When the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour stopped off recently at Whistle Bear in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, New Zealand-born horse trainer Tony O’Sullivan had a chance to meet fellow Kiwi Lydia Ko. O’Sullivan, who has been living in Canada full-time since 2004, is a club member at Whistle Bear. He wanted to take his daughter, Mackenzie, to the Pro-Am event at the club to meet the competitors and to talk to Ko. “There was no one there and Lydia took the time to talk to us for 10 minutes,” he told me. “We didn’t talk about golf. We talked about New Zealand and how beautiful it is. It was awesome. She’s a really, really nice person. People say ‘Lydia Ko is unbelievable to watch. She’s so relaxed and nice.’ And she is. It was pretty cool. Not just because she’s a sports star, but she’s genuinely a good person; she genuinely wanted to talk to you.”

We all want to be like the golfers we see on TV, smashing the ball down the fairway then spinning an iron to within feet of the pin. While many of us may never be able to compete with Tour pros in terms of skill, we can at least play the same equipment. But should we? The golf balls used by professional golfers have been engineered to the specifications required by those competing at elite levels. For the average golfer, playing these balls might not only provide little benefit, but may actually hinder performance. So, how do you know exactly what ball you should be playing? Well, there are a few key factors to consider when shopping for the perfect golf ball.

Superstar hockey agent Don Meehan loves to golf, he just wishes he had more time to do it. As the pre-eminent representative for many of the National Hockey League star players, including Steven Stamkos, P.K. Subban, Drew Doughty, Erik Karlsson, Phil Kessel, Zach Parise and Corey Perry, to name a few of them, the Canadian-based agent who frequently travels to various parts of the world to do business is simply too busy to regularly get out on the course.

If you’re a fan of Nike golf balls like Rory McIIroy, the news of the company ceasing their production of golf equipment might have been a tough pill to swallow, but don’t give up on the swoosh just yet. With a variety of Nike’s ultra-popular RZN models in stock, LostGolfBalls.com is keeping your golf bag stocked with your favorite balls.

A funny thing happened to me on the way to a golf game a few days ago – it had to be called off because of rain. In one of the hottest and driest summers on record, I just happened to pick a day in which it rained. On the one hand, I felt disappointed because if you’re a golfer there’s nothing worse than getting excited about getting out on the course, only to find out rain ruins it. As bad as I felt about having to take a rain check, I also felt good because I have to believe it has been a trying season for golf course operators, who have probably had to work extra hard to prevent their courses from drying up. There’s only so much sprinkling you can do.

Perhaps you have seen that odd miniature soccer ball rolling across your golf course. Well, that golf ball isn’t sporting that pattern as some sort of gimmick to appeal to soccer-mad golfers. Its name is Truvis, and it is helping players around the world improve their game and lower their handicaps. But don’t be mistaken, this isn’t just an aid for your average Joe. With 16 Pro Tour wins already, the Truvis pattern is making its impact among the professional ranks as well. In fact, Truvis patterned golf balls have become the favorite of eight-time major champion Tom Watson.

You can say Inbee Park won the gold medal in the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, but really the biggest winner was women’s golf. On the biggest and most important stage in the world, the women aced it – literally and metaphorically. Park, the 28-year-old from South Korea who earlier this year met the criteria for the World Golf Hall of Fame, was a well-deserving winner, trouncing the field by five strokes and a score of 16-under-par.

Over recent years, technology used in manufacturing golf balls has witnessed massive leaps forward. The days of liquid-core balls that would lose compression and distance after exposure to heat or water are far in the past. The modern solid-core ball offers consistency, longevity and durability that far exceeds the golf ball of yesteryear. This has opened a market for recycled balls.

For the all the hubbub controversy about problems heading into the 2016 Olympic Games, the return of golf turned out to be fantastic. It came down to a thrilling finale in the 72-hole tournament that, in the end, proved to be memorable for the players, some of whom declared after it was over about how much the experience meant to them personally and professionally.