Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Golf Magazine

WHICH SEPTEMBER STORIES AND COLUMNS DREW THE MOST LETTERS? ACE IN THE HOLE I read Alan Shipnuck’s article in the September issue with great empathy. That’s because I also happen to be a member of the “Aceless Club.” Fifty-five long years of fruitless efforts to make that one perfect, magical swing, with precise ball contact, and experience that timeless moment of watching the orb disappear into the cup. I would even settle for banking one off a rake, a rock in a creek, or some tree at the back of the green. But it has yet to be. Still, like all of us who have yet to put that single digit on the scorecard, I continue to believe that every ball I tee up might finally be the one, that…

I love the drink you chose for us today—a strawberry mojito! You’re a girl after my own heart! I’m more of a fruity drinker, so it’s not as strong. And I usually have them frozen. But here in Florida, it wouldn’t stay frozen for too long. That’s for sure. I’m catching you during a rare off week. How often do you get to just sit down, relax, and have a glass of wine or a mojito? Not too often right now, because I’m still in season. There’s a lot of golf left. I play around 25 events a year. Whatever time I get at home, I try to use to just totally relax. I’m still training. I’m practicing. But when I’m not, I’m in total chill mode, so I go…

SEA ISLAND—SEASIDE NO. 14 Sea Island G.C.’s Seaside course is a links-style gem that has entertained guests of the coastal Georgia resort for nearly 90 years. Since 2010, it’s hosted the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic, with this season’s iteration coming your way November 16-20. Mackenzie Hughes took home the hardware in 2016 for his first Tour victory, a feat helped by birdies on the 407-yard par-4 14th in three out of his four rounds. This dogleg-right masterpiece is a study in placement: Miss too far to the right off the tee and you’ve got no chance to hit the green; miss too far left and your ball will sink to the bottom of St. Simons Sound. Here’s how to select the right line—and put your drive on top of it.…

1 To have any chance of creating a free and fast swing with your driver, your head must stay behind the ball at impact. At setup, stare at the back of the ball with your left eye. You’re going to hold this gaze until the ball disappears out of view following contact. 2 Press the back of your right hand against your left cheek and lean into mock impact. Use it as a tactile reminder to keep your head steady so you can maintain your focus on the ball. 3 Go back to address. Take a deep breath and relax. Now think about swinging your arms under, around and then past your head. Even as you swing, recall the feeling of the back of your right hand pressing against your…

For more consistency... settle in with the middle of your hips in line with your heels. To start putts on line... bend forward so that your eyes are directly over your intended line of putt. For square contact... check that the shaft and your right forearm are in a straight line. For a smooth stroke... relax your elbows and position your hands under your shoulders. To make everything in sight... stick to the basics on this page. What you’ll find is that nailing your stance makes aiming the putterface easy. Your confidence will skyrocket.…

GEAR GolfBoard I first tried a GolfBoard last January on a lush patch of lawn at the annual PGA expo in Orlando, and I’ve been looking for a course where I can hop on for the full experience ever since. The boards are simple to use and, most important, an absolute blast. (This game is supposed to be fun, isn’t it?) My hunch is that these will provide plenty of it. (From $6,500; golfboard.com) —Jeff Ritter,Digital Development Editor APPS VPAR This nifty app is a scoring committee in your pocket that’s keeping a real-time leaderboard for your event, regardless of how you’re scoring it (stroke, Stableford, skins, etc.). It also tracks performance stats and features a pretty intense yardage finder (above). At the GOLF Championship in August, it turned our…

Led by Jordan Spieth, Kevin Chappell, Pat Perez and Billy Horschel, left-handlow putters won a third of all Tour events during the 2016-2017 season. But don’t call it a coincidence. While hardly new, putting LHL has proven time and again to produce a more stable stroke. In fact, Jack Nicklaus has said that if he had to teach someone to putt, he’d start them out crosshanded. A lot of you have tried left-hand low but didn′t like it. The truth? You were doing it wrong. Turn the page to get it right—and dominate on the greens. WINNER! JORDAN SPIETH British Open (+2 others) WINNER! PAT PEREZ OHL Classic at Mayakoba WINNER! KEVIN CHAPPELL Valero Texas Open WINNER! BILLY HORSCHEL AT&T Byron Nelson THE REASON IT WENT WRONG Here’s why you…

KEEPING WITH TRADITION, we’ll soon name GOLF’s Player of the Year for 2017. We should hand the hardware to this month’s cover subject, Lexi Thompson, right now. Even without a major and only two wins this year, she’d get my vote. The Puma-clad pride of Coral Springs, Fla., heaved up a season of thrills like we’ve never seen from the women’s circuit, all while staking her claim as the female face of American Golf. I don’t know about you, but I like my golf heroes larger than life, able topull off what my game can’t replicate, let alone fathom. Ms. Thompson amply fits the bill. We marvel when players dominate, á la Tiger Woods at the 2000 U.S. Open. We’re equally struck when they don’t, yet remain resilient—the real hero…

“The most exquisitely satisfying act in the world of golf is that of throwing a golf club,” Henry Longhurst wrote, though the truth is that many golfers found greater satisfaction in reading or listening to Longhurst. As a columnist for the London Sunday Times for 40 years, and a TV commentator over much of that same period until his death in 1978, Longhurst left a profound mark on the game. This month, the game returns the favor by inducting him into the World Golf Hall of Fame. With four others, Longhurst joins the Class of 2017, whose diversity reflects golf’s global reach. It includes two-time major winner Lorena Ochoa, the first Mexican-born golfer to enter the Hall, and Welshman Ian Woosnam, who represented Europe in eight consecutive Ryder Cups and…

DRIVER 1) Callaway GBB Epic, 9°, Graphite Design Tour ADTP 6 shaft, X-flex, 285 yards; $500 FAIRWAY WOODS 2) Callaway Steelhead XR, 4+ (16°), Graphite Design Tour ADBB 7, X-flex, 257 yards; $230 UTILITY IRON 3) Callaway Apex UT, 21°, Aldila ATX Tour Blue 105 shaft, X-flex, 224 yards; $230* IRONS 4) Callaway X Forged (4-9), Nippon Proto 2F15 shafts, X-flex; price n/a 4-iron: 210 yards 5-iron: 199 yards 6-iron: 186 yards 7-iron: 175 yards 8-iron: 164 yards 9-iron: 151 yards WEDGES 5) Callaway Mack Daddy 2, 47° (S grind), 135 yards, 50° (S grind), 121 yards, 56° (Tour grind), 107 yards and 60° (Tour grind), 92 yards. All with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts; price n/a PUTTER 6) Odyssey Metal-X Milled 330M; price n/a BALL Titleist…

NATIVE TEXAN Ben Crenshaw captured the Byron Nelson Golf Classic in 1983. Thirty-five years later, a course he co-designed will host the event for the first time. Gentle Ben and his design partner, Bill Coore, have rolled out a remarkable private spread called Trinity Forest on a sandcapped former landfill just 10 minutes south of downtown Dallas. The 400-acre track is treeless, but it’s surrounded by the 6,000-acre Great Trinity Forest, creating an almost arena-like effect for golf. The quality of the architecture, the terrain and the infrastructure prompted sponsor AT&T and the PGA Tour to move the venerable Byron Nelson event there starting in May 2018, a shift that takes it from the cushy, suburban TPC Dallas Las Colinas (and the onsite Four Seasons hotel) to a somewhat grittier…

In 2017, players dominated in many different ways, and no one seemed to dominate quite like Justin Thomas. MOST DOMINATING WIN (WINNER WITH THE LARGEST STROKES GAINED TOTAL)* Justin Thomas The Sony Open 20.2 Strokes Gained WINNER WITH THE LARGEST STROKES GAINED FROM APPROACH SHOTS* Jason Dufner The Memorial 11.5 Strokes Gained WINNER WITH THE LARGEST STROKES GAINED FROM SHORT-GAME SHOTS* Jordan Spieth The Travelers 7.1 Strokes Gained WINNER WITH THE LARGEST STROKES GAINED FROM PUTTING* Russell Henley The Shell Houston Open 12.5 Strokes Gained…

You’ve already made one course-management error by leaving yourself in the sand, 55 to 75 yards from the pin. Don’t make things tougher by automatically reaching for your lob or gap wedge to get the ball out—you could very well come up short with one of these standard go-to sand clubs. Instead, grab your 7-iron (after making sure you can clear the lip with it) and make your normal greenside bunker swing. A few tweaks will help: Stand slightly open to your target and open the clubface—before you take your grip—to give the club more bounce. Play the ball slightly forward of center and strike the sand roughly two inches behind the ball. The secret is to maintain your clubhead speed all the way to a full finish. Commit to…

Analysis by Top 100 Teacher Brady Riggs, Woodley Lakes G.C., Van Nuys, Calif. 1 HIGH FLYER Tom is standing tall, tilting back slightly and holding his hands and arms sky-high in a classic reverse-C finish. The reason? High hands promote high shots that stop on a dime. No wonder Weiskopf finished runner-up in four Masters over a seven-year span. 2 SHOT SHAPER Weiskopf, like many of his Golden Age contemporaries, wasn’t shy about curving the ball both ways. Notice his full finish but abbreviated hip turn. Mimic this combo, and the ball can’t help but fade. 3 TOE TAPPER Elite athletes share a common trait, regardless of their sport: great footwork. In Weiskopf’s day, players tended to be a lot “freer” with their feet, pushing, shifting and twisting them in…

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was the power fade, let alone the draw. But you can pull off both with confidence during your next round by engaging your inner shotmaker in your pre-swing. Start slow, then let your muscle memory fly. Preshot DRAW Swing 1 Start with the club in front of you and the shaft pointing right of the target. Check that the toe of the club is up. 2 Swing back. Because of your starting position, you’ll produce deeper hip and shoulder turns. Perfect. 3 Simply return the club to its starting position on your downswing. Instant inside-out swing path, instant draw. Preshot FADE Swing 1 Again, start with the club in front of you and the toe up. This time, point the shaft to the…

60 % 50 % When using a small target Elite players often talk about the importance of focusing on a precise distance target— a wisp of cloud, a dark patch in the fairway, a leaf on the green— during their pre-shot routine. This “aim small, miss small” concept is pulled straight from the shooting and archery worlds, where millimeters often dictate who wins and loses. Unlike a bull’s-eye, however, golf’s fairways and greens are dozens of yards wide. In most cases, simply stopping the ball within their friendly confines gets the job done. Could a wider target focus, then, be more useful in a wider-target game? We put this hypothesis to the test. The results just may surprise you. FROM THE TEE THE STUDY Golfers (32 total, avg. handicap: 12.8)…

F-MAX FAIRWAY WOOD AND HYBRID $200, fairway wood; $180, hybrid These beauties are designed with the same philosophy as the driver, and they feature similar super-lightweight shafts and midsize grips for maximum speed, forgiveness and comfort. The fairway woods come in 16°, 20° and 23° lofts for men and 19°, 23° and 27° lofts for women, and they feature stainless steel construction, offset hosels and heel biased weighting for a straighter flight and less slicing. The hybrids come in 19°, 22°, 25°, 28° and 31° lofts for men and 23.5°, 26.5°, 29.5° and 32.5° lofts for women, and they also share many of the same technologies, including midsize grips and super-light shafts. F-MAX DRIVER $300 Designed for players with moderate clubhead speeds who want more distance and forgiveness, the new…

You make the greenside bunker shots look easy, but back up 15 to 20 yards and you find it almost impossible to get the ball to the hole. Why? Because your greenside technique doesn’t generate the necessary clubhead speed to get the ball close from 30 or 40 yards. You need more speed for longer blasts, and the way to get it is to make the following two swing adjustments. STEP 1 SWING BIG Make a full turn as though you were trying to hit a full 7-iron—you should turn until your left shoulder is under your chin and your back is facing the target. Most amateurs don’t make a big enough backswing on these shots and instead try to muscle the ball out of the sand. That’s how you…

Your ball striking is all over the place. On one hole you hit a high, majestic mid-iron approach that practically knocks down the flagstick, and on the next your ball soars wide right and you end up making double-bogey. If your iron game tends to seesaw like this, you may be swaying off the ball in your backswing, rather than simply turning away from the target. THE FAULT THE TILT THAT KILLS In an attempt to create more power, you allow your body to sway behind the ball (away from the target) on the backswing, and then move too far ahead of the ball (toward the target) on the downswing. This lateral—as opposed to rotational—movement makes it very difficult to hit the center of the clubface consistently, leading to those…

IF THERE’S a state with more quality courses per capita than Rhode Island, I don’t know about it. Rhode Island, smallest by far of the 50, has 12,366 card-carrying golfers (GHIN cards) and dozens of good, no-nonsense, pre-Eisenhower walking courses, public, private and in between. The first U.S. Open, in 1895, was held at Newport Country Club, where Thurston Howell III is still on the waiting list. Down the road and over a spectacular bridge, there’s a nine-holer in Jamestown with a $19 weekday green fee. You’d pay that just to try to two-putt its circa 1900 fourth green. It’s like putting on a high sea. The same crusty stahtah has been manning the first tee there since (I’m guessing) the ’30s. David Fay, the former USGA executive director, has…

SCAN This Photo to watch a video of this lesson. HOW IT WORKS Invisible watermarks on select photos act as gateways to bonus videos. With the Digimarc app, your smartphone or tablet recognizes the watermarks and automatically delivers the content to your device. 1 Download and open the Digimarc Discover app on your smartphone or camera capable tablet. The app is free and is available at the iTunes store for Apple devices and at the Google Play market for Android devices. 2 Position the phone four to seven inches above any photo bearing the yellow SCAN THIS PHOTO label (example, right), as if you were taking a picture (flash optional). If you have access to a Wi-Fi connection, downloads will be faster. 3 Hold the camera steady. The app will…

You’ve called Super Bowls and the World Series. You’ve won seven Emmys over your 23 years at Fox. And then you got into golf in 2015. Did you have a choice in the matter? [Laughs] I think I did. My ego would like to tell me I did. But I think once [Fox] got the rights, Eric Shanks, our boss, reached out to me immediately and said, “Hey, we just got the rights.” And it came out of nowhere. And he said, “Is this something that you’d want to be a part of?” And I jumped at it. And I’m glad I did. Did you have reservations? Yeah, I had reservations, because it’s a very unique thing to call. Not only am I not facing the field, I’m facing away…

My ball stopped near the hole after a pitch shot. As I walked up to the green, another player chipped before I had a chance to mark, even though my ball was potentially in the path of his shot. Sure enough, his ball hit mine and stopped near the pin, while mine ricocheted away. Is this a penalty on me? On him? Just bad luck? It happened twice in one round! —STEVE LOVELLE, VIA E-MAIL Steve, let’s bring your rules knowledge up to the level of your short game. (Two fine pitch shots in a round is at least one more than Rules Guy generally musters.) Under Rule 22-1, if you think your ball might assist someone else’s play, you have a right to mark it—but you must make that…

HERE’S THE BEEF I asked Andrew “Beef” Johnston what course had the beefiest—toughest—par 4s he’s ever played. “Carnoustie’s 17th and 18th are absolutely brutal,” said the English fan favorite. “As a pair, they’re as tough as you’ll play. But the toughest single par 4? That has to be Oakmont’s ninth. It’s 480 to 490 [yards], plays uphill and the green is really tough. I putted off the green one day. Too much for me.” PHOENIX RISING Ahead of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship (November 6-12, 2017), defending champ Paul Goydos told me he’s pumped to play venerable Phoenix Country Club, the new venue for the event. “My two top golf memories as a kid were watching Jack Nicklaus sink the putt on 16 at the ’75 Masters and watching Johnny…

To launch a good wedge shot, it’s important to strike the little white ball (with the dimples) before you hit the big green one (the earth). And since every swing has a bottom to its arc, you need to position the white orb just behind it, so that your contact goes “whitethen- green”—not vice versa. The process is simple. During your warm-up on the range, check the divots you carve with your wedges. Their position, relative to your stance, indicates the low point of your swing. If you position the ball slightly behind the middle of your typical divot, you’ll begin hitting wedges like Tom Kite (photo, near right), one of the best wedge players the game has ever seen. Of course, practicing ball position and wedge swings at the…

There’s a natural tendency to try to muscle your way to longer drives. But the truth is, the harder you swing, the more likely you are to tense the very muscles you need to feel loose and fast. On these pages, I provide four must-have moves that will give your swing the freedom it needs to generate the longest drives of your life. It’s really as simple as 1) a light grip, 2) a slight tilt, 3) an early hinge and 4) a shaft drop. Do yourself a favor and practice these moves in front of a fulllength mirror. If you put in the work, you’ll like what you see—in the looking glass and off the tee. 1 USE A FINGER GRIP To whip up max speed at impact, you…

FOUR EASY PIECES 1 RAISE IT UP Address the ball using your everyday putting stance, with the handle of your wedge raised and your wrists straight. It should feel like the shaft is an extension of your forearms. Set your eyes over the ball, as you do when putting. 2 LIFT THE HEEL Final setup check: Is the topline of the club parallel to the ground, with the heel a little “up”? If so, you’re set. There’s only a small chance the club will get stuck through impact with this arrangement. Nice, huh? 3 MATCH LENGTHS With firm wrists, make a smooth, putt-like swing, matching the length of your backswing with that of your forward swing. It may feel like your backswing is too big. It’s not. Short backswings lead…

EXERCISE 1: SPLAY TO WIN Soft hands are fast hands. The trick is to sufficiently secure the club in your paws without having to tense your wrists and forearms. A boost in finger and overall hand strength can help. Start by making a fist with both hands (top photo, above). Squeeze hard until your knuckles turn white (five seconds should do). At that point, rapidly “flick” your fingers, splaying them upward and outward (bottom photo). Hold for a few counts, using the muscles in the back of your hands to pull all 10 digits as far back as they can go. Do 10 reps— you’ll feel the burn from your fingertips to your elbows. EXERCISE 2: ROLL YOUR ROCKS Cradle two balls in your right hand. Using your fingers, roll…

On the following pages, I’ll walk you through five critical areas of the game and the moves in each that I’ve focused on recently to produce my most satisfying year ever. But before that, let me share a tip that’ll help everything: Relax. I tend to get “amped” on the course, and I’ve played in enough pro-ams to know that most weekend players get very “nervy.” They’re both the same. My overarching key is to chill out. Before any swing, I take a deep breath and relax my arms. As I step in, I hold the grip with just my right hand. I shake out my left arm, take another deep breath, then place my left hand on the club. I literally want to feel the stress leave my body.…

The Best New Gear Building an iron with traditional looks, forged construction, soft, responsive feel and big-time distance isn’t easy, but according to Tomo Bystedt, senior director of product creation at TaylorMade, the company’s R&D team has pulled it off. “As you push the COR limit with a standard cavity-back iron, there are big hurdles to overcome,” says Bystedt. “It’s very difficult to preserve the feel you want while also providing maximum distance. We needed to rethink the construction of the product to achieve our goals.” This reassessment led to the extremely impressive P790 irons ($1,300, steel; $1,500, graphite), which manage to produce maximum rebound at impact for super-long distance while maintaining a traditional look and providing a soft, forged feel. The key to the P790’s performance is a hollow,…

MIZUNO MP-18 $150 per club; GOLF.com/mizuno The standard MP-18 is a traditional muscleback blade with a slightly wider sole than the previous MP-4 model. This helps provide more playability and forgiveness in a slightly more compact head shape. As expected, the clubhead is constructed of 1025E pure select carbon steel and forged with a new Grain Flow Forging process called GFF HD, which creates a higher density material for even better feel than past MP models. Dynamic Gold S300 steel shafts come standard in 3-PW, with a wide variety of custom shafts also available. MIZUNO MP-18 MMC $150 per club; GOLF.com/mizuno The MMC has the same sole width as the SC and a slightly larger blade size, but it provides similar launch characteristics with stronger lofts, for lower spin and…

FOR MORE INSTRUCTION THAT FITS YOUR GAME, GO TO GOLF.COM Banana ball got you down? The culprit might just be your takeaway. Many slicers tend to rotate their hands and fan the clubface open during the backswing, a move that only increases the chance that your clubface will remain open at impact. To fix this flaw, swing a mid-iron back until your hands are at approximately hip height, then pause and check the position of your glove hand. If you can still see the glove logo, you’ve fanned the face open. Repeat the takeaway once more, but this time try to keep your right hand more on top of the grip, rather than underneath. This effectively hoods the face so that it’s pointing down at the ground and not up…