by Al Petersen, Southland Golf

When asked what role golf plays in his family’s life, Kip Puterbaugh paused a few seconds before yelling out the question to one of his sons hitting balls in a bay at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad.

“Water, food, golf,” quipped Jamie Puterbaugh, one of two sons Kip teaches with at the Kip Puterbaugh Aviara Golf Academy.

“Yep. It is a big part of our life,” Kip responded in what apparently qualifies as an understatement. “We never really planned on any of our sons teaching with me, but it’s pretty special that they do.”

In a sign that business and pleasure can mix, Kip, Jamie and Jason Puterbaugh are among the teachers at Aviara, where Kip has spent nearly 30 of his 44 years as a golf instructor. Along the way he has received several regional and national accolades that include being a fixture in Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers list since it first appeared in 1996.

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by Tod Leonard, The San Diego Union-Tribune

Golf is an enormously derivative game.

One club manufacturer inserts moveable weights into a driver and a bunch of companies follow. One player starts having success with a particular putting method and he’s inundated with questions around the practice putting green.

So what are we to make of the arrival and success of Bryson DeChambeau and his one-plane swing and single-length clubs? Are we on the verge of a golf revolution that will see weekend golfers flock to DeChambeau’s methods, or are we just settling in to watch one very unique guy’s journey?

We know this: DeChambeau has our attention. When he won both the NCAA and U.S. Amateur championships last year, he put himself into an elite group. Only four others had captured those titles in the same year.

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