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Trick Shot Artist Was Inspired at Age 12 by a Tiger Woods Commercial

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Trick Shot Artist Inspired by Tiger

At age 12, Tania Tare wasn’t into golf yet. But a commercial featuring Tiger Woods juggling and then hitting a golf ball out of the air caught her eye. Fast forward 20 years and Tare can only look back in amazement.

“If I think about how it all started, it’s actually pretty crazy,” she said.

Tare, 32, grew up in New Zealand, played collegiately at Florida International, and lived briefly in California before settling in Arizona. She vividly recalls that day two decades ago when she watched the Nike commercial of Woods casually bouncing a ball on a wedge several times, going up and under his legs before swinging at the ball and launching it to the moon.

“I saw that when I was about 12 and I learned how to do that without ever hitting a golf ball off the ground. I thought that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” she said. “I didn’t even really like associate it in my head that it was golf. … I didn’t hit my first golf ball in a normal way until I was like 14. So technically, yeah, that’s probably the first thing I did that related to golf.”

“I didn’t start doing trick shots because ‘I’m going to be the best trickshot artist in the world.’ I just did them for my friends and family who thought that golf was kind of boring,” she said. “I was like, ‘This isn’t boring!’ And then all these people really liked them and all these opportunities came up and I was like, ‘Oh, this is a thing?’ and now it’s literally a thing that I do.”

The opportunities did indeed come up. And they still do.

Tare has sponsorships with Ping, OnCore golf balls, watchmaker Audemars Piguet—for which she shot a cool commercial in a parking structure which hardly even features the watch—and adidas, which provides her apparel. She is frequently booked for events and has a crazy following on social media. Her Instagram account has more than 300,000 followers.

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Tania TareGolf trick shot artist Tania Tare at Eagle Mountain Golf Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona. Photo by Todd Kelly/Golfweek

A once aspiring LPGA player, Tare’s biggest foe has been injuries. She says she’s had three wrist surgeries and was told she needed a fourth but she’s hesitant to try that again, considering the first three didn’t work.

“Now I’m at the point where I’m like, ‘I don’t know if it’s meant for me,’” she says of reaching her LPGA dream. Her golfing life simply took her down a different path.

“I tell people all the time I feel like I really lucked out,” she said. “Ninety percent of my life is trick shots and all the stuff surrounding it. I get to stay in the golf world. I’m actually in the golf world in a better way than I was when I was a pro and I was grinding.

“For the first patch when I was still actually trying to play [on tour] I was making money off the trick shot stuff and then spending it all on trying to be a pro golfer and it was like, the feeling was way different. Now I’ve gotten to do so many things, meet so many people that I definitely wouldn’t have had that chance if I was just a pro trying to get on tour.”

Tania TareGolf trick shot artist Tania Tare at Eagle Mountain Golf Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona. Photo by Todd Kelly/Golfweek

Before the pandemic, she said she was home about three nights a month.

Tare recently played (regular golf) and then performed (trick shot golf) at an enhancement ceremony for Eagle Mountain Golf Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona. She talked about other gigs on her upcoming schedule, including one at Desert Mountain in North Scottsdale. She also committed to playing in the Arizona Women’s Open.

“I wrote on Instagram that I would enter if I got more than 200 comments and it got over 1,000. I gotta keep my word,” she said with a smile.

Tania TareGolf trick shot artist Tania Tare at Eagle Mountain Golf Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona. Photo by Todd Kelly/Golfweek

Tare hasn’t been home to New Zealand since before COVID but has plans to fly back early in 2022 if the pandemic doesn’t take a turn for the worse.

In the meantime, she’ll keep making those fun videos. One of her more famous involved a yoga ball and a red Solo cup. The video is just seven seconds long but took countless tries to pull off. The back story is pretty great, too.

“That one, on the ball, my family was waiting for me to go to dinner, it was my birthday. I was like, ‘No! I have to!’” she said. “Once I start a trick, once I have an idea, I just pretty much do it till I’m sore.”

This article originally Appeared on Golfweek.

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One of the Greatest Putts in U.S. Open History?

JJ Spaun’s 64-Foot Walk-Off

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When JJ Spaun stood over a 64-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont, few could have predicted what would come next. The ball meandered across the slick green, trickling over every contour, picking up speed at the crest, and then—like it had GPS—dropped center cup. Spaun dropped his putter, raised his arms, and the crowd erupted. With that single stroke, he claimed his first major title in one of the most dramatic finishes in U.S. Open history.

But how does Spaun’s putt stack up against other legendary finishes in the tournament’s storied past? Let’s break down some of the most iconic moments and see where this one lands.


1. Payne Stewart – 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst

Perhaps the most iconic putt in U.S. Open history came from Payne Stewart, who nailed a 15-footer for par on the 18th to win by one over Phil Mickelson. The pose—fist pump and outstretched leg—has since been immortalized in a statue at Pinehurst. What made it legendary wasn’t just the putt—it was the context: Stewart’s final major before his tragic death just months later.

Verdict: Iconic and emotional. Spaun’s putt was longer, but Stewart’s was more poetic.


2. Tiger Woods – 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines

Woods drained a 12-foot birdie on the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate—while basically playing on one leg. That tournament went to sudden death after an 18-hole playoff, and Tiger prevailed. This was peak Tiger drama, pain and all.

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Verdict: Spaun’s putt was longer, but Tiger’s win was sheer willpower and mystique.


3. Jack Nicklaus – 1972 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach

With a 1-iron shot that hit the flagstick on 17 and a crucial birdie putt on 18, Jack sealed a dominant win. His precision and timing under pressure showed why he’s the GOAT.

Verdict: Not a putt for the win, but a signature finishing statement from Jack. Spaun’s was more electric in terms of pure putter drama.


4. Ben Hogan – 1950 U.S. Open at Merion

Hogan’s 1-iron into the 18th fairway and the par to force a playoff—just 16 months after a near-fatal car crash—remain legendary. He won the playoff and completed one of golf’s great comeback stories.

Verdict: Larger-than-life comeback. Spaun’s putt had more flair, but Hogan’s win was heroic.


5. JJ Spaun – 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont

Let’s not underestimate what Spaun accomplished. The pressure was immense. He wasn’t the favorite. And on the most treacherous greens in golf, he buried a 64-foot bomb—a putt most players would be happy to lag to within 5 feet—to win the U.S. Open outright.

Verdict: For distance, surprise, and drama, Spaun’s putt may be the most shocking winning stroke in U.S. Open history.


Final Thoughts

JJ Spaun may not have the résumé of a Nicklaus or Woods, but for one Sunday afternoon in June 2025, he created a moment that will live in golf lore forever. Spaun’s putt was longer than Stewart’s, more unexpected than Tiger’s, and more dramatic than any final-hole finish in recent memory.

In terms of pure clutch putting? It might just be the greatest walk-off in U.S. Open history.


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The Zen of the Shank: Finding Inner Peace in Your Worst Shots

Find your inner peace even when you aren’t playing well.

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Ah, the shank. That glorious, unpredictable misfire that sends your pristine golf ball screaming sideways, often directly into the unsuspecting shins of your playing partner, or perhaps, with a touch of poetic irony, into the very lake you’ve been trying to avoid all day. Most golfers, bless their earnest little hearts, view the shank as a catastrophic failure, a blight upon their scorecard, a testament to their inherent lack of coordination. They curse, they throw clubs, they contemplate a career in competitive thumb-wrestling. But not I. No, my friends, for I, Ty Webb, have found enlightenment in the humble shank.

You see, the shank is not a mistake; it’s a revelation. It’s the universe’s way of reminding you that control is an illusion, that perfection is a myth, and that sometimes, the most direct path to your goal is, in fact, a wildly indirect one. Think of it as a philosophical detour, a sudden, unexpected journey into the unknown. One moment, you’re aiming for the green, a paragon of precision and intent. The next, your ball is ricocheting off a tree, narrowly missing a squirrel, and landing, by some divine comedic intervention, closer to the hole than your perfectly struck drive ever would have. Is that not a miracle? Is that not a sign that the golf gods, much like life itself, have a wicked sense of humor?

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The key, my dear apprentices of the links, is acceptance. Embrace the shank. Welcome it with open arms, like a long-lost, slightly inebriated relative. When that familiar, sickening thwack echoes through the air, do not despair. Instead, take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Feel the gentle breeze on your face. And then, with a knowing smile, open them and observe the chaos you have wrought. Is it not beautiful in its own chaotic way? Is there not a certain freedom in relinquishing control, in allowing the ball to choose its own destiny, however bizarre that destiny may be?

Some say the shank is a sign of poor technique. I say it’s a sign of a vibrant, untamed spirit. A golfer who never shanks is a golfer who has never truly lived, never truly explored the outer limits of their own golfing absurdity. They are content with mediocrity, with predictable trajectories and mundane outcomes. But you, my enlightened few, you understand that the true joy of golf lies not in the score, but in the story. And what a story a good shank can tell.

So, the next time you feel that familiar tremor of a shank brewing, don’t fight it. Let it flow. Let it be. For in the heart of every shank lies a lesson, a laugh, and perhaps, just perhaps, a path to a lower score you never saw coming. After all, as the great philosopher Basho once said, “A flute with no holes, is not a flute. A donut with no hole, is a Danish.” And a golf game without a shank? Well, that’s just not golf, is it?

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Meet The Canadian Open Qualifier Tied To ClickIt Golf!

“This week was incredible,” he said. “A dream come true.”

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Josh Goldenberg doesn’t plan to quit his day job. But he had a great time dabbling in his old career.

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He gave up on pro golf, then qualified for his first PGA Tour event.

Read the full story here
https://golf.com/news/josh-goldenberg-rbc-canadian-open/?amp=1

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