA Tour, as it’s a non-sanctioned event. In its statement, Turner said tournament organisers are currently working with state and local government and public health officials on competition and production logistics to ensure the event follows safety and health protocols.

The previous iteration of the Match at Shadow Creek was met with mixed reviews. Fans were locked out of their pay-per-view purchases, and others got to watch it for free. Neither Woods and Mickelson played their best golf, and the ending—a 93-yard chip-off—was viewed as anti-climatic.

However, it offered its share of drama, highlighted by Woods holing out for birdie on the 17th hole, and despite the coverage snafus, managed to capture a massive audience.

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By Alex Myers
With no live golf these days there has been a surge in rewatching old tournaments. It’s how golf fans got through a Masters week with no Masters, and apparently, it’s how some players are passing the time as well.

Take Justin Leonard, who hosted his own private viewing party for Tuesday night’s re-airing of the final day of the 1999 Ryder Cup. If you recall, that event is known for four main things:

1.) Ben Crenshaw looking like a crazy man predicting a Sunday U.S. comeback.
2.) Ben Crenshaw not looking so crazy when the U.S. pulled off the comeback.
3.) Justin Leonard’s 50-foot winning birdie putt to cap said U.S. comeback.
4.) The most hideous golf shirts of all time.

Turns out, Leonard still has his shirt. And to really get into the spirit, he dusted it off and put it on to relive this epic event at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

Ready to go. This shirt smells like sweet victory, which is oddly similar to 20 year-old dried champagne. pic.twitter.com/PCKu5dEWrN

— Justin Leonard (@jlmountainman) April 22, 2020

Very nice. As were Leonard’s 75(!) subsequent tweets, most of which answered fan questions and comments. He even acknowledged Team USA’s weak Champagne spraying efforts.

No joke. It really was pathetic. https://t.co/5oqRDDTZex

— Justin Leonard (@jlmountainman) April 22, 2020

And what the celebratory drinking schedule looked like that night/next morning:

Champagne early, then beer later, then something else, then beer again. https://t.co/2OMKRzQZGW

— Justin Leonard (@jlmountainman) April 22, 2020

As for his legendary putt, Leonard said he would have left the flagstick in under today’s rules. He also noted his opponent, Jose Maria Olazabal, was all class despite Leonard’s—and Team USA’s—premature celebration in what would be a 14.5-13.5 win after trailing 10-6 to start the day.

He has and always will be a perfect gentleman. He has never been anything but nice to me. https://t.co/QVAj5oHenj

— Justin Leonard (@jlmountainman) April 22, 2020

Not surprisingly, the current NBC/Golf Channel commentator isn’t a big fan of a potential Ryder Cup without fans:

The fans are a bigger part of the Ryder Cup than they are at any other event. It would almost be like a neutral site if there are no fans. https://t.co/YptQmz9tOm

— Justin Leonard (@jlmountainman) April 22, 2020

And of course, he had a couple comments about those hideous shirts, one of which was auctioned off for an absurd amount a couple years ago:

It is actually way too big. Amazing how cuts and fabrics have changed. https://t.co/wOqrhIJPTF

— Justin Leonard (@jlmountainman) April 22, 2020

Tough call on that one. https://t.co/S9SwqSZsRo

— Justin Leonard (@jlmountainman) April 22, 2020

Sorry, Justin. Considering Duval “only” won his match 5-and-4, we’re going with the shirt on that one.

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Fox News’ Bret Baier is no different from anyone equally obsessed with the game and with limited options. It’s challenging.

“It’s tough,” Baier said last week. “I’ve been out a couple of times. Maryland is completely shut down. Virginia, while it has shelter in place, they exempted golf courses for some reason. The public tracks are all open, with social distancing. My two boys [Paul, 12, and Daniel, 9] and I went out a couple of times and walked nine holes, so we got some golf fix in there.”

Baier, 49, is maybe the most avid golfer in television news and probably its best player. A resident of the District of Columbia, Baier is member of Congressional and Burning Tree country clubs in Bethesda, Md., both of which are closed. He has a handicap index of 2.1.

He also is a fan of the PGA Tour and all things golf, hence the interview he did with the Dalai Lama that concluded with his asking the questions every golfer and “Caddyshack” fan would have wanted answered: Does the Lama, as Bill Murray’s character called him, play golf and is he a big hitter?

Like so many Americans, Baier is sheltering in place. He conducts his newscasts and other appearances on Fox from a makeshift studio at his home. Just a guess, but he unlikely is the only male news anchor doing his show while wearing a coat, tie, sweat pants and no shoes.

Baier enjoys golf with his sons more than any other golf, notwithstanding his having played in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on several occasions. It began with Paul, who was born with a congenital heart defect and has undergone three open-heart surgeries.

“Golf is special for us,” he said. “During those times in the hospital during his recovery, each day we were one day closer to getting him out of there and fulfilling the dream of walking down the first fairway with him. That got me through it. We’ve walked a lot of first fairways together.”

The pandemic and Paul’s medical history puts him in the high-risk category, so the family has to be careful. “We’re really sensitive about it. My wife Amy is religious about making us wash hands and wipe things down.”

Other than the nine holers with his sons, Baier has been relegated to backyard chipping practice and trick-shot efforts with the boys.

“Paul, he just made the middle school golf team. He was really fired up to start the golf season, then COVID hit,” Baier said. “We have a little backyard here in D.C., with a chip shot area, working on our chipping and keeping ourselves busy and making videos. Paul has a Zoom call with his golf team once a week and they were trying to come up with things they could do to practice. The coach said, ‘why don’t you guys do trick shots and send videos?’ So we started working in backyard with a table, different sized cups and banks and have had hours of fun. On take 30, we got it in in the cup.”

Meanwhile, he exchanges texts with friends he’s made in professional golf, notably Graeme McDowell. “We go back and forth with how he’s doing and his family,” Baier said. “He wants the lowdown from inside Washington, D.C., and I want to get the lowdown on the PGA Tour.”

Baier said he was thrilled about the PGA Tour announcing that it would attempt to restart its season in June, which would enable him to resume his habit of winding down after long work days by watching broadcasts of tournament play earlier in the day.

“I did watch the Masters rewind to 2019 this past weekend,” he said. “I thought they did a spectacular job with Jim Nantz bringing in Tiger and what he was thinking. It is a good thing for me to chill out and watch golf.”

But with that not an option at this time?

“I’ve got a net coming,” he said.

The post How does this high-profile golf junkie get his golf fix these days? Same as anyone else. Not easily appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The $1 million Ladies European Tour event, the first professional women’s golf tournament in the Kingdom, will now be played at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club from October 8-11.

“It gives me great pleasure to confirm that we are working towards a new date of October 8-11 for the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by Public Investment Fund,” Saudi Golf Federation and Golf Saudi Chairman, His Excellency Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan, said in a statement.

“We will, of course, continue to work closely with health authorities both domestically and across the region in the interim but are hopeful that we will be able to bring this momentous occasion to Saudi Arabia in six months’ time.    

 “As we focus upon the necessary precautions, we would like to pay particular thanks to all of our sponsors, partners and players, who have shown unwavering commitment through these unprecedented times and it is due to their support that we are now able to announce a revised date for this landmark occasion.“

The October tournament will be a watershed moment for the country, breaking new ground in Saudi Arabia’s ongoing transformation as part of Vision 2030.

The LET reiterated its commitment to visiting Saudi Arabia following recent developments and echoed Golf Saudi’s calls to ensure the inaugural tournament lives up to its billing.

“…We have been extremely impressed by Golf Saudi’s commitment to working through the challenges and making this historic event happen,” said LET CEO Alexandra Armas.

“We would like to thank all stakeholders for their incredible support, and I am sure that this fantastic new tournament will be one of the major highlights of 2020.”

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The announcement is part of an SEC filing from the company on Monday. Callaway had announced last week that it would be revising its fiscal year earnings guidance, as well as other cost-cutting measures. A story in the San Diego Union-Tribune last week noted that the company was “taking steps to reduce costs and conserve cash.”

The announcement notes that the Callaway CEO “has voluntarily elected to forgo any base salary beginning with the next scheduled pay period.” According to company documents, Brewer’s base salary in 2019 was $900,000, although like many CEOs of publicly traded companies, his total compensation included stock incentives and other elements that went beyond a base salary. In 2019, his total compensation was listed at $5.8 million.

The filing also details that Callaway executive vice president and chief financial officer Brian Lynch, as well as other executive officers, have elected to reduce their base salaries by 20 percent, while other senior management and other employees’ pay was “reduced in graduated amounts.” Also, the company’s board of directors has voluntarily elected to waive its annual cash retainer fees for 2020.

In rescinding its 2020 financial guidance in an SEC form March 25, the company said, “We are proactively taking actions to significantly reduce costs and conserve cash for as long as may be required in light of current conditions. … We believe the company has adequate cash on hand and borrowing capacity under its credit facilities. In addition, the company is taking significant steps to reduce discretionary spending and infrastructure costs on a worldwide basis.

“With this increased liquidity, cost-reduction actions, our geographic diversity and the strength of our brands, we believe we have adequate liquidity to sustain our business through this crisis.”

Brewer joins a list of many corporate CEOs taking pay cuts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Those include leaders at major airlines (Delta, United, Southwest, JetBlue) and hotel companies (Marriott, Wyndham). Also, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced last month that he would be forgoing his salary and several tour executives would be reducing their salaries by 25 percent.

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PGA Tour will continue to hold tournaments, including this week’s Players Championship, but keep spectators away for next three weeks.

By Brian Wacker
Despite the growing COVID-19 pandemic, the Players Championship will continue to be played this week at TPC Sawgrass but will do so without spectators for its final three days of competition, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said on Thursday (U.S. time).

The ban on fans will continue for the next three weeks, through the Valero Texas Open, and be enforced across all of the organisation’s tours, which includes the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Champions.

“PGA Tour events, across all tours, will currently proceed as scheduled, but will do so without fans,” Monahan said in a press conference Thursday afternoon. “It’s important to note, that could change, but for the time being, this decision allows the PGA Tour, our fans and constituents to plan, prepare and respond as events develop.”

Monahan added that tour officials had been in talks with President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the hours since the tour issued an overnight statement that said the opening round of the Players would proceed as scheduled and do so with fans in attendance.

The tour also announced that the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship will be postponed. The event was scheduled for March 26-29 in the Dominican Republic and opposite the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship. That decision was made in light of recently announced travel advisories and potential logistical issues associated with players and staff travelling internationally to the event.

Monahan also said those already in attendance for Thursday’s opening round would be allowed to remain at TPC Sawgrass, but that it would issue refunds or exchanges for anyone not comfortable with attending.

The news came a day after the NBA announced that it was suspending its season amid growing Coronavirus concerns and the NCAA said it would play its men’s and women’s tournament basketball games without fans. More cancellations soon followed with the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, Pac-12 and American Athletic Conference all pulling the plug on their conference tournaments on Thursday shortly before Monahan met with the media.

The tour said that it contemplated cancelling upcoming tournaments but decided that the best decision was to continue playing, adding that the situation remained fluid and was subject to possible change.

“We feel like based on where we are in St. Johns County, we feel that this is a safe environment to move forward with a tournament of 144 players with limited personnel on-site, and we’re comfortable that this is the right path forward,” he said. “But that is something that we’ll continue to consider as we go forward.”

The Masters, meanwhile, scheduled for April 9-12 at Augusta National, is reviewing contingencies for this year’s tournament, multiple sources have told Golf Digest, while the PGA Championship, scheduled for May 14-17 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, remains on track. Reports earlier this week said organisers of the PGA Championship were looking at a potential contingency plan that included the possibility of moving the event to TPC Sawgrass, but for now that does not appear to be the case.

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