Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2020 i Golf Magazine

5 Things to Love About the New GOLF.com Just as we constantly strive to evolve and optimize this magazine, so too are we working to perfect our digital platforms—with the goal of making you better, happier, more informed golfers. The result is the new-look GOLF.com. 1. Faster access to content through improved site functionality. 2. Better organization, presentation and find-ability of the compelling content we create every day, from game improvement to PGA Tour analysis to videos and podcasts, plus a more searchable archive. 3. A cleaner, more inspiring design that will provide you not only with an escape but also entry points to tons of engaging content. 4. Full-screen video players to better show off our ever-growing video offerings, plus feature playlists that will suggest more content for your…

Linksoul cofounder Geoff Cunningham wanted to do something to help people suffering in the most vulnerable populations during this coronavirus pandemic. So he put his wit and design skills to work to help #flattenthecurve. In the graphic on the navy T-shirt, there are two options: Lob the ball over the tree a few yards ahead and fall short of the green, or punch “the low stinger” under the tree and hit the green. Easy call. The arcs of the shots resemble graphs used to illustrate the country’s effort to “flatten the curve” against the spread of the disease. All proceeds from the Linksoul campaign go to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, which assists folks like hourly wage workers and the elderly help make ends meet during these difficult times. The…

2,163,000 Average number of viewers for CBS’s rebroadcast of Tiger Woods’ 2019 Masters win, on what would’ve been Sunday at Augusta. $5 MILLION Seed donation from the PGA of America to create the Golf Emergency Relief Fund, which provides grants to PGA professionals, developmental tour players, club caddies and other members of the golf service industry. 2.5 MILLION Additional amount the PGA of America has agreed to match dollar-fordollar for the fund. $350 Discounted rate for greens fees at TPC Sawgrass through the beginning of July (normally $500). The catch? No access to the famed island green at the 17th while the grounds crew finishes an irrigation project. $525,000 The winning bid for a round of golf and dinner for 10 with future Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning, to benefit the All In…

From the Tour player down to the weekend warrior, there is nothing that benefits your game more than hitting the ball longer. In an era of bomb-and-gouge, training your golf muscles for faster clubhead speed is an indispensable part of the game. Enter the SuperSpeed Golf Training System ($199). The speed-boosting aid has become one of the hottest items on the PGA Tour, with the likes of Phil Mickelson using it to increase his clubhead speed average from 116 mph in 2018 to 120 mph in 2019. The product itself is a set of three graphite shafts with light, medium and heavy weights at the tip of each, designed to simulate the weighting of a driver. There are sets for every category of golfer: men, seniors, ladies, juniors. The company…

THERE’S A COFFEE SHOP near my house, in Philadelphia, that draws an unlikely collection of golf bums. Nick Gregory, who played tennis at Temple, is a juggler by trade and can be seen juggling two wedges and a 9-iron while waiting for his tee time at Walnut Lane, a nearby, city-owned public course. Ken Marini, a carpenter and theater director, who used to teach at Richard Metz, the legendary golf studio in midtown Manhattan, lives next door to the coffee shop. He plays Walnut Lane, a wee par 62, with three clubs under his arm: 5-iron, wedge, putter. And then there’s Rob Baird, who has a doctorate in the history of religion and who needs about three hours to play nine holes at Walnut Lane. Hey, you try playing in…

Despite their name, Transfusions should be consumed orally, not injected. Technically, it is also not true that Transfusions are life-sustaining elixirs—they just seem that way under the right circumstances. As far as anyone seems to know, the drink began life as a hangover remedy, perhaps for those who don’t like tomato juice. Here’s how you make one: Fill ¾ of a glass with crushed ice. At home, go highball. On the course, red Solo (1). Spill in 4 oz or so quality vodka (2)—although you might be able to get away with Nikolai if you’re making a cooler’s worth. Fill the rest of your glass with ginger ale (3), saving room for 1 oz grape juice (4). Add 1 oz grape juice (duh). Stir. Drink. Give a squeeze of lime…

1. Tyrrell Hatton: Cavity-backs, PING i210 (4-PW) 2. Boo Weekley: Blades, Callaway Apex MB (4-PW) 3. Rory McIlroy: Mixed, TaylorMade P750 (3, 4), TaylorMade P730 (5-PW) 4. Collin Morikawa: Mixed, TaylorMade P760 (4, 5), TaylorMade P730 (6-PW) 5. Marc Leishman: Blades, Callaway Apex MB (3-9) 6. Patrick Cantlay: Cavity-backs, Titleist T100 (4-PW) 7. Webb Simpson: Blades, Titleist 620MB (5-PW) 8. Justin Thomas: Mixed, Titleist T100 (4), Titleist 620MB (5-9) 9. Paul Casey: Mixed, Mizuno MP-25 (3), Mizuno JPX919 Hot Metal Pro (4), Mizuno MP-5 (5-PW) 10. Tony Finau: Blades, PING Blueprint (4-PW) 11. Hideki Matsuyama: Blades, Srixon prototype (4-PW) 12. Jim Furyk: Cavity-backs, Callaway X Forged 18 (4-PW) 13. Luke Donald: Blades, Mizuno MP-20 (3-PW) 14. Xander Schauffele: Cavity-backs, Callaway Apex Pro Raw (4-PW) 15. Russell Knox: Cavity-backs, Srixon Z785…

Dude’s turning 50 this month? Does not seem possible! Wasn’t it just last year, at the Masters, that the guy was bopping down Magnolia Lane in a courtesy car, a cellphone pointed at him, declaring himself ready to “hit bombs” with his 125-mile-per-hour clubhead speed? What grown man does that? Aside from Phil. The clip’s been viewed five million times. Find a younger 50-year-old. One of his signature moves, post-round, is to push his luxuriant hair back off his forehead, like a surfer coming out of the ocean. Why? Because he still can. In his half-nutty interview series, Phireside with Phil, he’s matched wits with Larry David, his mother, Jordan Spieth, Tiger himself (in a frame). And who wins these tête-à-têtes? One guess. “You know Phil,” his wife, Amy, likes to…

It was the 35th hole of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship finals, and the pressure was starting to mount. With the tenuous comfort of a 1-up lead, 16-year-old Preston Summerhays grabbed a pitching wedge from 174 yards out and swung as hard as he could. Unlike his tee shot, which had flown wayward into some heavy rough, Preston knew where this one was going. His ball started under one tree and floated over another, landed on a downslope on the front edge of the green and kicked forward, settling eight feet below the hole. “How can you do that?” screamed one TV commentator. “Unbelievable!” A few moments later, Preston’s ball was at the bottom of the cup, and the biggest title of his young career had been secured. Boyd Summerhays,…

Father’s Day. A time for new socks, a second beer without grief, a few nice handwritten sentences about the great job you’re doing as a parent. You’re the best, at least until the clock strikes midnight. Ego boosts aside, it’s as good a time as any to take stock of one’s performance in this starring role. As time has passed, I’ve generally stopped agonizing over it—whatever my shortcomings on the parenting front, I know they’re not from lack of time, effort, love or introspection. Plus, this year I’d finally resolved one of the big things causing me agita: the contents of my son’s golf bag. This past fall, Ike, 11 years old and in seventh grade, made the high school varsity squad. At five feet tall and 100 pounds, he…

Were extraterrestrials suddenly to land in the pro shop—seems like anything’s possible nowadays—you know what would really flummox them? The golf ball display rack. Imagine: all those shiny boxes, all those different brands and models. Then opening the packaging with two scaly green fingers to find within… always three dimpled orbs in a sleeve, always 1.68 inches in diameter and weighing 1.62 ounces. Why are there so many versions of the same thing? Most golfing humanoids could explain matters—up to a point. You see, the balls might look the same, but they each do different things for different types of players and cost different amounts of money. If this isn’t enough to send the aliens beaming back up to their own universe, our convoluted follow-up attempt to explain precisely which…

SOMETIMES IT TAKES a quick and easy drill to help you feel what it’s like to properly separate your upper body from your lower during the putting stroke. You probably know that the lower body ought to remain as stable as possible, but even armed with that knowledge it’s easy for players to forget or fall back into bad habits. To help remind yourself to keep your lower body still while using your upper body to drive the putting motion, grab a golf towel and roll it up tightly like a scroll. Place the rolled-up towel beneath the arches of your feet and get into your putting stance. You’ll see that having the towel under your arches creates instability, which forces you to hold your lower body more securely and…

EVEN CASUAL GOLFERS understand that at impact the hips need to be open to the target. (Picture your belt buckle pointing to the left of where you want the ball to land.) In reality, your hips shouldn’t just be open but continually rotating to the left until your swing comes to a stop. It takes some trust and rhythm to get it right—kind of what you need when you’re asked to hit the dance floor at either a wedding or a reunion. Here’s a drill that’ll help both. Get into your address position without a club and make a mock backswing. Let your arms flow freely to the top while rotating your hips and shoulders (photo, above left). Now drive your left hip rotationally. Don’t just slide—try to get your…

TO DRIVE IT FARTHER, YOU NEED TO HIT slightly up on the ball, what TrackMan calls a “positive attack angle.” For most players, this helps create optimal launch conditions, which improves launch angle and reduces spin for shots that carry farther and roll out for days. Who wouldn’t want that? Here’s how to do it. (You can use an iron here, but this drill is best performed with a driver.) Place an empty water bottle about a grip length ahead of the ball on your target line. If it’s windy, secure the bottle using a few tees. The goal is simple: Catch the ball without hitting the water bottle. The feeling you’re after is that the club is “rising” as it moves through the ball and over the bottle. Another…

What’s happening at impact when an elite iron player strikes the ball? Research tells us three things: 1. The club is descending into impact. 2. The arc on which the club is moving bottoms out in front of the ball’s position. 3. The clubface is de-lofted, a result of the first two moves. Recreational golfers tend to do the opposite: They add loft at impact and rarely bottom out in the correct place. The result? A huge loss of distance. Teaching professional Bill Schmedes III is here to help—more specifically, his unique training aid the Impact Press ($99; impactpressgolf.com) is. Colored strips on the hosel and topline guide you into a powerful impact by teaching you how to lead the clubhead with your hands. When the red strip points at…

NAVIGATING GREENSIDE ROUGH, to say nothing of a short-sided situation like the one pictured on the opposite page, requires finesse, commitment and an understanding of how the clubface interacts with the ball. Many golfers try to finesse pitch shots by taking their normal setup and simply swinging. This often results in deceleration, which can cause major consistency issues in contact and distance control. You want to make an aggressive swing, and to do that you need to set up in a way that will allow the clubhead to slide through the grass and underneath the ball. Try this: Take an alignment rod or a club and set it just outside your lead foot. Point one end at the ball but make sure it’s perpendicular to your target line. As you…

EVERY SPRING, TOURNAMENT ORGANIZERS at Muirfield Village grow out the rough lush and thick in preparation for the Memorial. They dial up the undulating greens to Augusta National speed. The 18th green slopes dramatically back-to-front, and large crowds gather on the grass amphitheater above, ready for drama. So what happens when you hit your approach shot over the green? Nothing good, that’s for sure. Few shots in golf are more difficult than a downhill, short-sided chip shot from a bad lie. But unless you’ve got a time machine or a mulligan, all you can do is make the best of a bad situation. Here are four shots to consider: 1. Avoid the cardinal sin. Priority No. 1 when short-sided in the rough is to get the ball on the green.…

I BOUGHT A HITTING NET back in April—big, white with red trim. It took a while to arrive, even my Amazon Prime loyalty a victim of coronavirus. Our home sits adjacent to a city park here in Montclair, N.J., a bustling suburb roughly 15 miles due west of GOLF’s Manhattan offices, which have sat empty for more than two months. Stealing a few square yards of real estate from the neighboring acreage provided the room I needed to let ’em rip. (Plus, the missus said no to putting it in the backyard.) Early sessions were a reminder that, as ever, the game needs work, but it’s functional enough to take to the course now that play has opened up in the northeast. It had been a while since I’d heard…

THERE ARE THREE WAYS to set your left wrist at the top of your backswing. You can 1) keep it flat, 2) flex, or “bow,” it or 3) extend, or “cup,” it. The success of players such as Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and, more recently, Viktor Hovland has made bowing the lead wrist a bona fide move du jour, but the truth is that there’s no one correct position for everybody. In fact, unless you’re as flexible as the players mentioned above, you’re probably better off keeping your left wrist flat. To practice this, grab a ruler and slide it under the Velcro patch on your glove as shown. Next, make a backswing. If you feel the ruler “dig” into your wrist, you’re cupping. Not good for most weekend players.…

“The narwhal costume came about when my daughter turned one and had a unicorn party. I felt left out because there’s no male version of the unicorn. So I went with the narwhal because it’s basically the unicorn of the sea. And I have superpowers and that’s how I rocked it during her party. I still put it on, and she loves it.”—Kevin Chappell “Last year, my lovely wife just found out that I rent out rooms in an apartment just to keep my shoes in.”—Kiradech Aphibarnrat “I’ve dreamed since I was a kid of competing against Tiger; of being paired with him in the final group of the Masters or the U.S. Open. That was what my dreams were made of since I was a little kid. The putt…

MOST APPAREL MANUFACTURERS understand that today’s players gravitate toward pieces with multiple uses. Where’s the fun in clothes that can be worn only when teeing it up? Case in point: this stylish pullover from Jones Sports ($175) replete with a sporty-chic vibe that easily moves from the course to the gym to the couch without sacrificing style (and certainly not comfort). This unisex garment has lots of special details—like the reversible Sea of Trees lining—that enhance its individuality and flair. The contrast collar, cuffs and hem combine with the subtle wolf branding from Greyson Clothiers to establish a clean and contemporary look, while the kangaroo pocket adds the functionality you’d expect from these forward-thinking brands. (jonessportsco.com) —Emily Haas…

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY 2020 Stories about fathers, their kids and golf are legion. Think Tiger and Earl, Jack and Jackie Jr., to name just a few. But tales of familial love aren’t limited to legends. In The Ties that Bind (p. 66), photographer Christian Hafer brings his kids to Cabot for a misty (rain) look at their past and future. In Like Father, Like Son (p. 72), swing coach Boyd Summerhays’ boy is on the brink of big things. In the World’s Loudest Dad (p. 75), Tony Kornheiser turns out to be—you guessed it. And in Club Kid (p. 81), a pop springs for new sticks. For his little guy, of course. Because not even on Dad’s Day are dads allowed to stop being dads. PLUS: WHAT TO GET DAD…

“What did I do wrong there?” Tony Kornheiser just laid the sod over a downhill, 80-yard pitch, a fate so common to us double-digit handicappers that the question is more reflex than a reflection of real frustration. But Kornheiser is legitimately asking his son, Michael, a scratch golfer, what happened. “It appears you didn’t hit a good shot,” Michael replies. To this Kornheiser simply shrugs, puts his wedge back in his bag and takes a seat in his cart, waiting for his son, who nestles his own pitch to 15 feet for an easy two-putt par. Most of our round this afternoon at Columbia Country Club, in Chevy Chase, Md., is spent admiring Michael’s towering drives and velvet touch around the greens. Like a lot of better players, there’s nothing…

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. I’VE SEEN A LOT OF DIFFERENT swings in my instruction career, which has taught me that there’s no one method for playing this game. Working with PGA Tour player Matthew Wolff and his swing over the years has drilled home this point even more. Now, enter University of Oklahoma sophomore Patrick Welch, who’s riding one of the most unusual decisions I’ve seen as an instructor—adopting a left-hand-low grip for all swings—to become one of the most promising players in college golf. A lot of players go left-hand low but usually when putting or performing a corrective drill. Not Patrick. Story goes that…

YOU’D LIKE TO SPLIT THE FAIRWAY on every drive, but the truth is, you don’t. And when you get wayward, your ball invariably comes to rest in some pretty tough spots. The one I’ve unfortunately found in the photo below is a real doozy, for example—ball on pine straw with some nearby fescue potentially interfering with my through-swing. Awkward situations like this are no time to get greedy. Job 1 is to get the ball back in play, despite what your inner Bubba or Phil tells you. First, grab a high-lofted club and open the face a few degrees at setup. Grip down on the handle and squeeze it hard to better control the clubface. Take a narrow stance and play the ball back of center. Finally, set about 70…

COURSE MANAGEMENT is something weekend players tend to ignore, as if it applies only to the competitive or professional golfer. In reality, the opposite is true. Tour players, like Hideki Matsuyama pictured here, take the time to study yardage books, because they know it’s an easy way to gain shots. With a little planning yourself, you can use your course’s yardage book to plot your way to better scores without changing anything else in your game. But what’s the most effective way to read one? There are three important categories of info provided by a yardage book. Here’s how to use them to your advantage. Brady Riggs teaches at Woodley Lakes GC in Van Nuys, Calif. THE PERFECT YARDAGE BOOK No excuses for poor course management: The new Green Books…

G: You’re 86. When did you take up the game of golf? BU: Back when I was playing pro baseball. It was pretty frustrating at first. The ball’s sitting up on a tee, but I’d hit it out of bounds, or hook it, or hit a grounder. It’s not like you’ve got some guy throwing a pitch 100 miles an hour at you. G: Maybe you needed hecklers, like at the ballpark… BU: Maybe! People screaming obscenities about me and my family, like when I was catching! G: Are you any good at golf? BU: I could put a stick of dynamite in my driver and still only hit it 200 yards. G: You finished your career with a .200 batting average. Are you a little relieved you didn’t get…

IT STARTED AS A LARK, but ended up providing three days of rejuvenation that I have drawn upon for amusement during the pox upon our global house. While lingering over quarantinis and watching Tiger win the 2020 Masters, I hearkened to the joie de vivre summer of 2019. I was back in Philly, playing in a junior member-guest with my nephew and good pal Jack. I led the field in geezer by 20 years. Warm-up rounds seemed prudent. Ten summers had passed since I’d swung a club with intent. Two of my favorite people and drinking companions—brother Tim and buddy Bates—heeded my call. On the 1st green the weather alarm beckoned our return to the men’s locker house bar. Given the all clear an hour later, we’d just struck tee…

PUTTING A SET OF BLADE IRONS IN THE bag comes with a dream. That dream is filled with flushed shots that dance around tucked flagsticks as the sun reflects just perfectly off their beautiful, no-nonsense chrome finishes. When a blade iron is hit precisely on the sweet spot, there’s a feeling of nothingness at impact as the ball sails toward the target. It’s heavenly. However, blades—also commonly called forged muscleback irons—have a darker side. Contact one just a fraction off-center and you’re left with tingling fingertips and an errant ball flight. Forged muscleback irons are popular for their craftsmanship, sleek profiles, thin toplines, sharp edges, supreme bag appeal and superior feel on center strikes. They also provide high-level golfers with the control to manipulate trajectory and ball flight. TOP 50…

BOLD OR SUBTLE, crazy or tame, Taylor-Made’s MySpider X puts you in the designer’s seat. The company’s nifty online platform (taylormadegolf.com) provides consumers the ability to control how their Spider X putter looks and performs, with seemingly unlimited options—from mixing and matching colors for everything from the head and rear weights to the shade of the Pure Roll face insert, grip and sole plate. While not nearly as flashy as customizing your purple-and-gold head, it’s possible to choose from two hosel options and four sight-line options. Spider X ($420) continues to be one of the game’s most popular putters, and is currently being used by numerous Tour pros, including Rory McIlroy. It’s built for stability with a heavy frame and adjustable rear weights placed on the wings. To improve alignment…

I’m used to finishing rounds in all sorts of weather. This one was different. Barreling down the fairway ahead of me was my nine-year-old stepson, Austin, my oversize jacket draped over him like a cape to help shield him from the stinging rain. On my left was Lindsay, my wife, her head buried into my shoulder, her accelerated gait in lockstep with mine. We are all smiling and laughing—almost home. Near the green we spot our two-year-old, June, in Grammy’s lap on the porch of one of the villas lining the grounds. We’re a thousand miles from home, on the rugged coastline of Nova Scotia, home of the world-class Cabot Links Golf Resort and its pair of Top-100-rated courses. And we’re very happy. This wasn’t my first trip to Cabot…

Attention to Detail Price varies I finally convinced Dad to go in for a custom fitting. No easy task persuading my father to part with that amount of cash, but he understands the enormous benefit. Now I’ve got to convince him to pull the trigger on buying the clubs. At least I can make it easier by sending him over to Fairway Jockey. This group of master club builders will construct a set based on his exclusive specs, component by component. They also have a dizzying selection of stock and hard-to-find equipment to outfit even the most discerning golfer at the click of a button. fairwayjockey.com —John Ledesma Headwear Flair $30–$45 I like to think of my father as unique. With Imperial “Design Your Own” headwear, now his one-of-a-kind personality…

WHO CAN FORGET THAT ’60 OPEN? The National Open in the final year of the Eisenhower presidency, the Open when American golf said farewell to the staid fifties and put its arms around a new guy, a DIY American golfer who was unlike any winner who had come before him. A Western U.S. Open, at Cherry Hills, out in Denver, altitude 5,300 feet. The best Open ever. Remember how Arnie gibed with his writer buddies (Dan Jenkins, Bob Drum) at lunch on Saturday, in between the third and fourth rounds, then shot a closing 65 after driving the short par-4 first? Golf has never had a more famous two-putt birdie or a winner who was easier to love. Arnold Palmer, his own self. Remember how Arnie leap-frogged Ben Hogan, an…

ARNOLD PALMER IS FAMOUS FOR, among other things, his iconic “thumbs up” to adoring galleries. (Sorry, Phil.) I was lucky enough to call Arnold a good friend; in 2006, we launched the Arnold Palmer Sports Health Center. He had an abiding interest in keeping people healthy and participating in the game he loved. The thumb is remarkable, and we ask much of it. Gripping a golf club throughout the swing means positioning the thumb at multiple points in space, and that demands great flexibility. This flexibility is provided by two hinge joints and the very agile basilar joint—where the thumb plugs into your wrist—plus great strength and stability. This balancing act can create a problem that manifests as friction at the basilar joint—aka arthritis. Almost all golfers will eventually get…

Great golfers contract their oblique muscles (outer abs) to bring their rib cage and pelvis closer together through impact. The move, called pelvic tilt, stabilizes your lower body and helps your upper body accelerate around it for explosive power. (Watch Rory McIlroy, who does it better than anyone.) Can you do it? Here’s a test. Stand in front of a mirror in posture, with a 5-iron held across your chest. Try to arch your lower back, tilting your belt buckle forward. Then round it, tilting your belt buckle backward. As you perform both moves, keep the rest of your body still, especially your legs. If you can’t do this without a lot of movement in your lower body, or the movement feels “shaky,” your pelvic tilt needs work. Cat-cows is…

IT’S DIFFICULT TO TRULY KNOW if you’re tracing the correct club path both going back and coming through. Setting up a path practice station like I’ve done above takes care of that. Stick an alignment rod in the ground and slide a swim noodle over it. Do the same with a second noodle, this time angling it like a cannon, about 20 to 30 degrees to the turf. Positioning is key: Place the rods and noodles so that the first combo sits outside your right foot and on your toe line, and the second points downrange just inside your target line. Believe it or not, that’s the hard part. Address a ball and begin your swing. Your goal on the way back is to swing the clubhead under the angled…