Tournament leaderboard data from the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LIV Golf, LPGA Tour, and PGA Tour Champions wasn’t pulling cleanly as of publication time this Monday morning, and I’m not going to sit here and make up results. We’ll get those updated as the data firms up. What I can tell you is that the biggest story in golf this weekend didn’t happen on the professional tours anyway — it happened on the west coast of Ireland, and it’s the kind of thing you’ll be talking about for a while.
Walker Cup: GB&I Pull Off One of the Great Comebacks at Lahinch
If you weren’t watching the Walker Cup at Lahinch this weekend, you missed something special. GB&I pulled off a historic comeback against a Team USA side that looked like they had the match firmly in hand heading into Sunday. The final singles sessions flipped the script entirely, and the home crowd at Lahinch got exactly the moment they came to see.
The name you need to know out of this one is Stuart Grehan. According to Golf.com’s coverage, Grehan’s weekend-long battle against Preston Stout was at the center of the whole thing — the kind of individual matchup within a team event that ends up defining the entire result. Stout played well enough; Grehan just played better when it counted. That’s Walker Cup golf.
What I find interesting about the aftermath is how Team USA handled the loss. I’ve always thought that how you carry yourself after a tough result says something real about character. The American side responded with class. That matters. These are amateurs playing for nothing but pride and a shirt, and how they handle defeat says everything.
Next up on the team golf calendar: the Solheim Cup in the Netherlands. The editors at Golf.com are already previewing what looks like a compelling match, and after what we just saw at Lahinch, the appetite for team golf right now is real. I’ll have more on the Solheim Cup buildup as we get closer.
Cleveland RTZ2 Wedges: Real-World Test Results from Pinehurst
On the gear side, the story I’m most interested in this week is the Cleveland RTZ2 wedge real-world test at Pinehurst. Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow took these out for what they’re calling a “game-time” test, and that’s the right approach. It’s one thing to hit wedges off a mat into a simulator; it’s another to put them through actual turf conditions at a course that challenges every part of your short game.
I haven’t had the RTZ2 in my own hands yet, but I’ve been watching this release closely. The RTZ (Return to Zero) concept from Cleveland is built around groove geometry and turf interaction — the idea being that consistent contact from a variety of lies is more valuable than optimized performance from a perfect lie you rarely get. That’s a smart design philosophy. Most amateurs — and plenty of low-handicappers — lose spin and distance control not off tight fairway lies but out of rough, divots, and tight slopes. If the RTZ2 delivers more consistent results from those scenarios, it’s worth a serious look. I’ll have my own testing numbers once I get enough rounds with a set.
Honma’s New Simplified Wedge
There’s also a new wedge from Honma worth mentioning. The pitch is soft stainless steel construction that’s supposed to deliver both rust resistance and a soft feel — which, if you’ve spent any time with raw carbon steel wedges that look great in September and look like an anchor by April, is a real selling point. The other angle Honma is pushing is a simplified selection process that guides golfers toward the right loft and grind without drowning them in options. Whether it actually delivers on that promise is something I want to find out. More to come.
Elite Grips Expanding Through Worldwide Golf Shops
One piece of news that didn’t make a lot of noise this week but is worth flagging for anyone curious about Elite Grips: they’re expanding their U.S. retail presence through Worldwide Golf Shops, with Roger Dunn Golf Shops in Santa Ana and The Golf Mart in South San Francisco leading the rollout. If you’re in Southern California or the Bay Area, you’ll now be able to get your hands on these in person rather than ordering blind online. Grip feel is one of those things where you really want to hold it before you commit, so retail availability matters more than people give it credit for.
From the Reddit Community: A Few Things Worth Your Time
Over on r/golf this week, there’s a thread making the rounds about whether scratch players are hitting long irons into greens all day. The poster is a 9-handicap hitting 245 yards of carry off the tee and wondering if distance is really the limiting factor at his level. The short answer: not usually. At scratch, the game is won and lost in the 100-175 yard range, around the greens, and on the putting surface. If you’re a 9 and you’re hitting 245 in the air, you’ve got enough club to play to a much lower number — the question is what you’re doing with it.
There’s also a fun restoration post floating around featuring a set of Ping Zing Blonde and Black Woods — driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, 7-wood — from the early 90s. The person who posted it actually gamed the blonde set as their first new clubs back in the day. I love seeing this kind of thing. The Ping Zing era produced some genuinely excellent equipment, and a restored set in good shape still has character that a lot of modern gear doesn’t. Purely nostalgic, but worth a look if you remember those clubs.
Looking Ahead
The Solheim Cup is the headline event on the horizon, and I’ll be covering the buildup and results right here. On the gear front, I’m working on getting Cleveland RTZ2 wedges into a proper testing rotation, and the Honma wedge is on my radar as well. If you’ve got questions about either of those clubs or anything else you’ve been thinking about adding to the bag, drop them in the comments.
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