Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2016 i Golf Australia

WOMEN’S World No.1 Lydia Ko is a confirmed starter for the 2017 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open to be played at Royal Adelaide Golf Club from February 16 to 19. Defending champion Haru Nomura from Japan has also committed to the event, which will again be co-sanctioned by the LPGATour. It is understood Australia’s No.1 Minjee Lee will also be in the field for the LPGA co-sanctioned event. In announcing the return of Ko and Nomura, Golf Australia chief executive Stephen Pitt said securing the signatures of both women early in the year would prove a real boon for all parties involved, as well as helping to attract other big names. “Lydia’s name is the hottest in world golf and we are thrilled that she has committed again to play…

THE FEAR OF HIS BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVEL DROPPING TOO LOW OVERNIGHT CONTRIBUTED TO MISSED CUTS AND SELF-DOUBT. FORE! One in four Australians are living with diabetes or pre-diabetes. Yes, that’s one person in your foursome. Accredited Practising Dietitian Karissa Woolfe shares how highs and lows aren’t just limited to your scorecard, and ways to put your best foot forward. Feeling weary at the end of a round comes with the territory of walking 18 holes, especially a hilly course where you spent more time zig-zagging fairways than you would have liked. But if you feel like a buggy with a wonky wheel before the turn, you’re constantly thirsty or seeking relief every third hole, odds say you might be the one in your foursome with diabetes. Diabetes is a progressive…

IN A calendar month that will see an unprecedented staging of two majors, now is an appropriate time to ask the question: which one do players covet most? The answer seems to come down to where you’re from, and in Australia there’s little doubt the Open Championship remains the game’s pinnacle achievement. In an informal, anonymous poll Golf Australia conducted of a dozen or so past and present Aussie touring professionals, every single one listed The Open at the top of the tree. Thereafter the ranking was also unanimous: the Masters sits second, followed by the US Open and the US PGA Championship in last place. Interestingly, their responses were almost immediate, signalling that the hierarchy is obvious. So it’s all pretty clear-cut stuff, as even a small sample can…

The Open Championship returns to its birthplace this month … well almost. The 145th staging of golf ’s oldest championship will be contested at Royal Troon Golf Club, which shares a boundary with the fabulous Prestwick course. It’s little more than four kilometres as the crow flies from clubhouse to clubhouse, which is as close as the Auld Claret Jug comes to its roots these days. In fact, Troon and Prestwick are so close that back in the 1920s members from both clubs would compete in a match where they played Troon’s front nine, walked across the boundary and completed the round on Prestwick’s back nine. After a nice lunch (and no doubt a few bevvies) the members returned to Troon via the remaining holes of both courses. Willie Park…

Choker. Can’t close. Wasted talent. Not so long ago you could find plenty of people around golf who were prepared to put Jason Day in the above categories. They might not have said it to his face, or even written the words on a page, but the underlying sentiment was there. The Aussie kid just did not have the stones when it counted. Those close to Day knew it was only a matter of time. Those around the now 28-year-old held firm in their belief, but there was one missing piece: Day did not fully believe in himself. You see, while plenty of us waited for the inevitable success, there was a reason the naysayers were out there. Defending his mental toughness was getting harder to do given the evidence…

Imagine sitting among the throng overlooking the famed island 17th green at TPC Sawgrass as Jason Day marches towards a successful defence of his Players Championship title. PaR nz golf holidays can guarantee a spot in the crowd but not Day’s back-to-back titles. You can join Kim and Denise from PaR nz at TPC Sawgrass for the Players Championship on their trip-of-a-lifetime tour of Florida in May 2017. On this 16-day tour, the group will travel across Florida playing ten world-class championship golf courses, many of which feature on the PGA and LPGA Tour schedules. The tour, which is limited to 32 places and starts on May 4, will visit Naples, Miami, Orlando, St Augustine and Jacksonville along the way and take in Florida tourist attractions including Disney World, the…

Twin Creeks derives its name from the convergence of two nearby creeks, South and Cosgrove, which provides a fitting symbol for the exciting and enterprising place the progressive club finds itself in today. The convergence of an established, ten-year-old club and one of the largest infrastructure projects Australia has ever seen has placed Twin Creeks Golf & Country Club in the potent yet enviable position of being able to take advantage of a situation perhaps not predicted when the club was envisaged. Sydney’s long-mooted second international airport finally looks to be a reality at Badgerys Creek, the associated infrastructure of which will be literally over the hill from the Twin Creeks site at Luddenham. Last August, a 100-strong syndicate of businessmen from across Asia bought Twin Creeks and unveiled extensive…

NAROOMA GC Narooma, New South Wales This is my favourite country golf course, having grown up on the NSW Far South Coast. Narooma is a beautiful course with completely contrasting nines.The open and exposed first seven holes that run along the coastal cliff tops with a stunning backdrop of the Pacific Ocean are fantastic. My hands broke into a sweat every time I stood on the 3rd tee as a kid, having to deal firstly with the fact the tee is extremely close to the cliff and, secondly, having to hit the shot over that cliff top as it cuts away with nothing between you and the green bar a 30-metre drop to the ocean below! KOOYONGA GC Adelaide, South Australia I rate Kooyonga (pictured above) as Adelaide’s best, in…

“YOU’RE PLAYING DOWNWIND FOR SEVEN HOLES, AND THEN YOU HAVE TO TURN AROUND AND HIT ... TO A GREEN THAT’S ABOUT THE SIZE OF A TABLE INTO THE WIND.”– JUSTIN LEONARD Much is made of Royal Troon’s closing stretch of long holes. But it is the layout’s par-3 8th hole at 123 yards, known as the ‘Postage Stamp’, which is famed for messing with the minds of the game’s best players for over a century. Despite its length, and its benign appearance from an elevated tee, this hole averaged more than its par during the 2004 Open Championship, which just goes to prove you don’t need length to make a hole difficult. The prevailing wind off the Firth of Clyde blows from the green to the tee, compelling the player…

“BUNKERS WERE DEEPENED AND FLASHED UP TO RESTORE THE CHALLENGE TILLINGHAST BUILT IN.”– RICK JENKINS, PGA GENERAL CHAIRMAN Baltusrol Golf Club has a major championship pedigree only a handful of courses can match. Seven US Open Championships, two US Women’s Opens, four US Amateurs and later this month it will host its second PGA Championship. It is fitting that the championship returns to the New Jersey course from July 28 to 31 as the PGA of America celebrates the 100th anniversary of its formation, just 37 kilometres away in New York City. Phil Mickelson won the last major played at Baltusrol, pitching to tap-in birdie distance on the 72nd hole to claim a one-stroke win over Steve Elkington and Thomas Bjorn to grab the 2005 PGA Championship. Famed golden-era-of-course-design architect…

Arecent survey revealed people who play golf are far more likely to choose to holiday in Queensland than your average Australian. The Roy Morgan Research showed that of those people surveyed, the 49.6 percent who play golf are likely to holiday in the Sunshine State at some stage in the next two years, which is ten percent higher than the Australian population average. They’ll be visiting not just for the weather, but for the quality of its courses and resorts. Of those visiting golfers, 41 percent said the Gold Coast was their likely destination. Golfers from all walks of life are attracted to the Gold Coast likes moths to a flame. The golf is obviously the primary attraction for them but there are is so much to do when you’re…

Oman – a mountainous country on the Arabian Sea at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula and tucked in between Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – is probably the last place on earth you might consider as a place to play golf. Yet with the relatively recent opening of Almouj, a new Greg Norman links in the capital, Muscat, this moderate, modest Muslim nation that’s modernising itself before your eyes – and just 40 minutes by air from Dubai – is making the effort. For the third straight year, Almouj will host the final, critical event of the European Challenge Tour this November. That’s the event that determines the top-15 players who automatically qualify for the European Tour next season. For even the most seasoned players…

If ever there was a golf course that proved you don’t need to be long to be challenging, Portsea Golf Club is it. Situated on Victoria’s magnificent Mornington Peninsula – an hour-and-a-half drive south of Melbourne – this par-71 member and public course plays just 5,747 metres from the tips. But it’s far from a pushover. Built among rolling sand dunes and protected by thick native coastal shrubbery and deep bunkers, Portsea is undoubtedly a course designed with the thinking golfer in mind. Pinpoint accuracy is needed consistently around this multiple-designer layout, which includes several approaches up steep ravines as well as a handful of blind tee shots throughout the picturesque peninsula trek. Take, for example, the short but genuinely brutal par-4 10th hole. At 256 metres from the back…

CHINA reclaimed the International Challenge after defeating Australia when both teams travelled to the mountainous Panshan Golf Club, located on the outskirts of Beijing. Now in its fifth year, the International Challenge adopted a new and unique teams format and Australian team selection process to take on the three top teams from China’s National Championship, the Buick China Golf Club League. Played over 54 holes with a two-man ambrose, bestball and singles matchplay format, representing Australia were the top-six finishers from the 2015 PGA Professionals Championship and six elite amateurs from across Australia, who were selected by their respective state amateur associations based on their performances across 2015. After a convincing loss in the Australian round at Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club last December, the Chinese team used their…

GOLF has been played on the current Yeerongpilly site of The Brisbane Golf Club since 1904, after spending eight years at nearby Chelmer, making it the third oldest club in Queensland. Not surprisingly, it has a rich history, which includes links to the great Scottish pro and three-time Australian Open champion Carnegie Clark, who laid out the original Yeerongpilly 18 holes at a cost of ten pounds, 11 shillings. Much has changed since then, with the evolution of the par-72 influenced by nearly a dozen architects, including the legendary Dr Alister MacKenzie, who was engaged to suggest changes during his 1926 visit to Australia. Unfortunately, only his plans for bunkering were accepted by the club committee at the time. More recently, acclaimed designer Ross Watson has overseen some of the…

Idefinitely have a score to settle with The Open after my experiences the past few championships. I’ve led three times on the back nine on Sunday in the past four years and not finished the job, which is so annoying because obviously I’ve played a lot of good golf there other than those little stretches and haven’t quite finished it off. I’m keen to get to The Open this month. I love going through the process of getting myself in that position with a chance to win and hopefully this is the year when I can capitalise on all my opportunities. I feel over the past few years, although there’s been a lot of good play and successes and I’ve won some tournaments, there have been a few more opportunities…

Nostalgia is a funny thing. The 2016 majors season has begun in earnest, which puts my most accomplished year on Tour three decades in the rearview mirror. To say that time flies would be an understatement. By all accounts 1986 was an epic year. I claimed 11 worldwide victories, including four wins in Australia, two US PGA Tour events and my first major championship win at The Open at Turnberry. This was also the year of the ‘Saturday Slam’, where I led all four majors after 54 holes – a feat that has not been repeated. This was a huge statement to the golf world and a testament to my commitment to the game. I proved that I had the talent and determination to play and win at the highest…

BUBBA WATSON 2012 & 2014 Masters champion SEE THE SHOT, PLAY THE SHOT Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of improving your golf is the mental side of the game and, in particular, visualising each shot you play. Most club golfers fall into the trap of only seeing bad shot results or they don’t use their mind’s eye to picture how the ball will come off the club, how it will fly or even where they want it to land. If you can see a shot before you play it, you are more than halfway there to executing the shot successfully. The greatest golfer of the 20th century, Jack Nicklaus, once said: “I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in…

GEL FOR JOINTS Joint pain is one of the major symptoms of osteoarthritis. It is initially felt during and after activity, such as golf, but as the disease progresses it can occur with minimal movement or even during rest. A large clinical trial is showing a new ‘smart’ gel is achieving results equivalent to the effects of an oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. In the trial on 1,395 people with osteoarthritis of the knee, Flexiseq gel was shown to reduce joint pain, stiffness and improve joint function, with results in some patients seen as early as two days later. Flexiseq is a ‘smart’ gel, containing phospholipid spheres called Sequessome vesicles that blend natural biology and technology to lubricate joints. Clinical studies found that Flexiseq gel also reduced joint stiffness and improved…

AUSTRALIAN 4BALL TEAMS Luxurious accommodation and the world-class Graham Marsh-designed RACV Royal Pines Resort course awaits 60 teams that will contest the inaugural Australian 4BallTeams Championship, from November 23 to 25. You can either put a corporate team together, or a group of golf mates (GolfLink handicaps required), to make up a four with a professional to tackle the Royal Pines layout, which will host the Australian PGA Championship the following week. To enter or for more details, visit www.au  stralian4ballteamschampionship.com LADBROKES WORLD MASTERS The Gold Coast is home to the Ladbrokes World Masters with more than $100,000 in trophies and prize draws on offer. The event – from October 23 to 28 – will see rounds played, in carts, at RACV Royal Pines, Sanctuary Cove’s Pines course,…