Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2017/ January 2018 i Golf Digest

Golf Digest Playing Editor Jordan Spieth invited Max Adler, who works with Jordan on his instruction articles, and me to play in his annual partners event at Dallas National Golf Club in October. Normally you get to play only a handful of holes with Jordan as he rotates through the other groups, but this time he was my partner for the whole round. You’d think that would be a great advantage in the competition, but Jordan plays his home club as a plus-9 handicap, meaning he has to give nine shots back to the course. Par for him is 63. He made a birdie on the first hole, but it only counted as a par. Hard to get used to that. What kind of guy is he? You’d really like…

The biggest mistake golfers make from the fairway is not taking enough club. Whether it’s an ego thing or not knowing their distances, so many golfers are doomed to miss greens before they step up to the ball. How do you know if you’re guilty of this? The simple answer is, you’re hitting the ball solid, and it’s coming up short. But more likely, you’re swinging out of control, because you subconsciously know you don’t have the right stick. With the longer clubs, trying to add power usually means a fat shot. You rush the downswing and never get your weight to your front side, so you crash into the ground behind the ball. Take an extra club, and focus on shifting your lower body toward the target to start…

The best short-game players always find a way to figure out the right play and get the ball close. You walk away thinking they have some magical gift. But the ability to pull off those little shots is rooted in one simple skill: making solid contact. That’s the first fundamental of the short game, and whether those players know it or not, learning to strike the ball consistently set them on the fast track to success. Most golfers get caught up in all the details of the shot—the carry, the roll, trouble over the green—and they forget that hitting the ball solid is the first requirement. For a basic chip, which works for most greenside situations, good contact comes mostly from getting into a proper setup. Take a narrow stance,…

The rules limit how much driver faces can flex. But they aren’t preventing them from flexing more effectively. On the PGA Tour, the average ball speed (how fast the ball comes off the clubface) and smash factor (the ratio between ball speed and swing speed) have increased in the past five years. That means the average of all hits with the latest drivers—including mishits— are likely flying farther than they did the last time you went driver shopping. New structures and materials, stronger titanium alloys and thinner faces lead to new distance potential for all players. Here are four new ways to get faster now. 1 COBRA KING F8 Cobra’s designers used a precise milling process (as opposed to the usual manual grinding and polishing) to create a thinner face…

It didn’t happen quickly. Heck, it took decades to permeate. But fitness has become a big part of the conversation about what it takes to improve as a golfer. Players looking to swing better, faster, longer and, they hope, injury-free have turned to the g to help achieve their goals. ? That’s why we believe it’s time to introduce a new ranking—the 50 Best Golf- Fitness Professionals in America. This list, the first of its kind by a fitness- or golf-media company, was compiled by Golf Digest’s expert panel of trainers, chiropractohieve their goals. ? That’s why we believe it’s time to introduce a new ranking—the 50 Best Golf- Fitness Professionals in America. This list, the first of its kind by a fitness- or golf-media company, was compiled by Golf…

1 IN ANY GIVEN ROUND, your score largely comes down to how you play the “tweeners.” A tweener is any hole where the par on the scorecard doesn’t feel like the par for you. Your expectation lies somewhere between, which means it’s an opportunity. If you’re a long hitter, a par 5 where you can get on or near the green in two strokes is a tweener. A five almost seems like a bogey, so the hole is essentially a par 4½. More typical for amateurs is facing a par 4 that’s a beast, where you’re destined to be hitting a fairway wood for the second shot no matter how well you hit the drive. Pitch on and two-putt, and you walk away with a bogey even though you didn’t…

EDITOR’S NOTE : Kelly Slater, the World Surf League champion a record 11 times, took up golf at 23 and has played more than 150 rounds a year. Christian Iooss, the executive producer of video at Golf Digest and a surfer since he was 7, interviewed Slater, 45, at his Surf Ranch wave pool in California after Slater’s return from competing in the Dunhill Links Championship pro-am in Scotland. The photo was taken by Christian’s father, Walter Iooss Jr., a surfer-turned-golfer who has been photographing Slater for 27 years. TEN TO 15 YEARS AGO, THERE WERE NO PROFESSIONAL SURFERS PLAYING GOLF. NOW IT SEEMS LIKE IT’S THE ACTIVITY OF CHOICE ON LAY DAYS AT CONTESTS. WHAT ABOUT GOLF APPEALS TO SURFERS? It was about 10 years ago that it started.…

In 2016-’17, Golf Digest awarded the inaugural winners of The Arnie Award as part of our Golfers Who Give Back series. Last year’s winners: NIALL HORAN The singer has helped raise funds for Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens and the Kate and Justin Rose Foundation, designed to fight childhood hunger in the United States. PEYTON MANNING The former NFL quarterback’s charitable work has included the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent in Indianapolis and the Peyback Foundation for disadvantaged youth. PHIL MICKELSON Mickelson and his wife, Amy, through the Phil & Amy Foundation, have supported Birdies for the Brave, which funds several military-support organizations, including the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and Homes For Our Troops. The Mickelsons also partnered to develop the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy, a curriculum…

CONSIDER a Scottish caddie who went by the name Mad Mac. In the employ of Max Faulkner during the 1951 Open Championship at Royal Portrush, Mad Mac wore a long raincoat with no shirt. Fastened to a lanyard around his neck was a pair of binoculars, which had no lenses. He used them to study putting lines for Faulkner, and at a crucial juncture advised him: “The putt is slightly straight, sir.” Fortified by such advice, Faulkner won that Open. What do we see in Mad Mac, who sadly did not squeeze onto our list of the 36 Greatest Caddies of All Time? Deficiencies to be sure, but also valuable qualities that range beyond merely strapping a bag to his shoulder. Mad Mac was a geographer, unintentional comedian, coach, pack…

“I tend to play better when there’s no need for small talk.” In almost a decade of having my tour card, I’ve really had only one skirmish with another pro. A notoriously slow player once accused me of taking my clubs out of my bag early and distracting him. I think this was just an excuse for him to back off the ball. In the scoring trailer, he wouldn’t let it go and insinuated that I’d tried to rattle him on purpose. The third member of our group, a devout Christian, told this guy that if he ever acted like this again, he’d punch him in the face. The slowpoke and I have since made up, though our next round was a bit chilly. When I confronted him about not…

Playing on a course after a big soaker presents all kinds of challenges—thick rough, mud balls, slower greens, etc.—and one that bothers many is a bunker with firm, packed sand. Too often, golfers mistakenly use their standard greenside technique, only to watch the ball rocket over the green or plug into the lip. If the surface is more like cement than sugar, make these adjustments. When you address the ball with your sand wedge or lob wedge, do not open the face. The club will interact with the sand somewhat like hitting off a cartpath. It’s going to bounce off the surface, not dig, so keeping the face square helps avoid skulling the ball three fairways over. Your downswing needs to be steeper for the same reason, so adjust your…

The Robert F. Kennedy Foundation: Raising Millions for Human Rights Through the Game of Golf The Kennedy family is well-known for its philanthropy, but few people are aware of the passion generations of Kennedys have had for golf, and how the family has married the two for a great cause at a very special place for close to three decades through the annual Robert F. Kennedy Golf Tournament at the Hyannisport Club near the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. The event is run by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a nonprofit advocacy organization. Led by human rights activist and lawyer Kerry Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights has advocated for a more just and peaceful world since 1968. The organization works alongside local activists to ensure lasting positive change…

For more than a decade, country-music star Clay Walker has dedicated himself to raising money for and improving the lives of those with multiple sclerosis. There’s a reason for that: Walker has had the disease, which disrupts the central nervous system, for more than 20 years. Golf played a role in his diagnosis. In February 1996, Walker was at the top of a backswing and felt what he described as “someone shocking me down my spinal cord.” Two months later, he was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS, and the prognosis was grim. “I was told in four years I’d be in a wheelchair, and in eight years I’d be dead,” he says. “That’s a helluva wake-up call for a guy who is 26 years old. I was concerned MS was going…

MAGALY ZAGAL: “I OWE MY ENTIRE CAREER TO GIRLS INC.” MAGALY ZAGAL is only 22, yet already is assembling an impressive résumé that includes a degree from the University of California, Berkeley, an internship in Sacramento for her state assemblyman and another in his home district, and soon a law degree from UC Davis. Yet what distinguishes at least to the same degree as her education is her gratitude, for the help she received along the way from Girls Inc. of the Central Coast, a beneficiary of Monterey Peninsula Foundation. “I’m a first-generation college and graduate student,” says Zagal, a native of Salinas, Calif. “My parents weren’t knowledgeable about higher education. I couldn’t go to them. They didn’t understand. Girls Inc. opened up opportunities for me. I owe my entire…

First things first: If you were disappointed with your last round, your last few rounds, heck, your last golf season—it’s time to let it go. You’ve got to put things behind you when you’re not having the successes you want. Case in point: I shot 65-65 in the first two rounds of the Memorial Tournament in 2017 but followed with a 77 on Saturday— a huge letdown. Determined not to let it happen again on Sunday, I got the bad feelings out of my system by hitting balls and putting for a bit. Next day, I shot 68 and won the tournament. See what I’m saying? Quickly write off your bad days and reboot your game with the fundamentals. That’s what I want to share with you here. If you…

Playing in the mountains is a special experience. Besides the aesthetic pleasure of seeing for miles in many directions, it’s thrilling how the ball cuts through the thin air and flies farther than you’re accustomed. But if you don’t know how to account for this newfound power, you’re going to struggle with club selection. My rule is to subtract 2 percent of the yardage for every 1,000 feet of altitude. The Summit Course at The Club at Cordillera, which I designed in Vail, Colo., is 9,000 feet above sea level, so the holes typically play 18-percent shorter than their listed yardage. Illustrated here is the 559-yard, par-5 17th. Eighteen percent of 559 is roughly 100, so first calculate that the hole plays 459 yards. But because the tee box is…

OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS AGE 24 LIVES Alpharetta, Ga. STORY Won 2016 Air Capital Championship on Web.com Tour; finished second at 2017 Wyndham Championship, one of five top-10s during my rookie season. ONE-TRACK MIND My life has been about turning pro since I was in seventh grade. I’ve had a logical progression. I played four years at Georgia Tech, then Q school, then the Web.com Tour to get here. All these steps made me better. NO HAT, NO PROBLEM I quit playing baseball at 12 and was excited to stop wearing a hat. I don’t like seeing the bill during my swing. CLUB YARDS* DRIVER 290 2-IRON 250 3-IRON 240 4-IRON 229 5-IRON 216 6-IRON 203 7-IRON 188 8-IRON 175 9-IRON 161 PW 148 GW 121 SW 104 LW 89 *carry distance…

Fight nights and golf-cart drag races? Golf clubs are mixing it up. Golf’s offseason—at least for those of us in cold-weather climes—is nasty, brutish and long. The good news is, more clubs than ever are going out of their way to offer awesome activities when golf might not be possible. We asked our 1,300 course-ranking panelists to give us the coolest examples. Here are 18 of our favorites. BALLYNEAL GOLF CLUB, HOLYOKE, COLO. Pheasant hunting ? It turns into a fully operational hunting club in the winter. Members stay on-site for hunting and shooting. BOYNE HIGHLANDS RESORT, HARBOR SPRINGS, MICH. Snowshoeing, biking ? Fat-tire biking on the course and snowshoe hikes to upscale dining at Stein Eriksen restaurant are popular. COLLETON RIVER CLUB, BLUFFTON, S.C. Cross-country golf ? Members sip…

WE’RE PROUD OF WHAT GOLF DOES FOR CHARITY, and for the sixth year, Golf Digest is celebrating Golfers Who Give Back, partnering with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Monterey Peninsula Foundation. Our joint committee has selected world surf champion Kelly Slater, country-music artist Clay Walker and World Golf Hall of Famer Juli Inkster as this year’s Golfers Who Give Back. No individual golfer gave more than Arnold Palmer, and each of the three honorees will receive The Arnie Award, Golf Digest’s highest honor, at the AT&T in February. The Arnie is a trophy-size version of a Palmer bronze sculpture created by artist Zenos Frudakis. As part of the Golfers Who Give Back program, Golf Digest will donate a total of $100,000 to MPF and Arnie’s Army Charitable Foundation.…

IT’S THE 1998 SOLHEIM CUP, and I’m playing with Dottie Pepper in the opening alternate-shot match against Laura Davies and Trish Johnson. In team events, Dottie played with a passion that came across as Dottie against the world. The golf course and her opponents were fair game, and on this day I’m not so sure she even liked me. On the first hole, Dottie hits first and finds the fairway. Laura then cranks one as only Laura can, a blast that goes 60 yards past Dottie. This really annoys Dottie. She marches off the tee with all kinds of defiance. When we get to our ball, I can’t help but needle her. I said, “Sorry to ask, but did you even take off the headcover for this puny thing?” Oh,…