The United States Golf Association (USGA), in partnership with American Express, today announced plans for the second annual PLAY9™ Day, scheduled for Wednesday, July 29.

The USGA will recognize and celebrate the many virtues of the nine-hole round. Coming off a successful first year, the initiative will broaden to include more facilities and more golfers as it continues to gain momentum and popularity as a convenient way to enjoy and experience the game we all love.

In support of the PLAY9 initiative, the USGA will deploy a national awareness-building campaign to encourage participation from golf clubs and golfers alike. The multi-channel campaign is designed to rally golfers of all skill and interest levels around PLAY9 Day.

The campaign is highlighted by:

• Distribution of PLAY9 toolkits to USGA Member Clubs
• On-air promotion through Fox Sports
• Extensive digital promotion
• An engaging social-media campaign
• Significant state and regional golf association support

PLAY9 toolkits will be downloadable at www.usga.org/play9 and will include a user guide, posters, tent card and customizable cart plate.

Golfers will find extensive engagement opportunities online and via social media. Facilities and golfers will be encouraged to share their photos and success stories from PLAY9 Day, and the USGA will feature these across its many platforms. Within social media circles, all participants will be encouraged to promote the day via the use of #Play9Golf.

“Of paramount importance to the USGA is researching solutions and promoting initiatives to encourage participation while sustaining the health of golf for future generations,” said Mike Davis, executive director of the USGA. “PLAY9 Day addresses the time barrier to the game that some face. By expanding our efforts through outreach with USGA Member Clubs and state and regional golf associations, we anticipate a steady uptick from last year’s program, affirming the merits of playing golf when time does not permit an 18-hole round. We encourage everyone to play golf on July 29th, and to bring friends and family along to enjoy the experience.”

With nine-hole facilities making up more than 30 percent of public courses in the U.S. and 90 percent of courses offering a nine-hole rate, July 29 provides an optimal opportunity to play golf and encourage additional participation.

Among the many benefits of the nine-hole round:

• It involves less of a time commitment than playing 18 holes.
• It can be less intimidating to newcomers as they learn the Rules, etiquette and fundamentals of the game.
• It is friendlier on the wallet.
• Nine-hole scores are eligible for handicap purposes.

The 2014 program helped to educate golfers that nine-hole scores are eligible for handicap purposes. In 2014, the USGA’s Golf Handicap and Information Network (GHIN®) recorded a 13 percent increase from 2013 in nine-hole rounds posted in the two months after the program’s launch. Golfers can visit www.usga.org/play9 to find more information on posting a nine-hole score.

Additionally, a USGA consumer study conducted by Sports & Leisure Research Group has shown that 60 percent of golfers see nine-hole rounds as an engaging way to introduce people to the game. Whether for new players or experienced players, PLAY9 Day is designed to encourage everyone to find the time to play more of the game we all love.

About the USGA 
The USGA conducts the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open, as well as 10 national amateur championships, two state team championships and international matches, attracting players and fans from more than 160 countries. Together with The R&A, the USGA governs the game worldwide, jointly administering the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, equipment standards and World Amateur Golf Rankings. The USGA’s reach is global with a working jurisdiction in the United States, its territories and Mexico, serving more than 25 million golfers and actively engaging 150 golf associations.

The USGA is one of the world’s foremost authorities on research, development and support of sustainable golf course management practices. It serves as a primary steward for the game’s history and invests in the development of the game through the delivery of its services and its ongoing “For the Good of the Game” grants program. Additionally, the USGA’s Course Rating and Handicap systems are used on six continents in more than 50 countries.
For more information about the USGA, visit www.usga.org.

Contacts: 
Jeff Altstadter, Manager, Media Relations
973-908-9991
[email protected]

That will teach him.

Fresh off being suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the 2015 season, reigning Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady did what Tom Brady does, he played golf in the Bahamas with Michael Jordan. Again. This was actually the first time Brady has been photographed in public since the suspension was handed down.

Brady, and his supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen, were in town for the wedding of friend.

Read more at THE GOLF CHANNEL

By all accounts, it was a tremendous success. Well, maybe not all accounts.

In the Instagram video below, Mark Cuban playfully chides Tiger for taking all of his money at the poker table, even going so far as saying he is “broke, dead broke … because of this guy” as the camera pans over to show a steely-faced Woods.

Considering Cuban’s net worth is estimated a $3 billion, we’re going to assume he was joking.

Read  more at GOLF CHANNEL

Last week, famed golf coach David Leadbetter interviewed with Ben Lyons on The Players Tribune Sirius show and Leadbetter shared his thoughts on a variety of topics, including his perspective on why Tiger Woods is struggling.

“He’s getting a little older now, he’s 39, close to 40. I don’t think his eyes are quite as good. Form does deteriorate over a period, otherwise, these players would keep going. I think Tiger with all his issues and certainly his injuries, he’s an old 39 too. Whether he’s going to get it back or not, that’s going to be tough to say. He’s a perfectionist. He changes his swing a lot. He’s worked on a lot of different things. I think he’s personally gotten a little too technical, lost a lot of his creativity and his feel. Furthermore, there’s some young guns out there, the Rickie Fowlers we saw last week and Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. These guys are fearless. So the competition is much fiercer now too. I think Tiger, he might have flashes but to get back to old Tiger, I think that’s virtually impossible.”

On the mental aspect of the game…

“One of the things you think with Tiger is that he could get away from the game for a couple of months and go figure it out himself. How much knowledge has this guy gained through the years, through all of his various teachers and all his great success. You’d think he’d be able to go out there and figure it out.”

Listen to the full radio interview HERE

(AP) –A boy who was bullied for stuttering received strong encouragement from someone else who once struggled with his speech — Tiger Woods.

“I also stuttered as a child … ” Tiger Woods wrote in the letter published Tuesday by Golf Digest. “I also took a class for two years to help me, and I finally learned to stop.”
“I know what it’s like to be different and to sometimes not fit in,” Woods wrote in the letter. “I also stuttered as a child and I would talk to my dog and he would sit there and listen until he fell asleep. I also took a class for two years to help me, and I finally learned to stop.”

The plight of the high school boy, identified only as Dillon, was publicized when his mother reached out to eight-time Solheim Cup player Sophie Gustafson of Sweden, who played her entire career on the LPGA and in Europe with a severe stuttering problem.

Gustafson shared the mother’s letter with Golf Digest, which published a story on its website April 30.

The mother said her son tried out for the football team only to quit because of the constant teasing about his stutter. She wrote that he was on the verge of leaping from his bedroom window on April 16 until his parents stopped him.

Read more at ESPN

Yes, this does happen. If you have not already heard about it, a single-engine airplane made an emergency landing and flipped over the afternoon of Friday, April 17, on the Mountain View Country Club golf course in La Quinta.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Armando Muñoz said the plane apparently had engine trouble about 4:15 p.m., and the pilot set it down. The plane did not crash, and nobody was injured, Muñoz said. Read more at LA QUINTA

Gil Hanse designed the course that will stage the return of golf to the Olympics in 2016 for the first time in 112 years and knows the stakes are high for the sport.

“I hate figure skating. I don’t ever watch it. But every four years I watch figure skating because it’s in the Olympics,” Hanse said on Saturday at an Architectural Symposium at the U.S. Golf Association headquarters.

“So people who have never watched golf, because it’s an Olympic sport will tune in.

“If in any small way we can present the face of what we believe golf should look like — not perfect, a little bit rugged, a little bit rustic — hopefully this will bring a boom in golf development around the world.”

After long delays in construction over issues including environmental concerns, Hanse said the struggles are over and only the last touches remain on the as yet unnamed course.

“I think we’re clear. We’re finished,” he said.

The course, which features natural vegetation, heavy bunkering, a lagoon and sandy, rough ground lining wide fairways, will host two 60-player tournaments with the women’s event following the men’s at the Rio Games.

Read more at RETUERS

Harrison, N.Y. (May 13, 2015) – To honor the men and women who serve the United States in the armed services, the inaugural KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is providing complimentary daily grounds tickets to the June 9-14, 2015 Championship at Westchester Country Club.

Access is available to active duty, retirees, active reserve, National Guard, DoD Civilians and their accompanying spouse. Military personnel should present their military and dependent spouse identification cards at the Admissions & Will Call office at the main spectator entrance of the Championship in exchange for daily grounds tickets on the day of admission.

The championship also has announced free admission for juniors age 17 and younger, when accompanied by a ticketed adult (maximum of four juniors per each ticketed adult). Junior tickets will be distributed on site at the Admissions & Will Call office on the day of admission.

The complimentary military and junior tickets are only available at the gate.

Carrying on the 60-year legacy of the LPGA Championship, KPMG, the PGA of America and the LPGA have joined forces to create the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the first-of-its-kind major championship. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship brings together a world-class, annual major golf championship with a women’s leadership summit and an ongoing charitable initiative to inspire and develop new generations of female leaders.

The championship is also accepting volunteers, particularly those who would like to serve as a course marshal.  Adult volunteers, ages 22 and older, are required to work three to four, four-hour shifts and contribute a minimum of 12 hours total.

All volunteers will receive a uniform (golf shirt and headwear), a credential providing site access from Tuesday through Sunday of event week, preferred complimentary parking, discount in the Championship Golf Shop, a Championship program, and a limited number of meal and water vouchers.  The volunteer fee for adults is $96.

For more information on volunteer packages and tickets to the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, visit www.kpmgwomenspgachampionship.com.