Golf

4/25/2024 |  McIlroy ready to return to PGA Tour policy board, and eager to enjoy his first trip to New Orleans (Associated Press (AP)) AVONDALE, La. (AP) — For this week, at least, Rory McIlroy is focused on “fun” during his first visit to New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s lone team event.
McIlroy and teammate Shane Lowry have their restaurant reservations booked in this city renowned for its dining scene. A stroll down Bourbon Street also is on McIlroy’s agenda, so he can “say I’ve been there and I’ve got the T-shirt and then move on. I don’t think I want to spend too much time down there.”

4/25/2024 |  Golftec Opens in Manhattan (SGB UPDATE)

Golftec opened its first NYC facility at 8 East 40th Street near Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, increasing its footprint to 262 locations across the U.S., Canada, China, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and Dubai.

Golftec Manhattan occupies 4,500 square feet and includes six hitting bays with coaching and instruction, club fitting service, practice with Golftec’s training tools, including OptiMotion, Skytrak+ launch monitors, and the Golftec app that records swings, reviews lessons, tracks data, and provides performance insights.

4/24/2024 |  LIV open-minded about moving to 72-hole format, Norman says (Reuters Sports) April 24 (Reuters) - LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman said he is open-minded about the idea of moving to a traditional 72-hole format, though he added that the Saudi-backed circuit would need to evaluate the impact of adding an extra round to its 54-hole, no-cut events.
Former Masters and U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm, who switched to the rebel circuit in December, has said he hoped LIV would move to a 72-hole format as it would help unite the tours.

4/24/2024 |  Report: Golf Equipment Specialty Retail Sales Inch Up in First Quarter (SGB UPDATE) Golf Datatech (GDT) reported that U.S. market sales for on- and off-course specialty golf equipment grew 1.5 percent in March, pushing the first quarter sales growth up 1.4 percent.
The best-performing category was Wedges, up 14.6 percent for March due partly to a wider range of new products, while Shoes had the biggest decline, down 6 for the month.
“Overall golf equipment sales held up in Q1 of 2024, growing by 1.4 percent versus 2023 and still 38 percent above 2019 levels,” offered Golf Datatech Co-Founder John Krzynowek. “Decent weather helped keep the consumable categories up substantially (Balls +8 percent and Gloves +9 percent), while club sales were relatively level except for Wedges, which saw a lot of new products hit the market, driving demand.”

4/23/2024 |  PGA Tour has a team event in New Orleans. LIV Golf returns Down Under (Associated Press (AP)) PGA TOUR
ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS
Site: Avondale, Louisiana.
Course: TPC Louisiana. Yardage: 7,425. Par: 72.
Prize money: $8.9 million. Winner’s share: $1.286 million for each player.
Television: Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS).