John Holmes's blog

Everyone who's been paying attention lately knows that the golf industry is trying hard to grow the game – meaning, essentially, increase the number of people participating in golf. But, the National Golf Foundation wondered, do the people who already love golf want more company out there on the course? Or do they prefer not having to share the fairways with so many other folks?

We don't really have pachinko parlors here in the United States, but they're huge in Japan. Pachinko parlors there gross around $378 billion a year, according to the Japanese government – that's about four times the gross of all the world's legal casino gaming combined.

I know some of you lucky ducks out there found brand-new golf clubs under the tree on Christmas morning, and I'm sure the're awesome. I'm also sure they're not as awesome as this one.

This is the world's largest golf club, as of 1933 -- I ran across it the other day while searching for something else.

In the Palm Beach area of Florida, where so many many professional golfers live these days, no players have larger profiles than Jack Nicklaus at the Bear's Club and Greg Norman at the Medalist Golf Club. But no longer.

I know what I want for Christmas. I'd bet you know what you want, too.

But what do the world's greatest golfers want Santa Claus to bring them? Over at Bleacher Report, Jake Mann puts on his thinking cap – is it red, with a little white ball on top? – and ponders what the game's top players are hoping to find under their trees come Christmas morning.

Soon after arriving in Hawaii on Saturday, President Obama kicked off his Christmas vacation with a round of golf at Kaneohe Klipper, an 18-hole championship golf course on the Marine Corps Base in Kaneohe Bay, according to The Hill newspaper, which noted that Obama has played there before on past Christmas vacations.

The OneAsia Tour will hold not one but two final-stage Q-School tournaments early next year – with one in the United States and the other in Malaysia.

The U.S. Q-School will take place at the Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms, in Industry Hills, Calif., on Jan. 29-Feb. 1. The Malaysian event will return to Sutera Harbour Golf Club in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on Feb. 5-8.

We all watched Bubba Watson swing his bubble-gum pink Ping driver for much of the year – including at the Masters, where he earned his first major victory and became not just a golf superstar but a pop culture favorite.

Watson wielded that unmistakable driver as part of his ''Bubba & Friends Drive to a Million'' effort in partnership with Ping's ''Bubba Long in Pink. Driven by Ping'' campaign. To help raise funds for Phoenix-area charities, Ping has donated $50 for each of the 5,000 pink drivers sold.

Callaway Golf set out to deliver measurable distance gains with its two new, aggressive iron sets, the X Hot and X Hot Pro.

"The X Hot Irons have been meticulously engineered – both in terms of physical characteristics and club configuration – to increase ball speed and promote overall distance optimization," said Callaway’s Senior Vice President, Research and Development Alan Hocknell. "And in doing so, I think we have raised the bar and created the standard in distance for the irons category."

Phil Mickelson has pulled out of the new owership group of his hometown San Diego Padres.

"I think to be involved with the Padres you have to be fully committed to the long term," Mickelson said on Tuesday, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. "I've been born and raised here, but at this moment I'm not able to make that kind of long-term commitment to the city and to the team."