The largest core ever produced by Titleist golf ball engineers drives longer distance and better short game performance in the new Titleist Tour Soft, available beginning Jan. 23 in Canadian golf shops.

Titleist Tour Soft was first introduced two years ago, utilizing new material and process technologies to deliver the best performance in its category – offering a superior combination of soft compression feel, very fast speed for commanding distance and excellent short game spin and control.

For golfers who prefer a softer-feeling golf ball, the new 2020 Tour Soft improves upon its prior generation with real performance advancements to help them play better:

• Titleist’s largest golf ball core is now even larger, delivering faster ball speeds for category-leading distance off the tee.
• The larger core size required engineers to make Tour Soft’s high performance 4CE grafted cover system even thinner, producing increased short game spin around the green.
• Enhanced aerodynamics – a new spherically-tiled 342 cuboctahedron dimple design – provides a more penetrating ball flight.
• Doubling as an alignment aid, the new Tour Soft “T” sidestamp provides golfers the option for easy alignment on the tee or green.

“Golfers wanting to play a softer-feeling ball shouldn’t have to sacrifice yards off the tee or control into the green. We know they have real golf to play and their ball has to be much more than just soft,” said Michael Mahoney, Vice President, Titleist Golf Ball Marketing. “The new generation of Tour Soft continues to show what’s possible in a lower compression design. Our engineers have developed a longer, all-around better performing golf ball that maintains the soft and responsive feel that golfers love about this product.”

The new Tour Soft, offered in both white and high-optic yellow, is manufactured by Titleist associates at Titleist’s owned-and-operated Ball Plant 2 in North Dartmouth, Mass., ensuring the most consistent performance and quality in every dozen and every ball.

NEW ALIGNMENT STAMP

Tour Soft’s sidestamp has been redesigned and integrated into a new alignment aid feature for 2020. The alignment stamp – resembling a “T” shape – makes it easier for golfers to line up their Tour Soft on the green or tee, without having to mark lines on the ball.

“When we began offering alignment aid stamps through our My Titleist customizer (on Titleist.com) in February of 2018, they instantly became the most popular options among golfers choosing to add custom logos to their golf ball,” said Michael Fish, Titleist Golf Ball Product Manager. “Our research and testing with Tour Soft golfers showed an overwhelming preference for using an enhanced alignment stamp and they put this ‘T’ mark at the top of their list.”

TOUR SOFT PERFORMANCE & TECHNOLOGY

The new Titleist Tour Soft is engineered to provide golfers with better performance for their game, delivering responsive soft feel, commanding distance and excellent short-game performance through the following key technologies:

• Reformulated, Larger and Faster Core – the largest of any Titleist golf ball – delivers longer distance and responsive feel.
• Thinner 4CE Grafted Cover – developed using ultra-thin TCU process technology – generates more greenside spin for better control into and around the green.
• Spherically-Tiled 342 Cuboctahedron Dimple Design provides a more penetrating and consistent ball flight.

AVAILABILITY

The new Titleist Tour Soft available in Canadian golf shops beginning Jan. 23. MAP $44.99.

The World Handicap System is designed to offer golfers plenty of opportunities to submit scores for handicap purposes. The more acceptable scores a player submits, the more accurate their handicap index will be.

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Experience max performance with the latest high-performance shoe from FootJoy, called Tour X™.  With the idea to deliver the ultimate “X” factor, this golf shoe is turbo-charged with advanced technologies and materials to achieve the most feature-rich performance package chosen by elite players like Kevin Kisner and Rafa Cabrera Bello.

“This is a powerful shoe with a strong, stable foundation that allows me to max out my swing speed while staying locked to the ground,” said Kevin Kisner.

Using innovation-powered features and materials, Tour X works to redirect and funnel power by ensuring balance and a stable foundation throughout the golf swing. Tour X was developed from the synthesis of three tour-proven models to provide players maximum performance: Max Stability, Max Control and Max Comfort.

MAX STABILITY

FJ PowerPlate outsole is the most stable outsole in FJ’s range, providing maximum ground coverage and stability which allows players to transfer power efficiently throughout the golf swing. This PowerPlate midsole/outsole system features a full TPU layer with 9 LaunchPods that provide unrivalled stability and increased surface area coverage.

MAX CONTROL

FJ PowerStrap™ system delivers medial and lateral support to provide exceptional midfoot control.  The molded TPU strap works with reinforced PowerEyelets, allowing you to pull tight and lock down to maintain a stable, balanced foundation.

MAX COMFORT

Tour X offers comfort technologies that wrap your foot in cushioning and control.  Inside the shoe is an OrthoLite® Impressions FitBed®, comprised of two densities of foam – an Open Cell PU Foam that maintains its mechanical properties and cushion throughout its life cycle, and an Impressions Foam that takes an impression of your foot, creating a custom fit.

For added comfort and breathability, Tour X features a 3D Molded Collar and Tour-Spec Stretch Tongue, ensuring maximum in-shoe comfort and support round after round. Tour X is fully-waterproof, using a Chromoskin™ leather by Pittards® of England, providing a super soft, supple feel.

Visit www.footjoy.ca for more information.

AVAILABILITY

The Tour X is available in Canada on January 15, 2020 starting at $299

Brooke Henderson ended 2019 on a high note with a fifth-place finish at the CME Group Tour Championship and took a much-deserved break in the offseason, enjoying the warm weather at her residence in Florida and visiting her friends and family in her native Canada. It was a perfect time for the 22-year-old to reflect on a triumphant year that included becoming the Canadian with the most professional wins on the LPGA and PGA Tour when she won the Meijer LPGA Classic for her ninth career victory.

“I feel like 2019 was a really successful season for me and my sister (and caddie Brittany Henderson) as well,” said Henderson. “We were really happy with how everything went. I felt like I improved in a lot of places, which was good. I think a key thing for me is scoring average and keeping it below 70, which I did last year.”

Henderson returns to action at the biggest party on Tour at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, alongside a host of Hall of Fame athletes and celebrities. Despite the fun nature of the week, she said it still feels just as competitive on the course as it does at any other event.

“I feel like playing with some of the best athletes in the world here, you’re just always pushing each other to be a little bit better and trying to hit a little bit further and make a few more birdies,” said Henderson, who finished T6 in the inaugural tournament in 2019. “It’s really a unique experience as it’s maybe not as intense right off the get go, as it is on the regular LPGA Tour week, but definitely it has that same intensity once you get going, and it has maybe a little bit of fun added to it.”

With the start of season play just a few days away, Henderson said she is already prepped to execute her 2020 goals, which includes continuing her streak of four straight years with at least two wins.

“I’d love to keep that streak alive. It’s been pretty important to me the last few years, especially with how dense the field is in terms of talent,” said Henderson. “It’s really important to me to keep that going, and I feel like to get another major championship win is hopefully on my radar, and hopefully I can get it done maybe this year and in future years.”

The maximum Handicap Index has changed. Where previously there were different values for men and women, now there is one maximum Handicap Index regardless of gender. The maximum Handicap Index is 54.0.

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TORONTO – Brooke Henderson’s on-course accomplishments and continual overhaul of Canadian golf’s record books made her the top newsmaker on the course for the second consecutive year in 2019.

The Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC) is proud to announce Henderson, Corey Conners, Garrett Rank and Brigitte Thibault as the 2019 Players of the Year as voted by GJAC members across the country. Henderson’s record-setting ninth LPGA victory, which gave her the most professional wins all-time by a Canadian on the LPGA or PGA Tours, was also voted Canadian Golf Story of the Year.

“GJAC is proud to recognize and applaud the top accomplishments by Canadian players every year, and 2019 was full of some incredible performances at every level of the game of golf,” said David McPherson, GJAC President. “Across Canada, these players continue to record performances that make covering their achievements and telling the stories behind them a joy for our members.”

Henderson’s two wins in 2019, which came at the Meijer LPGA Classic and LOTTE Championship, put her into new territory in the Canadian record books with nine LPGA victories, surpassing the old record shared by Sandra Post, George Knudson and Mike Weir.

Corey Conners was named Male Professional of the Year after breaking through for his first PGA Tour victory at the Valero Texas Open, where the second-year PGA Tour member Monday Qualified and went on to win by two. The 28-year old went on to finish 26th in the FedExCup standings and totaled $2,919,864 in on-course earnings for the season.

Rosemére, Quebec’s Brigitte Thibault earned honours as Female Amateur of the Year after a standout season that included wins at the Mountain West Conference Championship and Ontario Amateur Championship, as well as an appearance as Canada’s first entrant into the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and a bronze medal with Team Canada at the Pan American Games.

Finally, Elmira, Ontario’s Garrett Rank repeated as Male Amateur of the Year after winning the prestigious Western Amateur and recording yet another consistent season that included top-10 performances at the Porter Cup, Ontario Men’s Amateur, North and South Amateur and the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur, where he was runner-up.

Under the new World Handicap System, will analyze how players have performed that day compared to their expected performance on that golf course. It will naturally include weather and course setup (reflected in the scores), and if expected results fall outside a tolerance level, an adjustment will apply to all scores played on that course for that day.

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Under the World Handicap System, a limit of Net Double Bogey on the maximum hole score (for handicapping purposes only). Net Double Bogey will replace the existing Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) procedure for determining the maximum hole score.

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The World Handicap System will ensure handicaps are calculated consistently around the world.

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Never afraid to try something new, Team Canada alumnus Blair Hamilton decided to attend a 10-day silent retreat in Southern Alberta this past off-season to improve his mental game.

The talkative Hamilton found the experience challenging but rewarding. Communication among the 70 students living at the Vipassana centre was forbidden, with long days focused solely on how to clear the mind.

“The first bell goes at 4:30 in the morning, you meditate from 4:30 to 6:30, then you break down for breakfast,” said Hamilton on Tuesday after completing the first round of the PGA Tour Latinoamerica’s qualifying tournament in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. “Then you’re meditating in different sessions, but pretty much constantly until lunch, and then you meditate from, I think it’s 2:30 until 9 p.m. and it’s all guided meditation,

“The whole purpose of this is to teach you to observe the things that come into your mind and not react to them and disassociate from your ego. Your ego by definition would be a false sense of self, whether it’s telling you that you’re super good or super bad. You know, that’s just the thing in your mind.”

Attending the silent retreat came at the suggestion of his mentor Kaz Hashimoto, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is the co-founder of Pink Zulu Labs. Hashimoto and Hamilton first connected last season when the 26-year-old golfer reached out to a variety of leading figures in different industries – including Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield – to pick their brains on how they excelled in their field.

Hashimoto and mental performance coach Paul Dewland are helping Hamilton improve his psychology because he believes that’s what separates golf’s very best players from the rest of the pro ranks.

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA – JANUARY 31: Blair Hamilton of Canada plays his shot from the 16th tee during the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale on January 31, 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

“If you were to line up a guy on the Mackenzie Tour, PGA Tour China, PGA Tour Latinoamerica, Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour on the range and you’re watching them hit and you just brought in a random person and said, ‘Tell me who’s on which tour,’ they wouldn’t be able to say,” said Hamilton. “Everyone at the level can hit the golf ball, no problem, but it’s the very little mini things that make all the difference.

“If you can save half a shot a round that’s two shots on the total tournament. I mean, that’s the difference of finishing, you know, seventh or third or third and first.”

Hamilton, from Burlington, Ont., is joined at this week’s PGA Tour Latinoamerica qualifying event by fellow Canadians Zahidali Nathu of Richmond, B.C., Matthew Shubley of Oshawa, Ont., Mathew Iceton of Brooklin, Ont.. and Vancouver’s Trevor Yu.

After hopefully qualifying for the Latinoamerica circuit for the third consecutive year, Hamilton plans to do some mini tour events in Florida and some qualifiers for the Korn Ferry Tour’s events in Colombia, and Panama.

If Hamilton does qualify for the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, then it will be down to South America, playing golf and keeping up with a hectic travel schedule that is akin to crisscrossing Canada on a weekly basis.

“We spend quite a bit of time down in Argentina which, you know, a direct flight from Toronto’s about 11 or 12 hours,” said Hamilton, who is currently based in South Florida. “We’ll be going to Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia all over the continent down there.

“It’s not uncommon to have a five-hour flight between events, which is like flying Toronto to Vancouver.”

One of the highlights of his time playing golf in South America is his unlikely friendship with caddy Leandro Ferreyra.

Hamilton was competing in a tournament in Cordoba, Argentina, and Ferreyra was caddying for one of the other golfers in his group. Afterwards, the pair connected on Instagram and Hamilton asked Ferreyra if he wanted to be his caddy at another event in Argentina.

Since then, they’ve teamed up at five or six events and have become close friends.

“I find that people in Latin America, they’re quite loyal. They’re loyal friends and when they care about you, they truly care about you,” said Hamilton. “His family always sends me messages, just checking in and stuff like that. You build friendships like that.

“Who would have thought that me and Leandro, this guy that’s 40 years old from Cordoba, Argentina, would become close friends? Golf’s kinda funny that way.”