Golf News

It seems that China’s wealthy elite are going to have to pack away their woods and putters for the foreseeable future, with dozens of golf courses expected to be shut down by the government in the coming year, according to golf industry experts. Earlier this week, Chinese authorities closed  66 courses  in a nationwide crackdown. Alongside luxury cars and oversized watches, golf has become a symbol of wealth and part of a modern lifestyle for many of China’s nouveau riche. The boom in golf’s popularity has led to hundreds of new courses being built alongside luxury mansions and other luxury facilities. In this Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 photo, Shanshan Feng of China plays a ball on the 14th hole during the final round of the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) While there are no official figures for how many golf courses there are in the country, golf organization R&A estimates in a new report ...

Tiger Woods has crashed out of the world's top 100-ranked golfers for the first time since 1996, the year before his maiden major win. The 14-time major winner has been in steep decline in recent times, and the latest official world rankings have him at No. 104, one place behind Danish youngster  Thorbjorn Olesen. Woods holds the record for most time spent at No. 1 after holding the top spot for  683 weeks during his storied career, but Rory McIlroy now occupied the post, per OWGR: Golf World Rankings Ranking Player Nationality 1 Rory McIlroy NIR 2 Henrik Stenson SWE 3 Bubba Watson USA 4 Jordan Spieth USA 5 Jason Day ...

Geneva to Barcelona is about 1,000 kilometers and a solid 10 hours in the driver’s seat, if you take the scenic route. My borrowed 2015 Volkswagen Golf R (four-door compact hatch) and I were wheels up at 0700, getting acquainted as we threaded Geneva’s early rush of traffic and trolleys in a fitful sleet. The route, the A75, will take us through one of the Protestant Reformation’s great killing fields, t...

President Obama is fleeing the chilly, damp nation’s capital this weekend for the warmer climes of South Florida.  Obama will travel to Palm City, Fla., on Saturday and return to Washington on Sunday. The White House has not revealed details of his trip, but local news reports say the president is expected to stay at the Floridian National Golf Club where he will hit the links.  The president played a round of golf with Tiger Woods at the course in February 2013. The club’s owner is Jim Crane, a Democratic donor and owner of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros.  In 2010, Crane purchased the club, which it bills itself as one of the nation's "premier golf clubs." It has an 18-hole, par 71 course with views of the St. Lucie River and a 4,500-square foot instructional facility backed by Woods’s former swing coach, Butch Harmon.  Harmon accompanied Obama’s foursome, which included Crane and then-U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, during their 2013 round a...

Updated March 27, 2015 7:02 p.m. ET GENEVA TO BARCELONA is about 1,000 kilometers and a solid 10 hours in the driver’s seat, if you take the scenic route. My borrowed 2015 Volkswagen Golf R (four-door compact hatch) and I were wheels up at 0700, getting acquainted as we threaded Geneva’s early rush of traffic and trolleys in a fitful sleet. The route, the A75, will take us through one of the Protestant Reformation’s great killing fields, the town of Issoire. The guidebook also notes it’s the birthplace of the Frenchiest of French motorcycles, Voxan. So, a full morning of martyrs and fools. Lunch along the coast, in Montpellier, and then an easy cruise into central Barcelona, where the forecast calls for widely scattered awesome. Provided I don’t drown first. A hissing rain was falling at the customs plaza as I drove into France, a downpour that tried but failed to overtake my Golf R’s wipers. German cars,...

Updated March 27, 2015 7:02 p.m. ET GENEVA TO BARCELONA is about 1,000 kilometers and a solid 10 hours in the driver’s seat, if you take the scenic route. My borrowed 2015 Volkswagen Golf R (four-door compact hatch) and I were wheels up at 0700, getting acquainted as we threaded Geneva’s early rush of traffic and trolleys in a fitful sleet. The route, the A75, will take us through one of the Protestant Reformation’s great killing fields, the town of Issoire. The guidebook also notes it’s the birthplace of the Frenchiest of French motorcycles, Voxan. So, a full morning of martyrs and fools. Lunch along the coast, in Montpellier, and then an easy cruise into central Barcelona, where the forecast calls for widely scattered awesome. Provided I don’t drown first. A hissing rain was falling at the customs plaza as I drove into France, a downpour that tried but failed to overtake my Golf R’s wipers. German cars,...

Just a brief bulletin, then we’ll move right along. Time to fire up Air Force, because President Obama is off to the Treasure Coast of Florida this weekend, specifically Palm City. The local press is attentive, reporting that Mr. Obama will play a few rounds at the Floridian National Golf Club. Yeah, well. Rather than prattle on about the cost of operating Air Force One ($206,000 an hour), here’s the description of the course, just for the heck of it. “This stunning, yet formidable Par 71 will certainly impress. At 7,114 yards, the 18-hole course offers perfectly manicured rolling fairways and greens, demanding hazards, breathtaking views of the St. Lucie River, and is surrounded by natural preserve and native wildlife.” Yeah, well. Mr. Obama was at the course two years ago, golfing with Tiger Woods . For those keeping count, this is approximately the 220th round of golf the president has played since taking office, this based on calculations from the ObamaGolfCounter.com, whi...

Just a brief bulletin, then we’ll move right along. Time to fire up Air Force, because President Obama is off to the Treasure Coast of Florida this weekend, specifically Palm City. The local press is attentive, reporting that Mr. Obama will play a few rounds at the Floridian National Golf Club. Yeah, well. Rather than prattle on about the cost of operating Air Force One ($206,000 an hour), here’s the description of the course, just for the heck of it. “This stunning, yet formidable Par 71 will certainly impress. At 7,114 yards, the 18-hole course offers perfectly manicured rolling fairways and greens, demanding hazards, breathtaking views of the St. Lucie River, and is surrounded by natural preserve and native wildlife.” Yeah, well. Mr. Obama was at the course two years ago, golfing with Tiger Woods . For those keeping count, this is approximately the 220th round of golf the president has played since taking office, this based on calculations from the ObamaGolfCounter.com, whi...

Notah Begay III said that there’s a “50-50” chance that Tiger Woods will tee it up at the Masters â€" and those odds have improved significantly over the past few weeks. In a phone interview with 120 Sports, the Golf Channel analyst said that Woods has shown “steady improvement” and is encouraged about the direction of his swing and short game. “I think his golf game as a whole is in a great place,” Begay said. “I think it was good for him to stay a step back, to reassess a variety of different things and do things on his timeline. “I think that’s very important. It’s easy to get bullied into trying to acquiesce to the media’s concerns, or the PGA Tour’s concerns, or other people’s agendas. My suggestion to him was to take as much time as he needed to just figure out this issue with his short game and also to work on or clean up a couple of things that might be a little loose with his golf swing. …  “I think things are really settling. Weâ€...

Source: Greg Norman Golf Course Design The 7th hole at the Course at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, California, which opened in 1998 The newest division at Great White Shark Enterprises he's most excited about is the Great White Shark Opportunity Fund, an asset-based debt-lending fund that provides alternative and flexible capital to small- and mid-cap companies. Norman won't reveal what companies they've invested in so far but said they have $75 million in capital. "It's a good place to be in right now, because a lot of small, entrepreneurial businesses can't get capital to grow their business," he said in his familiar Australian accent. "Many years ago my partner, David Chessler, and I invested in a couple small business and just saw the returns we were generating, in the high 20s and even above. We started off very small, but now we're growing at a comfortable pace, and we have instituti...

Subscribe today for full access on your desktop, tablet, and mobile device. Subscribe Now Share This Story! Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about Try This: Smash Golf Mobilizer Michelle Mulak tries out this new golf/tennis hybrid for this weeks Try This. Try Another Audio CAPTCHA Image CAPTCHA Help {# #} Cancel Send Sent! A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Michelle Mulak, Florida Today's fitness and water reporter. FLORIDA TODAY Mobilizer Michelle Mulak heads to the golf course to take a swing at Smash Golf for this week's Try This. Video by Michelle Mulak. Edited by Rob Landers. Posted March 24, 2015 In recent years there has been a noticeable surge in sporty hybrids, and I'm not talking abou...

CASSELBERRY --City commissioners Monday agreed to purchase the long-struggling Casselberry Golf Club for $2.2 million and likely have the city's parks and recreation department maintain and operate the golf course. Casselberry city leaders said they realize that interest in the game has declined and golf courses across the region have either closed or are struggling financially. But the 91-acre Casselberry Golf Club is such an integral part of the city's identity, they decided they'd rather see the property continue as a golf course in the short term than be converted to homes. It also will be a way to preserve a rare piece of undeveloped land in a heavily congested urban area. "This isn't a moneymaker," Commissioner Colleen Hufford said. "But it [the golf course property] provides value to the community." Built in 1947, the Casselberry Golf Club's fairways and putting gr...

Melanie Lawder, Mlawder@gannett.com 7:10 a.m. CDT March 23, 2015 Max Baumann, 10, of Wausau hits his ball in the fairway of the first hole at Rib Mountain Golf Course on Saturday. Baumann and his father, Scott Baumann, also of Wausau, were enjoying a father-son outing. (Photo: Daily Herald Media) WAUSAU â€" All the snow has finally melted, and for the first time in months, grass is visible. As duffers warm up their swings, Daily Herald Media compiled a list of region's golf courses to find out when they open and if they are planning anything new or interesting for the season. Rib Mountain Golf Course 3607 N. Mountain Road, Rib Mountain. 715-845-5570 When you can start golfing : The course opened March 14 and will remain accessible to golfers from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. New offerings or unique perks: Even though it's chilly out, Mike Oliva, one of the co-owners, said that golfing early in the season has its advantages. The course's proximity to Rib ...

Thanks to a birdie on the 72nd hole, Matt Every fired a 6-under 66 to chase down Henrik Stenson and win the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the second year in a row. Here’s what went down in the final round at Bay Hill: Leaderboard: Every (-19), Stenson (-18), Matt Jones (-17), Morgan Hoffmann (-15) What it means: The win is the second of Every’s career and, of course, his second at the API, following his victory last year. He is just the third man to win in back-to-back years at Bay Hill, joining Loren Roberts (1994-95) and Tiger Woods (2000-03; ’08-09; ’12-13). The 31-year-old journeyman took a while to win his first Tour event and, thereafter, struggled to follow it up. In between API victories, he posted just one top-10 finish and failed to complete 11 of 26 events, via a combination of withdraws, disqualifications and missed cuts. His best finish on Tour this season was a T-27 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, a no-cut event with a total field of 33 players. In ...

Tense moments for the driver and dozens of passengers on board a city bus. According to the city’s Department of Transportation Services, a group of young males were being chased by another group when they boarded a bus in Pearl City at around 12 a.m. Saturday. That’s when one of them outside started smashing the bus windows with a golf club. “At first I was sleeping and all of a sudden, I hear people getting on the bus, yelling at the bus driver to go. They’re like really yelling at him,” said bus passenger Desiree Jasmine Mitsue Borge. It was an experience that caught many passengers off guard. A bus on Route 40 heading west, suddenly coming under attack in Pearl City. “A bunch of guys came on the bus. And there’s another group chasing after them,” said Borge. “And all of sudden I heard people with golf clubs smashing against the windows.” On Saturday, KHON2 spoke to an official with the city’s Department of Transportation Services by phone. H...