The Sunday Bag: Ben Crenshaw, Bridgestone's New Ball, Training Your Eyes.
5/24/26
Happy Sunday, everyone. Belated congratulations to Aaron Rai for last Sunday. From everything I’ve seen/read, he seems like one of the good guys. Wouldn’t mind seeing him win some more.
Here’s what’s in the bag.
Today’s quote:
“Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.”
- Sam Snead
Ben Crenshaw Putting Stroke
Brandel Chamblee, former PGA player and now Golf Channel Analyst, shared some amazing footage of the great Ben Crenshaw putting at the US Open at Shinnecock.
For those who are unfamiliar, Ben Crenshaw is a 2x Masters winner, and the guy tour pros go to when they need help with putting (see Tiger sharing putting tips from Ben Crenshaw).
Chamblee shared a face on view, as well as a down-the-line view. I attached both videos below for your pleasure. If I were you, I’d download both of them to your phone and emulate the parts you like for your own stroke.
As with all great putters, Crenshaw made it look so damn simple…
Bridgestone’s New Golf Ball
For those who missed it, Bridgestone came out with their new Tour B X and RX models. There’s just one tiny detail.
The golf balls are BLACK.
I’m not sure about you, but playing a black golf ball after spending your entire life learning to concentrate on hitting a white golf ball seems counterproductive. But who knows, maybe some people genuinely have an easier time hitting a black ball.
Bridgestone claims the new ball adds more ball speed and distance than Bridgestone’s prior models.
Jason Day tested the ball and saw +2.3 mph of ball speed and 6.7 more yards of distance. Chris Gotterup added 2.1 mph and 7 yards.
Last I heard the ball was sold out everywhere. So if this is your kind of thing, you may have to do some digging.
This Week’s Premium Post
This week’s premium post will be the 2nd in my Lessons from a Vintage Golf Magazine series. The topic will be on which shots have the highest value.
A preview:
Farrar basically hypothesized “What would happen if we gave an amateur golfer a second chance on EVERY single shot?”
Here was the setup for the experiment:
A 6-handicap golfer, referred to as “Player A”, challenges a scratch player to an 18-hole match. The handicap is unconventional: instead of getting strokes back, Player A is allowed to recall (replay) any shot he chooses during the round. There is one condition though:
He must accept the result of the second attempt, whatever it is.
This post will be for premium subs only. If you’d like to upgrade, I offer a special discount for The Sunday Bag readers HERE.
Justin Rose Training His Eyes
Luke Kerr-Dineen from Golf Digest visited the PGA Championship last week and wrote about 9 things he learned from the pros. You can read it here.
The one I found most interesting was Justin Rose lining up tees on the putting green to train his eyes.
We are constantly concerned with our putting stance, our stroke, our alignment, you name it... And don’t get me wrong, we absolutely should be concerned with those things. But often we forget about the most important part of putting — our eyes.
How do you even know you’re aimed where you’re looking?
That’s what Justin Rose is training here.
The idea is to find a straight putt, line up the putter face square to the target, and just look. Where do you feel like you’re aiming? If you know for certain that it’s a straight putt, your face is square to your start line, yet you still feel like you’re going to pull it, then your vision is in conflict with your alignment.
Training your eyes is an underrated part of not only putting, but the entire game of golf.
For those interested, I wrote a piece on this idea below:
That’s it for today. Hope you all have a great week and get a chance to play!
If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, please don’t hesitate to email me at tourswingstommy@gmail.com. I read everything.
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