“Because I have two children I can’t say, that’s it, and think of suicide, or whatever. That was never an option for me… I had to go forward. I was 34 and it’s too young to die.”

Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, who has enjoyed a string of victories and high finishes worldwide in recent months, renewed his equipment contract with PING, the company announced today. Terms of the agreement were not released.

“You could hardly turn on a golf telecast over the past year-and-a-half and not see Tyrrell among the leaders, and on a few occasions, he’s been holding the trophy at the end,” said John K. Solheim, PING President.

“Tyrrell has won six times since 2016 and has climbed to 9th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He’s brought the success he achieved on the European Tour over to the states, where in March he earned his first PGA Tour victory on a big stage at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

“We appreciate his competitiveness and determination, and we’re proud to be associated with a truly international player who can compete with anyone, anywhere. His record of consistency proves that.”

In addition to his PGA Tour win, Hatton has five European Tour victories, most recently in October at that tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, where he gave the G425 driver its first title on its professional debut. The 29-year-old has had four top-10s at majors and was a member of the victorious Team Europe at the 2018 Ryder Cup. He is pleased to be continuing his years-long affiliation with PING.

“There’s a comfort level with the people at PING and with their clubs tee to green that gives me a lot reassurance and confidence that I’m always in a good position to play my best golf,” Hatton said.

“I have enjoyed working with PING for a number of years now, and the team know exactly what I need to compete at the highest level. I’m excited for the future knowing that I will continue to have PING as part of my team”.

The Confederation of Professional Golf [CPG] has today announced a three-year partnership with Golf Genius to provide its market-leading tournament management software (TMS) and activate new, shorter formats of golf.

As Official Tournament Software partner, Golf Genius will help the CPG elevate its schedule of events and communicate directly with its Member Country PGAs and their individual Members for tournament management support.

Craig Higgs, Managing Director of Golf Genius International, commented: “We look forward to establishing a strong relationship with the Confederation of Professional Golf in what represents a very exciting partnership for Golf Genius.

“We’ll be looking to take their events to the next level and demonstrate to each and every CPG Member Country how they can improve their tournaments with our event management solution, which is trusted by organisations such as the PGA of America, England Golf and the USGA.”

In response to the global coronavirus pandemic, Golf Genius has further developed its digital solutions, providing tournament organisers with more options to run safe, contactless events, as used by the European Tour from the restart of the 2020 season.

The Golf Genius digital scorecard, advanced leaderboard presentation, prize fund management, and complete set of registration and communication tools facilitate professional, efficient events with easy set-up and admin.

Golf Genius’ flexible scoring solution will enable ­the CPG to activate leagues across a collection of competitive, shortened and more inclusive formats of golf.

Commenting on the new partnership, Ian Randell, Chief Executive of the CPG, said: “Golf Genius have really established themselves as leaders in the area of tournament management software over the last few years and in partnering with them, we look forward to continuing to build our own tournament offering and facilitate a shared calendar of tournaments and education activity, made up of our activities and those of our Member Countries.

“We will also work with them to develop software solutions for game development, both on and off course, and as such this relationship will also help further our commitment to develop the game more broadly, enabling its benefit to be wider-felt by golfers across all nationalities, levels and abilities.”

Among those who have already become customers of Golf Genius are the PGAs of Belgium, Holland and Portugal, who have been using the renowned tournament scoring solution to run enhanced events.

Frank Kirsten, CPG Chairman and Director of the PGA of Holland, added: “By embarking on our own relationship with Golf Genius, we will be able to provide a significantly enhanced tournament service to our PGA of Holland Members in 2021.

“This newly-announced partnership between the CPG and Golf Genius is fantastic news for other CPG Member Countries and their members as well, and will enable them the opportunity to further their own tournament golf offerings in their respective countries.”

To mark the start of the partnership, Golf Genius is extending a free demo offer to all CPG Member Countries to experience the cloud-based, live scoring software first-hand. For more details, contact CPG Communications & Event Manager, Tom Bentley [tb@cpg.golf].

Steven has been a full time golf coach for 17 years and recently became the youngest ever recipient of the coveted PGA Master Professional title. He has a Master’s Degree (MSc) in sports coaching and is currently working towards a Doctorate in Elite Performance at The University of Central Lancashire.

Steven has coached European tour players, ladies European tour players, the 2018 Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup side and was voted England Golf Coach of the year in 2015. He also has a strong track record in elite junior coaching, having coached several juniors all the way from junior golf through to National level. As a speaker, Steven has delivered sessions at conferences in multiple countries worldwide including Argentina, Holland, Denmark, Italy, China, Bulgaria and Spain.

This podcast is aimed at all professional golfers and assistants with a particular interest in coaching wedge play and more broadly the short game to golfers. By the end of this sessions, listeners will:

– Have a greater understanding of coaching the short game to golfers of all levels.

– Be able to examine different perspectives of elite level player’s pitching techniques, including the key ball, club and movement characteristics within their short games

The CPG Podcast brings the latest features, news and in-depth interviews from the world of professional golf, PGAs and PGA Professionals.

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The PGA of Canada’s Tee Talks Live has been a tremendous hit since its creation in 2017, and in 2021 the show will go on — with a twist.

Tee Talks Live will shift to a Digital Series and will commence on January 19^th  at 2 p.m. EST and will continue on ensuing Tuesdays at that same time through February 16. Free to all PGA of Canada members, and open to non-members at a cost ($25 per session or $100 for all five sessions), this year’s series will celebrate the leadership PGA professionals showed during a very challenging, yet ultimately safe and successful, 2020 season.

While acknowledging the success the golf industry saw in 2020, Tee Talks Live – Digital Series will zero in on the theme of “Resiliency” with a focus on the importance PGA of Canada professionals have in retaining the large influx of participants the game welcomed during COVID-19. PGA of Canada professionals are at the forefront of building customer journeys and experiences beyond the pandemic that will lead golf to the forefront of consumers minds in a post-pandemic world.

Hosted by TSN personalities Natasha Staniszewski and Mark Roe, the full lineup of 2021 Tee Talks Live – Digital Series speakers is as follows:

David Amber, Studio Host, Hockey Night In Canada
Henry Burris, Two-time Grey Cup MVP
Damon Hack, Co-Host, Golf Channel’s Golf Today
John Boccuzzi, Managing Partner, Boccuzzi LLC
Anna Dolce, Hospitality Expert
Dana Garmany, Executive Chairman at Troon
Tony Chapman, Branding Expert, Media Personality & Podcaster
Nancy Rademaker, Digitisation and Customer Behaviour Expert

These sessions are open and available to PGA Professionals of CPG Member Countries. For more information and to register, click HERE

Together with CPG Member Country, the PGA of Canada, Golf Canada is excited to announce the nine individuals named as inaugural participants in the 2021 Women in Coaching program.

Despite best efforts from both the CPG and the organisers from Education City Golf Club to continue with the announced March 2021 dates, it was deemed that the situation surrounding COVID-19 and the resultant travel restrictions that this has created was untenable.

CPG Communications and Event Manager, Tom Bentley, commented: “Whilst we are disappointed that we cannot stage the event in March, this decision will allow the event to continue later in 2021 and maintain its international feel at a time that is safe to do so. This will provide teams with greater certainty to travel and enjoy the amazing hospitality provided during the event week.

“We are working hard to reschedule any postponed events to the second half of 2021, and will release an announcement once these dates, along with others are confirmed for all our planned events.”

All questions regarding the Qatar Pro-Am and other CPG Championships and sanctioned events should be forwarded to Tom Bentley at tb@cpg.golf.

REGISTER INTEREST FOR 2021 QATAR PRO-AM

“We’re very excited to bring PING’s next generation of score-lowering custom fit, custom built equipment to golfers,” said PING President John K. Solheim. “Our engineering teams have made significant performance improvements in the G425 family which we are confident will appeal to long-time, loyal PING players while attracting other golfers looking to play better and enjoy the game more, including those brand new to the game. As is our engineering philosophy, we don’t introduce a new product unless it’s measurably better than its predecessor. The G425 family exceeds that standard in both performance and appearance.”

“The Tour response to the G425 driver has been exceptional,” Solheim added. “It started with a win its first week on the European Tour in the hands of Tyrrell Hatton at the BMW PGA Championship and has continued with wins around the world ever since. Viktor Hovland claimed the Mayakoba Golf Classic in early December with the G425 LST and one week later the U.S. Women’s Open Champion also relied on the new driver. In all, the G425 driver already has six wins to its name, helping earn titles on all the major tours around the world. The players are instantly attracted to the clean, premium look of the clubs and even more impressed with the performance.”

MOI to the MAX

In the G425 driver series, the primary model is named Max as it elevates the moment of inertia (MOI) to PING’s highest level in history and provide golfers the most forgiving driver in golf. Joining the G425 Max are the LST (Low Spin Technology) and SFT (Straight Flight Technology) to best match a golfer’s swing and launch conditions.

To achieve the new performance levels in the G425 Max (9º, 10.5º, 12º lofts), PING engineers combined key technologies from the G400 Max and G410 Plus. The resulting increase in MOI in the 460cc head comes mainly from a 26-gram tungsten movable weight, which is made possible by weight savings attributed to advancements in the driver’s dragonfly crown technology. The weight can be positioned at distinctive settings over a smaller area than G410 Plus/LST to help shift the center of gravity lower and farther back without sacrificing performance elsewhere in the design. The CG-shifting weight can be secured in one of three settings — neutral, draw or fade — to influence forgiveness and shot shape for maximum performance. The average MOI increase is 14% across the three weight positions compared to the G410 Plus, with three combinations of weight position and loft exceeding a combined MOI of 10,000 (gm-cm²).

The LST model (9º, 10.5º lofts) is designed with a pear-shaped head and measures 445cc to deliver spin reductions of approximately 200 rpm compared to the G410 LST and 500-700 rpm versus the G425 Max. The smaller head size of the LST employs a 17-gram CG shifter with three settings (Draw, Neutral, Fade) to fit the launch conditions best suited to the golfer’s swing and desired ball flight.

For golfers who commonly miss their tee shots to the right, the 460cc SFT version (10.5º loft) is engineered with draw bias to help bring shots back on-line and into the fairway. It features a fixed 23-gram tungsten back weight that shifts the CG closer to the heel to promote a right-to-left shot bend of approximately 25 yards compared to the G425 Max model. A lighter swingweight (D1) also helps influence the ball flight correction.

To help contribute to increases in swing speed and ball speed, all three models share proven PING driver innovations, including turbulators for reduced aerodynamic drag and the proprietary T9S+ forged face to accelerate face flexing for more distance. An internal rib structure in the Ti-8-1-1 body improves acoustics for a solid and pleasing sound.  Each model also features the lightweight, 8-position hosel for loft (+-1.5º) and lie (up to 3º flatter) adjustments to further dial in ball flight.

RRP £450 / €499

Big Advancements Mean Big Distance.

In the G425 fairway woods and hybrids, two shared PING innovations known as Facewrap Technology and Spinsistency combine to deliver more distance and spin predictability while offering numerous options to ensure proper gapping throughout a golfer’s bag.

With the Facewrap design, a thin, high-strength maraging steel face extends into the crown and sole to provide increased flexing for faster ball speeds that result in greater distance and high launching shots.

To bring more consistent spin performance, the faces of the fairway woods and hybrids are engineered with a complex face curvature that modifies the roll profile, mainly low on the face where the loft decreases approximately 2.5º to normalize spin and increase ball speed for more distance. Both player and PING Man robot testing revealed greatly improved distance results from Spinsistency, specifically low on the face, the most common miss-hit for fairway woods and hybrids.

A tungsten sole weight strategically positioned in each club increases the MOI in the stainless steel heads for added forgiveness. On the crown, a new 3-dot alignment feature provides golfers a visual cue to address the ball to best match their eye.

The fairway woods are offered in Max 3W (14.5º), 5W (17.5º) 7W (20.5º), 9W (23.5º), LST (Low Spin) 3W (14.5º) and SFT (Straight Flight) 3W (16º), 5W (19º) and 7W (22)º options. The hybrids are available in 2 (17º), 3 (19º), 4 (22º), 5 (26º), 6 (30º) and 7 (34º).

Both the fairway woods and hybrids are engineered with the lightweight, 8-position hosel for loft (+-1.5º) and lie (up to 3º flatter) adjustments to further dial in ball flight.

RRP £299 / €349  Fairway

RRP £249 / €289  Hybrid 

More Distance. More Forgiveness.

In a departure from recent iron models, PING’s experts re-engineered the face of the G425 iron by employing a metal-wood-style, variable face thickness (VFT) design. This greatly increases flexing for measurable ball speed gains that launch shots higher and farther with the stopping power to hold greens – a rare result with most of today’s distance-minded irons.

In the process of creating the new face design, they developed a more compact head that sets a new standard for forgiveness for an iron its size. While shorter heel-to-toe than the G410 model, it boasts a 3% higher MOI due to mass savings from the new face geometry that have been re-allocated to the toe and hosel weights, which expands the perimeter weighting and greatly tightens dispersion.

Extensive finite element analysis was used to help develop a multi-material cavity badge that covers more of the face to damp undesirable frequencies and ensure a superb feel and pleasing sound.

The G425 irons feature a performance-improving, water-repelling hydropearl chrome finish and are available in 4-9, PW, UW, SW and LW in Standard, Power Spec and Retro Spec lofts. The grooves in the PW, UW, SW and LW are precision-milled to ensure control and touch into and around the green

RRP £129 / €154  Steel – per club

RRP £139 / €166  Graphite – per club

New Finish. Better Results.

On the tee or off the ground, the G425 crossover is engineered to bring golfers gap-filling, long-iron-type performance by delivering more distance and green-finding forgiveness. The thinner face and internal geometry deliver the ball speeds to hit high-flying shots that land softly and closer to the hole. Forgiveness is supplied by the toe and hosel weights that expand the perimeter weighting to increase the MOI. It is further distinguished by its functional and resilient stealth hydropearl finish that helps repel moisture and improve performance from all conditions. Available in 2 (18º), 3 (20º) and 4 (22.5º).

RRP £225 / €259

ALTA CB Slate Shaft

The PING ALTA CB Slate (SR, R, S, X) is the standard shaft in the G425 Driver, Fairway Woods, Hybrids and Crossover. Continuing PING’s belief in counter-balanced technology, it is engineered with an 8-gram plug in the end of the shaft to deliver more momentum and forgiveness. In the G425 iron, the AWT 2.0 is the stock steel shaft and the ALTA CB Slate is the stock graphite option.

Arccos Caddie Smart Grip Program

The Arccos Caddie Smart Grip (Golf Pride Lite 360 Tour Velvet) in one of four sizes (Red -1/32”, Aqua -1/64”, White/Std, and Gold +1/32”) is the standard grip on all G425 clubs. Golfers who purchase a set of five or more G425 irons in one transaction are entitled to eight free Arccos Screw-In sensors and a 90-day free trial of the Arccos Caddie App. Golfers who purchase one or more G425 driver, fairway wood, hybrid or Crossover are eligible for 14 free Arccos Screw-In sensors and the 90-day app free trial for a $19.99 shipping and handling fee.

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US PGA Professional, Ryan Brandeburg, is the Executive Director of Golf Tourism New Zealand [GTNZ], the Director of Golf for Tourism New Zealand, and the golf consultant to the city of Auckland. Additionally, he is a partner in the Golf Strategy Group, a New Zealand based golf consultancy business, and Managing Director of New Zealand’s Institute of Golf, a teaching academy known best for finding Lydia Ko as a six year old and taking her on the journey to #1 in the world.

With a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and a specialisation in Professional Golf Management from Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina, USA, Ryan previously served in various golf management roles in the USA, across several high-profile facilities and one of the world’s largest private equity firms, The Blackstone Group. His journey in New Zealand first came about in 2009, becoming director of golf for both Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers – two courses ranked amongst the top 50 in the world. To add to his plethora of credentials, Ryan sits on the board of the New Zealand Golf Industry Council, and has written two books aimed at educating young PGA Professionals.

In this podcast, Ryan will give insight into the GTNZ project, discussing the importance of creating a golf tourism strategy, how it was developed, and the steps taken to implement it (with a summary of outcomes to date). Additionally, by tying this work into club, city, regional and national level contexts, Ryan will give PGAs and PGA Professionals an understanding as to why these are important considerations for themselves, and their own facilities.

The CPG Podcast brings the latest features, news and in-depth interviews from the world of professional golf, PGAs and PGA Professionals.

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Russell trained with his father in the UK before leaving for Switzerland in 2001. Since 2004, he had been the head Professional at Golfclub Heidental in Switzerland, and has spent the past 6 years in education roles with the Swiss PGA.

His research and learning has been based around two key questions: How do I become a great coach? How can we develop great coaches? These questions have taken him around the world to visit many great coaches and also led to his completion of a Masters Degree in Sports Coaching at the University of Birmingham.

He is an avid user of technology within the assessment phase of coaching and embraces a person first approach to support golfers on their journey or solve any problem they may experience.

In this podcast, Russell will unpack his MSc research on coach learning and link it to his own journey as a coach and coach developer. The aim is to assist any practicing coach in reflecting on their beliefs of how they learn. It will assist them in a better choice of future learning activities, saving both time and money.

The CPG Podcast brings the latest features, news and in-depth interviews from the world of professional golf, PGAs and PGA Professionals.

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Despite best efforts from both the CPG and the organisers from Royal Greens to continue with the announced February 2021 dates, it was deemed that the situation surrounding the new strain of Coronavirus and resultant travel restrictions imposed in Saudi Arabia, meant the event could no longer be staged across those dates.

Further details of the rescheduled dates towards the end of 2021, alongside packages, event information and entries will be circulated over the next few weeks. All questions should be forwarded to Tom Bentley at tb@cpg.golf.

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