Winning Edge: The Golf Balls of PGA Championship Winners

With the 98th PGA Championship beginning this week, golf’s greatest stars will descend upon Springfield, New Jersey as Baltusrol Golf Club plays host to the year’s final major. The first PGA Championship was contested in 1916 with Jim Barnes defeating Jock Hutchinson in the final round of what was then a match play tournament. Though much about the game of golf has stayed the same since that first championship 100 years ago, one facet of the game has been the focus of unrelenting innovation – the golf ball. That is why this week we take a look at the balls used by the last three PGA Champions and the features that helped them on their way to lifting the Wanamaker Trophy.

You can blame the Zika virus and other issues as the reasons some of the best male golfers in the world are passing up the chance to play in the 2016 Summer Olympics, but the reality is the International Olympic Committee created the potential for a problem by including golf in its roster of sports for the first time in more than a century and opening it up to professionals.

Callaway Golf burst on to the equipment scene more than 25 years ago with the game changing Big Bertha line of drivers, fairway metals and eventually irons. Alongside a few other key competitors, these products pushed the industry away from persimmon woods and toward the modern era of equipment defined by titanium and composites materials. While its influence on the world of club design is undeniable, the company has also been making some excellent golf balls for the past decade and a half. For this blog post, we want to focus on the Tour caliber balls that rival other industry titans like the ProV1 for a spot in the bags of high-level amateurs and professionals.

Of all the four men’s Professional Golf Association Major championships, the Open, or British Open as some prefer to call it because of its history, is the best of all because of its unpredictability. If the golfers aren’t battling the course with the bunkers the size of craters and the deep rough that look like pastures, they are usually fighting the elements. This year’s version at Royal Troon in Scotland was no different. It had a little bit of everything to challenge the golfers, yet allow for a final day that offered ideal conditions and a round for the ages.

With the Open Championship contested this week, all eyes will be on Royal Troon and the annual battle for the Claret Jug. The Open or British Open is the oldest of the four major championships, and the only to be contested outside the United States. First played in 1860, the event has hosted the greatest players from every era, and we wanted to examine a few of the top performances over the past 150 years.

The name Hawerchuk is synonymous with greatness in the National Hockey League, but it is building up a following in golf. Eric Hawerchuk, whose father Dale played 16 years in the NHL and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001, is in his fourth year as a professional golfer. The 27-year-old plays on the Great Lakes Circuit Canada Pro Tour, and recently won the Desjardins Insurance Challenge. While he followed his father in hockey, Hawerchuk knew he’d never be good enough to be drafted into major junior, so he focused full-time on golf, playing competitively starting at the age of 12.

When the news came out a few days ago that Tiger Woods will not be playing in the British Open as he continues to recover from his second back surgery, it was not a surprise. It was more of an underlying possibility he may never participate in a Major again, perhaps any tournament at all. He has not played in a year and a half and will miss his third consecutive Major. The contortions, twists and turns that allowed him to strike the ball further than anybody during the prime of his career came at a stiff cost: his health. It is said that we are nothing without our health, and for Tiger Woods this means it will take some kind of medical miracle, or an otherwise incredible amount of rest and physiotherapy, to be able to swing a club with any kind of proficiency.

What makes a golf course legendary? The PGA Tour requires stages that intrigue and inspire players. Most PGA Championship golf courses are good, but it is the ones that strive for greatness that receive the most interest. Every week at the PGA Tour, professional golfers step out onto the course knowing that history could be waiting for them. The golf course is the stage that brings magic to the game. So, which PGA Tour courses stand out? The 5 golf courses below are focal points of excellent golf, combining drama and excitement in equal measure. They create suspense with every swing and become the stage for golfers to prove their worth as true champions. Let’s take a look at the best PGA Tour golf courses that push professional golfers to challenge their talent and themselves to be better.

The 2016 season has been full of great moments, including a number of first-time winners being crowned on the PGA Tour, as well as some electrifying performances from the game’s heavyweights. In the latter category, two recent victories stand out, Jason Day winning his first PLAYERS Championship and Dustin Johnson capturing the U.S. Open at Oakmont. Both guys drive the ball astronomical distances, have incredible control with their scoring irons and trust the TaylorMade Tour Preferred X ball. Let’s take a closer look at what TaylorMade is doing and why elite players like the aforementioned duo trust them on the world’s biggest stage.