Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 447 i Today's Golfer

I remember a conversation with Sergio Garcia a few years ago, in which I asked the Spaniard what it feels like to be one of the world’s best players. “For me,” he said, “golf is just as frustrating as it is for you!” I looked at him quizzically and asked how could that possibly be the case, when an hour before he was hitting 300-yard bombs with a baby draw and flighting wedges a few feet past the flag. “Because my expectations are just higher than yours,” he explained. “You just want to hit the green with that 8-iron, I want to see a specific trajectory, to a specific spot… and when it doesn’t come off, golf is just as frustrating for me as it is when you miss the…

CAMILO VILLEGAS Three years after losing his young daughter to brain and spine cancer, the Colombian returned to the PGA Tour’s winner’s circle for the first time since 2014 at the Bermuda Championship. No one deserved it more. NICOLAI HOJGAARD Already assured of a PGA Tour card for next season, the Dane picked up his third DP World Tour victory - and a $3 million winner’s cheque - at the season finale in Dubai. LUDVIG ABERG Now a winner on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, Aberg is already 18-1 to win the Masters on his Major debut and for good reason. Only Scottie Scheffler has a better ‘actual scoring average’ on the PGA Tour in 2023. TIGER AND RORY’S GOLF LEAGUE First Jon Rahm quit, now the launch…

Any professional complaining about the golf ball rollback should’ve played my comeback event in South Africa this month. My caddie and I barely had to speak on the tees… I just reached straight for the driver on every par 4 or par 5. No need for any other strategy, just hit it as far as you can and if you miss the fairway, you’ll still have a shot. And don’t get me started on the par 3s - the shortest was 197 yards. That’s not the course’s fault - it was beautiful - but that’s what it has had to become to remain a challenge. What happened to players having to create shots, using the land or the conditions to get the ball where they want it? The skill should…

“I just want to be more consistent.” This statement is right up there alongside “I want to hit it further” as the request I hear the most. As a keen student of the game, I get where you’re coming from. As experienced players, we know we are going to hit our share of unintended shots every time we tee it up… but how great it would be if they ended up a handful of yards into the rough and playable, as opposed to the lost balls and OB that zap our scorecard and sap our confidence. Whether we call it reining in our dispersion or making our bad shots better, hitting good strikes more often is without question a key part of shooting lower scores. So in this article I…

As Rory and Tiger have further emerged as the faces and voices of the PGA Tour, they have evoked the activism of Jack and Arnie when the Tour was born of rebellion in 1968 as the players broke away from the rigid bureaucracy of the PGA of America. There is more than a passing resemblance between these linked pairs of legends. Nicklaus and Palmer were born a decade apart, whereas Woods is 13 years Mcllroy’s senior. On the golf course. Jack was tactical and Arnie daring, just as Tiger is a plodding strategist compared to the freewheeling Rory. The personable Palmer connected intensely with the fans in the same way Mcllroy does, whereas Nicklaus and Woods have always been more remote figures. The friendly alliance between Woods and Mcllroy is…

THIS MUCH I KNOW THIS MUCH I KNOW Michael Block didn’t win the PGA Championship last May, but it sure did feel like it once he was paraded as the people’s champion in front of 225,000 fans. By his own admission, he has been living the dream ever since that storybook Sunday finish at Oak Hill. Sure, there have been new sponsorships and exemptions to play in other PGA Tour events, but he also tied the course record at Valhalla and won a charity event alongside DJ Khaled and Bubba Watson. He followed it up with an albatross, the ninth of his career, and spent the rest of autumn making headlines on podcasts and hanging out with the Red Bull F1 team in Qatar. Did we also mention that he earned…

Every Challenge I set you in this series is designed not just to be fun but also to develop your skill - and this month’s is the perfect example. The focus here is on chipping, specifically the ability to create different shots through your control of the clubface and its delivery. All you need is five golf balls and a wedge. YOUR COACH CHRIS RYAN Founder of the HIT Golf Academy, based at Forest of Arden, Warwicks www.chrisryangolf.com Back foot… to front foot Position the balls as shown… angled away from you, with enough space between them to strike each cleanly. Take your address so the middle ball is in the centre of your stance. You’ll immediately grasp how this puts the nearest ball very much back in your stance,…

Ping Norse S5 Zoned £160 With insulated outer wear bulking up and becoming more like puffer jackets, we like how the S5’s zonal warmth is designed to keep your core toasty. Expect zero restriction when swinging and a water-resistant finish to shed a shower. It’s bang on trend, too. Galvin Green Dexter £169 Our view is that lightweight insulation is the way to go on the golf course, as you stay warm without adding bulk. The Dexter is created from Galvin Green’s soft and cosy Insula fabric, so it’s lightweight, stretchy and breathable. Its two front pockets are lined - a godsend when temperatures head south. Travis Mathew Cloud Quarter Zip 2.0 £99.99 Soft, plush and boasting a lovely, warm fleece lining, Travis describe the Quarter Zip as the ultimate…

MAKING A SPLASH Three stunning resorts enter the list in the top 50 THE ULTIMATE STAY & PLAYS Whether white sand and turquoise water or high-calibre links are your priority for your next golf break, we have the answer WELCOME This feels like a particularly welltimed ranking. The days are short and grey, the nights long and darker. So a glimpse of some beautifully presented grass, a flash of beach and the thought of happy times ahead feels appropriate to ponder. There is definitely an element of daydreaming about this list, because there is no denying that plenty of these resorts are expensive. But not all - and at home and abroad there are entries that are affordable to those who like to travel, which is important to me. I…

As the new year hurtles towards us, we’ll all be setting golf goals for 2024. Mine? I want to play in the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews! I know it’s a long shot, but what are we doing here if we can’t dream and push ourselves? I’m not planning on returning to full-time golf anytime soon, I love my career as a broadcaster, but the Women’s Open was the reason I started playing golf and it’s always been my dream to one day play in it. Perhaps I’ll never get the chance, but I’m certainly willing to give it a shot. As I said, I love my day job, it gives me the opportunity to work in the sport I’m passionate about. The idea of stepping back inside the…

GET IN TOUCH As well as email (editorial@todaysgolfer.co.uk) and post (Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA), you can contact us using any of these social platforms… @Thetodaysgolfer @TodaysGolferBauer @Todaysgolfer @Todaysgolfer PING LITTER OF THE MONTH WINS… A BRAND NEW PING PUTTER RRP £250 CHANGE IS NOT ALWAYS FOR THE BEST You were not wrong in advertising changes to the WHS as being much needed. However, none of the changes will address the issues I always hear being discussed. Category one golfers should not be allowed any supplementary rounds. I know plenty of golfers whose low handicap is a result of unbelievably low supplementary scores. I know there is going to be a stringent annual review, but I don’t trust those in charge to act competently. Similarly, I know plenty…

Watch hundreds of video tips at www.todays-golfer.com HERE TO HELP YOU SAVE SHOTS QUICK TIP DIVOT SLICE CURE The tee shot is the only opportunity you have to choose where you play from. We habitually use this to find a level stance on a clean piece of grass, but with a little thought and imagination you can take an even greater advantage. Let’s say you are a slicer, battling to overcome an outside-to-inside delivery path. Look for an old divot or visible mark and tee the ball in a position where the mark represents that unwanted delivery. This gives you a great visual for the swing; simply picture the clubhead staying ‘inside’ the divot on its path into impact. That will help you find a squarer - or even an…

YOUR COACH CHRIS JENKINS Fellow of the PGA,Essex Elite Squad coach and lead coach to the England East Region under-18 boys squad It’s one of golf’s quirks that the clubface loft - the very thing designed to send the ball upwards - encourages us to try to assist that launch. But any attempt to help the ball up - conscious or otherwise - typically causes a weak contact, the powerless bottom of the clubface meeting the ball. We can expect heavy or thin contact. The first step in turning this around is trusting the loft to do its job of creating the ball’s launch. The second is to work on an attack that squeezes or compresses the ball. Monitor your success with this drill. 1 Focus on your glove badge. Ideally…

With the ability to rotate in almost every direction, the shoulder is one of the most mobile joints we possess. However, like any joint, it can become tight or stiff… and this has implications for our golf swing. Stiff shoulders tend to lead to more of an awkward rocking motion - the elbows flailing outwards - than a more comfortable rotational action in which the elbows are allowed to fold properly back and through. This month’s simple exercise will help you loosen off your shoulder joints and enable you to find those better swing dynamics. Follow these three steps… YOUR COACH NATALIE LOWE TPI Level 3 trainer and UKSCA Strength & Conditioning Coach, owner of Pro-Fit Golf Conditioning based in Manchester. pro-fitgolfconditioning.com 1 Start by lying on the ground, knees…

‘FOR ME, CHANGING IS A BIG DEAL, BUT I WAS GIVEN THE SAME HEAD DESIGN IN THE ROSSIE AND I JUST LOVED HOW IT LOOKED. I REALLY FOUND THAT THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE HEAD AND THE FACE HELPED ME SQUARE THE FACE UP A LITTLE QUICKER THROUGH IMPACT’ Jon Rahm used the Ai-One Rossie S at the Ryder Cup SCAN HERE FOR THE BEST PUTTERS Q Why is the pattern on the back of the titanium face different from the White Hot urethane insert? It’s partly down to the different materials. The titanium has some spots in the heel that have extra humps and bumps, which is to maintain durability on off-centre hits. So, it balances off-centre speed with durability. The advantage with the White Hot is how the backer…

RRP £2,699 | GARMIN.COM Let’s start with this new-found obsession with carbon fibre. Every golf club seems to have it and now Garmin have used it to forge another MARQ Golfer timepiece, which they claim is the lightest and strongest device in their collection. We’d go one step further and argue that it’s also the most advanced and versatile GPS golf watch available on the market. It certainly looks and feels a lot nicer than the more traditional sports watch, thanks to a perforated leather hybrid strap and a scratch-resistant, domed sapphire crystal lens. The 1-18 hole markings on the ceramic bezel add another nice touch, though we were more impressed with the clarity and sharpness of the 1.2 inch AMOLED display, particularly in direct sunlight. The ultra-premium build is…

I started playing golf 43 years ago. I’ve met some wonderful people and formed some great friendships. One was my hairdresser, Gloria, who played a match against a lady called Corrine. Gloria persuaded her to part with her number and suggested that I ring her as she was so lovely. After two weeks, I plucked up the courage and arranged a ‘golf’ date at The Essex. That was in 1995. Some 28 years later, we are married with two children, Christopher and Chloe, and recently captained the Men’s and Ladies’ sections at Stoke by Nayland in the same year. Our term has just ended and thanks to the support of all the members, we managed to raise £8,000 for our chosen local charities. Glen Jackson, email…

As he filed the final copy of his latest book, LIV And Let Die, on June 5, Alan Shipnuck breathed a huge sigh of relief. The American writer had managed to turn the comprehensive story of the war between the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Golf and the PGA Tour round in just a matter of months. But at 5am on June 6 he was woken by an incessant stream of email alerts pinging from his laptop. Bleary-eyed, he read a couple of the messages, which jolted him awake and had him scrambling for the television remote. As the screen came alive, he was greeted by the sight of Jay Monahan. The PGA Tour Commissioner was sitting alongside Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV Golf.…

Back when LIV Golf was still just a fantasy and the Asian Tour was trying to remain solvent during the pandemic, its Commissioner, Cho Minn Thant, was quietly working from home in Thailand, hurriedly putting together a plan to change the established world order in golf. Thant had only been in the job for a little over six months when he was recruited by the Saudis in early 2020 to help engineer the launch of a new breakaway league. It was during those conversations that the topic of the Asian Tour came up, which is what led to the Saudi Invitational being presented as its flagship event from the start of 2022. It was there that Greg Norman, in his role as LIV Golf Investments CEO, stood alongside Thant and…

Ask 50 club players which part of the game they’d most like to improve, and you could place a hefty bet that none would say ‘putting from range’. This is a shame because good distance putting gives your game a range of benefits including fewer three-putts, less pressure on approaches and a more confident mindset, based on the knowledge you are not about to fritter shots away. To putt well from range we need to be able to trust our stroke to deliver the pace we wish to deliver to the ball, and here, elements such as rhythm, smoothness and tempo come to the fore. That’s where this article focuses… at every skill level. YOUR COACH OLIVER C. MORTON The Leading Edge Golf Company. Archerfield Links theleading edgegolfcompany.com If you…

GET UP A 20-handicapper comes up short 21% of the time at 25 yards, but 41% of the time at 75 yards. In my experience, club golfers struggle to get comfortable on even relatively easy pitch shots. I’m talking about that 25-75-yard range, a distance that is too far to play a regular chip but too short to make a full swing. Confusion on howto coordinate a part-swing plays a role, as perhaps does raised expectation - after all, the green is not so very far away. And while dealing with both those elements remains a long-term goal for many, the data from shot tracking experts Shot Scope (shotscope.com) reveals there are things you can do right now to improve the situation. Reframe your pitching strategy around these four, data-based…

SCOTTY CAMERON PHANTOM X 11 TOTAL: 37/40 Options/components It took Scotty decades to come up with a winning MOI-style putter that hit the spot on tour and at retail. The Phantom X delivers exactly that. It’s available in a strong toe hang, a face balanced set-up, or anything in between. There are shapes and hosel set-ups here to suit every golfer. Build quality All Scotty designs are well thought out and beautifully executed. They’re created solely in the US and you won’t find more revered CNC-milled putters on the market. The real bonus of buying Cameron is that they hold their value, even if you’re not buying limited editions. Feel/roll/innovation Scotty Cameron’s biggest innovation was figuring out how to precisionmill Ping’s legendary Anser head shapes. Since then he’s never really…

It is common knowledge that Prague is one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities in the world. As home to to major museums, innumerable theatres, cinemas, galleries, the oldest university in central Europe and extraordinary palaces, castles and places of interest, there are countless reasons to visit. Considerably less well known, however, is the fact that it lies at the heart of one the finest regions for golf anywhere on the continent. Perhaps more surprising even than the sprinkling of superb courses that lie just outside the city limits is the presence inside the city of two quite remarkable tracks that are genuinely urban, but no less appealing for that. On the eastern side, 15 minutes from the city centre, is the delightful and impressive Black Bridge Golf Resort.…

Name: Geoff Ogilvy Nationality: Australian Age: 46 Tour: PGA Pro wins: 12 What was your first car and what do you drive now? I had a Holden Commodore. It’s Australia’s version of a Vauxhall. I’ve upgraded to a Mercedes now. When did you last break a golf club? Oh, I’ve broken a lot. I was a bad boy, but it’s been at least to years since I broke one in anger. I remember playing really crap for ages, lost $5 to my mate, and I got triggered. I started hitting my golf bag and just kept swinging. Broke four clubs with five swings. Have you ever hit a shank in competition? I’ve hit a few shanks. I hit one at The International one year. I was on the 18th, doing…