Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2017 i Golf Australia

GOLF MUST BE THE ONLY SPORT, APART FROM DARTS, WHERE YOU HAVE TO BE A CERTAIN AGE BEFORE YOU ARE ALLOWED INTO A VENUE TO PLAY. GROWING the game has become golf’s mantra during the past few years and governing bodies around the world have invested plenty of time and money in trying to attract more players – young and old – to the game. Golf Australia, for example, has a range of initiatives including SwingFit and Golf Month, which are designed to create interest in golf and get more people playing the game. GA has also partnered with the PGA of Australia to target kids with the MyGolf program that promotes skill development and all the fun aspects of golf. I think everyone would agree if junior golf is…

WORLD NO.1 Lydia Ko makes her 2017 debut this month at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open armed with a new swing, new caddie and new gear. The 19-year-old’s off-season overhaul came on the back of a year which saw her win four times as well as capturing the silver medal in golf’s return to the Olympic Games. For most players it would have been a banner year, but for the young Kiwi it left her feeling stale and in need of a change. She made three. In October, Ko parted ways with her caddie of two years, Jason Hamilton. He has been replaced by Gary Matthews, who has previously worked with Sergio Garcia and Camilo Villegas. She recently confirmed an equipment change, moving from Callaway to sign with Parsons…

SPOT THE BALL WHERE could Cameron Smith’s ball be in this photo, taken on the 18th hole during the final round of the Emirates Australian Open? All you have to do is correctly identify where Smith’s ball is hidden on the grid, using the letters and numbers (eg. A4, B2 etc). Answer correctly and you could win a dozen Mizuno JPX Platinum and JPX golf balls. The JPX PlatinumThe JPX Platinum combines all of Mizuno’s available technologies to deliver a tour feel ball suited to mid and lower swing speeds – up to 90 mph driver swing speed, while the three-piece JPX is designed to deliver increased distance as well as a soft, responsive feel. TO ENTER: Select your grid reference and then go to our website, www.golfaustralia.com.au, to submit…

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE THREE OF US AND MONSIEUR COLSAERTS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE MARKED. YOU’LL have heard before now that today’s professionals play a “different game” from the rest of us mere mortals. They always have, to an extent. But not as much as they do today, a fact that was cruelly underlined when your ever-so humble correspondent teed-up in the pro-am preceding the recent World Cup at Kingston Heath. In fact, “pro-am” is misleading, as my teammates were Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, my fellow Golf Australia contributor Mike Clayton and LPGATour player Su Oh. I was actually competing in a “pro-pro-pro-am.” Anyway, it turned out to be a fascinating day on what is surely one of the game’s greatest venues. Fascinating and eventually depressing. Let me explain, using…

WHEN Su Oh looks back on 2016 much of it might seem a blur. But sitting back in Melbourne in the off-season she could reflect on a year where she was able to achieve what few have been able to do before her. She began the year in Adelaide at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open where she finished tied 14th before heading to the United States to try and Monday qualify for events on the LPGA Tour. She left our shores with no Tour status but she had dogged determination to crack a regular spot on the Tour. The former World No.1 amateur did get some starts and she grabbed her opportunities with both hands. A series of strong results through May and June with a runner-up finish at…

“Powerful forces railed against me….because….there was a golf course! And all the heads of all the departments belonged to it. And they took a fine pride in making the then Prime Minister the President of the Club! And I fought an uphill battle for a long time”. So recalled the then Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies at the inauguration of Lake Burley Griffin in 1964. A long-time supporter of American architect Griffin’s vision for the centre of Canberra, he felt the city would never be complete without it. ”You can’t have a great city unless you have water in it!” he went on to say. There was of course a golf course in the way – it was Royal Canberra and the original site is now somewhere under 33 million…

COMPLETE BACKSWING I know my backswing is over when I can no longer turn my shoulders. Only then do I begin the downswing. SMOOTH TRANSITION I make sure my transition is slow and smooth so I can gradually build speed with the correct sequencing. The transition is the second most important part of your swing after impact. The big mistake amateurs make is rushing the start of the downswing, which can waste energy and send your club off plane. Amateurs often go beyond where their backswing should finish – they continue to swing their arms after their shoulders have stopped rotating or they force more shoulder turn after their arms have stopped moving. Make sure you complete the backswing before beginning your transition into the downswing by getting your shoulders,…

Even although I’m one of the Tour’s longer hitters, I never really think about distance. If you looked at my numbers on a launch monitor, you’d discover that I’m not one of the fastest swingers. But my smash factor is off the charts because I centre the strike all the time. It’s the quality of my impact that gives me my distance. A simple lesson: all amateurs would hit the ball longer and straighter if they focused on improving the quality of the strike rather than trying to hit the ball harder. TRY A SHORTER SHAFT TO IMPROVE CONSISTENCY I’ve shortened the length of the shaft in my Callaway Fusion driver to make sure I centre the hit more often. I’m straighter than I’ve ever been off the tee and…

BRUSH OR BRUISE THE TURF The classic set-up for a chip encourages a downward blow, but you don’t want to make a divot. Think about the underside (bounce) of the clubhead brushing the turf rather than the leading edge and you’ll bruise the ground with a smooth stroke. The best chip shots – certainly those that have the best chance of going in – are basically putts once they land on the green. Which is why I like to flight the ball as low as possible. I want it on the ground and running at the hole, not bouncing, because that’s easier to control. To that end, I like to set up with the ball a little bit back in a narrow stance. Think ‘hit and stop’ to encourage a…

Escape shots hold your round together. Yes, booming drives and towering iron shots usually get the credit for a good score; but it’s your ability to recover from trouble that keeps those card-ruining big numbers at bay. If you can escape well, you will score well. The seven escape plans detailed here take you from thick greenside rough to sweeping draws round trees, and offer simple set-up and swing cues for each. But above all, they’ll give you the know-how to limit the damage the next time one of those booming drives or towering irons doesn’t quite go to plan.…

With some 85% of club golfers playing with some sort of cut, the need to draw the ball around a tree or other obstacle (right-to-left curve for right-handers) is an often uncomfortable option. But with some key set-up changes and a stronger concept of how to apply draw spin, this becomes a very playable shot. Follow this process. KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE Both draw and fade spin are easier to apply when you use a straighter-faced club. So use a stronger club, for example a 6-iron instead of a 7-iron, and prioritise control over power. UNDERSTAND THE DRAW The draw’s main ingredient is that the swing path must be from in-to-out, relative to face aim. A successful shot relies on a careful aim of the face, then ensuring you deliver…

In this scenario we need the ball to come out low. Keeping the ball down is all about using your set-up and delivery of the club to keep loft off the clubface, but it’s also vital to grasp one simple rule – the harder you hit the ball, the higher it wants to climb. So make these changes in the context of a shorter, quieter action that keeps aggression out of your strike. SET-UP: DELOFT THE CLUB Play the ball back of centre in a narrow stance to encourage a delofting, downward strike. Check the back of your trail hand is over the front of the ball and anchor yourself with extra weight on your lead side. BACKSWING: KEEP IT SHORT Swing back till your lead arm is no further…

Finding a decent strike off a bare lie is all about creating the perfect angle of attack. Too steep and you present your wedge’s sharper, leading edge to the ground, and with a very clean lie any contact before the ball results in a duff. But too shallow and the back edge of the sole skips off the hard ground, causing a bladed thin. So I’m going to show you a steep-to-shallow technique that eliminates the bounce thin, while letting you use the forgiving nature of sole bounce to skid the club under the ball. Here’s how the shot works. COMMIT TO THE SHOT: ADD LOFT A bare lie is unforgiving, and any hesitancy in your action will be punished. Opening the face to weaken the loft is a neat…

NIKE GOLF’S departure from club and ball production last August to focus on its apparel business has added to a lot of movement of players between equipment companies in the off-season. The most anticipated move was confirmed just after the New Year with former Nike Golf star Rory McIlroy announcing he will be using a new Callaway Great Big Bertha Epic Sub Zero driver, Callaway Custom Apex MB irons, Titleist Vokey Design wedges, an Odyssey prototype putter and a Titleist Pro V1x ball. McIlroy tested a wide variety of options recently in Dubai, and spent a considerable amount of the time trying to find both the proper equipment, with a particular emphasis on symbiosis between the different facets of his bag. “I want to play the new ProV1x ball and…

THE architecture of the golf course is one thing separating the game from most others where the field of play is confined, regulated by lines, and very often flat.Think, tennis, football, swimming, snooker, athletics or darts. Golf started off unregulated by much convention.There wasn’t any earthmoving machinery and the game was played with rudimentary equipment over the ideally suited narrow strips of dune land between the edge of Scottish beaches and the farmland just a little further inland. At St Andrews, in the space of 300 metres, you go from the beach, across one of the best pieces of land for golf imaginable to heavy wet farmland where the last thing anyone would want to build is a golf course or play golf. It was little wonder the early game…

I’VE HAD A LOT OF WEEKS WHERE I FELT LIKE I PLAYED GREAT ONLY TO FINISH 50TH. WHEN THAT KEEPS HAPPENING YOU INEVITABLY LOSE A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE. GOING into the recent Australian Open, I was feeling good about my chances. I had played well two weeks before in Las Vegas, eventually finishing in a tie for fourth behind Rod Pampling. For months, my game had been improving. Everything was moving in the right direction. I liked how I was swinging the club. And my putting was getting sharper too. All in all, I was looking forward to the week. Then, as soon as I got to Royal Sydney, nothing felt as good as it had been feeling, which is what can happen to any and every golfer.The first couple of…

Three weeks before the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National, Bloomsbury Publishing released Richard Gillis’ fascinating book, The Captain Myth . Gillis argues that Ryder Cup captains get a disproportionate amount of adulation if their team wins and ridicule if it loses, that neither one can be accurately assessed in the immediate aftermath of a competition, that it might come down to an uncontrollable element like a missed putt, that the captain is more of a marketing tool than anything else. He says that when we see the effect and go searching for a cause, we make what social scientists call a “fundamental attribution error.” We assume the winning captain’s strategy was the correct one and his team was the happier, more unified one. The result? Every two…

HEELS REMAIN SQUARE Splaying your left foot outwards does not mean you are opening your stance. It might look like that from above or face on, but down the line you can see that my heels are still parallel with the target line. I’m still set up perfectly square at address. FACE OPEN, HANDS BACK I open the blade just a little and then move my hands back slightly to square it up. This increases the loft and engages the bounce on the sole of the club, which gives you a bit more margin for error. I want to return the club to this address position through impact. To hit a soft shot with maximum height and minimum roll I splay my front foot outwards at address. This set-up tweak…

ADDRESS STAND SQUARE AND STAND TALL Sometimes I get too open, so I’m always checking my alignment and posture to make sure I’m nice and square. I like to be tall and athletic over the ball but also relaxed and confident. It’s as simple as it sounds. AT THE TOP MORE COMPACT FOR MORE CONTROL Again, it’s about having a nice, smooth rhythm. My swing used to be longer at the top but by being a little more compact I’m able to have more control. It hasn’t really cost me distance and it’s a lot more accurate and repeatable under pressure. DOWNSWING PULL THE CHAIN DOWN I want to make sure I feel my right arm and right hand stay connected to my body. This continues to keep me on…

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SPEED Long-range putting is all about speed control and feel. Keep your grip pressure light so that you have freedom and rhythm in your stroke. I’m looking to make everything on the greens. A lot of people try to get the ball inside a 3ft to 5ft circle when putting from long range but everyone misses a few return putts of that length. And there’s always a chance you’ll leave yourself an even longer putt than that if you’re too tentative. I always want to ‘make’ a putt because my theory is that shrinking the target shrinks your misses, too. Using my approach, you’ll not only hole more long putts, you’ll leave yourself more tap-ins, too. On the practice green, roll some 30 to 40-footers with…

In an ideal world we would always miss the green on the side opposite to where the pin is cut, giving us room to run the recovery shot up to the pin. But golf being golf, we can find ourselves short-sided, and often with the ball nestling in rough. The shot presents a problem because you need speed to get the club through the long grass, but not distance as the pin is close to you. The solution is to use your set-up to create quick height, and develop a brisk, ‘popping’ rhythm to your attack. Here’s how. PIN SHARP The closer the pin is to you, the more loft you must use to create a higher flight that stops the ball more quickly. But beware opening the face in…

If you’re unfortunate enough to wind up under the lip of a deep bunker, your first job is to devise a realistic game plan. Depending on the lie and the lip, you may not be able to reach the flag… or even go directly at it. Remember, in these situations your priority is always to get the ball out; don’t let ambition cloud that goal. Having selected your shot, use these tips to get the right contact – and ensure you escape. DO THE BACK SHOE SHUFFLE! On a steep upslope your trail foot supports your action. Shuffle it into the sand until you are confident of a secure base. Don’t take the club away until you feel you can swing the club without slipping.…

IMPACT: UPRIGHT SHAFT The perfect attack for this lie sees a subtle release of the club into the back of the ball. A great way to picture this is to return the club to the upright attitude you created at address. DEAD HEAT STRIKE You can also think of hands and clubhead, in a race to impact, arriving in a dead heat. These thoughts promote a slight shallowing through impact, ideal for making solid contact. SET-UP: PRE-SET A LEVEL ATTACK Play the ball just forward of centre in your stance. This places it at the base of the swing’s arc, promoting a level attack. Widen your stance a touch to create a slightly shallower base to the swing’s arc and avoid shaft lean. BACKSWING: ADD SOME SUBTLE STEEPNESS Let chest…

“…IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING. I’D LOVE TO COME OVER TO EUROPE. IT WILL BE A GREAT PRIVILEGE.”– SAM BRAZEL. WINNING SCORE: 13 under par, 267 DEFEATED: Defeated Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello by one shot. Queensland’s Andrew Dodt and England’s Tommy Fleetwood were a short further back. DEFINING MOMENTS: Brazel hit his drive down the middle of the 18th fairway tied for the lead with Cabrera Bello. With the flag tucked towards the right edge of the green, Brazel had to play his approach over sand and water. He was equal to the task as his iron shot finished eight feet from the cup and went on to convert the birdie to take the win. He later confessed his approach “wasn’t quite out of the middle.” WITH THIS VICTORY……

I’M NOT YOUR USUAL GOLFER: I’VE BEEN CAMPING A COUPLE OF TIMES AROUND LAKE COMO 1 When did you first shoot under par? I do remember this – it was in a junior competition and think I was about 13. I had a party to celebrate it when I got home! 2 What has been your career highlight? My Ryder Cup debut… along with winning the NCAA in the US in my second year at college at Riviera – a special place to do it – and my three European Tour wins. 3 What about the best shot of your career? Firing an 8-iron into the last at last year’s Czech Open. Even ’though I had a two-shot lead, it was my first time under that pressure to win a…

WORLD CUP FORMAT Once again the format for an international teams’ event at the latest World Cup left a lot to be desired. We have gone from ho-hum four stroke rounds (as in the Olympics and the previous World Cup) to no stroke rounds at all. A combination of foursomes and four-ball resulted in an event that failed to ignite much interest or drama. Boring for the spectators (seeing only two players hit in the foursomes rounds) and boring on the leaderboard (no lead changes after the second day). Why can’t we get these formats right? The World Cup was effectively over after two days with foursome and four-ball providing little chance for other teams to make up shots quickly on the weekend. Can I suggest an improved format? Nothing…

FOR ANY CAMPAIGNING NON-DRINKERS WHO FEEL THE URGE TO WRITE IN AND COMPLAIN, CALM DOWN AND MIX AN ARNOLD PALMER, WHICH IS EQUAL PARTS COLD TEA AND LEMONADE. DESPITE some incredible performances on the course, the game’s leading players continue to stand accused of being boring. The reason, it has to be said, is the terrible scourge of teetotalism. This first dawned on me a generation ago when a learned colleague bemoaned the appalling behaviour of cadet journalists on his newspaper. “Mate,” he confided sadly, “they go straight home, open a bottle of mineral water and read a serious book. They’ve got no get up and go at all. It breaks my heart” In happier days the players did not desert the course immediately after their round for a session…

BEING ON THE ROAD REALLY FORCES YOU TO GROW UP AND I FEEL A LOT MORE MATURE TODAY THAN I DID 12 MONTHS AGO.– BEN ECCLES The life of a touring professional demands that most weeks are spent on the road. Nights in your own bed are a rarity, to have the luxury during tournament week almost unheard of. So when the Vic Open rolls around at Thirteenth Beach in February, second year professional Ben Eccles will grab the opportunity with both hands. Eccles grew up, and still lives, less than a 15-minute drive from the host venue and has been a regular visitor since his teenage years. Winner of the 2015 NSW Open while still an amateur, Eccles has teed up three times in his home state open and…

Keith Pelley is an ideas man. He’s no ordinary ideas man though, which can be seen from his track record since taking on the role of European Tour Chief Executive nearly 18 months ago. With nearly 30 years’ experience in the media and sports industries, Pelley moved into the top job with the aim of turning the world of professional golf on its head with the firm belief the game at the elite level has become stale. He sees the European Tour more as an entertainment provider than the administrator of a professional golf circuit. Behind the scenes at European Tour headquarters at Wentworth in London, there is a small team of people working on new ideas to break away from traditional Tour golf and to attract more people to…

KEEP BACK TO THE TARGET As you reach the top of your swing, focus on keeping your back facing the target for a split-second before starting down. DROP THE CLUB, THEN TURN Your hands and arms drop down as your upper body starts to unwind. This will also help you retain the lag from the hinge in your wrists during the backswing. Many golfers slice the ball because they have a tendency to start the downswing with the upper body. Even top players are guilty of it occasionally. This tip helps me set the club correctly during my transition. I allow my arms to drop into the downswing before my shoulders have begun to unwind. If you can drop the hands like this before the body starts to rotate, it’s…

FEET TOGETHER I like to move into the ball with my feet close together. I find this just makes it easier to get my shoulders, hips, knees and feet square to the target I’m looking at before I get into my full stance. TAKE YOUR STANCE From this square position, it’s much easier to move your feet sideways to get the ball into the perfect position and tweak your body angles for an athletic posture without affecting your alignment. This simple tip has helped me a lot and cures a lot of faults. Alignment is key in golf and it’s amazing how often you get it wrong by setting up while looking at the ball. I like to pick a target in the distance – a tree or the edge…

DON’T TRY TO BE PERFECT I put a little sidespin on my putts and I’m okay with that. I started struggling when I tried to make it perfect. You don’t have to be perfect to be a good putter. Bobby Locke used to hook the ball into the hole and Gary Player says he was the best putter he’s ever seen. USE A COMFORTABLE GRIP My grip is inspired by Bernhard Langer, who was my role model when I was growing up. It works for me because it feels comfortable and I’m confident with it. Find a comfortable grip that gives you confidence and you’ll hole more putts – no matter what it looks like. TRUST YOUR READS I rely on my instincts when I’m reading greens. I trust my…

BALL UNDER BUTTONS For this shot we need a slight downward strike. That reduces the grass the club has to go through to reach the ball and preserves face loft. Play the ball under your buttons to promote that. GRIP TIGHTER The thick grass will want to grab the neck of the club, twisting the face shut and delofting it. Double your regular grip pressure to resist that twisting effect and preserve face loft. ADD FACE LOFT Rotate the handle to open the face before taking your grip. This adds loft to the clubface, helping you create a quick-rising ball flight – vital when you’ve no green to work with. NARROW YOUR STANCE As you move your feet closer together you naturally steepen the arc of your action. With so…

The one-handed chip with your back to the target looks like a specialist shot. In fact it’s quite simple to execute. Just stay still and let your arm swing through its natural range of motion. Stand with your back to the target; aim the face at the hole and grip with your trail hand only. This method lets you make the armswing your shoulder socket was designed for – forwards and back, past your side. SOUND FOOTING The key to this shot is staying as still as possible during the swing. Make sure you feel balanced, weight down through the centre of both feet, before executing the stroke. NATURAL PIVOT Play the ball opposite the toe-cap of your shoes, with the ball as close to your toe as possible. This…

As with most golf shots, the way you address the ball is key to its success. On any slope you are looking to angle your spine to offset its effect; on any steep upslope, this means creating a fairy severe lean away from the target to play the shot. From here, it’s all about presenting maximum clubface loft to the sand and ball. IMPACT: UP THE SLOPE Match the slope correctly and you can play pretty much a regular bunker shot; just preserve those set-up body angles and focus on taking a wide, shallow divot of sand. TRAIL PALM TO THE SKY Retain face loft by avoiding forearm rotation. Focus on the palm of your trail hand or the badge of your glove; from facing the target at impact, feel…

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