Innholdsfortegnelse for Apr 2024 - Issue 419 i Golf Australia

April, for any golf fan, means just one thing – the Masters. With the golf world about to focus on Augusta I thought I would share my favourite things about the year’s first major. 1. It’s a new year and the first of the four major championships brings with it a level of anticipation, from players and fans alike, like few sporting events. 2. With the Masters played at Augusta every year, we know more about that place than most … the memorable shots, the Masters dreams and nightmares. 3. Curling up on the lounge under a doona with a strong cup of coffee, wiping the sleep from your eyes and hoping an Aussie is on the first page of the leaderboard. 4. The ceremonial Thursday morning tee shot. There’s nothing else like it…

In the months after his father passed away in 2006, Tiger Woods became so obsessed with the elite special forces known as Navy SEALs that there were fears among his inner sanctum that he might quit golf and enlist in the military. The fear was real. Tiger was banging himself up so badly they staged an intervention. At the age of 30 Woods had won 13 major championships. He was more famous than Madonna. He made more money than Michael Schumacher. And Michael Jordan. And Kobe Bryant. Tom Brady earned $10 million in 2006. Tiger Woods made ten times that. Yet he’d long had a thing for the special forces because old man Earl had been a combat veteran; a Green Beret in the Vietnam War, and he’d told young…

Bernhard Langer would make a very compelling Netflix series. For the last hour, he has been speaking from his home in Florida, rattling through the key points in his life which saw him find God and pushed him to the brink of death and early retirement. He is engaging company and a very polished storyteller. Growing up in post-war Germany, he didn’t have it easy. Besides helping his dad lay bricks to build the family home, he suffered two serious illnesses before the age of five. Doctors even told his mother to prepare for the worst. He was eight by the time he was introduced to golf as a caddie at Golfclub Augsburg, which is where he got hooked on playing. For the first few years, he had to make…

If you are fighting inconsistent ball-striking, where one good shot is followed by three or four bad ones, there is every chance you are closing your golfer’s gateway and restricting a good backswing as a result. Let me explain. I see a lot of players struggle with a collapsed backswing where the left arm (for right-handers) bends at the top of the backswing and they lose control of the club. These same players then focus on trying to straighten their left arm without knowing what is causing it to breakdown and ultimately lead to poor hitting. In many cases the root cause of this backswing flaw comes from poor posture, usually after a player has been told they lifted their head which led to a bad shot. This has the effect…

There has never been a time when golfers have had more choices when it comes to the golf ball they play. It is well established the game’s top players stick to one golf ball model and it takes significant time to switch to another, and it is something worth considering. The world’s best want consistency in their game and using the same ball round after round takes one variable out of a game full of them. Here, we look at balls from all the big brands in the market broken down by price point and look at the technologies and features of these balls to help you choose the best one to play in 2024. OVER $80 CALLAWAY CHROME TOUR Chrome Tour is for better players who want the best…

Titleist’s new Vokey Design SM10 wedges are engineered to produce a lower, more controlled flight with improved feel and maximum spin. These design traits advance the performance of the game’s most played wedges through an unrelenting focus on Master Craftsman Bob Vokey’s three keys to great wedge play. 1. Shot versatility: The Vokey Design SM10 family comprises six different Tour-proven sole grinds – F, S, M, K, T and D – with a total of 25 unique loft, bounce and grind combinations. This allows every golfer the opportunity to find their optimal wedge set-up. Properly fit wedges that complement a golfer’s swing type and course conditions help unlock creativity around the greens and achieve proper turf interaction and contact. “I always tell players that the most important club in the…

In late 2022, five-year-old Hugo Smith was packed into the back seat of the car at the family’s Gold Coast home to help drop his father, Ben, to a work Christmas Party. Had this party been at one of the typical entertainment venues, young Hugo might have been distracted as five-year-olds tend to be and this story might not have been written, perhaps not quite so soon anyway. When the car pulled into the entry of the party venue, the Palm Meadows Golf Club, little did young Hugo know how much his life would change from that point on. Although his dad plays golf, this was his first exposure to the game and the sight of people hitting balls proved irresistible to the-then kindergarten student. In short, he was hooked…

ADDRESS Tiger Woods has always had that dynamic, athletic setup with great posture and body angles. But his leg and back injuries in recent years have forced a slight change that few would even notice. Tiger’s left foot is slightly flared out, which can make it harder to turn back in the swing but it does give him more mobility in his hips through the ball. HALFWAY BACK Tiger is the poster boy for the perfect one-piece takeaway, where everything – shoulders, torso, hands and club – are working back together. He has the club coming up to the top of the backswing and is allowing the clubface to open slightly. Draw a line down the shaft here and its pointing straight at the imaginary target line running through the…

“THERE ARE HALF A DOZEN SHOTS YOU HAVE TO WATCH OUT FOR. AFTER THAT, IT’S NOT THAT DIFFICULT– JACK NICKLAUS TREVOR IMMELMAN 2008 CHAMPION Augusta has become a much harder driving course over the years. There are many tee shots which are quite narrow, starting at the 1st and even the 2nd now. They’ve drawn the tee box further back, which makes it a lot harder. Five is tough with the bunkers, the 7th has become a lot narrower. Nine as well, 11, 14… and then 17 and 18 are the two toughest tee shots of the day. A lot of people think you can tee it high and let it fly, but it’s changed. Driving is more important than people realise, but it’s still a second-shot course. If you…

It is not uncommon for golf commentators to describe some pros’ swings as “pretty”. There’s a long list of pretty swings on Tour … they’re pleasing to the eye, smooth yet powerful and don’t venture too far from the technique textbook. Jason Day is a member of that group of players who can be described as having a “pretty” swing we drool over, mainly because he never looks off balance. Balance is too often taken for granted by golfers in terms of importance. But without good balance from setup and throughout the swing, it’s very difficult to get the clubface back square at impact. Physics simply won’t allow it. Your balance can shift off-centre in any direction before and during the swing, and each sway has its own unwanted consequences.…

PRESENTED BY Royal Adelaide is one of this country’s finest courses and has been for nearly 100 years. When discussed alongside other great Australian courses born in the same era and influenced by the same architect, Dr Alister MacKenzie, Royal Adelaide is set aside as a very different layout. Unlike Royal Melbourne, for example, Royal Adelaide didn’t have the genius of course builder Mick Morcom bringing MacKenzie’s drawings to life. In Sydney, the New South Wales course had dramatic terrain by the sea. A no brainer for world class golf. So, what makes Royal Adelaide, located in suburban Seaton and cut in two by the Adelaide to Glenelg rail line, so special? For many, like myself, it has two great attributes – no two holes are even remotely the same,…

With the addition of two grinds and new loft offerings, PING’S s159 wedges represent the company’s most versatile wedge line to date, significantly advancing wedge performance and expanding fitting options. Extensive testing with PING Tour players has helped create wedges that will appeal to golfers of all abilities. The 8620 carbon steel head is cast to an eye-pleasing shape with a more-square lead edge, which is especially beneficial on full shots. An elastomer insert behind the face contributes to the soft and responsive feel. At address, the compact head features an improved hosel transition with constant offset, which blends seamlessly into the recently released PING Blueprint S and T irons. Wheel-cut grooves are precision-milled to varying dimensions, depending on loft. The 54-to-62-degree options feature more tightly spaced MicroMax grooves. The…

Pretty much ever since the biennial contest between the best male golfers on either side of the Atlantic become legitimately competitive, “it’s never too early to talk about the next Ryder Cup” has been a running gag in media centres across what used to be called the European Tour. So, take it from me, this column will hardly be the first piece to comment on the 2025 contest at Bethpage Black on Long Island. Which is fair enough. Almost from the moment the Old-World squad saw off their American counterparts with rather a lot to spare – 161/2 to 111/2 to be exact – at Marco Simone last September/October, the European Ryder Cup machine clicked into gear. The same cannot be said of the Americans though. At first glance, at…

APRIL 7, 1935 It is 89 years since the strike coined as ‘the shot heard around the world’, but still today, Gene Sarazen’s albatross on Augusta National’s par-5 15th continues to echo in golfing folklore. Forever etched in history, and since 1955, the Sarazen Bridge by the 15th green has immortalised the man who struck the famous 4-wood. It was the second instalment of the Masters, then known as the ‘Augusta National Invitational’, and the Augusta National Golf Club and the tournament was struggling, with the United States feeling the wrath of the Great Depression, which had the nation in a stranglehold. Sarazen had passed up the invitation for the inaugural competitive trip down Magnolia Lane. And the second time around, he arrived on the grounds with six major championships…

Golf may be the greatest game, but if you’re like most people I know, you don’t think it’s quite perfect. I’m talking about some of the rules, of course, a subject that got me thinking when Jordan Spieth was disqualified from the recent Genesis Invitational when he signed for the wrong score on one hole. So, for what it’s worth, I thought I’d run through the rules that need changing or, at least, modifying. SIGNING FOR THE WRONG SCORE I’m talking here about professional tournament golf. One of the modern arguments for change is that we have scorers following us on every hole, recording every shot. Then there are the guys with the lasers and such who can tell us where and how we hit every shot. So why should…

It goes without saying that Masters week is one of the most memorable on the calendar. Similar to an Ashes Test at Lords or Wimbledon, it is rich in tradition … it just feels different, it’s a purist’s haven. For the players it’s no different. There is something about the green jackets, pimento cheese sandwiches and the scent of pine straw that is like being in another dimension. An Augusta ambush is seemingly on the horizon. The small but elite four-prong squad of Aussies embarking on golf’s most exclusive event is arguably the strongest we have seen across the board in years. ADAM SCOTT Only one Australian knows what it feels like to open up his closet and see a green jacket hanging there, and that hasn’t been given enough…

Have you ever considered that driving a golf ball off the tee is similar to throwing a ball? Believe it or not both actions are pretty much the same. If we want to throw a ball as efficiently as possible, we want to load up into your back foot, like a baseball pitcher, and then transfer all that weight forward and throw the ball as far you can. Driving the golf ball is the same. If you want to get maximum force into the ball, turn and load up into your back foot so you can then get that weight transferred in a good direction. A good drill to help do this is put a club on the ground inside your back foot and tee a ball up ready to…

Footjoy has released the Pro/SLX and Pro/SLX Carbon golf shoes, which incorporate the most advanced materials and construction processes and will advance your game with revolutionary traction, comfort and control features. Like its predecessors, Pro/SLX golf shoes are sure to be popular at every level of the game, including on the professional Tours where they have already been worn in practice and in play by the likes of Sahith Theegala, Sungjae Im, Corey Connors and many more. ADVANCED TRACTION Pro/SLX introduces a game-changing new traction design called the PWR TRAX System. It features a moulded 3D X-Wing that is engaged by swing forces to redistribute energy to the perimeter of the golf shoe, inspired by the wide base found in race cars to maximise perimeter stability and traction. The Race…

With colder weather just around the corner, it’s not too early to consider how you will stay warm on the course this winter. The Zerofit Heatrub Ultimate Baselayer makes the decision easy for you as it’s the world’s warmest baselayer. Designed in Japan, the Zerofit Heatrub Ultimate Baselayer has been proven to be five times warmer than leading competitors following independent testing on the product at the Boken Institute in Osaka, making it a game-changing product in even the coldest of conditions. Evaluations at the Institute resulted in a heat retention rating of 0.78; a standard baselayer would have a rating of 0.1-0.14, while a sweater would typically have a rating of around 0.3. Technologically enhanced ‘Heat Threads’ inside the garment are activated through movement, gently brushing against the skin…

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I have seen and tried some unusual looking putters during the past four decades. Some of you might recall the Ugly Duckling that Tom Watson used in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. It was an unusual putter but it was also appropriately named. It was ugly. The iB Sweet Spot putter is also on the podium of most unusual looking putters I have used but it is not ugly. In fact, after using it for a few hours I became quite enamoured with the little headed putter. And it is a little head, which is the key feature of the design. When you look down at address, the putter head is slightly wider than the ball. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the three alignment lines and two…

Few players have enjoyed as meteoric a rise as Ludvig Åberg, who won on the PGA and DP World Tours in the same year he made his Ryder Cup debut. Here, he talks about being bribed to play golf as a child, an Aussie connection and more. We are sitting down thanks to adidas - were you a multiple pair, or one pair, type of junior when it came to shoes? When I grew up, I wasn’t allowed white shoes, because they would get too dirty, I was always in black shoes and playing in the mud. Now I cannot stand black shoes. Have you taken time to reflect on your unbelievable past 12 months? Not really. I mean to be fair; I had a little bit of a time…