Houston Golf News

By Ron Green Sr.
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, Inc.
Pub. Date: April 2008
ISBN-13: 9781584796947

In The Masters: 101 Reasons to Love Golf’s Greatest Tournament, longtime sports writer Ron Green Sr. shares his take on historic moments, legendary players and time-honored traditions that he has experienced during his 50-plus years covering the tournament.

The book is easy to navigate and is appealing to both readers familiar with the Masters or Augusta National and those parties interested in getting acquainted with golf’s first major and the famed club that hosts it. 

The latest offering from Cobra Golf in the fairway metal family is the S9-1, a club that employs the latest technology to create easy-to-hit fairway metals that bring any green within reach.

Integral in the club’s design is Cobra’s “Hotter 9 Points” technology which promotes more COR (coefficient of restitution) across the entire clubface. In Layman’s terms, COR to the “spring like effect” of modern clubfaces. This measures how efficiently energy is transferred from the face of your club to the ball.

The “Hotter 9 Points” technology is designed to create higher ball speed and more consistent ball flight wherever contact is made on the face of the club.

Finally, golf’s most decorated active player returned to competition when Tiger Woods entered the recent Accenture Match Play Championship. With favorable spring temperatures also making their return, maybe it’s time to think about brushing up on your abilities in preparation for the 2009 golf season.

Dozens of golf facilities throughout the Houston metro area offer instructional and practice programs aimed to help golfers adjust and improve their swings in an effort to lower scores and enhance the overall golfing experience. We’ve highlighted some of the best.

While Eagle Pointe’s Player Development Program is open to everyone, it’s especially geared toward those golfers who are new to the game or those interested to taking their game to the next level. The program combines unlimited range balls with low-cost course access.

Greg Norman's unexpected run at the Claret Jug in last year's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale ultimately fell short, but his third place finish was enough to earn him spot in The Masters.

To tune up for his first appearance at Augusta National Golf Club since 2002, Norman has accepted a sponsor's exemption to play in the Shell Houston Open, which is scheduled the week prior to The Masters at the Redstone Golf Club's Tournament Course.

Ping has introduced the Rapture V2. This is the second generation of the popular multi material offering under the Rapture label. New graphics and colors are the obvious changes for the Rapture V2, but what you don’t notice is the greatest benefitto the player.

First, titanium is used for the face material saving about 25 grams of weight to be distributed low in the club head and around the perimeter. Second, a mass of tungsten is placed in the sole to move the center of gravity low and deep.

Stanford Financial Group, already a prominent sponsor in professional golf, will further expand their presence in the sport as it was announced today that the company will become the new title sponsor of the LPGA's Tour Championship.

The 2009 Stanford Financial Tour Championship, to be held Nov. 19-22 in Houston, Texas, will feature a $2 million purse. 

Bill Pushak and his staff at Moody Gardens Golf Course on Galveston Island prepared for the worst as Hurricane Ike churned in the Gulf of Mexico, growing into a massive but weakened category 2 storm. Many of the golf courses surrounding the Houston area expected just slight damage, comparable to what they experienced during Hurricane Rita just three years ago.

By the time Ike finally passed, his waters receded and the damage was accessed, the wide swath of destruction cut by one of the costliest hurricanes in recorded history had affected everyone to different degrees, leaving some thankful it wasn't worse and others surprised by the storm's impact. 

MAGNOLIA, TEXAS - High Meadow Ranch Golf Club re-opened for play at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, September 24th, thirteen days after being forced to close from the damages and effects of Hurricane Ike. High winds and heavy rains from the storm uprooted and toppled several hundred trees on the property and power and utilities were knocked out for the past 12 days. Power was restored late Tuesday evening, and the staff at High Meadow Golf Club worked feverishly to get the property cleaned up and open for play.

"The past couple weeks have been quite stressful for our staff as many employees have also been without power to their homes, as well" noted Cody Spivey, General Manager of High Meadow Ranch. "Our team worked dawn to dusk to help clean up the timber and debris on the golf course and surrounding roadways. The loss of power prevented us from irrigating the golf course and we were really starting to get concerned about possible turf damage, but the course looks like it weathered the storm as good as can be expected. We are excited to open the course and provide area residents with an opportunity to take a break from their clean up efforts and tee it up." 

TaylorMade Golf has introduced their newest line of fairway-shortening, greenseeking golf gear that will be hotter than a Texas summer. The 2008 line of Tour Burner woods and irons will include their standard models and their much desired Tour Preferred (TP) models.

The driver head design employs a dual crown which simply moves the center of gravity (CG) lower in the club head and away from the club face. This will launch the ball higher and reduce the ball spin rate. The head shape is almost triangular for optimum moment of inertia (MOI). MOI is what keeps the club face square to the of center hit. 

Johnson Wagner toured Redstone Golf Club

Tournament Course in 63-69-69-71 for a 16-under-par 272 total for a two-stroke victory over Geoff Ogilvy and Chad Campbell.

It was Wagner's first PGA TOUR victory and earned him a berth in The Masters.

Wagner earned a $1,008,000 winner's check, the largest ever in Shell Houston Open history. His victory was sparked by a 9-under-par 63 in the opening round that tied the record established earlier in the day by defending champion Adam Scott.

Wagner first set the record at Redstone Golf Club -- Tournament Course in during the third round of 2007. It was later tied by Bubba Watson.