The post GOLF’s Subpar: Will Gordon on getting to know a young Steph Curry appeared first on Golf.

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Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by PGA Tour pro Will Gordon who explains the unique circumstances that led to him getting to know a young Steph Curry.

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The post How Steph Curry’s golf tour is helping make the sport ‘a game for everyone’ appeared first on Golf.

The post How Steph Curry’s golf tour is helping make the sport ‘a game for everyone’ appeared first on Golf.

Early this morning, 17-year-old Hope Hall hopped a flight with her family from their home in Florida bound for San Francisco on a trip that marks a first on several fronts.

It’s Hope’s first visit to Northern California for her first round at TPC Harding Park, the historic muni and major-championship host. It is also her first chance to meet Steph Curry, at a gathering in advance of the Curry Cup, the final event in the inaugural season of the NBA star’s passion project: the Underrated Golf Tour.

“I’m excited for all of it,” Hope says.

True to its name, the Underrated Tour has bootstrapping ambitions. High among them is to expand golf’s reach by providing equal opportunity and access to young players from communities that the game has often overlooked.

Features

The goal, to borrow Curry’s words, is to help golf live up to its promise as “a game for everyone.”

As a Black female golfer, Hope is just the sort of student-athlete Underrated has in mind. But her beat-the-odds story runs deeper than that. Hope was an underdog before she ever swung a club.

The second of three children of Marvin and Pam Hall, she was born 28 weeks prematurely, when, according to health-care data, infant survival rates are a shade better than 50/50. Hope was barely a pound when she went from the womb to the incubator, and so scrawny that her leg could fit inside her father’s wedding ring.

By age 3, Hope was well out of danger, but her fine motor skills were undeveloped. To help her progress, her parents, neither of whom played golf, put a plastic club in her hands and allowed her to start swinging in the safety of their home. The smile on her face told mom and dad that they were onto something.

At 6, Hope played her first tournament round, firing a 72.

“People are always impressed when they hear that,” she says. “Until I tell them it was only nine holes.”

In Maryland, where her family lived, joining a private club was out of the question. But a public facility called Mitchell’s Golf Complex offered ready access. It also proved a gateway to invaluable instruction when a teaching pro named Nancy Row noticed Hope and offered to take her under her wing.

In those early years, Hope approached golf with the joyful innocence of youth, focused on the shots, not the surroundings. But as her game matured and her perspective broadened, there’s was no ignoring the obvious: golf’s demographics did not reflect the diversity of the world she knew.

“I can get lonely out there sometimes as a person of color,” Hope says. “You’re definitely aware that not a lot of people look like you.”

On the junior circuit, that awareness often came with an added burden. Hope felt pressure to represent.

“I was worried that if I played badly, some might see it as evidence that people like me didn’t really belong in golf,” she says.

More often than not, though, Hope played well. After her parents’ work took the family overseas, first to Nigeria and then South Africa, the Halls settled in Florida, where Hope starred on the high school team at the St. Andrew’s School, in Boca Raton, the alma mater of the former LPGA stalwart Morgan Pressel. Hope’s team won the district championship three times.

It was during her senior season, this past spring, that Hope first caught wind of the Underrated Golf Tour. The concept struck a chord with her, and not only for the golf. The circuit offers an array of off-course programs, including a guest-speaker series and networking events with leading brands and corporations: golf as a portal to greater opportunity.

So far this season, the Underrated Tour has staged four 36-hole tournaments, in Chicago, Phoenix, Tampa and Houston. Hope competed in three of those events, missing only Phoenix so she could play in the Florida Girls’ Junior Championship, where she finished T-3.

This fall, Hope will enroll at Dartmouth College, where she plans to study bio-medical engineering while playing on the golf team. She’s chomping at the bit to get that going.

Celebrities

But first things first. On the Underrated Tour, this week’s grand finale is also known as the Tour Championship, and like the other Tour Championship, currently unfolding in Atlanta, it will showcase a limited field: the top 12 season-long point earners in the boys’ and girls’ division. Hope is not the only Hall who made the cut. Her younger sister, Alana, will peg it at Harding, too.

“(This Tour) is so brilliant and amazing because it removes a lot of the pressure minority golfers often feel in predominantly white spaces,” Hope says. “Even though it’s a competition, it’s less stressful because you’re not the only person of color out there. It feels easier to be yourself.”

Also like the Tour Championship at East Lake, the Curry Cup features a staggered start. Hope will step up to the first tee at three-under, two shots behind the leaders.

In the grand scheme, that’s not much to overcome.

The Curry Cup runs Aug. 28-30, at TPC Harding Park, in San Francisco. For more information, visit stayunderrated.com.

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The post Stephen Curry, Travis Kelce, Charles Barkley and other celebrities show off in long drive contest appeared first on Golf.

The post Stephen Curry, Travis Kelce, Charles Barkley and other celebrities show off in long drive contest appeared first on Golf.

At the American Century Championship on the shore of beautiful Lake Tahoe, these celebrities certainly drove for show. Active and retired athletes, artists, and personalities teed it up for 54 holes of modified Stableford play. Shoutout to Tony Romo who won the event for the third time after carding a three-under 69 in the final round. Check out the leaderboard to see how your favorite celebrities fared.

Others found more luck at the long drive competition led by GOLF’s Subpar co-host Drew Stoltz, where their capabilities in the gym held more importance. Eight competitors recorded carries of over 300 yards, but you’ll be devastated to hear that Charles Barkley was not one of them. However, he was much closer than you may think. 

The NFL showed up in a powerful way with six of the top ten on the longest drive leaderboard, but the winner was an MLB pitcher who isn’t even known for his speed. Maybe we should take a lesson from John Lester about hitting the center of the club face. 

Before you put your head in your hands, wondering how these celebrities who play golf as their second or third sport hit the ball so much further than you, take a look at where the event was played. 

At the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nevada, the elevation is over 6,000 feet above sea level. According to Andrew Rice’s research, your driver will carry an additional 2.5 yards for every 1,000 feet of elevation.

To see Stephen Curry, Travis Kelce, Charles Barkley and other celebrities show off in long drive contest, watch the video above.

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The post 7 things I noticed while inspecting NBA champion Steph Curry’s Callaway gear appeared first on Golf.

The post 7 things I noticed while inspecting NBA champion Steph Curry’s Callaway gear appeared first on Golf.

You can learn a thing or two about equipment trends and intriguing club builds that are potentially worth testing by looking at the gear played on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour. But what about an NBA champion? In addition to being arguably the greatest shooter in NBA history, Steph Curry boasts an impressive golf resume with multiple starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. Curry’s game travels from the court to the course.

During the American Century Championship, GOLF.com received an up-close look at Curry’s Callaway equipment. As you’d expect, weekend golfers can still learn a thing or two about gear by looking at the setup used by an accomplished athlete who doesn’t boast a Tour card.

Mavrik fan

Curry signed a multi-year partnership with Callaway in 2019, so access to new gear is always just a phone call away. That being said, I have to give the sharpshooter credit for sticking it out with Callaway’s Mavrik driver and 3-wood. With heavy brush marks and paint chips visible around the skirt, it’s clear Curry loves the Mavrik’s look and performance.

Something else that’s worth pointing out is the OptiFit loft sleeve setting. The “D +1” means Curry is adding a degree of loft — 10 degrees actual loft — with a draw bias to his driver setup. Generally, the draw setting is used to help straighten out a slice, but I’d venture a guess he’s trying to squeeze out more distance from the head. Curry doesn’t have any trouble squaring up the face at impact, so adding a bit more bend is going to induce topspin with a lower trajectory. The 10 degrees of loft ensures he can still maximize carry and spin.

Tour vibe

The variety of shaft brands and flexes in Curry’s setup gives off a Tour vibe. There’s Fujikura’s Ventus Blue in the driver (7X) and 3-wood (8X), KBS Tour 130X in the utility iron, Project X 6.5 in the irons and 6.0 in the wedges. Looking strictly at the shafts, it’s easy to see he spent plenty of time at the Ely Callaway Performance Center getting dialed for every club in the bag.

Better players understand the importance of matching head and shaft to club delivery. Treat this note as a reminder that all golfers should undergo a custom fitting to get the best bang for their buck — not just NBA superstars and Tour pros.

Utility man

Fairway woods, hybrids and utility irons all serve valuable purposes but when it comes to the hole between Steph Curry’s strong-lofted Mavrik 3-wood and Apex Pro 4-iron, he’s Team Utility Iron. The X Forged UT is a popular option on Tour with a profile that blends nicely with his long iron. And with 18 degrees of loft, Curry doesn’t have to sweat a potential carry gap between the 13.5-degree 3-wood and 4-iron. He has more than enough speed to send a utility iron.

Tools not jewels

The scratches and dings on Curry’s Apex Pro irons give you an idea of the rounds he logs during the offseason. With a membership at the famed California Golf Club of San Francisco, Curry has a good reason to play as much as possible.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m playing too much golf, and sometimes it feel like it’s not enough,” Curry said.

Based on the wear marks, Curry’s sticks rarely if ever collect a layer of dust.

Standard stuff

Masters wedge craftsman Roger Cleveland is one of the best in the industry, so where he shares some sage advice, you listen. “Bounce is your friend,” he told me. If you’ve never heard the term “bounce,” or bounce angle, it’s the angle that’s formed by the leading edge, ground and sole when the shaft is perfectly vertical. Depending on your delivery and the course conditions you typically play, having more or less bounce can be a good thing.

In Steph Curry’s case, he’s about as stock as they come. All three of his Callaway Jaws scoring tools have the company’s standard S-Grind, including the lob wedge. The medium-width sole is a good option for plenty of different playing conditions, which comes in handy when you’re jet-setting around the globe playing a wide variety of courses. Consider it the cheeseburger in Callaway’s grind lineup — it generally satisfies most golfers.

Different strokes

Curry’s winged Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas putter is one of the most recognizable head shapes around. But let’s forget about the putter model and focus on the double bend hosel. Going off the assumption that Curry was fit for his current wand, it’s very likely he has a straight back and through stroke with minimal face rotation based on the neck. The double bend shaft is designed to fit golfers with a limited arc in their stroke.

With three alignment lines on the crown, as well as the section between the wings that helps frame the ball, Curry relies on visual aids to help him locate the line.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf.

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The post How a crazy bet on the Warriors funded this epic buddies’ trip to the 150th Open appeared first on Golf.

The post How a crazy bet on the Warriors funded this epic buddies’ trip to the 150th Open appeared first on Golf.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Andrew Beliveau graduated from Concordia College, in Minnesota, nearly two decades ago. But he still has a crew of college mates with whom he takes an annual buddies’ trip. In recent years, they’ve attended Southeastern Conference football games. But this year they wanted to do something more ambitious: a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Beliveau, who played on the golf team at Concordia and has caddied at swanky Whisper Rock Golf Club, in Scottsdale, Ariz., is a big golf guy. So are his pals. So as they mulled ideas for their 2022 excursion last year, they didn’t take long to settle on a destination: the 150th Open Championship at the Old Course.     

One problem: It wouldn’t be cheap. With flights, accommodations, tickets and more than a few pints, their bucket-list boondoggle would cost each of them thousands. Beliveau had a potential solution. A diehard Golden State Warriors fan — Beliveau rarely misses a game — he was bullish on their chances to win another NBA title in the 2021-22 season.

Travel

“I go, ‘Let’s just throw a sh-tload of money on them,’” Beliveau told me Saturday.  

His friends liked the idea.

Sport betting isn’t legal in Minnesota, so Beliveau and three other members of his buddy-trip crew took a field trip to Diamond Jo, a casino just over the border in Iowa.

“We hit all the kiosks, as much as we could get on it,” Beliveau said. “We all chipped in.”

At that point, they found odds of 10-1. Midway through the season, feeling even more confident that the Warriors were primed to make a post-season run, they doubled down, albeit now with smaller odds of 6-1. All in, Beliveau said, they had somewhere between $5,000 and $6,000 on the line.

If you’re a basketball fan, you know what happened next. The Warriors advanced through the playoffs and knocked off the Boston Celtics, 4-2, in the finals. Steph Curry had won his fourth ring, and a gaggle of old college pals from Minnesota had won roughly $30,000.

News

If you’re on site at the Open this week, this explains why in the third round you may have spotted a group of seven fans roaming around the Old Course in golden-yellow Kevon Looney jerseys.

Beliveau and his boys were all smiles and laughs as they watched the action under sun-splashed skies on Saturday. Not only are they attending a historic sporting event on golfing holy land but they’re also staying in a primo property across the street from the 18th green for which they paid $18,000 on Airbnb.

“We got a great deal, I think,” one of Beliveau’s friends said as they strained for a view of Rory McIlroy on the 1st green.

“And we don’t have to use the public restrooms,” he added with a laugh.

There was a reason the crew was following McIlroy: They have a bet on him to win. Same goes for Cameron Smith and Cameron Young. But the most lucrative payout — which if it hits, they said, will help fund a trip to an Ole Miss football game in the fall — will come if McIlroy claims the Claret Jug.

“If Rory wins,” Beliveau’s friend said, “we’re going to be the happiest people on the course, other than Rory.”

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The post On the court, Stephen Curry is lethal. On the course? He’s scoring just about everywhere appeared first on Golf.

The post On the court, Stephen Curry is lethal. On the course? He’s scoring just about everywhere appeared first on Golf.

In the era of prodigious purses and savvy strategic thinking, pro golfers are making it their business to be in business outside of their sport, while show-biz stalwarts and superstar athletes like Steph Curry, Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick are discovering that the smart money is in golf itself. In our Golf & Business package (which you can also find in the Jan/Feb 2022 issue of GOLF Magazine), we’ll go inside their wallets.

Part 1: Why Abraham Ancer and Mark Wahlberg teamed up in the tequila business
Part 2: Bubba Watson the businessman is a lot like Bubba the golfer
Part 3: How ascendant attire brand Johnnie-O made a splash on the golf course
Part 4: Why Peyton Manning is making cold calls about this 9-hole golf course
Part 5: Jason Kokrak’s passion is collecting. The payoff is a houseful of liquid gold

***

The fairways are filled with golf-obsessed celebrities and all-star athletes, but none have gone in on the game more thoroughly than Stephen Curry. Here’s an overview of the pursuits that have turned the Golden State Warrior sharpshooter and two-time league MVP into golf’s most diversified crossover star.

TV Networker

Holey Moley has this been a hit. On top of his role as producer, Curry appears as “resident golf pro” on this loopy mini-golf reality show, which recently re-upped for a fourth season on ABC.

Content Creator

As if his success in televised putt-putt weren’t enough, Curry’s production company has a freshly inked deal with NBC/Golf Channel that calls for the NBA champ to have a hand in golf-related content. Curry’s appearance at the 2020 Ryder Cup, conducting on-course interviews with the likes of Michael Jordan, was an early indication of the point guard’s ever-growing broadcast reach.

Clothier

You know you’ve really made it on the links when you’ve got your own apparel line. Witness Curry’s polos, joggers, jackets, hats and other pieces of sportswear, released in collaboration with Under Armour.

Benefactor

When he isn’t dropping dimes to his Golden State teammates, Curry dishes generous assists through charitable initiatives. In addition to funding Howard University’s men’s and women’s golf teams, he gives his time and money to junior golf programs in the Bay Area and beyond, many aimed at serving underprivileged kids.

Competitor

Any celebrity can peg it in a pro-am. Curry plays a game with which most A-listers are unfamiliar, as evidenced by his top-10 finish in the 2021 American Century Championship and two impressive showings in Korn Ferry Tour events.

All-Around Good Guy

Curry does the stuff that doesn’t appear on the scorecard, like showing up at junior clinics and hanging with fans along the gallery ropes when the cameras aren’t on him. Once, while teeing it up at a private course in San Francisco, he scaled a fence to shoot hoops with kids in a nearby backyard — an emblematic moment for a star of peerless appeal.

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The post This amazing Steph Curry golf story will make you like him even more appeared first on Golf.

The post This amazing Steph Curry golf story will make you like him even more appeared first on Golf.

If you live in the Bay Area, and you’re really into golf, Steph Curry stories aren’t hard to come by.

In fact, they’re nearly impossible to avoid.

Most of them revolve around the hoop superstar’s genial demeanor and generosity, even when the cameras aren’t on him. Curry signing autographs for hours after pro-ams. Curry showing up, unannounced, at junior golf clinics to hand out shoes and hang with the kids. Those sorts of things.

A couple of months ago, while playing as a guest at Lake Merced Golf Club, in San Francisco, I heard another story that points to what the man is all about.

Seems that earlier this season, Curry, too, had played a guest round at Lake Merced, though his appearance caused a bit more of a stir than mine did. On what was then the 11th hole (the course is now in the midst of a renovation, and the old routing is being reworked), a par-4 that runs along the edge of a residential neighborhood, Curry sees a couple of boys shooting hoops in a backyard. So he drops his clubs, heads over to the tall fence that separates the course from the homes, and asks the stunned kids if he can join them.

Um…sure?!

Gear

And just like that, Curry scales the fence and gives the kids an impromptu shootaround they’ll never forget.

Eventually, Curry goes back to playing golf, completes his round and resumes his life as a NBA icon. But his impact lingers. Word gets around. And the next day, as play gets underway at Lake Merced, members notice that dozens of kids have gathered in that same backyard, clutching at the chain-link, peering through the fence, hoping for a repeat performance. It didn’t happen. Not that day, anyway.

But given Curry’s fondness for the game, and the way he carries himself in the world, you’ve got to figure that similar moments involving small gestures that mean so much are bound to take place again. And again.

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The post The coolest custom gear we spotted at the 2021 American Century Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post The coolest custom gear we spotted at the 2021 American Century Championship appeared first on Golf.

The American Century Championship is a vibrant golf exhibition where actors, sports figures and famous media personalities collect at the scenic Edgewood Tahoe Resort course in Lake Tahoe to compete and enjoy a weekend away from their usual gigs. The event is fun, but it’s also competitive; it turns out super successful people aren’t huge fans of losing. Who would have thought!

For myself, GOLF’s senior equipment editor, the 2021 American Century Championship was a place to see what equipment some of the world’s most famous celebrity golfers decide to put in their golf bags.

Below, we take a look at the gear setups of the celebrities you may be curious about, including Justin Timberlake, Charles Barkley, Stephen Curry, Jerry Rice, Vince Carter, Patrick Mahomes, Ray Allen and more. Let’s dive right in.

Steph Curry

Curry, a two-time NBA league MVP and three-time NBA champion of the Golden State Warriors, is a scratch golfer, he’s competed on the Korn Ferry Tour, and he’s on staff with Callaway Golf.

In the Korbel Long Drive contest on Thursday, GOLF.com used a Foresight GCQuad launch monitor to measure Curry’s driver swing speed at 123 mph. Curry obviously brings some serious heat with his swing, and he uses a driver that’s made to knock down spin to keep the ball from ballooning too much and losing distance.

In order to optimize his speed, Curry uses a custom Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero “Single Diamond” prototype driver, equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Blue 7x shaft. According to Callaway’s Johnny Wunder, the head measures 450cc – slightly smaller than the USGA maximum limit – and it’s made for “super duper” low spin and a fade bias.

Interestingly, as Curry told GOLF.com, he was recently playing a round at Cypress Point Club with NFL superstar Tom Brady. During their round together, Brady tried out Curry’s driver and took such a liking to it that he asked Callaway to make him an exact replica of the driver. Brady ended up using the driver in “The Match 4” earlier this week as he played alongside Phil Mickelson, taking on the duo of Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers.

Unfortunately for us normal folk, the “single diamond” prototype was never made available at retail, but chalk that up to the perks of being a legendary sports figure.

Curry fills out his bag with a Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero fairway wood (13.5 degrees), an X-Forged UT driving iron (18 degrees), Apex Pro Forged irons (4-PW), custom Jaws MD5 wedges (50, 56 and 60 degrees), and an Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas putter.

Jerry Rice

Rice is often considered as one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history, and he also had some of the most eye-catching sets of irons at the American Century Championship.

He bags the same flashy Nike VR Pro blade irons that Tiger Woods used in the early-to-mid 2010’s, except Rice’s are stamped with his old No. 80 jersey number he wore throughout his NFL career. Rice is an apt golfer in his own right, but it’s not a stretch to say he doesn’t have the same accuracy with his irons as Woods. While the irons aren’t necessarily the most forgiving options, Rice told GOLF.com that he enjoys the feedback and precision the irons offer.

“It gives me really good feedback if I’m making solid contact,” Rice told GOLF.com. “When I first started playing golf, I had blades. A lot of people don’t like to play blades, because they’re very difficult to hit, but I think I need that type of preciseness. It helps with my ball striking.”

If you’re looking to grab a fresh set of these for yourself, best of luck to you. Since Nike stopped making golf clubs in 2016, the company won’t be producing any more of these. They’re also highly sought after irons due to their positive reception among equipment fans, and Woods’ influence. Smartly, Rice bought up a bunch of sets years ago from anyone who had them. He told GOLF.com he currently has seven sets in reserve.

“What I did, once Nike stopped making clubs, I would just go around and ask people, ‘Do you have any Nike clubs?’ And I would buy ‘em off them,” Rice said.

Filling out Rice’s bag, he uses a Nike Vapor Fly driver (8.5 degrees;  Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board 60S shaft), a Nike Vapor Fly fairway wood (15 degrees; UST Mamiya Attas 4U 6S shaft), a Nike VR attack wedge, a VR Pro 56-degree wedge, a VR lob wedge, and a Nike Method Core 4i center-shafted putter.

Vince Carter

Carter is a retired NBA legend who had a famously electric performance at the 2000 NBA All-Star Game Dunk Contest. He lit up the court with four unique dunks, including 1) a reverse windmill 360, 2) alley-oop, between the legs, 3) a jump from the free-throw line and 4) he put his arm in the rim. Each of the dunks is legendary in their own right, and a silhouette version of each was engraved on his ultra-custom Tad Moore putter.

Jonathan Wall, the Managing Editor for Equipment at GOLF.com, went deep on the backstory of the putter and what it means to Carter himself. Check out Wall’s article here for more on the awesome flatstick.

Ray Allen

Allen is a retired NBA legend who’s played for several different teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Seattle Supersonics, and the UConn Huskies. His ridiculously cool custom golf bag pays homage to all the teams he’s represented throughout his career.

As a founding member of Team Jordan, Allen is known to have some of the coolest PE (player exclusive) basketball sneakers in his shoe collection. So, of course he has a basketball sneaker as his putter cover, it would only be right.

Allen is known to have a deadly three-point shot on the basketball court, but did you know his career best golf round is a 61? Yeah, he doesn’t mess around when it comes to his golf game, and he’s around 40/1 odds to win the event, depending where you look.

A peak into his golf bag shows Allen plays a mixed set of irons, including TaylorMade P-7TW blade short irons, TaylorMade P770 long irons, and a Callaway X-Forged 18-degree driving iron. By mixing his set with irons of different designs, Allen can take advantage of the precision of blade irons in his shorter clubs, but also get increased speed and forgiveness in the longer irons.

Check out this article here to see if a mixed iron set is right for your game.

Justin Timberlake

Timberlake — a superstar musician and a scratch golfer — was spotted by GOLF.com on the range on Wednesday before his practice round testing drivers. Hey, it’s never too late to get dialed in. Ultimately, he decided to keep his trusty TaylorMade SIM driver in the bag that he played previously.

Aside from the driver, Timberlake uses Miura’s all-new PI-401 irons, which are designed to be game-improvement irons that have a soft feel and muted sound. Filling out Timberlake’s bag are TaylorMade SIM and SIM2 fairway woods, Titleist Vokey SM8 Blue Slate wedges, and a new Royalty putter.

Note: Miura Golf is an affiliate company of GOLF.com.

Miura PI-401 irons

The PI-401 cavity back iron was designed for players of every skill level. Shinei Miura sought to design an iron which delivered exceptional forgiveness, while maximizing distance. The PI-401 combines the renowned Miura “feel” with performance enhancing technology, enabling the golfer to get the most out of their game.

$2,640.00 from miuragolf.com

Saul “Canelo” Álvarez

Canelo is one of the most famous boxers on the planet and has won world championship belts in multiple different weight classes. He’s also completely golf-obsessed. After his practice round at the American Century Championship on Wednesday, he beat balls for hours on the range with his caddie-coach, grinding to improve his swing.

His custom golf bag shows just how much he loves the game:  “No Golf, No Life,” it reads on the outer pocket. Canelo also plays a blacked-out version of TaylorMade’s P790 irons, which are designed to help golfers achieve greater distance and launch.

Tony Romo

Romo, a former Dallas Cowboys NFL quarterback and current broadcaster, is the odds-on favorite to win the American Century Championship this week. He’s a competitive golfer who has played in Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour events, and he reportedly plays often with PGA Tour pros such as Will Zalatoris and Jordan Spieth.

Without an official club deal, Romo uses a mixed-bag setup with equipment from multiple brands. Below is a full look at Romo’s “What’s in the Bag?”

Driver: TaylorMade SIM2 (Fujikura Atmos Blue Tour Spec 7x shaft), 9 degrees

3-Wood: Titleist TSi3 (Mitsubishi Tensei CK 80TX shaft), 15 degrees

Hybrid: Titleist TS3 (Mitsubishi Tensei CK 90HY X-flex shaft), 19 degrees

Irons: Mizuno MP-20 MMC (4-6 iron), Mizuno MP-20 (7-PW; Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 125 shafts)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50 and 55 degrees), Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks 2021 Proto (60 degrees; Project X 6.5 shafts)

Putter: TaylorMade TP Collection Mullen (he told GOLF.com he found this putter in his father’s garage).

Charles Barkley

Barkley has undergone an inspiring transition in his golf swing, which GOLF’s Dylan Dethier highlights in-depth here.

On Thursday, GOLF.com measured his swing speed using a Foresight GCQuad launch monitor, and he swung his driver 110 mph! Not bad, Chuck, not bad at all.

Inside his golf bag, Barkley uses an all-PXG (Parson Xtreme Golf) setup, including the new Gen4 0311 XP irons, which are made for extra forgiveness and distance. With enormous hands, Barkley also opts to use JumboMax grips, which are the same grips that PGA Tour pro Bryson DeChambeau uses on his clubs.

A.J. Hawk

Hawk, a former NFL linebacker, was a beast on the field, and apparently on the golf course, too. In the Korbel Long Drive contest on Thursday, GOLF.com measured his swing speed at a blazing 132 mph, and he carried the ball 326 yards.

While Hawk uses a modern Callaway Epic Speed driver off the tee, he uses an old-school persimmon driver as his fairway wood that he bought for $5 at a garage sale in Columbus, Ohio.

Seriously, he uses a $5 garage sale persimmon driver as his fairway wood! Check out the video below to hear Hawk speak on the throwback club.

Patrick Mahomes

Mahomes, entering his fifth year as an NFL quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, has already amassed an impressive playing resume, including a Super Bowl MVP and NFL league MVP. He also drops absolute BOMBS with the driver. At the American Century Championship’s Korbel Long Drive contest, Mahomes flew his drive 347 yards to win the event.

Mahomes uses “PM” stamped TaylorMade Milled Grind wedges, and TaylorMade P770 irons.

Justin Tuck

Tuck, a former NFL defensive end for the New York Giants, is an avid golfer, but he doesn’t prefer to hit driver much on the golf course. He typically opts for a 2-iron off the tee for safety, instead.

But, since there was a long drive contest going on, Tuck pulled out his PXG driver and took a fearless swing aiming for the fences. The problem was, he nearly missed the golf ball, clipped the toe edge of his driver, and sent the ball zooming right over the head of Mark Hannan (the Senior Producer at 8am Golf, and the producer of GOLF’s SubPar and Fully Equipped podcasts).

Check it out below. Try not to flinch:

Hannan was taking a knee on the side of the tee box — seemingly out of harms way — filming a slo-mo video of Tuck’s swing; Hannan is a big Giants fan, keep in mind. Seconds later, Tuck’s drive came off his club 43 degrees left of his target, and nearly hit Hannan in the forehead.

Tuck’s shot broke a tile the Korbel long drive leaderboard screen, leaving black marks all over Tuck’s Titleist Pro V1x golf ball.

Don’t worry, Hannan is perfectly fine (albeit a bit shaken up), and Tuck even autographed the golf ball for him. Tuck may never live that shot down amongst his athlete buddies, but at least Hannan went home with an unforgettable story to tell.

Surely Tuck will stick to the 2-iron off the tee from now on. You know, for safety.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2021? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below!

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The post How is Steph Curry’s golf equipment made? He found out firsthand appeared first on Golf.

The post How is Steph Curry’s golf equipment made? He found out firsthand appeared first on Golf.

As you may have heard, Steph Curry is something of an elite athlete — with an emphasis on athlete.

For starters, he is unquestionably one of the greatest shooters and most prolific scorers in the history of professional basketball. The two-time MVP and three-time NBA champ is also a two-time scoring champion, and owns the NCAA record for three-pointers made in a single season. Curry the basketball player is responsible for shifting the way the game is played, and has served at the forefront of the league’s three-point era.

But Steph Curry is not just a basketball player. He’s an athlete, meaning he isn’t just a great shooter, he’s also gifted with a series of natural skills — skills like coordination, balance, agility, explosiveness and even focus. These are skills that make Curry a terrific basketball player, yes, but they also make him skilled at other sports like golf, where he is a scratch handicap.

But, as you already know, golf is quite different from basketball. Sure, Steph Curry can be a great player with any ball and hoop, wearing any pair of shoes. But even for all his athleticism, Steph Curry wouldn’t be nearly the same golfer with hickory sticks as he is with the latest and greatest technology, as he learned on a recent tour of Callaway’s Carlsbad, Calif. facilities.

A video released this week by Callaway shows Curry and teammate Damion Lee going through the club-making process, from the complex materials used to make golf ball cores to the imaging process Callaway uses to ensure variable thickness in its driver heads and faces.

In one scene, Curry and Lee get a close-up look at the company’s ball launcher, which blasts golf balls at high speeds in order to understand the trajectory, drag, and other ballflight characteristics. The video even takes a look at Callaway’s high-tech putter fitting, with a slow-motion camera and robotic setup showing the seven-time all-star the perfect fit for his game based off several key data points.

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As Curry sees repeatedly throughout the video, even the slightest shift in material, design and consistency can lead to massive changes in performance throughout the bag.

Ultimately, the video highlights many of the key components that make club creation a high-tech, high-cost endeavor for equipment manufacturers. For Curry, the video shows the importance of precision, even for those who have already earned the title of “athletically gifted.”

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The post Steph Curry was struggling — then Tiger Woods called appeared first on Golf.

The post Steph Curry was struggling — then Tiger Woods called appeared first on Golf.

Steph Curry was told he’d be getting a call. It’d be a Florida area code, but he should answer. 

Curry had just shot 8 for 21 from the field, and 2 for 10 from 3, and his Golden State Warriors had lost by 10 in the third game of their 2015 NBA playoff series. Four days earlier, the Warriors lost by seven, and Curry was even colder — 7 of 19 and 2 of 11. He had won the MVP and Golden State had the league’s best regular-season record, but they were now two games from being bounced.  

After an off-day practice, Curry’s phone rang. 

Florida area code. 

Tiger Woods. 

“It was the biggest pep talk of all time,” Curry said this week on the Huddle and Flow podcast. “Just out of the blue, he spoke some life into our comeback during that round.”

And not just the Warriors’ comeback. Golden State won Game 4 by 17, Game 5 by 20 and Game 6 by 13, and they’d go on to win their first NBA title in 40 years. Curry, meanwhile, scored 33, 18 and 32 points and shot 28 of 63 over the three games. 

Woods, at the time, had just tied for 69th at the Players Championship. So what on earth was his wisdom? 

“And he told me — I said, ‘I’m ready for it. I know we’re going to get it done,’” Curry said on the podcast. “And he dropped the mic at the end of the call. He’s like, ‘Prove it,’ and just hung up. 

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“It doesn’t get better than that. He lit the fire under me, for sure.”

Woods and Curry share an interest in each others’ sports. Woods is a Lakers fan. Curry can swing nearly as well as he can shoot. He started playing golf when he was 9, his handicap has dipped as low as +1.5, and he’s played on the Korn Ferry Tour and in one of the The Matches. They share an interest in each other, too. When asked on the podcast who’s the one player he’d like to play with, Curry said Woods, though they never paired up. 

“Obviously a hero of mine growing up and to know all he’s been through over the course of his career, you know, all the highs and lows and all that, I feel like that would be an amazing four or five hours out there to kind of hear his story from his lens,” Curry said on the podcast. “There’s a lot of content out there now about him and around him, but I’d like to hear it from his word and to see him hit amazing golf shots all day.” 

The post Steph Curry was struggling — then Tiger Woods called appeared first on Golf.