Titleist's NXT Tour, NXT Tour S, DT Solo and Velocity Golf Balls

The latest Titleist golf balls are the NXT Tour, Velocity, DT Solo and NXT Tour S. They are golf balls that have new core, cover and aerodynamic technologies. The Titleist vice president of R&D stated:  

“We’re constantly in the field talking with golfers, capturing their launch conditions on all types of shots, and observing how different golf balls perform for their game. All of this information feeds the product development process and allows us to focus our design efforts and ultimately, our prototype testing in ways that will enhance performance for these golfers.”

The NXT Tour and NXT Tour S balls have been re-engineered with softer compression cores. The DT Solo also has a soft compression core, ionomer cover blend and is available with optic yellow and white colors. The Velocity has been redesigned with a reformulated, proprietary LSX core which gives better distance; and it also has a shallower angle of descent for more roll.  

Below is a video for the Velocity golf ball. For further details, check out this page.

Top Five America's Longest Golf Holes

The USA has some fantastic golf courses, and some of the world's longest holes. Now you can find par-6 holes on America's golf courses which are becoming increasingly prevalent. These are the five longest golf holes in the United States.

Five: Black Mountain Club

Hole 17 at the Black Mountain Club is the fifth most expansive hole in the USA. The hole expands 747 yards which is the second longest in North Carolina. Much of the hole plays along a hill on the right side, and it also includes an elevated green above the fairway.

Four: Farmstead Golf Links

 

The finishing hole at Farmstead Golf Links, in Myrtle Beach, covers some 767 yards. It is a unique hole in which you can tee off in South Carolina, but putt in North Carolina! It is also the longest finishing hole in America.  

   

Three: The Links Golf Course

From the back tees, hole 9 at the Links  Golf Course is a 777 yard par 6. However, you can cut this down to size from the green tees which are just behind the hole's fairway, but still 500 yards from the green. Consequently, 277 yards separate the tee boxes ahead of the fairway.

Two: Spring Lake Golf Resort

The Spring Lake Golf Resort has Florida's longest golf hole. The par-6 sixth hole expands 800 yards across the Panther Creek golf course. From the longest tee you shoot across water, and a lake also lies along the left side of the green and latter half of the fairway. The hole also includes a couple of bunkers along the left of the fairway, and one on the right of the green.

Aside from this hole, the resort also has the world's largest green on its second golf course. The Cougar Trail's ninth hole has a green with an area of 47,000 sq feet. The Spring Lake Golf Resort website provides further details. 

One: Meadows Farm Golf Course

The longest hole in the USA is … drum roll... hole 12 on the Meadows Farm Golf Course! The hole is an 841 par 6 which includes a couple of lakes between its fairways, and trees along along the left side. Check out this previous blog post.

Prestwick Golf Course Video

The Prestwick Golf Club course, in Ayrshire, is a classic links golf course. The golf course, which expands 6,544 yards, has hosted the Open championship. It is built on rolling sandy land, and some of its holes run along railway tracks. This Prestwick video shows some of the golf course's holes and landscapes.

Great Golf Travel Websites

There are a variety of great golf resorts in the United States and Europe. Golf resorts such as Pebble Beach Resort and Pinehurst have top-class golf courses which have hosted Major championships. As such, there are also a number of great online resources.

Golfpac Travel

Golfpac Travel is a golf travel site that covers a variety of golf travel destinations in the U.S. and beyond. From the homepage, you can select a destination for the website’s drop down list. Or alternatively, select golf packages to find some great packages for a specific destination. The website also covers over 600 hundred golf courses with ratings provided.

World Golf

This website covers top golf course destinations. The website includes a selection of golf courses from over 50 countries which provide details on the yardages, pars and rating. It also includes a golf resort guide with brief details for each resort and the golf courses they include. In addition to this, the website has a big list of golf blogs where you can find links to lots of golf blogs, and if you have your own golf blog you can also have it listed here. At the bottom of the website there are also further links to a variety of sites a part of the Travel Golf network.

Your Golf Travel.com

Your Golf Travel.com is a website that covers a variety of potential golf holidays. The website includes a directory of golf holiday packages which can be booked from the website. Here you can search for golf resorts, golf hotels and golfing destinations. The website lists over 1,000 potential golf holiday destinations. The homepage includes search tools with which you can search for potential golf holiday packages. With the search box you can also input a golf vacation destination. As such, this is a golf travel website that is worth noting.

Golf Holidays

This is the website of Golf Holidays, a North American golf tour operator. There website covers 40 exciting golf destinations in the U.S., 100 golf resorts and over 400 golf courses. Here you can find details on a variety of golf resorts in the U.S. and their golf courses. The website also lists a variety of golf vacation packages at various resorts.

These are four golf travel websites that are worth noting. They are great online resources for golf travel that include extensive directories and details on a variety of golf travel destinations. For further details, follow the links included above.

Blog Archives

There are plenty of blog posts on Amateur Golfer beyond the first few pages. You can find them from the archives on the blog template. These are a few of the more notable posts from the archives.

The Golf Gamebook

"Digital scorecards aren't exactly new. Those are electronic scorecards which save your scores. However, they do not include official signing options..."

How to Play at the Augusta Golf Course

Unless you can get on the member list of Augusta's club, make the top 50 of the golf rankings or win a major you can't play the holes of Augusta. Well, actually you can..."

An Augusta Flyover

"The Augusta golf course has some great holes, all of which are included within this great simulated tour of the golf course. This EA tour flys over and through the course's holes from hole one to the final 18th. The flyover is from EA's Tiger Wood PGA Tour 12 golf game, which is the first to include the Master's golf championship. Check out the video below for an overview of this famous course..."

Golf Holes With Lots of Water

"A number of the world's more famous golf courses have golf holes that are surrounded by water. These are holes in which you can lose your balls, in more ways than one, when they fall down into the water. Water holes can be located alongside expansive lakes, creeks or perhaps even the sea and oceans. These are a few of the great golf holes in which you could take a swim on..."

Links Golf Courses

"Links golf courses amount to less than 1% of the overall total, and most of them are in Britain. The 2013 U.K. Open was played at the links golf course of Muirfield. But how exactly is that golf course any different from other alternatives?"

Great Mackenzie Golf Courses

"Mackenzie was a great course architect who inspired some famous golf courses in the early 20th century. Mackenzie's golf courses in the United States stretch from Georgia in the east, to California in the west. These are a few of Mackenzie's great golf courses..."

Free Drops

"In some cases during a round, you may have a free drop if your ball lands in a specific lie as outlined by the R&A. With a free drop you can lift and drop the ball a little further back onto a playable lie. So, when can you free drop?"

The Texas Wedge Putt

"The Texas Wedge is just another name for the putter. Except that it is only called a Texas Wedge when putting off the green. Mastering the Texas Wedge putt can be a great way to enhance your short game."

Royal Troon Golf Course Video

The Royal Troon championship golf course is one that has hosted eight U.K. Open championships. It's a 7,175 yard golf course which includes a 601 yard par 5. It is usually ranked among the best links golf courses in the game. Check out the Royal Troon golf course video below.

The Best Holes in the USA

There are many great golf holes in the USA, and the best can be found at the championship caliber golf courses such as Augusta, Pebble Beach, Pinehurst and the Stadium course which hosts the Players Championship. The 500 World's Greatest Golf Holes book includes a selection of the best 18 holes in the USA. They are as follows:

Augusta National 13 

510 yards, Par 5

Bethpage (Black) 5 

455 Yards, Par 4

Colonial 5  

470 Yards, Par 5

Crystal Downs 8

 550 Yards, Par 5

Cypress Point 15

139 Yards, Par 3

Doral (Blue) 18 

443 Yards, 4

The Dunes 13

 590 Yards, Par 5

Merion (East) 13

 428 Yards, Par 5

The National 4

197 Yards, Par 3

Oakmont 3

425 Yards, Par 4

Pebble Beach 18

548 Yards, Par 5

Pinehurst (No 2) 5

482 Yards, Par 4

Pine Valley 13

448 Yards, Par 4

Shinnecock Hills 14

447 Yards, Par 4

Southern Hills 12

445 Yards, Par 4

Spyglass Hill 4

365 Yards, Par 4

TPC as Sawgrass (Stadium) 17

132 Yards, Par 3

Winged Foot (West) 10

190 Yards, Par 3

Those holes are largely dominated by the classic designs. Among them are holes that include plenty of water such as the enthralling 18^th hole at Pebble Beach which plays alongside the Pacific Ocean, the 15th at Cypress Point on which the sea lies between the tee and green, and the short par-3 hole at TPC's Stadium Course which has a green surrounded by water. Lakes or streams lurk on half dozen of the finest holes in the USA. The selected holes are reasonably geographically dispersed, with several in the northeast, five in the south and three on the West Coast.