This Week in Golf – February 13, 2026

The moments before a tournament can make or break a player’s week. This time at Pebble Beach, Jordan Spieth ran into an unusual pre-tournament problem that shows how unpredictable pro golf preparation can be. I’m curious about the details of his “bizarre swing obstacle,” but what’s interesting is how it seemed to fire him up rather than throw him off as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am got underway.

PGA Tour Storylines

While Spieth dealt with his pre-round issues, Tommy Fleetwood was wrestling with a different question—whether his nice-guy reputation was holding him back. The idea of Fleetwood as “the bad guy” feels ridiculous if you’ve ever watched him play, but his thoughts on this reveal something about the mental games players play with themselves when chasing wins.

Here’s the thing: Fleetwood’s 2025 success didn’t come from being mean—it came from being tougher on himself. There’s a big difference between nice and soft, and the best players know exactly where that line is.

On a different note, Justin Rose’s latest victory came from good old-fashioned preparation. The training aid that helped him tune up his swing before dominating shows that breakthroughs often come from the boring work—the kind nobody sees.

Technical Insights

Speaking of boring work, there’s real value in stepping off your putts to improve distance control. GOLF Top 100 Teacher Doug Spencer’s method tackles one of putting’s most ignored problems—how your body reads distance and break together. It sounds almost too simple until you try it and watch your lag putting get noticeably better.

That’s golf instruction in a nutshell. Players spend endless hours on swing mechanics, but sometimes the fix comes from something as basic as how you walk up to the ball.

Equipment Updates

PXG released their Hot Rod ZT™ Putter with what they’re calling “true zero torque technology.” Marketing aside, it’s interesting how putter tech keeps evolving while the real challenge—reading greens and controlling speed—stays exactly the same. The best equipment works with your natural feel, not against it.

Looking Ahead

LIV Golf Adelaide locked in dates for 2027, their fifth time at what they’re calling Australia’s biggest golf event. March 18-21, 2027, at Kooyonga Golf Club. Love LIV or hate it, their push into international venues is changing how we think about professional golf’s map.

Community Moments

Away from the pros, one new dad figured out how to walk nine holes with his baby, which perfectly captures golf’s weird ability to bend around life instead of disappearing from it. His solution is the kind of creativity that keeps the game alive in busy lives.

Then there’s Gary Player’s beef with Augusta National over family access policies. Even legends have to navigate the tension between tradition and wanting their families involved.

And here’s something random: Turnberry’s offshore island connects to the Winter Olympics because they source granite from there for curling stones. These quiet connections show how golf venues pop up in unexpected places, woven into sports and culture in ways you’d never guess.

As February plays out, these stories capture golf’s contradictions—technical and emotional, professional and personal, global and local. The game keeps changing while staying fundamentally the same, asking all of us to figure out our own balance between tradition and what comes next.