THE GOG BLOG SPEAKS OUT-Holiday week begins

                                                                     THE CALLAWAY DRIVER EPIC EVOLVES starting on January 16th, 2018. You ready !

THE GOG BLOG by Director of Content, Rory Spears. At Boyne Mountain Resort with a new Callaway Woods family. Follow Rory and his Epic Driver down the fairway on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter @GogBlogGuy.

At the start of 2017 I wasn’t ready for what Callaway Golf had to offer, but over the year that all changed. It started with a new Epic Driver, and expanded as the year went on.

While some golf companies are panicking and reeling it in, under CEO Chip Brewer Callaway Golf is moving forward. Those moves have been rewarded and the company continues to grow. Golfers by the legions are getting on board and playing better golf.

Callaway still has room to grow, and the work is not done yet, but any golfer that wants to be better in 2018 than they were in previous years, owes it to themselves to check out Callaway Golf before they purchase another new club, or buy another dozen golf balls. My Epic Driver didn’t have me blowing it way past my old driver, but I got more distance. Where the difference was night and day, was hitting fairways. From 2-4 per round, to 10-13 per round. One round I did something I had never done in 45 years of playing golf, I hit 14 of 14. It gets old always recovering from in the trees, hitting fairway bunker shots, hitting out of the rough, being forced to hit approach shots from over wetlands and around other hazards.

My handicap got back into single digits for the first time in almost 8 years. That effort was aided by the arrival of the Callaway Steelhead fairway woods, which added serious distance to that part of my game. The proper fairway woods were decided by a fitting at True Spec Golf in Highland Park, another recommendation before you purchase new clubs.

I’m not sure yet what Callaway will roll out in 2018, but if the #1 Driver sold in America for every month of this year is getting better, it will be hard to keep it out of my bag in the year ahead. It’s likely that Callaway will have something to say when it comes to other clubs and golf balls as well. Chrome Soft and Chrome Soft X are giving the Pro V’s a run for their money, and at $8-9 dollars a dozen cheaper it won’t take long for golfers to realize the deal at hand.

JACK NICKLAUS the Greatest Golfer Ever. Period. Is the latest big name in the industry to downplay interest in Tiger Woods 12th or maybe 13th comeback. The golfing public and media would be wise to do the same thing, until if ever, Woods really provides something to talk about.

IT WAS NICE to hear today from Tom Connor the new Director Sales and Marketing at the Four Seasons Lodge in Lake in the Ozarks Missouri. Connor previously held the same job in Pinehurst, at Pine Needles and Mid-Pines, and another property since, out in Ohio.

Connor tells me that the resort is growing and with plenty of changes and golf courses improvements on the way. Stay tuned for details over the course of 2018 on what’s happening there.

USGA TAKES 2019 USGA Junior Girls Championship to the Sentry World Golf Course in Stevens Point Wisconsin and it’s famed Flower Hole in 2019.

TEMPS are expected to be in the low 50’s tomorrow, if any courses are still open and I know a few who are, it might be the real last chance to play outdoor golf in town during the year of 2017.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, I plan to keep posting what I can over the week ahead right up into Christmas eve, and then take a couple of days off. So Stay Clicked in. RS

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About Rory Spears

Rory spent over 8 years growing up working at Rob Roy Golf Club in Prospect Hts.IL, then two years at Chevy Chase in Wheeling. He has covered golf in Chicago since 1986. Rory was one of the initial members of WSCR all-sports radio Chicago and covered golf there for 5 seasons, before moving on to work for ESPN/Sportsticker and ESPN Radio. In addition to hosting Golfers on Golf Radio on WCPT AM820 Chicago, he writes for both the Chicago District (CDGA) Magazine, and formerly Chicagoland Golf. Rory has played over 525 courses in 39 states, and rates golf courses. He does golf course management and communications consulting, within the golf industry.