Image Credit: Golf Digest What is wrong with Rory McIlroy? The 28-year-old native of Northern Ireland started the season ranked second in the world, but he hasn’t been playing like it and has slipped to fourth. He has only played in only eight events this season, including just seven since the new year, because of a nagging rib injury that had led to back issues. His best results have been tied for fourth in two of the tourneys, the last one in the Arnold Palmer Invitational back in March.

Image Credit: GolfWeek Titleist, the name says it all. Whether it’s a pro or recreational golfer, the likelihood the golf ball that is being played is a Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x. Both are considered unparalleled in terms of providing unmatched quality and consistency, and one or the other are the go-to balls of premier players such as Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy Kevin Kisner, Billy Horschel , So-Yeon Ryu, Cristie Kerr and John Daly, to name a few.

Image Credit: Reuters This year’s edition of the U.S. Open centers on Dustin Johnson, and for good reason.

The hype about recently-retired Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo joining the broadcast team as part of CBS’s coverage of the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational at the Colonial Country Club this past weekend took a rather ordinary tournament and provided a great sense of anticipation. And it turned out to be illuminating, although also a little disappointing.

Photo Credit: Florida Trend Phil Esposito is one of the greatest goal scorers in the history of the National Hockey League, but the Hall of Famer is also a good golfer. Proof of that is that he has recorded three aces. Esposito, who won the Stanley Cup twice with the Boston Bruins and sits sixth overall in the NHL all-time goal scoring with 717, recorded the third hole-in-one of his life in May on a 135-yard, par-three hole at Fox Hollow Golf in Trinity, Florida. The course is owned by Dave Creighton, father of former NHL player Adam Creighton, and is about 35 minutes north of where Esposito lives in Tampa Bay. Among his many accomplishments, Esposito helped to start up the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL franchise in 1992.

In the competitive industry for consumer appeal, manufacturers of golf balls are developing different ideas to attract customers. Volvik, which has been in the business for over 35 years, has been at the forefront of colored balls and has been making some substantive moves since the start of year to raise its profile, signing some big-name players and enhancing its sponsorship to tournaments. The South Korea-headquartered company is the number one color ball among professionals, currently endorsed by more than 75 players.

Image Credit: TaylorMade Golf The Players Championship is considered one of golf’s most important annual tournaments – the unofficial fifth men’s Major – but this year’s competition had some of its attention diverted by the sale of TaylorMade Golf to KPS Capital Partners. TaylorMade had been on the block for a while, and back in February there were reports it had been having trouble selling its assets, so the sale price of $425 million is really not that much.

Image Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images Good on the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews for acting quickly to change the rules that will limit the use of video evidence to affect the outcome of an event. How many of us truly felt for Lexi Thompson, who entered the final day of the ANA Inspiration tournament with a three-shot lead with six holes to play and suddenly found herself penalized four strokes for committing a violation the day before in the third round? Yes, she broke the rules by marking a ball and then replacing it an inch away from the actual spot. But if not for some TV viewer alerting the tournament officials, no one would have known. Think about it, with all the tournament officials, none of them spotted the innocent mistake.

Image Credit: Bryan Bros Instagram If there’s one thing that Wesley Bryan has learned it’s that golf can be fun if golfers can allow themselves to break away from the norm and get wild and crazy. While it was interesting watching Bryan record his first PGA victory with a win in the 2017 RBC Heritage, I found it more appealing learning about the trick shots he has done with his brother George.