Srixon Z-Star Pure White Golf Ball Review

Name: Srixon Z-Star Pure White Golf Balls
Price: a dozen for ~$45 (via srixon.com)
Features: Spinskin™ technology helps generate more spin and feel around the greens, Speed Dimple™ pattern which maximizes surface area, which in turn reduces drag and promotes distance. Enhanced Energetic Gradient Growth Core™ optimizes spin, trajectory, acceleration, and responsiveness (S.T.A.R.)

Value:
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Effectiveness:
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Overall Rating:  4 out of 5

The Srixon Z-Star Pure White golf ball is the newest edition of the Srixion Z-Star line. Unlike some of the other golf balls we've reviewed, this is a "tour" ball that's designed for players with swing speeds between about 90mph-110mph. It's not a full-out tour ball; that title falls to the Srixon Z-Star XV, which is gamed by pros such as Graeme McDowell.

Like most golf balls on the market, the Z-Star claims it can increase distance off the tee yet maintain high spin speeds and feel around the green. To get the distance, Srixon claims it's Speed Dimple™ technology (which is basically a unique dimple pattern) allows for less drag on the golf ball during flight, which in turn produces longer shots and ones less prone to wind resistance. To get the spin, Srixon says uses Spinskin™ technology. This is an outer coating on the ball that increases frictional force and also overall softness, which gives you that greenside spin and touch. Srixon also says it's Enhanced Energetic Gradient Growth Core™ aids in various areas like spin, trajectory, acceleration, and responsiveness.

I put this ball in play during my last round and here's what I've concluded from it. With the driver, I didn't notice an increase in distance compared to my normal drives and any changes at all were probably due to the way I struck the ball. There was a big difference with my approach shots into the green, however. With my woods, hybrids, and long irons, I noticed that the ball had more spin after being struck. As my ball landed on the green, it checked a bit (much more check than what I normally get) and stayed on the green. I was able to land more balls on the green with these clubs than before, which is a huge bonus for a golfer such as myself who struggles to hit greens. Normally, I would hit these shots and they would land on the green and roll off.

With my shorter irons and wedges, there was also an increase in spin in my shots. My chip shots onto the green stuck very well and the spin of the ball was very consistent from shot to shot (subject to how I played the shot as well). This aids a lot in chipping as you can factor in how much check your ball will have before you hit your shot. I also felt I could control the spin of the ball a bit more than other balls I've played.


Overall, I found that the new Srixon Z-Star Pure White golf ball is great when it comes to it's claims of spin and feel, but lacks in the distance department. It's also worth considering the price of the ball, which is up near the Titleist ProV1 and Bridgestone B330 territory. I'd suggest picking up a 3-pack of these balls and seeing if they work for you before committing to them. I'd also recommend this golf ball for mid-to low handicappers who need a bit more spin in their shots into and around the greens. Higher handicappers might not be able to take full advantage of what the ball offers (see our Best Ball for Higher Handicappers post).

Do you play this ball? Comment below and let us know what you think of it,


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Bubba Watson Wins the 2015 Travelers Championship

72 holes of golf just wasn't enough to decide the winner of this year's edition of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. 2010 Champion (and one of our picks this week) Bubba Watson and Englishman Paul Casey both finished the tournament tied for the lead at 16-under and battled it out over two extra holes. Eventually, Bubba Watson emerged as the winner. This is his 8th PGA Tour win and first since November 2014 (HSBC Champions). With this win, he extends his PGA Tour playoff record to 5-1. He's also the four player this season to have multiple wins.

Bubba was up and around the top of the leaderboard all week. Today, his round was relatively quiet until an unlikely eagle on the 13th hole, where he hit his second shot from a fairway bunker onto the green, then holed the eagle putt. He was leading by three shots at one point but a bogey on his part and a few birdies on Casey's part leveled them out. Paul Casey went for a more direct route to the playoff, shooting rounds of 64 and 65 on the weekend. His round today consisted of four birdies and a hole-out for eagle on the 3rd hole.

The playoff started on the 18th hole, where Casey hit a good drive but Bubba hit his tee shot way right into deep grass and on a hill. Oddly enough, Casey hit his 2nd shot into a greenside bunker and Bubba hit his on the green to about 20 feet from the hole. However, Casey got up and down and Bubba two-putted, so back to the 18th tee box to replay the hole they went. This time around, Casey hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker (near the lip of the bunker) and Bubba found the fairway. Casey went from a fairway to the same greenside bunker via his second shot and again Bubba found the green, landing his shot about 8 feet from the hole. Shockingly, Casey mis-hit his greenside bunker shot over the green (double his intended distance) onto the nearby cart path, giving Bubba a golden opportunity to finish. And he took advantage of it, holing his birdie putt for another playoff win.

The weekend saw it's fair share of rain, which fell right up until the last playoff hole. The course still saw low scores all around though, with the lowest today being Paul Casey's 65. Canadian Graham DeLaet also made his name known on the leaderboard, finishing solo 4th at 14-under, aided by a 64 on Saturday. Interestingly, the cooler temps and light drizzle that were present during the final round were reminiscent of the weather you'd expect on a links course. And as commentator Sir Nick Faldo said, the atmosphere during the playoff was a little Ryder Cup-like, given the nationalities of Bubba and Casey and the weather; and you did get that feeling a bit.

Finally, here's how our picks finished:

1) Louis Oosthuizen: CUT
2) Bubba Watson: 1st at 11-under
3) Francesco Molinari: T25 at 7-under

A top notch finish from Bubba and a good one from Molinari. Molinari didn't have the best weekend at even par through his last two rounds, but it's still a good finish.

That's it for our coverage this week. Join us next week at The Old White TPC in West Virginia for the Greenbrier Classic.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Bubba Watson Leads Halfway at Travelers Championship

After stunning many with an opening round of 62, 2010 Champion and one of our picks this week, Bubba Waston retains his lead at the 2015 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands with a second round of 67. This puts the Florida-native at 11-under for the week and two shots ahead of Brian Harmon, Brian Stuard, and Carl Pettersson. The cut was also set at 2-under.

Bubba said in an interview after his second round that he played smart golf and stayed patient as the golf course hardened from Thursday to Friday's round. It paid off as his 67 yesterday was bogey-free. When he found trouble, he acted accordingly and as a result was 3/3 in scrambling. His length of course played a large part in his success and his putter was pretty hot (through two rounds he's made only 53 putts).

TPC River Highlands started out vulnerable on Thursday (see Bubba's 62), but became tougher as the weather changed. A bit of rain fell on the players during their  second round and as a result we saw a bit more safe play than on Thursday. The weather is also forecasted to get a bit worse, with large amounts of rain towards the end of today's round and start of Sunday's round. It'll be interesting to see how the players will adjust to the new conditions.

In other news, defending champion Kevin Streeleman barely missed the cut after shooting a 69/70 over both rounds. Other notables who missed the cut are Ernie Els (who shot an opening round 66), Louis Oosthuizen, Kevin Na, and Patrick Reed.

Finally here's how our picks are doing:


1) Louis Oosthuizen: CUT
2) Bubba Watson: 1st at 11-under
3) Francesco Molinari: T8 at 7-under

Pretty good I think! We've talked about Bubba and Louis, so let's focus on Molinari. To me, he reminds me of a 2011/2012 Luke Donald; always playing it low-key, yet always near the top of the leaderboard. And like Luke did, he's doing this on both sides of the Atlantic, on both the PGA and European Tour. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he makes a run for the lead today or tomorrow.

With just two more days to go and some interesting weather on the way, we may be seeing some mashing up at the top of the leaderboard. It'll be exciting to watch for sure! Stay tuned for our Results post to see who won...


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Can Bubba Watson hold onto his lead for another win at TPC River Highlands?

(David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports)

2015 Travelers Championship Picks

This week, the PGA Tour stops by TPC River Highlands in Hartford, Connecticut for the 2015 Travelers Championship. One of the more popular events on Tour, the Travelers Championship boasts one of the highest attendance rates of any other PGA Tour event, coming only second to the Waste Management Phoenix Open. It was first held in 1952 as the Insurance City Open and has been played at TPC River Highlands since 1991. It boasts a purse of $6.4 million with just over $1.1 million going to the winner.

TPC River Highlands was built in 1928 under the name Middletown Golf Club. Since then, it has undergone many renovations and renamings. It attained "TPC" status in 1984 after remodeling work done by noted TPC golf course architect Pete Dye and it's current set-up was completed in 1989. As it'll play this week, the course measures just over 6,800 yards, which will seem short to players who played the US Open at Chambers Bay last week. You can bet on lower scores this week as well, as the course record is a 60, which was shot at the 2011 Travelers Championship by amateur Patrick Cantlay.

The field this week is filled with your regular PGA Tour players, but also a few who are looking to get into the Open Championship in a few weeks. There's also a few players in the field who played the US Open last week. Given that, here's our picks for the week.

1) Louis Oosthuizen
2) Bubba Watson
3) Francesco Molinari

I'm hoping Louis can ride the momentum wave from his great play at last week's US Open to a victory this week. The Travelers Championship was the site of Bubba Watson's first PGA Tour win in 2010 and he holds many memories at this tournament. His length with also be an advantage on this shorter course. And finally, Francesco always seems to be up and around the top of the leaderboard these days.

Play kicks off early tomorrow, but be sure to join us Friday evening for our Weekend Update post.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen is our top pick this week

Cardinal Golf Club - West Wing Course Review #1

Name: Cardinal Golf Club - West Wing Course
Location: Newmarket, Ontario (~45 minutes north of Toronto)
Type: Public with membership options
Holes: 18 (72 including all Cardinal courses)
Length and Par: 3235-6404 yards / 71
Tees: (Shortest to Longest): Tee Forward, Red, White, Blue
Website: http://www.cardinalgolfclub.com/west-wing/

"The maturity and playability of the West Wing course have made it a favourite among many of our golfers. It’s a perfect walking course guarded by many water hazards and large ash trees. While this course is very suitable for beginners, moving to the blue tees will offer some difficult par 3′s and 4s and some rewarding par 5′s." -www.cardinalgolfclub.com/ 

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Price:
Difficulty: << Based on play from Blue Tees

Overall Rating: 4.4 out of 5

The West Wing course is the second course at Cardinal Golf Club designed for affordable golf for all, the other being the East Wing course (see our review on that). Similar to East Wing, West Wing offers a variety of tees to accommodate golfers of all skill level and to ensure that you'll have the best round of golf possible. As part of Canada's largest golf facility, you receive access to Cardinal's large clubhouse filled with great dining facilities, a large proshop, as well as a large driving range and mini-putt course. Since my review of the East Wing course, the staff of Cardinal have remained friendly and the course as a whole still gives off that low-key relaxed country-club atmosphere, all of which give you good vibes before you tee off.

Water plays an important role and prominence on West Wing and is the source of difficulty for the entire course. It's common to both the front and back nine, with the front nine using water in some way on every hole. Many of the holes use water hazards cleverly in a variety of different ways. For example, one hole could have a pond running to the right of the fairway while another one could have a river running through it, separating green from fairway. It's worth noting that the severity of water on each hole depends on the tees you are playing from, which is a great way to make the course tougher for better players and easier for newer ones. The course is also very open, which in itself is a double-edged sword. The openness allows a mis-hit ball to be found without too much effort however on certain tees you get the impression that a bad tee shot could land in another fairway. The fact that the course is flat as well, is what I think makes it slightly easier to play compared to East Wing.

The scenery and layout of each hole is also very nice and well done, which seems to be a common feature to all Cardinal courses. The water features add to this scenery as well. Some of the most eye-pleasing holes of West Wing are #2, 4 (from the elevated tees), 8, 10, 12, and 18. The 18th hole is one of the best on the course in my opinion. The 250-512 yard par 5 starts off straight, with scattered trees on your right and a large lake on your left. About halfway in, the hole takes a 90 degree left turn and elevates and narrows slightly as you approach the green, with water still on your left and trees on your right. A large greenside bunker on the left provides protection to a small, undulating green. The hole is a test for golfers; it requires confidence for anyone who attempts to hit their tee shot over the lake and precision for anyone brave enough to go for the green in two. All in all it's a great finishing hole that can easily make or break your round.

Pace of play is not usually an issue, however if a tournament or event is being played on one of Cardinal's other courses (mainly East Wing) the course tends to become a little crammed, naturally. It's also worth talking about the course conditions a bit, which are generally in great condition. However, after rainfall, many of the hole's fairways tend to become soggy and "puddlely" and in some cases flooded, especially around the greens. This also occurs on the East Wing course, but with less severity. During morning rounds, there also tends to be a lot of cut grass left on the course by the maintenance crew.

The prices are reasonable, with green fees ranging from $34-$64 depending on the day of the week and time (as of 2015). Starting this year, the prices are slightly higher than those of East Wing (East and West Wing used to be the same price in 2014). Cardinal in general usually offers many specials throughout the golfing season so these prices may be even lower sometimes.

Overall, the West Wing course at Cardinal Golf Club is an great course for golfers of all skill levels and one that offers challenges without becoming too difficult. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to see what it's like to play a course with water features.

Have you played West Wing? Comment below and let us know what you thought of it.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

The 18th green of West Wing at Cardinal Golf Club

Jordan Spieth Wins the 2015 US Open

After 72 holes of some of the toughest golf played on tour, the 115th US Open at Chambers Bay has now concluded, with 2015 Masters Champion Jordan Spieth emerging as the winner with a score of 5-under. This is Spieth's second major win in just his last two majors. He finished with a one shot lead ahead of Louis Oosthuizen and Dustin Johnson and is the first person to win the Masters then US Open in the same year since Tiger Woods in 2002. He's also the youngest player to achieve this feat since Bobby Jones. The low amateur of the tournament was 22-year old Brian Campbell at 5-over T27.

Coming into this week, you couldn't help but get the feeling that this tournament was going to end in some bizarre fashion. And that's exactly how it went down...

Spieth was leading the tournament going into the 17th hole par 3, with Dustin Johnson chasing and Louis Oosthuizen two shots behind him already in the clubhouse. After a bad tee shot and a few missed putts, he ended up double-bogeying the hole. He was now tied with Dustin and Louis at this point. He redeemed himself with a birdie on the par 5 18th hole. Dustin, who was a hole behind Spieth and in the final group needed at least a birdie on the 18th to force a Monday 18-hole playoff (which incidentally is his birthday) and would win outright with an eagle. Things were looking good for Dustin after he hit an excellent drive and even better when he hit his second shot to within 15 foot. But Chambers Bay had one more trick up it's sleeve...

All that remained between Dustin and his first major win was a downhill eagle putt, a very tricky putt given the extreme slope of the hole and the pressure on him. He missed the eagle putt and watched his ball roll past the hole to about four feet. Then, in a shocking moment to all, Dustin missed the birdie putt which would have force the playoff, resulting in a shocked Spieth winning outright. You couldn't help but feel bad for Dustin Johnson. As most golfers know, three-putting after finding the green in regulation is one of the worst feelings in golf, let alone having a US Open on the line while doing so. This is the 4th time Dustin has come up short in a major, which makes the loss sting a bit more.

On the other hand, Louis Oosthuizen shot an amazing 29 on the back nine of his final round which consisted of six birdies in seven holes to play himself into contention. He started his week off with a 77, but fought back with back to back 66's and a 67 today to give himself a real chance at winning. Shockingly enough, that wasn't the low round of the day; that feat belonged to Adam Scott's 6-under 64. Chambers Bay definitely played easier today than the past two days, as seen in the number of scores in the 60's. It still, however, punished players who dared to test it's limits, as seen by Chris Kirk's 10 on the 1st hole (which played as a par 4 today).

Another notable round was that of World Number One Rory McIlroy. Rory was 6-under at the start of the 14th hole after holing a 72-putt for birdie on the 13th. With a score like that, he was threatening the leaderboard, but he followed up with a few bogeys to finish off the day with a 66 and tied for 9th.

Finally, our pick Justin Rose finished the tournament at 5-over T27. He shot a 71 today in a round that consisted of five birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey.

And there you have it, the second major of the year is now over and boy what a major it was! An interesting note is that the last four majors have been won by only two players (Rory and Spieth), which is a rare feat in professional golf. Congratulations once again to Jordan Spieth and be sure to join us next week for the Travelers Championship at TPC at River Highlands.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Jordan Spieth: 2015 US Open Champion

(Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Four Lead Going Into Final Round of 2015 US Open

In recent years, there has never been this much drama or amount of storylines going into a final round of a US Open. As it stands now, four players share the lead: Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, and Brandon Grace. Four players, with a leading score of 4-under and a three shot lead, yet each has a unique story behind them.

Johnson played a solid round of golf and shot a even par 70, which could have easily been higher or lower depending on the hole. He was accurate all day, hitting all fairways, and recovered well when he found trouble. Day, who made headlines on Friday after collapsing at the end of his round, stunned and earned the respect of many during yesterday's round, who have deemed his actions as "superhuman". All day he was visibly cautious around the course and said after that he was about to call it quits three times during his round, again due to vertigo, the worst on the 13th. Despite this, he birdied three of the four final holes to shoot a 68, which was only one of six sub-70 rounds yesterday; a remarkable feat considering his state and that fact that Chambers Bay requires one's full attention pretty much all the time. Many are pulling for him to win and what a story that would be.

Spieth had a solo lead by three shots at one point during his front nine, but had a relatively quiet back nine. He missed a few costly putts to give some shots back and ended off with a 71, despite excellent putting on the front nine. Grace, of South Africa, also played excellent golf and hit a very good number of approach shots during yesterday's round. If it wasn't for Chambers Bay's tough greens, he could have been leading by several shots as well.

Rory McIlroy's round was one full of frustration, especially on the back nine. The World Number one couldn't hole a putt despite numerous excellent approaches. He ended up shooting an even 70 (which wasn't that bad) and stands at 4-over par.

Louis Oosthuizen shot the low round on Saturday, a 4-under 66. Again if it wasn't for the tough greens, be could have been even lower. Remember that this is the man who has been deemed to have one of the "most perfect" swings in golf and is already a major champion (2010 British Open at St. Andrews). There's something about his game that just seems relaxed and effortless. Be sure to keep an eye on him today as he sits at 1-under T5.

Saturday yielded the toughest conditions for Chambers Bay, as indicated by the higher leading score compared to Friday. As we said only a few players managed sub par rounds and conditions worsened as the round progress. This was partially due to the course itself drying up as the day went on, making everything harder and firmer. A low 70's round was a good score and any overall round at par or better means you're still in contention. With all this unpredictability, who knows how Chambers Bay will play today?

Finally, here's how are picks stand:

1) Phil Mickelson: T66 at 10-over
2) Justin Rose: T25 at 4-over 

Phil had a disastrous round that started off bad and stayed that way. He carded a total of nine bogeys and two birdies and he was seen hitting from all sorts of rough and fescue yesterday. Once again, it looks like Lefty's dream of the career grand slam is looking slim. Rose on the other hand played a decent round and neither increased or deceased his chances at winning. His score relative to this position on the leaderboard, shows just how tough it's been to go low this week.

Well it all comes down to the final round today. Who can step up and attack Chambers Bay? Who can defend from it as well when need be? We'll find out shortly and stay tuned for our post tomorrow morning about who won it.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

 Johnson, Spieth, Day, Grace; all looking for glory today
(Toronto Golf Reviews)