Izzo Swing Stick

I�ve been having real problems of late with my back swing, I�ve been coming right in the line from take away and as a result have been very wristy and have developed an occasional hook/draw. I�ve lived with it for a while now but thought id try to do something about it!
I had a trawl [...]

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[Source: Golf Blog]

Golf Charity Auction

If you are a golf enthusiast, then this is the perfect opportunity to get your hands on some exclusive items and experiences, whilst raising money for charity along the way!
Buy Once give Twice is running an online auction with proceeds benefitting charities such as CLIC Sargent, Breast Cancer Campaign, Oxfam, Treehouse and many more.
AUCTION ITEMS [...]

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[Source: Golf Blog]

Today�s Golfer Winter Fantasy League

The sign-up for the Today’s Golfer Winter Fantasy League is now open and the 16-strong list of tournaments has been finalised.
The line-up tees off with the HSBC Champions on 5 November and features six European and nine USPGA Tour events, climaxing with the WGC-CA Championship on 26 March.
Visit the Today�s Golfer Website to register [...]

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[Source: Golf Blog]

Golf�s price comparison website has arrived

Everyone loves a great deal, especially for great golf equipment that can really improve your game. Now trawling around shops and websites to compare prices is a thing of the past thanks to TG Compare, a revolutionary new way to check out and buy new golf gear brought to us from Today�s Gofler.
Most of us [...]

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[Source: Golf Blog]

New Cobra L5V Driver

The new adjustable Cobra L5V driver is sure to be an instant hit with the mid to high handicappers. With Cobra�s new adjustable flight technology it has two flight bias settings allowing standard and draw setups.
The new driver has been built with the Cobra Dual Rhombus Face Insert Technology which allows for superb forgiveness of [...]

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[Source: Golf Blog]

Ryder Cup Fantasy League

Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger have picked their squads for the greatest team event in sport and now it’s your turn to select your line-up and win some cracking prizes.
The Today’s Golfer Ryder Cup Fantasy League, in association with Paddy Power, gives you the chance to pit your wits against your mates in a private [...]

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[Source: Golf Blog]

Titleist ProV1s are banned in US; infringe the patents of Callaway

Judge Sue Robinson in federal court issued this opinion:

�[T]he court finds that [Callaway] has made a sufficient showing on each of the four traditional factors [necessary to prove to win a permanent injunction]. A permanent injunction shall issue by separate order. The court will enjoin the production and sale of Pro V1 products commencing January 1, 2009.� (More)

Read More...

[Source: The Golf Blog]

Bandon Dunes Vacation Trip Tips: Part III, On the Course

Earlier this year, I took a once-in-a-lifetime golf vacation to Bandon Dunes. I have already written about my off-the-course experiences and how to prepare for it. Here are my on-the-course experiences:

Consider a Caddie

Playing on local munis for most of my golf life, I'm not used to nor am I a big fan of caddies. I prefer to rely on myself for many of the things that caddies provide such as club carrying, club selection and green reading. But since Bandon is walking only and we were playing 36 holes per day on links courses, a caddie is almost a necessity to prevent death by exhaustion! But it's not cheap. Caddie fees at Bandon are $55 per round per person. Double bagging provides no discount! Oh, and don't forget the suggested $25 tip per round!

Unfortunately, the quality of caddies at Bandon is not consistent. At Bandon, you are paired with a caddie and they remain your caddie for all of your future rounds no matter what courses you play. This is fine if you have a good caddie, but it can be uncomfortable at best if you don't. My 8-person golf party each hired a different caddie. Unfortunately, 2 caddies didn't make it past the halfway mark of our trip for various reasons. They would have been dismissed a lot earlier if it wasn't so awkward!

The Courses

All three courses are spectacular! They'd better be with $210 green fees during the high season (but the same-day replay fees are only 50% of the full green fee!). Both Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes saddle up alongside the Oregon coastline and present some great ocean views. While Bandon is slightly longer than Pacific in total length, Pacific feels so much longer! I found Bandon to offer a slightly more interesting layout while Pacific is a tad more scenic with more breathtaking ocean views. Pacific also seems to play much more difficult than Bandon. I didn�t think that I would ever fail to break 100 again, but it happened at Pacific!

Bandon Trails is located away from the ocean right where the dunes meet the coastal forest. It starts and ends with true links holes, but in-between the course winds through a hilly and densely wooded forest. With its wider fairways and wind-breaking trees, Trails is a much more forgiving course than its oceanfront siblings. There are some dramatic elevation changes that add character but can make club selection difficult.

So which course is the best? Picking your favorite course at Bandon is a lot like Hef picking his favorite girlfriend from The Girls Next Door. You want to play a round with all of them, but you definitely want to play some more often than others! If the Bandon courses were Hef's girls, Pacific Dunes would be Holly, Bandon Trails would be Kendra and Bandon Dunes would be Bridget.

However, if Pacific didn�t exist, I�d rank Bandon ahead of Trails (but I'd still take Kendra over Bridget). That�s because while I prefer both links courses to Trails, it offers such a nice change of pace from a traditional links style course that it pairs perfectly with Bandon and Trails. My ideal day at Bandon would be a morning round at Trails, followed by a nice lunch in the clubhouse and ending with an afternoon round at Pacific. Just don�t remind me how much that costs!

My Favorite Memories

My favorite off-the-course memories from my Bandon Dunes golf trip are easily the dinners with my friends in the Lodge. These are some special people and I really appreciate the few times that we get to spend together.

But my favorite Bandon golf memory has to be my amazing driving round at Pacific Dunes. I hit driver on every non par-3 hole and hit the fairway each time! And these weren�t just dinky Funk-like pokes down the fairway, they were full-bore 250+ yd. drives! Of course the golf gods wouldn�t let the rest of my game reflect this excellence. They made sure that I didn�t break 90 by delivering an exact score of 90! My friend thought it was impossible not to break 90 if you hit every fairway. I sure proved him wrong!

Read More...

[Source: Grouchy Golf Blog]

Phil Mickelson: �I Won�t Answer That Directly�

Phil Mickelson

I DON�T PRETEND TO UNDERSTAND the inner workings of the world golf rankings. But I do know that Sergio Garcia recently supplanted Phil Mickelson as world No. 2.

During the 2008 season, Sergio won The Players Championship and had three runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour, as well as two victories on the European Tour. Lefty won twice on tour this year. Neither player won a major.

Phil was asked if Sergio deserved the No. 2 ranking.

�I won't answer that directly,� Mickelson was quoted as saying. �But I think that he's played some wonderful golf this year. I haven't played to the level that I want as far as wins. I'll be looking to improve on that.�

-The Armchair Golfer

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[Source: ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG]

UK Golf Blog Ryder Cup Challenge

Fancy joining me in the ‘Today’s Golfer Ryder Cup Fantasy League’ and lets see who comes out on top…….
The rules are simple .. using your allocated budget of $15m, simply select a team of six golfers from the priced player list. Your team must contain at least two American and two European Ryder Cup team [...]

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[Source: Golf Blog]

TaylorMade Tour Burner Irons

The new TaylorMade Tour Burner Irons look the ultimate in forgiveness and with the highest MOI measurements of any TaylorMade iron in their range these could be the mid to high handicappers irons of choice in 2009.
The extreme playability achieved with these irons is derived from TaylorMade�s Inverted Cone Technology that helps to expand the [...]

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[Source: Golf Blog]

Is the Skins Game a Silly Season Major?

I REMEMBER WATCHING THE FIRST Skins Game when Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Gary Player divvied up the loot. I thought it was pretty cool. Nothing against football, but I liked the idea of watching the biggest names in golf stand over humongous money putts on Thanksgiving weekend in the Southern California desert.

The novelty has long since worn off. Now, 25 years later, the format is more than a little tired. I honestly cant remember the last time I watched the Skins Game.

If there was such a thing as Silly Season majors, would the Skins Game be on the list? I figure Tigers tournament would be a shoo-in for Silly Season major status. Does anybody - even hard-core golf fans - care about any of the others?

-The Armchair Golfer

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[Source: ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG]

Casualty of the Financial Crisis: Tiger Woods -- GM ends endorsement deal to cut cost

Click here for the full story

Bye, bye, Buick. Wonder if they will stop sponsoring PGA tournaments, too?



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[Source: The Golf Blog]

Callaway mocks Titleist for infringing its patented technology in Titleist ProV1 ball

As we reported earlier, a federal court is set to ban Titleist ProV1 golf balls because they infringe the patented technology of Callaway. Today, Callaway is gloating over its victory and has paid for full page ad in the Wall Street Journal that reads as follows:

"It's no secret that the Titleist ProV1 is the most popular golf ball ever. What is not widely known is that after Titleist admitted its ProV1 golf balls infringed various Callaway patents, a jury found those patents valid, and a federal court has now ordered Titleist to stop making and selling infringing ProV1 and ProV1x golf balls after January 1, 2009.

The ad has a huge photo of Callaway's ball eclipsing Titleist ProV1 under the title: "The #1 Ball in Golf" was built on Callaway know-how.

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[Source: The Golf Blog]

Farewell, Annika

(Illustration by Gary Hisanaga/Flickr)

-The Armchair Golfer

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[Source: ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG]

Water Hazards Aren't All Bad!

California is ground zero for the great housing bust of our generation. Having worked in distressed real estate for over 4 years in the early nineties, I saw the early warning signs of the current housing bubble back in 2001. I felt like Chicken Little warning people that the real estate sky was falling over the last half decade. Alas, only a few people listened. One was a friend who was so spooked, he sold his overinflated Pasadena, CA house in 2005 in favor of renting a place in Indianapolis.

It took a while, but my doom and gloom prediction came true. After peaking a couple years ago, home prices here have fallen faster than John Daly's bank account after a Vegas weekend. And don't expect home prices to stop falling until they reach levels last seen in 2002, in real terms. Adding insult to injury, wildfires last week have destroyed around 1,000 homes in southern California. It probably would have been worse if it weren't for those things that haunt all golfers: water hazards.

As long as they contain more water than golf balls, golf course water hazards are perfect refilling stations for firefighting helicopters! Check out these photos from grouchy reader David:




David has more photos here.

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[Source: Grouchy Golf Blog]

U.S. Ryder Cup Team Drops By Oval Office

(Clint L/Flickr)

DID JIM FURYK ROLL some putts across the presidential seal? Did Boo Weekley tell the president any colorful jokes? Did Phil Mickelson slap one of his patented flop shots from behind the presidents desk?

(Actually, Lefty and four other Ryder Cup teammates didnt make it.)

U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger, assistant captain Raymond Floyd and seven Ryder Cup team members stopped by the White House on Monday for a photo op with President George W. Bush. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, an avid golfer, was also on hand.

The team presented President Bush with a personalized Ryder Cup golf bag, a Sunday red golf shirt and sweater vest worn by the team and a Ryder Cup money clip.

Thats cool. Now why I didnt think about inviting them to my office?

-The Armchair Golfer

Read More...

[Source: ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG]

Bandon Dunes Vacation Trip Tips: Part III, On the Course

Earlier this year, I took a once-in-a-lifetime golf vacation to Bandon Dunes. I have already written about my off-the-course experiences and how to prepare for it. Here are my on-the-course experiences:

Consider a Caddie

Playing on local munis for most of my golf life, I'm not used to nor am I a big fan of caddies. I prefer to rely on myself for many of the things that caddies provide such as club carrying, club selection and green reading. But since Bandon is walking only and we were playing 36 holes per day on links courses, a caddie is almost a necessity to prevent death by exhaustion! But it's not cheap. Caddie fees at Bandon are $55 per round per person. Double bagging provides no discount! Oh, and don't forget the suggested $25 tip per round!

Unfortunately, the quality of caddies at Bandon is not consistent. At Bandon, you are paired with a caddie and they remain your caddie for all of your future rounds no matter what courses you play. This is fine if you have a good caddie, but it can be uncomfortable at best if you don't. My 8-person golf party each hired a different caddie. Unfortunately, 2 caddies didn't make it past the halfway mark of our trip for various reasons. They would have been dismissed a lot earlier if it wasn't so awkward!

The Courses

All three courses are spectacular! They'd better be with $210 green fees during the high season (but the same-day replay fees are only 50% of the full green fee!). Both Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes saddle up alongside the Oregon coastline and present some great ocean views. While Bandon is slightly longer than Pacific in total length, Pacific feels so much longer! I found Bandon to offer a slightly more interesting layout while Pacific is a tad more scenic with more breathtaking ocean views. Pacific also seems to play much more difficult than Bandon. I didnt think that I would ever fail to break 100 again, but it happened at Pacific!

Bandon Trails is located away from the ocean right where the dunes meet the coastal forest. It starts and ends with true links holes, but in-between the course winds through a hilly and densely wooded forest. With its wider fairways and wind-breaking trees, Trails is a much more forgiving course than its oceanfront siblings. There are some dramatic elevation changes that add character but can make club selection difficult.

So which course is the best? Picking your favorite course at Bandon is a lot like Hef picking his favorite girlfriend from The Girls Next Door. You want to play a round with all of them, but you definitely want to play some more often than others! If the Bandon courses were Hef's girls, Pacific Dunes would be Holly, Bandon Trails would be Kendra and Bandon Dunes would be Bridget.

However, if Pacific didnt exist, Id rank Bandon ahead of Trails (but I'd still take Kendra over Bridget). Thats because while I prefer both links courses to Trails, it offers such a nice change of pace from a traditional links style course that it pairs perfectly with Bandon and Trails. My ideal day at Bandon would be a morning round at Trails, followed by a nice lunch in the clubhouse and ending with an afternoon round at Pacific. Just dont remind me how much that costs!

My Favorite Memories

My favorite off-the-course memories from my Bandon Dunes golf trip are easily the dinners with my friends in the Lodge. These are some special people and I really appreciate the few times that we get to spend together.

But my favorite Bandon golf memory has to be my amazing driving round at Pacific Dunes. I hit driver on every non par-3 hole and hit the fairway each time! And these werent just dinky Funk-like pokes down the fairway, they were full-bore 250+ yd. drives! Of course the golf gods wouldnt let the rest of my game reflect this excellence. They made sure that I didnt break 90 by delivering an exact score of 90! My friend thought it was impossible not to break 90 if you hit every fairway. I sure proved him wrong!

Read More...

[Source: Grouchy Golf Blog]

Tiger Woods newsletter says nothing about President-elect Barack Obama victory

With so many high profile athletes like LeBron James publicly endorsing Barack Obama, it has been somewhat of a mystery that we've heard barely a peep out of Tiger Woods (although reports are that he contributed to Obama's campaign).

In November 5th's newsletter from Tiger, there's no mention of the historic election of this nation's first African American president as the 44th president.

Instead, here's what Tiger says:


This has been a busy stretch for me between rehabbing my knee, helping out with my foundation, keeping up with my three golf course design projects and fulfilling sponsor obligations. There hasn't been a lot of down time, although Elin and I took Sam to a Halloween party, where she dressed up as Tigger.

The knee is progressing. I'm working hard every day and there have been no setbacks. I've actually started to do a little chipping and putting, but no full swings. That's not going to happen until early next year.

We held our fourth annual Block Party and raised about $700,000 for our Learning Center. I want to thank Fred Couples and Chris Riley for helping me with the morning clinic at Pelican Hill. Freddie also helped out with our live auction and is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. I also want to thank world-renowned chef Mario Batali for preparing a three-course gourmet meal - yes, I ate two steaks - and special thanks to Seal for putting on a great concert. Just seeing him perform again was absolutely incredible. He's a nice guy, too.

Mario is so fired up about his cooking. I didn't learn much, but told him I would drop by some of his restaurants instead. I boil water really well and can make eggs in the morning.

I'd also like to thank one of the most important guests of the night - Eric Leos, a TWLC student who spoke about how much the Learning Center has helped him. His story is pretty amazing and hearing how the Learning Center completely changed his life really hit home. I'd like to extend by heartfelt thanks to the Orange County community for their continued support of the TWLC and students like Eric. It's important work, and we're making a real difference.

I also announced my third golf course design project, Punta Brava in Ensenada, Mexico - about 65 miles south of San Diego. Like my other design projects, Punta Brava fits all the criteria I'm looking for when deciding to design a course. The site is spectacular. I knew during my first visit it would be an amazing project. I also found a great partner in The Flagship Group, and I've really enjoyed working with them.

Now it's up to me to create a fantastic design and take full advantage of this unique site. I like working with the land to design a course that is a good fit. So walking the site and thinking through the strategy and shaping of each hole are really important elements of my design process. Punta Brava is my first oceanfront design, and there are 17 tees and greens on the water. It's awesome.

One of the things I love most about golf is thinking my way around a course, and it's a lot of fun incorporating this into my course designs. Each project is unique - the desert oasis, a mountain meadow course and now an oceanfront course - but all of them have been designed to be fun for all skill levels and reward smart thinking.

I did sneak in a Dodgers playoff game while I was in Southern California and had a great time. I've been a life-long fan and was disappointed they didn't win it all.

While I was down there, I did a Buick outing at Torrey Pines, and it was the first time I returned since I won the U.S. Open last June. While it was great to be back, it was a little harder to reminisce than I thought. I was shocked to see what the course looked like without grandstands. I hadn't seen it like that since junior golf.

I also did outings for Nike and Gillette. During the two Nike days, John Cook and Anthony Kim helped me conduct a couple golf clinics. Both are outstanding players and interacted really well with the guests. Also with Gillette, Derek Jeter and I filmed a commercial together. Derek and I are also participating in the Gillette EA SPORTS Champions of Gaming Tournament which is going to be the biggest global multi-sport gaming competition. Gamers from around the world will compete against each other for the chance to play against me and other Gillette Champions. I'll probably get killed by these experts, but we'll have fun. Entries have begun, and it wraps up in February. During the filming of the TV commercial, we played a new EA boxing game "Facebreakers," I beat him the first time; he got me the second. The crew had plenty of video and pictures, but we weren't leaving. You can't have a tie! He won the last game and gave me a hard time, but that's okay. I would have done the same.

I'm looking forward to hosting the Chevron World Challenge presented by Bank of America. It's Dec. 17-21 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. We're excited about our new partnerships and celebrating our 10th year. We have a young, competitive field, so it should be a great week.

One last thing: Congratulations to my friend John Cook for winning the AT&T Championship on the Champions Tour. We play a lot of golf together, and I think the only reason he won was because he wore a red shirt on Sunday.

Thanks for reading. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Tiger

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[Source: The Golf Blog]

Obama girl robocalls McCain + Palin

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[Source: The Golf Blog]

Titleist ProV1s are banned in US; infringe the patents of Callaway

Judge Sue Robinson in federal court issued this opinion:

[T]he court finds that [Callaway] has made a sufficient showing on each of the four traditional factors [necessary to prove to win a permanent injunction]. A permanent injunction shall issue by separate order. The court will enjoin the production and sale of Pro V1 products commencing January 1, 2009. (More)

Read More...

[Source: The Golf Blog]

Sergio Garcia wins HSBC, takes over No.2 World Ranking

Hard to believe but there's golf still going on in November. Sergio Garcia won the HSBC Champions tourney in Shanghai, to overtake Phil Mickelson for World No.2. With Tiger Woods injured, it is not out of the realm of possibility that Sergio overtakes Woods for No.1, if only briefly. A lot depends on when Tiger returns. It would be quite an achievement if El Nino became numero uno. (More)

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[Source: The Golf Blog]

Tiger Woods speaks proudly about the victory of Barack Obama

News: USA Today has just reported on Sunday what appears to be Tiger Woods's first public comments on Barack Obama's historic victory on Tuesday. The comments were made on Saturday -- so The Golf Blog is very sorry for the last post suggesting that Tiger had not yet commented on the Election (it had just not been published at the time of our post).

Here's what the USA Today reports:

"It will be one of the great days in America to see a man of color in the White House." Woods said Obama's victory pleased him and it would have pleased his father, the late Earl Woods, who was a retired Army officer.

"My father hoped he would see a man of color elected president in his lifetime," Woods said. "He didn't see it, but I hoped that I would see it."

Read More...

[Source: The Golf Blog]

Other media notice Tiger Woods' silence on Barack Obama in Nov.5 newsletter

News: The Golf Blog may have been the first to report the noticeable omission in Tiger Woods's newsletter the day after the Election. Now, the Chicago Sun Times is covering it, too.

OK, it is possible that the Nov.5 newsletter from Tiger Woods was prepared before the Election. But it is very surprising that Tiger Woods still hasn't issued an official statement yet, even after so many of the most important athletes have. Tiger Woods is the most important, more recognizable athlete of this generation in the entire world. Forbes magazine says Tiger will be the first athlete to reach the $1 billion mark. Tiger has broken down barriers for so many young golfers. It is just surprising that not even a press release was sent out by Tiger Woods's PR people.

Here are prominent athletes and sports figures who have commented about Obama's victory:

1. Serena Williams
2. Venus Williams
3. LeBron James
4. NBA commissioner David Stern
5. Donovan McNabb
6. Grant Hill
7. Doc Rivers
8. Herm Edwards
9. Lovie Smith
10. Tony Dungy
11. Ty Willingham
12. Roy Jones, Jr
13. Omar Minaya
14. Doug Williams
15. Terrell Owens
16. Hines Ward
17. Dan Rooney

18. PGA golfer Boo Weekley
19. Curt Schilling

Even Curt Schilling, a Republic and McCain supporter, congratulated Barack Obama on his victory.

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[Source: The Golf Blog]

Seve Ballesteros improving after brain surgery, may leave intensive care

Wonderful news from Spain. After recovering from several brain surgeries to remove a tumor, Seve Ballesteros may be moved from the intensive care to the regular inpatient ward. The Golf Blog sends Mr. Ballesteros our prayers and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

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[Source: The Golf Blog]

Bogey pro -- the store for Joe the Plumber

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[Source: The Golf Blog]

Tiger Woods interview about President Barack Obama -- says his father "would have cried"

Click here for the video

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[Source: The Golf Blog]

Six Enter World Golf Hall of Fame

Hall inductee Denny Shute
won three majors in the 1930s.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADIEU, here are the six people who were inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday, November 10.


Craig Wood
(PGA Tour Ballot)
Wood was the first player to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year. He also won 21 PGA Tour titles, which makes me wonder why it took so long for Wood to get in. Jack Fleck named his only son Craig in honor of Wood.

Bob Charles
(Veterans Category)
The original Lefty, Charles won six events on the PGA Tour, including the 1963 British Open. All total, including international and seniors titles, Charles collected 66 wins. He is the first New Zealander in the Hall.

Denny Shute
(Veterans Category)
A 1930s era player, Shute won 16 tour events and three majors. Shute also played on three Ryder Cup teams.

Herbert Warren Wind
(Lifetime Achievement)
An illustrious golf writer who wrote for Sports Illustrated and penned Hogans popular instruction book, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. Wind also coined the term Amen Corner at the 1958 Masters.

Pete Dye
(Lifetime Achievement)
The famed designer of more than 120 golf courses, Dye is the fourth golf course architect to enter the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Carole Semple Thompson
(Lifetime Achievement)
Thompson was an amateur who won seven USGA championships and took part in 14 Curtis Cup matches. She is the sixth woman to be inducted.

-The Armchair Golfer

Read More...

[Source: ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG]