In the News

Adidas Launches New Shoe at Shriners' Vegas Tour Stop

adidas Golf is debuting its newest and most stable golf shoe to date, the TOUR360 4.0, in Las Vegas at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open Oct. 12-18, 2009.

The revolutionary new shoe, which is the first to incorporate adidas Golf's Advanced THiNTech low-profile technology, brings golfers lower to the ground for improved overall balance, weight transfer, stability, power and consistency. The new adidas Golf shoe will launch exclusively in Las Vegas with availability in other markets soon after.   

The record books were rewritten at the 33rd Callaway Golf PGA Assistant Championship, as Tim Thelen of New Ulm, Texas, fired a final round 4-under-par 68 for a 265 total. PGA apprentice Sean Dougherty of Overland Park, Kan., finished in second place.

Thelen broke the 72-hole Championship scoring record of 270, which was previously held by Kyle Finton of Edmond, Okla., by five strokes. Finton set the mark in 2003.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - After an absence of more than a century, golf will return as an Olympic sport in 2016 and 2020 along with rugby sevens following their approval by the International Olympic Committee membership during the IOC’s 121st Session.

They will be part of the Olympic Program in Rio de Janeiro, which last week was selected as the host city for the 2016 Games by the IOC. Golf was last an Olympic sport at the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Mo., when the United States and Canada were the only two competing countries.

The International Golf Federation has announced that professional golfers Padraig Harrington of Ireland, Suzann Pettersen of Norway and Michelle Wie of the United States, as well as 16-year-old (British) Amateur Champion Matteo Manassero of Italy, will participate in the final presentation before the International Olympic Committee membership on Friday, Oct. 9 during the IOC's 121st Session.

The four golfers will join Ty Votaw, Executive Director of the IGF Olympic Golf Committee, which has coordinated golf's Olympic bid, and Peter Dawson, chief executive of The R&A and joint secretary of the IGF. Golf and rugby sevens, the two sports recommended for the 2016 Olympic Programme by the IOC Executive Board, will present their final case to the full IOC membership before it votes that same day on whether to accept one, both or neither sport. 

MYRTLE BEACH - Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday recently announced that more than $65,000 was raised during the second annual Know Your Score: Fight Prostate Cancer Celebrity Golf Tournament and Gala held Aug. 29, 2009. Since starting the prostate education and research campaign in 2008, the Myrtle Beach golf community has helped raised more than $205,000 for the Know Your Score: Fight Prostate Cancer and ZERO - the Project to End Prostate Cancer campaigns.

The day began with an 18-hole celebrity golf tournament at The Long Bay Club in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. with each participant having the opportunity to play golf with one of the celebrities who traveled to Myrtle Beach to help fight prostate cancer. After golf, participants headed to Kingston Plantation in North Myrtle Beach for the Gala for dinner, entertainment and the opportunity to bid on sports memorabilia during a silent auction. 

PALM BEACH GARDENS - PGA Village, located in Port St. Lucie, Fla., is ranked No. 51 among the "75 Best Golf Resorts in North America," according to the latest listing by a panel of more than 900 course raters, as selected by Golf Digest. The ranking marks the second consecutive time that the facility has made Golf Digest's list, which is one of the most-coveted honors in the industry, as hundreds of resorts across the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean are reviewed.

Golf Digest's listing once again places PGA Village, which features 54 holes of Championship golf by Tom Fazio and Pete Dye at PGA Golf Club, a 35-acre PGA Center for Golf Learning and Performance and the PGA Historical Center, home to the Ryder Cup Trophy and the four major Championship trophies of golf, alongside some well-known and impressive company. 

Judy Rankin, World Golf Hall of Fame member and television golf commentator, has been selected to receive the 2010 Old Tom Morris Award by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA).

The award will be presented during the 2010 GCSAA Education Conference at Celebrate GCSAA! presented in partnership with Syngenta, Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m. Formerly the Opening Session and Welcoming Reception, Celebrate GCSAA! is hosted by GCSAA President Mark D. Kuhns, CGCS. The conference (Feb. 8-12) will be held in conjunction with the Golf Industry Show (Feb. 10-11) at the San Diego Convention Center. 

The results of Golf World's second annual "Readers' Choice Awards" are in, and it appears that the people who voted and the so-called experts have differing opinions when it comes to who deserves to be on top.

Perhaps the biggest surprise comes in the Public Golf Course category where Forest Dunes Golf Club, located in the tiny village of Roscommon, Michigan (Pop. 1,133), earned top honors. Forest Dunes doesn't even appear in Golf Magazine's well-respected rankings of the "Top 100 You Can Play," and Golf Digest has the course tied for 37^th in its list of "100 Greatest Public Courses."

Dana Garmany, chairman and founder of Troon Golf, has announced he will retire from his role as chief executive officer with the company on December 31, 2009.

As planned, the role of chief executive officer will be taken over by Hud Hinton on Jan. 1, 2010. Hinton has served as president and chief operating officer of Troon Golf since 1999. Garmany will continue in his position as chairman of the board and will remain active in strategic company decisions, but all day-to-day activities and decision making will be handled by Hinton. 

Market Leader on Track for Best Year Ever Despite Down Economy  

Knetgolf, the world’s largest combined recycler and refinisher of premium, pre-owned, brand-name golf balls, reports a year-to-date customer savings in excess of $20 million, averaging more than a dollar per ball. 

Projected to sell a company-best 20 million golf balls in 2009 across North America (and in 30 other countries), Knetgolf’s sophisticated recycling process provides consumers with quality, unblemished balls at significant discounts.