Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Golf Magazine

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 cameracapable 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 click and buzz when it recognizes the image and then begin…

» T.S. ELIOT ONCE wrote, “April is the cruelest month.” For magazine publishers and editors, it’s January—in a landslide. The month itself is fine; I’m talking about the date stamp on the cover. Because of the time required to produce, print and then ship GOLF to your home or local newsstand, serious work on the January issue begins in late October of the previous year, and with the Thanksgiving holiday looming, our usual four week production cycle gets shortened to nearly three. As I said, cruel. Adding to the challenge is the fact that staffers are ducking out for those final pre-winter rounds instead of whipping copy and designs into shape. The content itself is a challenge—this isn’t your garden-variety, run of- the-mill issue. We save January to celebrate GOLF’s…

DRIVER 1)Cobra King F7+, 8.5°, Fujikura SIX shaft, X-flex, 274 yards; $300 FAIRWAY WOOD 2)Cobra King LTD, 13°, Graphite Design Tour AD GP 6 shaft, S-flex, 235 yards (carry); $200 HYBRID 3)Cobra Fly-Z, 2/3 (17.5°), Aldila Tour Green NV 85 shaft, S-flex, 215 yards (carry); price n/a IRONS 4)Cobra S2 Forged (4, 6-PW), Project X Rifle 5.0 steel shafts; price n/a 4-iron: 195 yards 6-iron: 175 yards 7-iron: 165 yards 8-iron: 155 yards 9-iron: 145 yards PW: 135 yards WEDGES 5)Cobra Tour Trusty, 47°, 125 yards, 50° (bent to 52°), 115 yards, 56° (bent to 55°), 100 yards, 60°, 85 yards. All with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S200 shafts; price n/a PUTTER 6)Bettinardi Queen Bee 6; $375 BALL Bridgestone B330-S; $40/dozen “I love swinging aggressively, and new technology…

GOLF.COM Watch dozens of PGA Tour stars hit the shots you need at GOLF.com/ sequences Analysis by Top 100 Teacher Brady Riggs, Woodley Lakes G.C., Van Nuys, Calif. GOLF’s unanimous selection for Player of the Year (p.46) is all of 24 years old, but with eight career wins, including a major (the 2017 PGA Championship), this young gun is already a dominating force on the PGA Tour. The son of a PGA professional, Thomas has been well schooled, and it shows. Just take a look at his natural, well-balanced swing—not to mention the prodigious speed and distance it produces— and you’ll get a real appreciation for how a relative lightweight (150 lbs, maybe) can average close to 310 yards off the tee. When you check out Thomas’s technique, you may…

We’re enjoying a lovely glass of Glenmorangie. Have you always been a scotch man? I have. But to be honest with you, as an ambassador for Glenmorangie, I’m even more of a fan now, because I’ve learned so much more about the creative process that goes into making these amazing scotches. Much like wine, aging is a big deal. Take an extremely rare 18-year-old, for example. I’ve been a pro for 18 years now. If I think about all the things that have elapsed over those 18 years, I realize that they’ve all happened [since the scotch was first put] inside its cask. It’s incredible to think that the master distiller who’s been concocting and aging these products over the years is kind of equal in experience to what I’ve…

30-SECOND FIX 1 Hitting solid chip shots under pressure can be a nightmare for high-handicappers. Take this sleeve-cheat from the pros (a lot of them do it, but won’t tell you) and you’ll be knocking it up and in all day. Here goes: before you take your stance, tuck a little bit of fabric up and under your left armpit. 2 This light pit pressure will do several good things. It’ll: 1) give you the feeling of your arm connecting on top of your chest (critical); 2) allow you to stand nice and tall so you can gently brush the grass at impact; and 3) remove excessive arm action (death to pressure chipping) by extending your left arm throughout the swing. 3 Grip the club gently, so it feels heavy…

» IT’SIMPORTANT toreflect onperformance— every round you play should be a lesson in itself. To assess the day’s highs and lows, ask yourself the following questions. You may have less to work on than you think... AM I COOL? Wait at least two hours after your round to give this a fair assessment. Otherwise, you’ll be swayed by heightened emotions (Damn that double-bogey on 8!) and likely overemphasize the negatives. AM I BALANCED? More often than not, you’ll tend to magnify the weak parts of your game while minimizing your strengths. Give them equal weight and consideration—and yourself props where due. AM I TOO CRITICAL? You need to have self-compassion when grading your performance. Golf is a tough game, and we all cycle through good and bad rounds. Look at…

Not so long ago, Justin Thomas wasn’t known as the best player to never win a major. He was known as the best friend of a player who’d won three. To casual fans, Thomas was the other guy. The other touted twentysomething, competing in the shadow of his buddy, Jordan Spieth. Close in age (Thomas, 24, is three months older), they’d been close in other ways for nearly half their lives, rising through the junior ranks together, their families often staying at one another’s homes as the wunderkinds competed in the same events. After leading opposing teams in collegiate matches (Spieth at Texas, Thomas at Alabama), they both turned pro in 2013. But while Spieth quickly soared to superstardom, Thomas toiled at the spotlight’s edge. It wasn’t easy for him,…

» With a ton of feedback from its Tour staff, most notably Phil Mickelson, both new Callaway forged irons, the Apex MB and the X Forged, were designed to provide the combination of feel, feedback, look and performance that the very best players demand. The new Apex MB (muscleback), rounds out the Apex family nicely, giving a more precise option to those who don’t find the Apex or Apex Pro bladelike enough. Features include traditional forged carbon steel construction, classic Tour shaping, thinner topline and sole, bright chrome finish, optimized CG positions and 20V grooves for enhanced shot-shaping control. Another option for players with traditional tastes is the new X Forged iron, which combines a responsive feel with enhanced control, improved turf interaction and a traditional appearance. The compact cavity…

Your tee shots tend to balloon on you every once in a while, making it difficult to penetrate the wind and get much distance on blustery days. And even on calm days, you fail to get the roll and distance that your buddies always seem to manage. Here are a few alterations you can make to your setup and swing to bring down your trajectory— and drive the ball a lot farther. SETUP STAND CLOSER TO THE BALL Place the ball just slightly farther back in your stance and inch your feet closer to the ball, so that your arms are hanging straight down, almost touching your rib cage. The farther your arms extend from your body, the greater the likelihood is that the clubhead will pass your hands early in…

Ever wonder how the pros get their pitches to take one or two bounces and stop dead a few feet from the hole? It’s not magic— it’s spin. But the Tour guys also don’t have a monopoly on it—you, too, have the power to make the ball check up and grab. Start the swing by hinging your wrists abruptly on the backswing, then bring the clubhead down on the ball with as much acceleration as you can muster. Forget about following through—accelerate the clubhead as fast as you can and stop it just as quickly—this will force the ball to run up the clubface and grab the grooves, and that friction is what gets the ball spinning—and stopping—in a hurry.…

INSTAGRAM (@GOLF_COM) The way he developed in front of our eyes, how he used the loss at a major and learned from it that year, how to play with a lead and finish, along with his fight and grit! @rjreilly His change of attitude! The awareness of his potential that has just somehow freed him to express his best golf, tournament after tournament.@aliciaps21 Giving himself lofty goals and reaching most of them as well as his ability to calm himself down in high-pressure situations.@christensen44 The combination of his clutch short game and his explosive driver/woods... oh yeah and wearing a tie at the Open Championship;)@azkata He got stronger as the tournaments went on, and he was a gamer on Sundays closing it out. @darrinreisinger TWITTER (@GOLF_COM): Shooting 59. @DWgatorboy1 His…

» When did you decide to become a professional golfer? Probably in high school, when I was really starting to get pretty good at golf. I loved it. I excelled at a young age, and I thought, you know, I think I’d like to play professionally. It wasn’t because I wanted to follow in my granddad’s footsteps. I just really love the game and felt that I might be good enough at it to some day be a pro. » You’ve played on the PGA Tour for the last three seasons, but this year was your most consistent and successful to date, capped by an incredible 59 at the Web.com Tour Championship, which secured your Tour card for the 2017-18 season. Have you made any specific changes to your game?…

My friend and I were playing after a huge storm had left both standing and moving water in several areas. On one hole, my drive found dry land in the fairway, but his flew into flowing water. The current then took his ball 75 feet back toward the tee! He argued for a drop at the nearest point of relief from where the ball first hit the water. I countered that the ball had never come to rest, and that he therefore must find the nearest point of relief from where it stopped. Who was correct? —GEORGE JAMES, GREENWICH, CONN. Sadly, given recent weather events, such conditions no longer seem outlandish. Ruleswise, you’re more or less right, but your buddy is all wet. He can take relief from where the…

HOT TRACKS The Course at Yale (private) New Haven, Conn. 6,825 yards, par 70 Architect: Seth Raynor (1926) thecourseatyale.org » BLAME MY SAT SCORES,but inmy lifelong education as a golfer, I’d somehow missed Yale. Fortunately, on a gorgeous October day last fall, I put it in the book. What I discovered was not only the nation’s greatest college course but a grin-inducing reminder of what makes course architecture so endlessly fascinating. Yale’s design quirks are weird, wonderful and unforgettable. In 1926, aided by his mentor, C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor carved Yale from a rolling 700-acre site in New Haven, Connecticut, somehow transplanting to the rugged New England terrain (ledge rock, dense forest, low-lying swamps) the classic template holes that he and Macdonald patterned on iconic British links. The funky fun…

How you transition from backswing to downswing largely determines the success you’ll have at impact. If you’re a slicer, your typical move at this point in the swing is to cast the club outward with your hands. The most straightforward fix, of course, is to keep the clubhead inside your target line as you near impact, but this idea can come with its own set of issues if you take it to the extreme. STUCKIN THE MIDDLE The danger in overemphasizing an inside-to-out swing in an effort to avoid casting is that you’ll eventually begin tucking your right elbow deep into your right hip (inset photo, right). This super-narrow downswing brings the shaft way too close to your body; even if you manage to square the clubface from here, you’ll…

You’re hitting it solidly, but you’re not holding many greens. The fix? Higher-flying approaches that land softly with shot-stopping backspin. Try this: As you settle into your setup, look up and fix your gaze on a high cloud or a bird—anything in the sky that’s in the direction of your target. The idea is that when you look up, you stand taller and tilt your spine away from the target (as I’ve done here). This posture produces a shallower angle of attack, which is the secret to a high launch. (Overly steep attacks tend to deloft the club and generate a lower ball flight.) It’s an easy change that will have your game soaring to new heights.…

THE FAR EAST At the moment, there is no such thing as a Malaysian Golf Hall of Fame, but now that Thomas has won back-to-back titles at the CIMB Classic, he’ll be a charter member if it ever opens. His October ’16 win at the CIMB kick-started his 2016-17 season. THE GENES Thomas’s dad, Mike (near left), is a PGA professional and his son’s swing coach. Thomas’s late grandfather, Paul, was a 60-year member of the PGA of America. THE MAJOR At the PGA Championship, Thomas shot a final-round 68 on a brutal Quail Hollow layout to bag his first biggie. THE GEAR Thomas plays a full bag of Titleist clubs, and his most lethal weapon is a 917D2 driver (his features 8.5 degrees of loft). THE ALMA MATER After…

RANGE ROVERING 1/17/17 Shoes? Overrated. The ride makes the man. VALENTINE’S DAY 2/14/17 With GF Jillian Wisniewski, the ultimate sweetheart deal. SPRING BREAK 4/11/17 JT, Jordan, Rickie and Smylie—TMI at SB2K17. THE KENTUCKY DERBY 5/6/17 Stylin’ and profilin’ with Rickie at the Run for the Roses. CITI FIELD 5/23/17 No one looked more baller in ’17 than JT, until he went Ty Cobb with the socks. THE COLUMBUS ZOO 6/1/17 Hanging with big cats (including Tiger) comes with the territory. SPORTSCENTER 6/22/17 The Worldwide Leader in Golf himself. FOURTH OF JULY 7/4/17 Presidents Cup alternate unis for everyone! AFTER THE BRITISH 7/23/17 Even when JT didn’t win, he still won in 2017. THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP 8/13/17 “Please stow all major trophies in the seat in front of you.” JUST FOR…

GO SOUTHWEST When winter’s chill envelops most of the U.S., heat-seeking golfers have long zeroed in on metropolitan Phoenix for relief. Mountain panoramas, cactus-studded desertscapes, verdant expanses of green, and luminous, sun-blasted days make Phoenix/Scottsdale a one-of-a-kind draw. Throw in world-class shopping, lodging, dining and pro sports, and it’s easy to see why so many golf professionals (course architects, equipment manufacturers, top instructors and Tour players) call the Valley of the Sun their home—and why you should check it out yourself. Where to Play DYNAMIC DESERT DUOS While Phoenix/Scottsdale serves up its share of traditional parkland layouts, what makes the region unique are the target-style desert designs: lush ribbons of fairway framed by pale sand, thorny brush and eccentrically shaped cacti. That’s what brings you to the Southwest—but what’s particularly…

You just can’t win in the sand—you either bury the clubhead and leave the shot in the bunker, or you catch the ball thin and blade it over the green. In other words, your bunker swing is always one extreme or the other: It may be too steep or too shallow, but it’s never just right. The following simple practice-bunker drill, however, can give you the perfect blend of steepness and shallowness that will turn you into a lights-out sand player from just about any greenside bunker. DRILL TOUCH THE WALL Create an imaginary wall by placing two alignment rods in the sand roughly two feet apart. The rods should be parallel with your target line and even with a line running across your heels as you stand at address…

WHICH NOVEMBER STORIES AND COLUMNS DREW THE MOST LETTERS? Instruction 24% Stuff We Love 17% Michael Bamberger 11% Other 48% TEE SHOTS AND TAILGATES I assume Joe Passov’s article in the November issue about “Tee Shots and Tailgating” was printed to determine if your readers in Florida and Georgia were actually reading your fine magazine. To exclude the annual Florida/Georgia game (“The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”) and our phenomenal golf here in Northeastern Florida and Southern Georgia was simply an oversight. The parties last all week (and in between we can play TPC Sawgrass, Amelia National, Sea Island Golf Course, and a host of others). This event is so large that when Florida wins, the financial impact can be measured on the local economy—the Georgia fans leave after the…

Midway through his senior year, McNealy heeded the siren song of the Tour, what he calls “the coolest office in the world.” » BY NOW, PGA TOUR ROOKIE Maverick McNealy’s lineage is well known: his father, Scott, is the billionaire co-founder of Sun Microsystems. What most folks don’t know is that growing up in the family mansion, Maverick had to share a bed room with his three younger brothers, Dakota, Colt and Scout. (Their grandfather was the vice chairman of American Motors, and all four boys are named after cars.) “There were a lot of body noises,” Maverick says with a laugh. “You know, my entire life, I’d say, ‘Dad, I want my own room. Dad, I need my own room, there’s no privacy.’ But now I wouldn’t have traded…

A significant difference in Thomas’s Player of the Year campaign was the reduced damage from his poor driving rounds. » IN THE 2015 and 2016 seasons, Justin Thomas was a player with obvious potential, recording one win in the 58 PGA Tour events in which he competed. In the 2017 season, he added to his résumé five wins (including a major), the FedEx Cup championship and GOLF’s Player of the Year crown. Statistically speaking, what explains his stunning surge? In 2017, JT’s scoring improved by a massive 1.3 strokes per round, or more than five strokes per tournament. That’s enough to turn top 10s into wins. For a better-than-average Tour player, an improvement this big can’t come from a single shot category. Thomas had large gains in his driving (about…

LIKE IT OR NOT, green speeds have continued to increase over the last few years. With better grass, better mowers and improved maintenance, greens have become smoother and healthier nationwide— it’s not uncommon these days to find green speeds of 11 to 12 on high-end courses all over America. At the same time, the existing contours and slopes on these greens have remained unchanged. This combination of smoother, faster surfaces with consistent slopes (not to mention less aggressive grooves on your wedges, thanks to rules changes), has made it crucial that golfers possess a soft, deft touch with their short clubs if they want to successfully handle superfast downhill pitch and chip shots. This isn’t a figment of my imagination. I see it every day on the pro tours and…

1 NO WORRIES Cameron’s head has barely moved from where it was at address. This steadiness allows him to extend his release and control the spot where his club bottoms out, ensuring precise contact. And check out that expression— he’s as cool as a cucumber! 2 COMMAND CONTROL Smith’s left wrist is rail straight, the happy result of two key moves for on-target scoring shots: 1) keeping your right arm “connected” to your chest, and 2) rotating the handle of the club around your left hip through impact. The mistake? Letting your arms fly off your body, ultimately forcing you to flip the club. 3 GROUND LEVEL Cameron keeps his feet athletically connected to the ground. You can see he’s pushing into the turf with the inside of his right foot, allowing him…

» Balance, footwork and coordination are physical assets that benefit athletes on any field. More specifically, the moves required by a baseball pitcher to hit 90+ on the radar gun are the same that can help you smoke your irons. Here's how:…

» THE FAULT Many of you chronic slicers get too handsy with your takeaway. When your first move is to whip the club back from address, your forearms and wrists rotate immediately out of the chute. Here’s a check: If your right palm is facing skyward halfway through your backswing, so is your clubface. This means that the clubhead is outracing your upper body, and you’re going to end up slapping weakly at the ball. Fore, right! » THE EASY FIX Instead of rolling your wrists right off the bat, focus on using your chest and arms to start the swing. You’ve got it right if, when you stop your swing halfway through your backswing, your right palm faces toward the ground, just like the clubface (and your spine!). This…

» With green speeds getting faster and faster (and not just on Tour), the need for a reliable flop shot has never been greater—unless you′re okay with watching your short-game shots scoot past the pin. Here′s a can′t-miss method: As you take your grip, turn your right hand to the left until it′s practically on top of the handle— this is what instructors call a “weak” position (inset, above right). This allows you to keep the face wide open at impact, which, as you might imagine, is critical for hitting a flop. MORE BASICS: 1) Play the ball way forward in your stance—under your left eye or off your left heel; 2) Use a club with at least 56 degrees of loft; 3) Don’t be afraid to give it some…

» Situated in the heart of North Scottsdale’s golf hub, the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North dazzles with its adobe-style casitas, Talavera Restaurant and captivating views of Pinnacle Peak. fourseasons.com/scottsdale » Edging the TPC Stadium course, the sprawling Fairmont Scottsdale Princess features TPC-inclusive packages, but the bars, restaurants and Willow Stream Spa are so good you might forget about the golf altogether. fairmont.com/scottsdale » Charming casitas with fireplaces nestled into the rocks, rockclimbing clinics and ancient-basalt-stone massages at the spa are among the highlights at The Boulders Resort in Carefree. The irresistible nachos and margaritas at the Spotted Donkey Cantina are the perfect day-capper. theboulders.com…

FOR MORE INSTRUCTION THAT FITS YOUR GAME, GO TO GOLF.COM Whether you prefer to “die” your putts into the hole or ram them into the back of the cup, every golfer has an optimum speed at which they roll the ball when they’re putting their best. Unfortunately, it’s easy to lose this speed consistency from round to round. Here’s a simple drill that can help you establish your “personal best” speed. Find a straight putt on the practice green and place 10 balls in a line at three-foot increments, starting at three feet. Lay a towel down behind the hole at the spot where most of your better putts finish when they miss the hole—generally, 6-18 inches behind the cup. Now hit each putt with the goal of either making…

According to TrackMan statistics, the average 7-iron clubhead speed on the PGA Tour is 90 mph. The average male recreational golfer, on the other hand, swings the same club at closer to 75 mph, which is why he hits his 7-iron about 140 yards, compared with 170 to 180 yards for the Tour guys. One reason amateurs generate so much less clubhead speed is that they try to hit “to” the ball rather than “through” it. The fastest part of your swing should occur after impact, not before. If this sounds like your problem, here are two drills that can help get your speed in the right place and create faster clubhead and ball speeds. DRILL COIL AROUND A CHAIR Find a chair that’s about as wide as your stance…