Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i Golf Magazine

“I wanted to try to blend my personality, my joy, my style off the court into a golf capsule.”—STEPHEN CURRY Stop, drop and… drive the golf ball. Under Armour’s new Curry 6 Golf SL shoe ($160) highlights NBA superstar Stephen Curry’s SC30 Range Unlimited Golf Collection. The design combines a knit upper with a spikeless version of the UA Golf Rotational Resistance’s midsole/outsole for a fusion of Curry’s two favorite sports. The tongue features his signature three-finger salute, a motif showcased throughout the 14-piece collection, which also includes trucker hats and apparel. (Available at underarmour.com)…

3 The number of players, since WWII, born outside of the U.S. who won a PGA Tour event before turning 21 (Seve Ballesteros, Rory McIlroy and, as of the Greenbrier Classic, Joaquin Niemann). $24.3 Total earnings (in millions) for Rory McIlroy last season, inclusive of the $15 million prize for winning the FedEx Cup. 17 Consecutive rounds in the 60s posted by Tour rookie Viktor Hovland between June and September, the longest such streak since Bob Estes fired 17 consecutive sub-70 rounds 36 years ago. 16,752 The number of courses located in the U.S., according to the Golf Around the World 2019 report issued by the R&A—13,583 more than the country with the second-largest number of courses (Japan). TOP 10 GOLF COUNTRIES…

“It doesn’t just tell time, it tells history.” So goes the ubiquitous Rolex TV commercial, which showcases some of the most historic golf moments the brand has been affiliated with, from Arnie and Jack to Tiger and Jordan Spieth. Soon, both watch aficionados and golf history buffs will have a chance to own a piece of that history. Jack Nicklaus’s iconic yellow-gold Rolex Day-Date Reference 1803 is scheduled to be auctioned on December 10 at Phillips New York (phillips.com), with the proceeds benefiting the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation. The Golden Bear received the watch as a gift from Rolex in 1967, and he has had it on his wrist nearly every day since. Indeed, the watch was present for 12 of his record 18 major wins, including his last…

SHANE LOWRY’S VICTORY at Royal Portrush in front of thousands of his countrymen at the Emerald Isle’s first Open Championship since 1951 is high in the running for feel-good story of the year, if not the past decade. What’s even better is that the somewhat elusive Irishman proves that you can notch majors without having to be a world-class athlete. There’s a lot for everyday players to copy here, starting with the way Lowry keeps his weight super-centered as he rotates to the top. This is important stuff for weekend players, because a good backswing isn’t simply about turning. While Lowry, 32, rotates plenty (see his left shoulder swing under his chin in frame 1), he pivots without ever losing the posture he established at address. He doesn’t shift his…

Founder, Bixby Roasting Company Los Angeles, Calif. Handicap: 9.3 How does coffee intersect with the golf world? Everyone has their own pre-round routine. If my day starts without a strong cup of black coffee, I’m out of sync. That’s not a good state to be in on the course. Or off. No doubt. You look in sync with this outfit. Absolutely. All I have to do is change my shoes and I’d wear this anywhere and everywhere. If you were to name a roast after something golf-related, what would it be? You know those great “Got Milk?” commercials from the ’90s? I’d do a French roast called “Have Ouimet?” He’s American, but we get the idea. Is your on-course look as bold as your morning coffee? Not really. I try…

DESPITE THE RECENT PROLIFERATION of oversized, non-taper and multi-material putter grips, there remains a select number of golfers—many of whom are the best putters in the world—who still favor traditionally shaped putter grips. Knowing this, Golf Pride modernized three of history’s most popular putter-grip styles in the aptly named Pro Only grip line ($13 each). The Pro Only Red Star comes in a horseshoe shape with an arched paddle front; the Blue Star has an angled profile with a wide, flat paddle front; and the Green Star has an oval shape with an arched paddle front. All three Pro Only grips have a firm, responsive feel and are identifiable by the color-coordinated star on the end cap for a subtle yet distinctive look. My Favorite Club CLEVELAND 588 RTX 2.0…

DURING THE DEVELOPMENT of Callaway’s Mack Daddy 5 JAWS wedges ($160), chief wedge designer Roger Cleveland chose to push the limits and create a groove with some serious bite. With a razor-sharp 37-degree wall angle, Callaway’s updated JAWS groove generates 11 percent more spin (500 rpm) than its predecessor with a lower, more controlled launch angle—especially on shots from 30 to 40 yards. It takes roughly nine minutes to machine the new groove design—not including the groove-in-groove—with a cutter that makes it through just 15 heads before it has to be replaced. To make the initial batch of MD5 wedges, Callaway went through roughly 50,000 cutters to ensure each set of grooves had the necessary zip. It’s without question the tightest tolerance ever achieved by Callaway. A Micro-Positive surface texture…

BALLESTEROS: HEIR TO ARNIE’S ARMY? Si! (Oct. 1978) WORST CALL OF 1978 “After Jack, the Tour May Die: When Nicklaus leaves, so will the excitement. Today’s new pros don’t have it and the game is bound to suffer.” By Jim Murray (Nov. 1978) BEST CALL OF 1979 “The Tricked-Up Open: Each year the USGA turns a good golf course into a trick track in an attempt to ‘identify the best player.’” By Jim Murray (June 1979) ABOUT 21 MONTHS “How Close Are We to Breaking 60?” (Oct. 1975) TREVINO DECLARES WAR ON SLOW PLAY Our endless war (Feb. 1973) WHO PISSED OFF AL? “The Masters: An Idea Betrayed? Did Bob Jones mean his event to become a combination spring sales convention and a snobby cotillion?” By Al Barkow (Apr. 1971)…

INTRIGUING HEADLINE (AND BYLINE) OF THE DECADE “Buck Nekkid at Amen Corner” By The Rev. Bert H. Hatch (Apr. 1994) TALK THE TALK, TW! “‘I want to be the best golfer ever,’ Woods says in point-blank fashion. ‘I don’t know whether I’ll achieve it or not, but it’s a helluva goal. I think I’d be more worried if I set the bar too low a goal and achieved it too easily.’” (“Ahead of His Time,” Feb. 1992) THIS IS A TEST “Beginning here and now, we’ve gone beyond mere listings of woods and irons to a new age in equipment coverage. We call it ClubTest.” (“ClubTest ’92,” Mar. 1992) FEHERTY ARRIVES “In describing Crooked Stick Golf Club, he said, ‘It’s so long that figuring distance on some holes, you have…

#golfmagazine #ilikegolf #golf.com #influencersrule #philmickelthumb BUBBA WATSON: THE MAN OF FEEL “He sees daylight where others don’t! He takes chances that others won’t! He hits shots that others can’t! ‘If I have a swing, I’ve got a shot!’” (Story by Alan Bastable, Illustrations by Joe Quinones, Apr. 2013) The Dawn of Golf’s Big Data Era “Why You Should… Drive It Here! Not Here!” By Mark Broadie (Mar. 2014) “My insight was that the quality of each shot—from 300-yard drives to tapins—could be weighted in a consistent unit of strokes. Strokes Gained reveals how much ‘closer’ the ball is to the hole at the end of the shot (compared to the beginning), measured not by yards, but by the average strokes needed to hole out.” TIGER DAD (“Elusive, Eternal Eighteen,” Aug.…

The SC30 Range Unlimited capsule collection for Under Armour dropped this fall. The 14 pieces include headwear, socks and apparel, and are highlighted by the Curry 6 SL spikeless golf shoe, which is modeled after Curry’s namesake UA basketball shoes. (You can read more about these in “Spotlight,” page 12.) The entire collection is available for purchase at underarmour.com.…

LOOK FOR THE DOTS: Each tip throughout this section features a corresponding color code to help you understand which part of your game it will improve the most. Shaky putter Slicer Low handicapper Short-game sufferer Short hitter Swing student High handicapper DUSTIN JOHNSON’S ROOKIE season, 2008, was pretty remarkable. The then-24-year-old notched a win and four other Top 10s, and finished fourth in driving distance with a 309-yard average. We hadn’t seen such raw tee-box power since Tiger Woods in his prime. During that period I was digging into some serious research on the role of the lead wrist during the swing, pouring over 3-D graphs and any and all data I could find. As you can guess, Johnson’s overly flexed (or “bowed”) left wrist at the top of his…

A LOT OF GOLFERS I KNOW panic when facing short putts. Even though the hole is only a few feet away, they instantly worry about the ramifications of running the ball too far past the cup. They freeze. Then they overcorrect, hitting the putt much too softly, ultimately seeing it die away on the low side. They’re so focused on results (i.e., whether they’re going to make the putt or not) that they fail to give themselves the chance to execute a good stroke. That’s why, on short putts, I coach my students to forget about the hole. For example, if you’re facing a slightly uphill left-to-right putt like the one I’m practicing above, look at a point just past the cup and think only about rolling the ball to…

SHE’S ONLY 21, but two-time LPGA Tour winner Nelly Korda has established herself as one of America’s superstars (both she and older sister Jessica went 3–0–1 in this year’s Solheim Cup). I worked with Jessica when she was a junior and for a stint after she turned pro, so I know the Korda family well. Nelly, to put it simply, is athletically blessed. Her parents, Regina and Petr, were both world-class tennis players; Petr reached the rank of world number two at one stage. Sebastian Korda, the girls’ younger brother, was an amazing youth hockey player and now is a tennis pro like his mom and dad. Talk about your gene pool! Nelly was new to golf when I was coaching Jessica, and it’s been interesting to watch her grow.…

THOUGH I’M A DYED-IN-THE-WOOL LAKERS GUY, I’m excited to see Golden Star Warrior and two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry on this month’s cover. It’s not every day we feature something or someone other than a PGA Tour pro, golf course or piece of equipment from the likes of Callaway, TaylorMade or Titleist on GOLF’s front page. In fact, the last time we did was September 2009, in an installment celebrating golfer-athletes across all sports. For that issue, Matt Ryan, then the Atlanta Falcons’ second-year QB, graced the cover. I like Matt and, funny enough, he appears again in this issue, lauded as one of the NFL’s top-five golfers in a study of the lowest handicaps spread among active participants in the Big Four sports, but that 2009 issue felt a…

FAIR WARNING: This plate is not for everyone. Haggis is a Scottish meat pudding comprised of (among other things) sheep’s heart, liver and lungs. Traditionally, it was cooked inside the animal’s stomach, but today it’s more commonly boiled or baked in synthetic casings. The haggis nacho treatment from Machrihanish Dunes on Scotland’s Kintyre Peninsula veers slightly from the traditional concoction most often ladled onto Scottish plates at breakfast time, but since its introduction in 2012, it’s become a hot ticket. “They’re the first thing we tell people about, even if they’ve only popped in for a cold beer,” says Colin Bellamy, a chef at Machrihanish Dunes’ Old Clubhouse Pub. “Haggis is a staple in a Scot’s diet, and as a chef, I like dishes from around the world that include…

Q: Did you follow the story of Gian-Marco Petrozzi’s penalty at the last European Tour Q-School? While pacing off yardage for an approach shot, he walked through a bunker, followed etiquette by raking his footprints, then finished the hole. Rules officials later decided the raking had “improved his line of play” and gave Petrozzi a two-stroke penalty. Huh? He was simply returning the bunker to its prior state! Were they being overly rigid? —Jared Forts, Columbus, Ohio A: Rules officials overly rigid? Why, that’s the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard! Levity aside, the committee in charge of the competition’s decision is entirely defensible. Whether under the pre- or post-2019 Rules, if a player worsens their line of play or another condition affecting their stroke, they aren’t then allowed to…

1 Game-Changing Flatstick 5 As in Callaway’s Fifth-Gen MD Wedge—a Groovy Improvement 25 Things a PGA Champ Packs in His Bag 3 Ways to Buffer Cool Fall Breezes 2 Mizuno Irons to Whet Your Appetite 1 Clever Way to Test Your Golf Balls FROM 2012 TO 2017, Justin Rose was a below-average putter on Tour, never ranking higher than 100th in Strokes Gained: Putting. Yet he still managed to win a major title and Olympic gold, mostly with elite ballstriking. Recognizing that a strong putter could take him to even higher heights, Rose put in the time to perfect his setup and stroke in the run-up to the 2018 season. The time and effort resulted in him moving from 122nd to 21st in Strokes Gained: Putting. Rose was rocketing in…

THERE ARE FEW GOLF BRANDS in the world that inspire thoughts of traditional looking and feeling forged irons like Mizuno. Names like Faldo, Woods, Koepka and many others immediately come to mind, as do those “No. 1 on Tour” ads from the ’90s. Its rich bloodline is mostly rooted in the famed MP, a top-three choice for more accomplished players for the better part of a quarter century. However, time and technology marches on, and every manufacturer—even traditionalists—have to keep up with the competition. The great news for Mizuno fans and anyone who values beautiful forgings is the new MP irons are not only gorgeous but also more advanced than ever. Take a look at two of the models in the new line, the MP-20 MMC and the MP-20 HMB…

EVER HIT A DRIVE that felt more like a smush than a smash? The culprit isn’t always you, your swing or your driver—it could be your golf ball. Most balls have compression ratings that fall within a particular range for each model, but it’s not uncommon to find a few outliers among your daily dozen that throw your normal shot distances and spin rates completely out of whack. Enter ProCheck ($199), a handy device used to check any ball’s compression rating in seconds. With ProCheck, it’s easy to identify where your ball ranks on an 8-point spectrum ranging from “very soft” to “very firm.” And via the tool’s simple compression guide, you’ll know right away whether your pellet aligns with the compression rating best suited for your swing. Lastly, the…

Ball of the Decade: the Spalding Dot STILL TRUE “Amid the yells of ‘Yea, Arnie,’ Palmer achieved a rapport with the crowd that may never be matched in golf.”—“The Age of Palmer” (Dec. 1969) BEFORE THERE WAS BRYSON: MV2, OR HOW ISAAC NEWTON LOWERED MY HANDICAP (NOV. 1969) Player of the Decade Arnold Palmer During this time, we have been privileged to witness the rise of Arnold Palmer, who has provided us and millions more with thrills and excitement unmatched in the game’s history. Just as Jones shared the spotlight with Hagen and Sarazen, and Hogan and Snead and Nelson, Palmer has had his with Nicklaus, Player, Casper and Boros. It is not to their discredit that the decade will go down as the Age of Palmer. —“The Age of…

Golfersize: The LPGA’s Jan Stephenson gets physical (Sept. 1984) MOVIE REVIEW OF THE DECADE “True to their vision, the filmmakers have come up with a cast of characters that would make USGA officials blanch.”—“Caddyshack” (Aug. 1980) GOLF RANKS THE TOP 50 COURSES IN THE WORLD…IN ORDER! NUMBER ONE? SCOTLAND’S MUIRFIELD (SEPT. 1983) BEFORE ESPN’S “BODY ISSUE” (Aug. 1983) Player of the Decade Tom Watson “The game calls him. Which is not to say that finessing a little wedge up below the hole is something like receiving the call of the Lord. But it is a calling, nonetheless. Tom Watson eyes the game as a shimmering lure forever out of reach…. ‘I’m waiting for that day. That day when everything falls into place, everything makes sense, when every swing is with…

Spiderman: Villegas reading greens A RHETORICAL QUESTION “Has any player ever had a better year than Tiger Woods had in 2000? No. That was easy, wasn’t it?”—“Greatest Year Ever” (Feb. 2001) MEZZO-SOPRANO: STEVIE VAN ZANDT, AKA “SILVIO DANTE,” SHOT 98 IN OUR “18 HOLES WITH…” COLUMN (APR. 2001) Player of the Decade Tiger Woods “As we look back at the year in golf, Tiger Woods’ paw prints are everywhere, from the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland, to Pebble Beach in California and all points between. Never in history has the game been defined so much by one player. Bobby Jones, after all, had Walter Hagen as a rival. Ben Hogan had Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. Arnold Palmer’s reign as the King was cut short by the arrival of…

BUG (PREDICTION) OFF “The biggest hazard facing Olympic golfers in Rio won’t be the bunkers on Gil Hanse’s course but the gatecrashers potentially swooping down from above.” (“Heard About Zika?” Aug. 2016) A FOND FAREWELL TO THE KING “Palmer’s place was tucked into a block among other nice, tidy, upper-middle-class homes. As I slowed my rental car to a crawl, I could see the garage door was open, and I couldn’t believe it—there was the King himself, tinkering with a golf club in his workshop. Palmer looked up and saw my car idling in the road. Clearly used to such lookieloos, he smiled and waved.” (“The Meaning of Arnie,” by Alan Shipnuck, Dec. 2016) BROOKS KOEPKA ON EATING HORSEMEAT IN KAZAKHSTAN “It tasted like any other meat—I know Americans…

The king? The king is Smoltz. You were maybe thinking: What about MJ? Fame, fortune and a killer smile cannot buy everything, and that’s the only reason Michael Jordan doesn’t own this category, too: Hall of Fame Athletes with Serious Game. Pick a sport, any sport. Name a living Hall of Famer. Your guy may be good, close to scratch. Ivan Lendl, tennis Hall-of-Famer. Brett Hull, hockey Hall-of-Famer. Jerry Rice, football Hall-of-Famer. Your guy can’t beat John Smoltz, baseball Hall-of-Famer, on anything like a regular basis. Golf is too important to him and winning is, too. Plus, he just has more game. He was born with the gene for golf and he’s made getting better his life’s work. It’s an obsession. In John Smoltz, pitcher-turned-golfer, you actually see glimpses of…

AWAY GAME IRELAND DOWNTOWN Dublin is populated by two kinds of people early on Sunday mornings: those heading out and those finally heading home. It’s an observation put to me by my local driver Jimmy. And it’s a good one. Dubliners walk in front of our plush Mercedes van to cross the streets as we exit the publaden Temple Bar district, just after 7:00 a.m. Half are sharply dressed. Well rested. They walk with purpose. The other half traipse the streets with lead feet as last night’s inebriation wears off. Within moments, Jimmy and I are out of the city and cruising through the Irish countryside. We’re heading south to a popular golf course called The European Club. It’s a beautiful Sunday morning in Ireland; the sun is pouring over…

Many amateurs wrongly assume that in order to hit a draw, it’s critical to set up with a closed clubface at address. That can help, but what usually happens when you address the ball this way—with the hopes of returning the clubface in a closed position at impact to produce the draw—is that your swing path tends to move too far to the left. The result is the worst of all worlds: an outside-in swipe and an ugly pull or pull-hook. As the saying goes, golf is a game of opposites. If you want to hit a draw, don’t set up with, shut or snap the clubface closed. Feel the opposite instead: Aim the clubface to the right of your target and focus on swinging even more toward the right…

World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame member Mike Adams has been a pioneering voice in instruction for four decades. One of his most helpful lessons is rooted in an oft-asked question: How does arm length affect swing plane? Based on years of research, Adams found that golfers whose forearms are shorter than their upper arms need to swing more around their body, getting the club shaft to a “flatter” position at the top of the backswing. Players with longer forearms should elevate the club in a more upright position. What’s your natural swing? Take the following test. STEP 1: Hinge your right arm at the elbow, with your thumb in a hitchhiker’s position. STEP 2: Look at your thumb relative to the top of your right shoulder. If it’s even…

LIKE IT IS FOR YOUR FULL SWING (lesson, left), a solid setup is critical to pulling off consistent chip shots, along with a basic understanding of how the ball gets into the air on short swings. I recommend the following: Grip down slightly on the handle, narrow your stance so your feet are about one clubhead-width apart and make sure your weight and sternum are tilted slightly toward the target. If you follow these stance cues, you’ll notice that your arms and shoulders form a triangle shape (above). When you swing, your goal is to simply maintain this shape from start to finish. Problems start when you try to “lift” the ball into the air, which can make contact inconsistent. This ruins your triangle while negating the performance benefits built…

The winner of this year’s Travelers doesn’t get out much (blame Netflix), but when he does… What’s your idea of a perfect day? It would involve a beach and margaritas. What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen on a golf course? Probably in Phoenix [at the Waste Management Phoenix Open]: some fist-fights, some drunken people throwing up on themselves. Your most embarrassing moment on a golf course? My first PGA Tour event in Las Vegas. I was leading after two rounds and I made a 13 on the 16th hole, the par 5. I hit, like, five balls in the lake. We’re giving you a career mulligan. What shot would you like to have over again? I lost to Webb Simpson in a playoff [at the 2011 Deutsche Bank Championship]. But…

BING CROSBY DIED on a fall day on a golf course in Spain, and soon after his great friend George Coleman treated Bing’s son Nathaniel to a few days of consolation golf at Seminole, in South Florida. George, the president of Seminole and a benefactor of The Match, had his friend Ben Hogan there as well. “What’s this?” Hogan asked Nathaniel one morning, as their golf bags were being unpacked from a car parked in front of Seminole’s pink clubhouse. They had both just wrapped up their stay as guests in the Coleman house, on the Atlantic. Nathaniel, who was 16, had a lot of hair. It was 1978. “It’s a hair dryer, Mr. Hogan.” “Nathaniel,” Hogan said. “Hair dryers are for girls.” A finger snaps and it’s 42 years…

GRAB A ROAD SODA AND jump into my time machine. Buckle up… aaaaand, splendid, we’ve arrived in the English countryside, in the county of Wiltshire, near Bath not terrifically far from Wales. Have I mentioned it’s 1992? It is. That resplendent fellow, wearing a perfectly disheveled cravat and opening the door to welcome us is Lord Shelburne. I say “us” because along with you and me are my good pals Hoppy and Joey (which I realize for the first time sounds as if I’m friends with a pair of kangaroos). That’s Lady Shelburne descending the curved stairs as Lord S pops some bubbly. That’s Joey issuing a subdued whistle in our ear and saying, “Man, the Lady surrrrre is a tall drink of water.” Now, this is us saying farewell…

When I was a very young player, one of my stepdads used to say to me, “CPG, you can either play bad or gamble bad, but you can’t do both.” That’s some pretty sage advice from a guy who left on a “buddies” trip to Reno when I was nine and never came back. Truth be told, you can take lessons, you can buy the latest equipment and you can practice until your hands bleed, but there’s nothing in the game more important than negotiating a winning bet before the first ball is struck. Follow my three tips for first-tee negotiating and make reaching for your wallet on the 19th hole a thing of the past. 1. Never agree to a ball toss This is fundamental. Way too much can…

THE BEAUTY OF THE LAYERED piece is that in an era of perceived polarization, it provides some welcome middle ground. We’re not being political here. We just mean as the leaves begin to turn and it starts to get cold outside, you can throw one on over your shirt and under a heavier jacket for that extra strata of warmth. As your round heats up (both on course and under the collar), you can shed the outerwear and still retain a level of tasteful toastiness. If it’s only a little cool in the morning or late afternoon, a modern mid-layer is more than enough to keep you comfortable while also helping to wick away moisture. Today’s fabrics move and stretch with you, so no more swing restriction. And you want…

THE DAYS OF PLAYING ONE IRON MODEL are a thing of the past. Roughly 75 percent of pros carry at least two models in their bag, including Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas. Pairing more forgiving long irons with compact, workable scoring clubs is a common blueprint, but there’s more to a combo set than simply blending multiple models. Here’s what you need to keep in mind during the split-set search. 1. Impact location. Take a look at your current iron set. If the impact location (where you regularly strike the ball) expands significantly at the 5-iron, it might be time to add long irons with perimeter weighting to mitigate the misses. 2. Mind the gaps. Some manufacturers have started to design irons with combo sets in mind. But you can’t…

That ’70s (reverse C) Swing: Move of the decade. See also: Miller, J.; Crenshaw, B. SHAFT! (July 1973) ”The golfer’s unrelenting pursuit of some kind of magic that will enable him to suddenly hit a ball farther and straighter has been likened by some to man’s age-old quest for (1) a ‘fountain of youth,’ (2) a cure for baldness and (3) a sure way of beating the races. And the report of any breakthrough, no matter how fanciful, is enough to quicken the pulse and send hopes soaring.” PRINT THE LEGEND “Only the color-blind will view 1970’s styles and colors with indifference. This is the age of prints and nowhere will the new trend be more in evidence than on the golf course.” (Apr. 1970) Clockwise from top left: Aug. 1973,…

Grip it and rip it: John Daly at the top (of the golfing world) X MARKS THE WISDOM “Widen the Gap” By Jim McClean (Dec. 1992) “It is called differential—the gap between the amount of shoulder turn and hip turn at the top of the backswing. Most amateurs think a lot about turning the shoulders but ignore the hips and allow them to rotate too far. The key to the creation of power relies on the hips providing resistance to the upper body…. To make a powerful turn—not just a big turn—the upper body must rotate much more than the hips.” SPOT THE BIG BERTHA (July 1991) “Bigger is better. That’s the rallying cry of club manufacturers.” Tearjerker of the ’90s “Gently, Ben” By John Feinstein (June 1995) “Every once…

ANNIKA TACKLES THE PGA TOUR “I want to reach my limits. I want to see how good I can be.” (“She’s Ready,” June 2003) ABOVE & BEYOND “The ERC is more than just an illegal club. It’s the pawn in a high-stakes game….” (“‘Hot’ Potato,” Aug. 2000) NOT FUNNY AT ALL “‘I was a spectacular drunk,’ Feherty says. ‘The Tiger Woods of drinking. I held court…. But all along, I was just masking a stunning sense of worthlessness, of being a fraud.’” (“The Unfunny Life of David Feherty,” June 2006)…

An NBA franchise often takes on the personality of its best player. The flashiness of the Showtime Lakers mirrored Magic Johnson’s smile, while the Chicago Bulls’ dominance was defined by Michael Jordan’s seething intensity. During the ongoing championship run of the Golden State Warriors, the tone has been set by their point guard Stephen Curry, with his humility, selflessness and positivity. As the two-time league MVP has emerged as one of sport’s good guys, it has become a common refrain that he makes all those around him better, as players and people. But what forces shaped Curry? What were the inculcated life lessons that would propel him from a mere ballplayer to a universally acclaimed role model? On this topic Curry, 31, offers a story from a family vacation to…

Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the Shamrock Classic, an American football game first played in Dublin between Notre Dame and the U.S. Naval Academy. (The Fighting Irish won that one, 54–27, to the delight of the locals.) A sellout crowd of about 51,000 welcomes the same two teams to Aviva Stadium this coming August for what is now the Aer Lingus Classic. Golfing football fans might want to check out the “Golf & Game” tour packages offered by Celtic Golf, which not only include VIP tickets, but rounds on courses like Ballybunion, Old Head and Royal Portrush. That’s a rotation worth fighting for. Celticgolf.com…

THE DEBUT OF THE BERMUDA CHAMPIONSHIP in early November will pit PGA Tour players against one of the world’s most beautiful—and difficult—par 3s: the 235-yard 16th at Port Royal GC on the island’s southwest shore (above). Pros take note: This signature hole has confounded locals and visitors alike for decades. From the tee, the most obvious challenge is a forced carry over scrub, rocks and the Atlantic Ocean. Then there’s the wind, which roars left to right off the water. But the hardest part may well be the same special sauce that makes No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass or No. 7 at Pebble Beach extra-stressful: It’s that bucket-list anticipation that’s been building in your mind the entire round, perhaps your entire vacation. Dr. Joseph Parent, a longtime mental coach and…

MOST GOLFERS KNOW that they need to rotate their hips when they swing. What they don’t know is that they need to tilt them, too. Without this side bend, you’ll lose posture and swing too far out to the left or over the top (see above). Pull and pull-slice hitters take note. Here’s the easy fix. Take any iron and choke down on the handle with your left hand. Hold the club along your belt line and address an imaginary ball that’s teed up to roughly knee height. Make practice swings, doing your best to “deliver” the clubhead to the imaginary ball. When you reach the end of your backswing, check that the grip end of the club points at the imaginary ball. This ensures that you’re correctly hinging into…

Rarely do training aids hit the market with legitimate buzz and anticipation, but that was certainly the case with the PlaneMate, the latest invention from Tour Striker Golf and GOLF Top 100 Teacher Martin Chuck. So excited were golf fans about the practice device that a new hashtag cropped up on social media ahead of its launch—#planematemania—and now that it’s available for purchase, disciples are even more amped. The PlaneMate’s primary purpose is to stop golfers from coming over the top on the downswing, the bugaboo move that fuels pulls, slices and pull-slices. Like most training aids, the PlaneMate looks a little goofy (picture Tin Cup trying to fix his shanks). Subtle? Hardly. What’s important is that it works. With the help of a rubber cord that connects your body…

Like golfers, do quarterbacks ever get the yips? I’ve only heard of it happening one time. I can’t remember who it was, but there was one quarterback who got the yips and couldn’t throw the ball over 10 yards. Thankfully, it’s never happened to me. What’s your handicap? My best is a 3.5. I’ve read that Matt Ryan is a 1.3, Tony Romo is a 0.4, and Ben Roethlisberger is a 2.3. But Tom Brady is an 8. That’s got to feel good. I don’t think Brady’s an 8. I’ve played with him, and he’s good. I’ve played with all of those guys. Tony’s a great player. Matt and I—I’ve beat him a couple of times, he’s beat me a couple of times. But you beat Roethlisberger where it counts,…