With the clock ticking down on 2020, there’s still time to start making your New Year’s golf resolutions.

What do you hope to accomplish in 2021? Do you want to make a commitment to play more? How about getting a package of golf lessons or plunking down $500 for a shiny, hi-tech new driver?

The start of a new year often brings new beginnings, and that couldn’t be more true for one golf course in northeast San Diego County.

On January 1, Woods Valley Golf Club will be re-named Native Oaks Golf Club, and that’s not the only notable change for the daily-fee track in Valley Center that has been popular among San Diego golfers since it first opened in 2004.

OB Sports was selected to manage Native Oaks in November 2019 on behalf of its owners, the San Pasqual Economic Development Commission, and the experienced company has already started to make noticeable improvements.

If you want to get serious about improving your game and creating a new you on the golf course in 2021, then you need to start training.

You don’t need to wake up at 6 a.m. every morning, drink a carton of raw eggs, and run through the streets of Philadelphia like Rocky, but you can take advantage of the myriad of golf training aids out there designed to help you hit it farther, chip it closer, and putt it straighter.

To assist you in your training quest, we’ve put together a short list of three products that you’ll definitely want to consider to get your game humming in 2021.

So here you go. Hop to it. You’ve got work to do.

If you’re a golfer in your 60s and your swing isn’t as smooth as it used to be, you’re not alone.

Mike Hansen, the owner of Hansen Fitness for Golf in Irvine, has worked with thousands of sexagenarians and says there are typically three areas of the game that they struggle with: mobility, stability, and balance.

In this video, Hansen will take you through his top six drills for golfers over 60 to help improve those important areas of your game.

Nearly eight years since it was initially proposed, city officials in El Segundo remain hopeful that the first Topgolf facility planned in Southern California will become a reality.

Topgolf, which many Southern Californians may be familiar with because of its popular entertainment complex in Las Vegas, offers games and activities for golfers and non-golfers of all ages as well as upscale food and beverage service at more than 60 locations around the world.

The project in El Segundo has been planned as part of an agreement that would bring a major upgrade to The Lakes at El Segundo, a 9-hole executive course and driving range owned by the city and located along Pacific Coast Highway, near Los Angeles International Airport and the beach towns of Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo.

Classic Club in Palm Desert is upping its game this fall with a full slate of new golf instruction programs.

Developed by PGA teaching professional David Curtis, the programs (listed at end of post) kicked off in November and include golf schools, clinics, course management instruction and private lessons.

Curtis, who began working at Classic Club in March, is originally from Beaumont and has lived in the Coachella Valley since 2001. He’s an accomplished player who has won multiple Desert Chapter PGA section tournaments as well as the 2016 PGA Desert Chapter Player of the Year award.
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He also led his college team to a California State Championship in 2004, and has taught with some of the finest golf instructors in the country throughout his career. We spoke to him about the new programs and his passion for the game.

We all have that one golfer on our holiday gift list who is notoriously difficult to shop for. They already have all the latest and greatest equipment and apparel, and a gift card to their favorite course or golf retailer just seems so impersonal. ​

That’s why surprising that special someone with a truly unique gift featuring the greatest golfer of his generation is a terrific alternative.

The Tiger Woods Collection from Upper Deck Authenticated Memorabilia includes pieces that you won’t find anywhere else, and thanks to Tiger’s decades-long relationship with the Carlsbad-based company, every item is put through a rigorous authentication process to ensure you’re getting the real deal.

You don’t always need a set of weights for a good golf workout. In fact, you can get one with a just a rubber band.

In this video, Mike Hansen of Hansen Fitness for Golf in Irvine, shows you his three best band exercises to improve your golf game.