Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Golf Digest

Walk around Five Iron Golf’s 25,000-square-foot indoor golf center-slash-cocktail lounge in midtown Manhattan, and it’s almost impossible to imagine that a few years ago, it was just a single netted bay with a mini-refrigerator hidden in the back of a suit shop. Mike Doyle almost can’t believe it himself. In 2016, Doyle was doing a kind of reverse commute for a New York City golf instructor. Instead of looking to migrate to one of the potentially lucrative teaching jobs at a private club in suburban Westchester, Connecticut or Long Island, he was interested in teaching that same clientele in Manhattan in an indoor setting. So Doyle went to work in the back of the aforementioned shop, tailoring his schedule to the peculiarities of his students’ availability. “I’d get guys who…

• I get it. When you have to carry a water hazard, it’s hard to turn your brain off and not think about all of the previous times you drowned your golf ball. You might even resort to grabbing a “water-hole ball” as a precaution. The reality is, those who revisit failures in their mind are doomed to repeat them. You need to change the script and send your brain a different message. The next time you’re on the practice tee, imagine there’s a water hazard between you and whatever target you choose (below). Stand directly behind your ball, and pick a target off in the distance. (If you’re someone who likes to curve the ball, choose a starting point and a finishing point.) Now visualize the trajectory and shape…

+ HOPEFULLY YOU REALIZE that if you’re getting ready to get back in the gym, or perhaps making your debut, the first thing you should do is be evaluated by a qualified fitness professional. Know your strengths and limitations to get the most out of your workouts and reduce the chance of injury. That being said, if you want to train smarter for golf, heed this advice from several of the best fitness experts in the country. ● For maximum force output, breathe out during the concentric (muscle shortening) phase of an exercise and breathe in during the eccentric (lengthening) phase. The same strategy should be employed during a golf swing—a smooth inhale during the backswing and a controlled exhale during the downswing. —Michael Mullin, breathing expert, Integrative Rehab Training…

I ONCE WROTE A BOOK WITH SAM Snead, and the most remarkable thing about it was the title: Pigeons, Marks, Hustlers and Other Golf Bettors You Can Beat. The cover showed Sam holding two pigeons. He had an instinctive way with all critters and was a natural wonder himself. Nothing could be more indelible than watching Sam kick the top of a door jamb from a standing start to win a bet, which he could do well into his 80s. He had good genes—his great grandmother lived till 106. Fred Couples may be breaking his age and Bernhard Langer may be the oldest winner on the Champions Tour, but Sam grew old the most gracefully. When I asked him the secret to longevity and good golf, Snead gave me his…

WHAT DOES IT TAKE to be one of the Best Young Teachers in America? Golf knowledge? People skills? Influence on social media? Long hours on the range? Sure, those things help, but there’s no one formula. The only exact commonalities of the instructors on this list are that they're all under 40, and they all have a real knack for making golfers better. ▶ In 2008, when our biennial list debuted, we identified 20 teachers in their 20s and 30s who were worthy of recognition. Our latest group of winners stands at 160, and their teaching locations stretch from Hawaii to New Hampshire. Some coach at exclusive places such as Baltusrol and L.A. Country Club. Others spend their days teaching indoors on simulators. ▶ Here we will reveal their names and…

• While it’s important for me as a teacher to guide you through the right positions, it’s just as vital that you understand how to move your body to get in those spots. Without fluid dynamics, you'll get stuck or tend to get to the right positions too slowly. I use the following drill with golfers who struggle with the proper sequencing of the swing. First, grab a club and address a ball with an alignment stick under your trail foot’s heel (right heel for righties). Lift the clubhead over the ball and swing it forward about a foot toward your target (top photo, above). Now make a backswing while applying pressure on the stick with your trail foot. Finally, shift pressure back into your lead foot as you swing…

In 2003, Ryan Palmer earned his PGA Tour card. After just a few starts, he was already talking with friends and family about starting a foundation. In part, he was following the example of his father, Butch, who was an active member of The Shriners. “Giving back was instilled in my heart at a young age by seeing what my dad did and all the kids they helped out,” Palmer says. The Ryan Palmer Foundation began with a simple goal: help the community of Amarillo, Texas, where he grew up. “The foundation is my way of saying thank you to the city for what they did for me,” Palmer says. Now 46 and entering his 20th season, the four-time winner is popular among other players. The Ryan Palmer Foundation does…

DRIVING BACK TO MICHIGAN STATE AFTER missing cuts at the Masters and RBC, I was bummed. Then my phone rang. My agent was calling with an offer from LIV Golf. My dad is a good player. He took me to a range when I was little. I knew immediately this is what I wanted to do. My older brother, Glenn, and I spent all of our time at Fox Hills golf course in Plymouth, Mich. A bunch of us would bet every day for golf balls, $5, a hot dog. I was the youngest, so I played with a chip on my shoulder. They stopped including putts inside 10 feet in putting contests because I made them all. I love chasing perfection in golf even though it’s impossible. I played…

134 UNBIASED CLUB REVIEWS ▶ When we launched this golf-equipment evaluation enterprise 20 years ago, we said the buying process should start with the Golf Digest Hot List. For the team that puts it together, it’s an unwavering commitment to providing a comprehensive guide that makes the golf-club universe intelligible for you, and it takes us nearly a year to get it right. Multiply that by 20 and you have the knowledge behind this year’s list. The two lead editors responsible for the Hot List have each been covering equipment for the past 30 years. They live for moment of inertia, carbon-composite fibers and artificial-intelligence algorithms, meeting with R&D folks of every level to find, as we said in 2004, “the clubs you should try right now.” Our 20th…

• The same features built into hybrids to help average players get shots airborne and avoid slicing can induce hard hooks for better players. This drill can help you take the left side out of play. Take a medium-sized ball and hold it in front of you with your hands on either side. Having your hands separated will make it easier to feel where they are relative to each other. Now make a backswing and get your lead hand on top of the ball (above). Do the same in your swing and your lead arm will be higher and the face will be in a square or slightly open position. The more you exaggerate the lead hand on top, the more you’ll promote a fade. If you're a slicer, set…

• My teaching philosophy is that whoever is doing the work is the one who’s learning. Instead of prescribing drills that help steer my students into the correct positions, I choose ones that force them to work harder to get into the right spots. I use resistance to create awareness of what their bad tendencies are, so they’re more incentivized to fix them. That’s how the fastest learning is done. For my slicer students who struggle with an overly flat, inside takeaway, I place an empty range bucket over the top of their clubhead. As they make practice backswings, the weight of the basket discourages them from pulling the clubhead to the inside. If they do that, they’re going to dump the bucket. To keep it in place, you need…

• Feedback and consistency—those are my two buzzwords for practice. Without feedback, how are you going to know if you’re doing something right? You can make a not-so-good swing on the range and still hit a good shot. For lasting improvement, you need to practice with feedback. One putting exercise with tons of feedback is this drill using tees. Get yourself some two-toned balls or color one side on some white ones. Set up about six feet from a hole and stick two tees in the turf on either side of the ball, slightly wider than the width of your putter. Practice hitting the center of the face without hitting either tee, which produces an end-over-end roll with almost no sidespin or wobble. The two-toned ball will help you see…

TO WIN WORLD TITLES IN FOUR WEIGHT CLASSES, Saul (Canelo) Álvarez has displayed levels of determination and discipline that few can fathom. Perhaps it’s no surprise those character traits have transferred to the golf course, a gentle place the undisputed super middleweight champion might never leave when he eventually hangs up his gloves. “I plan to play golf every single day,” Álvarez says of his retirement plans. “No doubt about it. I’ll be able to practice more and be more focused because now I still have to focus on my sport.” Álvarez was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, where he grew up on a ranch as the youngest of eight children, seven of them brothers, all of whom became professional boxers. Fighting was in his blood, and he got plenty…