Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Golf Monthly

$69,000,000+ Total prize money on 2026 PGA Tour Champions schedule from 28 events 33 Birdies for Carson Young in the World Wide Technology Championship – one short of Sungjae Im’s record in the 2024 Sentry 30 Holes-in-one on the 2025 DPWT – two each for John Parry and Dale Whitnell 22 Marco Penge has the most eagles on the ’25 DPWT after adding four in Abu Dhabi 9 Two players lead the top-ten count – Jayden Schaper and Angel Ayora COURSES IN OUR UK&I TOP 100 AND NEXT 100 RANKINGS TO OPEN THIS CENTURY 56 Ben Griffin’s world ranking climb in 2025, from 65th at the start of the year to 9th 1 DPWT graduate to the 2025 PGA Tour finished in the top 100 after East Lake – Rasmus…

Since opening in 2009, Castle Stuart has become one of the finest links tracks in the country. Situated ten minutes from Inverness Airport, the course is a must-visit, and it has recently been joined by a brand-new layout, Old Petty, designed by esteemed architect Tom Doak. The new addition is thanks to the 2022 acquisition of Castle Stuart by Canadian developer Cabot, which made its name in golf with award-winning properties at Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida and Cabot St Lucia in the Caribbean, with Cabot Revelstoke in British Columbia coming soon. At Cabot Highlands, you’re greeted with a warm Scottish welcome, and the clubhouse facilities deliver premium comfort and cuisine with the traditional detail lovers of Scottish golf appreciate. Let the fun begin…

At my stage of life and career, new experiences are very much to be relished. In the case of Uniworld’s all-inclusive Brilliant Bordeaux French river cruise with my wife in August, reality would turn out to more than exceed expectation. Despite fitting the demographic perfectly, we were both first-time cruisers, so apologies here to readers for whom the whole cruise thing is water off a duck’s back. In our slightly nervous novice capacity, it was timely to meet and chat to experienced cruisers from the same Gatwick flight at Bordeaux Merignac airport ahead of our transfer to Uniworld’s SS Bon Voyage, docked and waiting for us on the River Garonne in Bordeaux. I’m not going to lie – while I find it easy to get to know, and build a…

Evening sun over the 16th green at Maesteg, the last of five very diverse short holes at this wildly attractive moorland course Maesteg GF: 18 holes: £30wd, £40we The Welsh Valleys are home to two of this month’s recommended courses, beginning with Maesteg, five miles to the east of Port Talbot. The only thing at all unnatural about this expansive and testing layout are two or three enormous electricity pylons which, oddly, almost add to the visual interest despite one towering over the 14th tee. James Braid redesigned the nine-hole layout around the end of WWII before it was expanded to a full 18 holes in the 1970s. Packed with variety, standout holes include the par-3 drop-hole 6th over a pond, the switchback, wall-of-death 11th and the short 13th with…

The LIV Golf League has announced all of its tournaments from the start of the 2026 season will be played over 72 holes across four days. LIV, which also means 54 in Roman numerals, has confirmed it has moved on from its original three-day format with immediate effect “as the next phase of growth for the league” takes place. LIV Golf’s CEO Scott O’Neil said: “As we enter our fourth season as a league, the move to 72 holes marks a pivotal new chapter for LIV Golf that strengthens our league, challenges our elite field of players and delivers more of the world-class golf, energy, innovation and access that our global audience wants. “We’re seeing upward momentum and traction from Hong Kong to Adelaide to Indianapolis, and that heightened interest…

Switzerland GF: £110-£140 Stats: par 72, 6,390 yards Despite its great natural beauty, Switzerland is not yet really on the travelling golfer’s radar. This is a real shame as it has a huge amount to offer, especially for those seeking somewhere new, different and exceptionally delightful. Andermatt is a prestigious ski resort set a little under 5,000ft above sea level. It lies to the south of Zurich at the end of a scenic road trip via Lake Lucerne, and its excellent golf course sits perfectly in the lush, green Ursern Valley in the Alpine foothills. The course opened for play in 2016 and a round of golf here is a real rollercoaster ride of fun and adventure. With ecology at its heart, the layout meanders through scenic farmland, employs climate-neutral…

As English legends such as Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald begin the descent of their careers, a new young crop of British talent is emerging on both the DP World and PGA Tours, with one of the most promising players being Cornwall’s Harry Hall. Known for his calm demeanour and trademark flat cap, Hall has forged a path from the English coast to the pinnacle of the sport via a solid amateur career that included playing collegiate golf at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and making the 2019 Walker Cup team. Hall boasts a textbook swing that oozes rhythm and he complements that by being one of the best putters on the PGA Tour. With two Korn Ferry Tour victories under his belt, the Englishman demonstrated…

Standing beside a makeshift, waterless pond in a conference suite at the Fairmont Hotel outside St Andrews, I’ve seldom felt so out of my depth. Which was surprising given the lack of water in that makeshift pond. It was the final afternoon of TARS – The R&A’s Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar. I’d just been asked to give a ruling on a hypothetical situation constructed by the (extremely friendly) R&A referees running the three-day event and I was overcome with a panic that I hadn’t felt since I sat my driving test. What to do? What to say? The referee playing the person asking for a ruling acted the part well, demanding an answer immediately as to whether she was entitled to a free drop despite having picked her ball…

How can I become a more consistent ball-striker? By Top 50 Coach Ged Walters This towel drill is a simple but effective way to improve the consistency of your ball-striking. Place a folded towel on the ground about a foot behind the golf ball and take your normal set-up. The idea is that this will encourage you to move your weight towards your lead side in the downswing, which will allow you to then miss the towel as you come through to impact. If you typically tend to strike the ground before the ball, you will most likely hit the towel in this drill. Focus on shifting weight early in the downswing to create the ideal ball-then-turf contact. How can I read left-to-right putts better? By Top 50 Coach Neil…

It’s not often in the golf equipment world that a new brand emerges with a product that genuinely challenges core industry thinking, but that is precisely what Sausage Golf has done with the Boudin Noir putter. The Boudin Noir’s technology centres entirely on modularity and player flexibility, a concept that is patent pending. The putter head, machined from aerospace-grade 6061 aluminium and finished in a sleek anodised matte black, features an interchangeable shaft module system. This allows golfers to tailor the entire torque profile of the putter to their stroke preference, switching between toe-hang, face-balanced and low-torque configurations. There will be some people out there who will argue it is frivolous or unnecessary to have a putter that can be adjusted into three different torque profiles, claiming players only fit…

Tour Edge has made some mighty impressive golf clubs of late, notably its Exotics C725 driver and Exotics C725 iron, catering for various types of player and offering premium performance at a slightly more palatable price. On first inspection out of the box, the Tour Edge Exotics ball looks well made. It has a slightly duller finish than the bright white Pro V1, and the dimples don’t appear to be as tightly packed – no surprise given the 318 dimple count versus the Pro V1’s 388. As I clipped a few chips away, it was noticeable how soft the Exotics ball felt – not as clicky as the Pro V1, although it was a fairly subtle difference. Overall, the Tour Edge probably had a slightly higher flight on chips and…

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Funny things sometimes happen on golf courses. No, I’m not referring to that time you pocketed a rare birdie when a hooked wedge resulted in the ball bouncing off a tree 20 yards wide of the green to slip rather complacently into the hole. Although, to be fair, that would make me laugh. No, I mean that, somehow, golf offers an arena for funny, often weird, stuff to happen. Perhaps it’s the time taken to play a full round, a mini-marathon trek that can play with minds, turning some into deranged adults and others into pretty much complete idiots. I once watched one of my sons attack a tree with his club after he couldn’t find his ball and wondered where I’d gone wrong as a parent. Thankfully, as he…

Aaron, congratulations on winning the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. How does that feel? It’s very special. Any time you win on the DP World Tour, it’s a real accomplishment. The fields are strong. There’s so much work that goes into a tournament and so much work that goes into weeks away from the tournament. To win a Rolex Series Event with this strong of a field is really special. It’s been an amazing year off the course, too, with getting married – it’s been a beautiful year with a lot of beautiful celebrations. You must get so much confidence from beating the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood? I think it’s a huge thing to be playing against some of the best players in the world and to…

“JACK IS NUMBER ONE, TIGER NUMBER TWO AND I’M NUMBER THREE. THERE’S NOT EVEN A QUESTION”Gary Player tells the Palm Beach Post there’s no debate about the top three players of all time “I WOULD HOPE EVERYBODY KNOWS I WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT. I THINK THE WORLD OF AARON”Tommy Fleetwood responds to claims he used gamesmanship in delaying his play-off with Aaron Rai in Abu Dhabi “I DON’T PAY TOO MUCH ATTENTION TO WHAT RORY SAYS, REALLY. HE’LL CHANGE HIS MIND FOR NEXT WEEK”Lee Westwood responds on TalkSport to McIlroy branding LIV Golf’s format change as ‘peculiar’ “THERE’S NO PART OF ME THAT THINKS I’LL EVER GET OVER THIS. THIS EVENT HAS BEEN SO BRUTAL TO ME. I’LL FOREVER WONDER AND WISH”Keegan Bradley says he’s endured one of the…

One of the biggest barriers to investing in a zero-torque putter is the unique shaft lean that brands have had to use to create truly zero-torque designs. Having seen this in its previous Square 2 Square line, Odyssey’s wanted to eliminate this barrier. These new S2S Tri-Hot putters promise to do just that. A multi-material construction has allowed Odyssey engineers to move the CG far enough forward for the shaft to enter the head on the topline, negating the need for shaft lean. The construction uses aluminium, steel and more than 140g of tungsten to create a head with more than 80% of its weight under the topline, allowing the forward CG and hosel position. The urethane face insert’s soft outer layer and firmer inner layer aim to deliver consistent…

Some two months on, it feels as if the dust has finally settled on Europe’s historic victory at Bethpage Black. While the final scoreline made things look respectable, the first two days were an embarrassment from a US perspective. One of the main pre-event narratives was how hard it is to win away from home in the Ryder Cup, something that had only happened twice in the previous 13 contests (Europe in 2004 and 2012). Before Bethpage, Rory McIlroy claimed winning an away Ryder Cup was one of the hardest things to do in golf. It has certainly been that way for the American side, who haven’t tasted victory on European soil since The Belfry in 1993. It’s an astonishingly poor record for a nation with more world-class golfers than…

Shot on location at La Cala Resort, Spain 1 This reverse overlap putting grip is one of the more conventional styles. Let your arms hang down nice and relaxed. I prefer the grip to sit in the lifeline of the left hand (above right), unlike the full-swing grip, which is in the fingers. Wrist hinge is not wanted in the putting stroke and the lifeline hold creates a continuous connection and extension of the lead arm. I like to feel as if my left hand works towards the hole with this grip. Note the ‘V’ of my right hand pointing towards my right shoulder. Many people put the thumbs directly down the centre, which can cause the shoulders to point too far left (open). 2 These two grip variations have been…

Few brands have a zero-torque putter line-up quite like PXG. The new Mustang ZT is the fourth in the family, joining the Bat Attack ZT, Allan ZT and Hellcat ZT. The Mustang is one of few zero-torque models that isn’t a mallet. Indeed, it sits somewhere between an Anser and a fang shape. Behind the ball, despite it being an Anser-style shape, I found it very easy to line up. A small, white alignment line runs through the rear of the chassis, while a very pronounced leading edge makes it easy to ensure that the face is square to the target. This certainly ranks among the firmer-feeling putters on the market – quite a jump from the Spider Tour X I normally play. Relative to that, the Mustang feels harsh,…

Essentials Roman Road, Streetly, B74 3AN Stats: par 72, 6,663 yards GF: round: £180 May-Oct; £140 April; £85-£95 Nov-Mar (includes full English breakfast) Little Aston has long been one of the shining stars of golf in the Midlands of England, from its origins in 1908 right through to the present day. Set in the leafier suburbs to the north of Birmingham, the layout benefited from the design mind of six-time Open Champion Harry Vardon initially, with later enhancements by Harry Colt. It offers a very pleasant but not too hilly test, easing you in via a fairly gentle downhiller playing away from the well-appointed clubhouse, though the green is not to be messed with, sloping deceptively away from you. Lavishly bunkered As you play back up close to the clubhouse…