Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2018-January 2019 i Golf Digest

As Tom Watson said, Dave Anderson “did it the right way.” MAYBE THE MOST beloved typist in the press tent for the latter half of the 20th century was the great Dave Anderson. He died on Oct. 4 at age 89, still with the title: Nicest Guy in Sports. ? One of our pals always said Dave was thought to be a boxing writer by the boxing writers, and he was known as a football writer by the football writers and a baseball writer by the baseball writers—and certainly he was a golf writer among the golf writers. That might be the highest tribute paid a sports columnist: to be considered an expert in every field by the experts. ? My connection to Dave was all about golf, except for…

“Get your right elbow in the slot near your right hip.” GOLFERS frequently stop their backswings to check the club. What you don’t see nearly as often is someone stopping halfway down to check if the club is in position to hit a quality shot. Here I’m checking my driver’s shaft on the downswing. Note how it’s angled—not too steep or shallow. Lesser-skilled players tend to swing down with the shaft more upright, leading to an outside-in swing path and a pull or slice. Better players err with the shaft too shallow or flat at this checkpoint. That often causes them to push or hook the shot. The key for a good, repeating swing is to have the club moving toward the ball on an angle or plane that closely…

“Swing your 4-iron with the same tempo as your pitching wedge.” I’M COMING OFF a recent win at the CIMB Classic, and my iron game into the par 5s was a big reason I got it done. For the week, I played the par 5s at TPC Kuala Lumpur in 14 under par. That should get it done any week on tour. Most everyday players, however, loathe their long and middle irons and are reluctant to use them. That’s unfortunate, because these clubs are valuable tools. Whether you’re going for the green in two, trying to hit a green in regulation on a 200-yard par 3, or looking to run one up on a long par 4, let me help you rethink avoiding these clubs. I’ll take you through my…

AGE 29 LIVES Lehi, Utah STORY Won once on the PGA Tour. Member of the 2018 U.S. Ryder Cup team. TOUR TOUGH If I learned anything this year, it’s how tough I can be. From playing well after my ankle injury at the Masters to rebounding after a poor first round at the PGA to making the Ryder Cup team, I’m very proud of what I did. POWER PLAYER Over the years, I’ve caved in several driver faces and cracked a lot of golf balls. DRIVER SPECS Ping G400 Max, 9.9?, 45.25 inches, Accra Tour z X485 M5 shaft, D-6+ swingweight The driver is a big weapon for me, and this one offers me accuracy and distance. That’s a huge advantage, given how far I hit it. I have added…

“I’M ALWAYS THE GUY that forgets the coin or the ball marker, so I gotta use like a blade of grass or a leaf to mark my ball,” says comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. “I don’t have all the … [he pauses, then adopts a snooty tone] accoutrements in my bag.” ▸ Maniscalco can be forgiven for the underpacked golf bag, for he has had bigger things on his mind. Over the past few years, the suburban-Chicago native has transformed himself from a niche comic into one of the largest box-office draws in comedy. He sold out five shows at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in April—one was recorded as a Netflix special that’ll debut in December—and in January, he begins a series of four dates at the 19,000-seat Madison Square…

Three-time Grammy winner Darius Rucker, frontman for Hootie & the Blowfish and a solo country-music star, has been crazy for golf since he was a teenager. Now 52, he doesn’t just play in charitable golf events. He has taken the lead in organizing several of them, raising awareness and huge sums of money for causes that are important to him. YOU’VE BEEN ON TOUR SINCE MAY. BEEN PLAYING MUCH GOLF? Oh, yeah, I play a lot. [Laughs.] I’m playing Augusta National tomorrow. I’m playing at St. Andrews in a few days, as we’re heading over to Europe. That’s the coolest thing about being a golf guy. When I go to a town, a lot of people want me to play their course. I play four or five days a week.…

The Arnie’s Army Charitable Foundation has never lacked direction. Since its inception in 2015, the foundation has assumed responsibility for supporting the many philanthropic interests of the late Arnold and Winnie Palmer. “The reach my mom and dad had makes it hard to focus narrowly,” says Amy Saunders. “They did want to touch so many things, so many lives. Over the course of the last few years, we’ve learned through experience there needed to be a truly collective vision from someone that was similar to what my father had so that we can carry on that legacy.” That’s a tall task, one that Jon Podany has accepted as president of Arnie’s Army. In mid-October, Podany began serving as CEO of Arnold Palmer Enterprises after eight years at the LPGA Tour,…

Don’t be fooled. Despite its slender, friendly appearance, the new Player’s Edition of the Rules of Golf is a work of Nabokovian artistry and cleverness. In fact, it’s not unlike the Russian master’s Pale Fire, a novel disguised as an index and a commentary to a long poem. Rules of Golf is a novel disguised as, of all things, a rule book. Here is how it begins: “Golf is played by striking your ball with a club, and each hole starts from the teeing area and ends when your ball is holed on the putting green.” With those fussy italics, the insistent spelling out of the perfectly obvious, this is an almost pitch-perfect imitation of musty, pedantic rule-book prose. But note how the text says “your ball,” and not, as a…

If you’re No. 1 in greens in regulation on the LPGA Tour like Jin Young Ko was in 2018, you might not need to spend a lot of time chipping. Unfortunately, most amateurs hit fewer than six greens in regulation each round, so having better short-game skills should be a focal point of practice, says Ko, the LPGA Rookie of the Year. “Amateurs I’ve played with don’t think about whether the shot should run or if it should land soft,” she says. “They just try to get it on the green any way they can.” That’s no way to approach these situations, says Jorge Parada, one of Golf Digest’s Best Young Teachers and director of instruction at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J. With the help of Ko…

“Make the clubhead go whizzing past your hands.” When most golfers leave themselves short-sided, meaning off the green but close to the hole, they feel like they have to hit a perfect shot that lands soft and stops dead. All too often, they decelerate into impact and dump it short. Then comes the classic line: “I got too cute with it.” Let’s get away from cute and go for reliable instead. When you have to soften a greenside shot, start by taking your most lofted wedge. This seems obvious, but you’d be amazed how often I see golfers grab their favorite club, say, a pitching wedge, no matter where they are. You need loft here, so go with a 58- or 60-degree. Then open the face 10 to 20 degrees…

EDITOR’S NOTE After Francesco Molinari’s amazing 2018 season, including a victory in the Open Championship at Carnoustie, an eight-stroke win on the PGA Tour and a 5-0 record in Europe’s Ryder Cup beatdown outside Paris, he was interviewed in Italian by Massimo De Luca, Editor-in-Chief of Il Mondo del Golf Today, Golf Digest’s affiliate in Italy. “ITALY MAKES THE DIFFERENCE. … AROUND ITALIAN COURSES, THERE IS HISTORY, CULTURE, SCENERY, FOOD, STYLE.” WHEN DID YOUR LOVE OF GOLF BEGIN? I wasn’t even 5 when I began swinging the golf club. In the Molinari family, golf was a passion. My grandparents played, especially my paternal grandparents, and my parents ended up being single-digit-handicappers. But kids under 8 weren’t allowed at their golf club in Torino, which later became our club. So Edoardo…

▸ there are times when we all make this game too complicated. That’s why I started this article with a simple thought: Send it, then hole it. I’m not saying golf is easy, but I find that if you simplify your keys to executing all the main shots, you’ll stop playing golf swing and start playing golf. The goal is to advance the ball and drop it in the cup in as few strokes as possible. That’s really hard to do if you’re bogged down with swing mechanics. Instead, have a clear plan for what you want to do on the next shot, get your alignment right, and then make a swing or putting stroke that’s smooth and balanced. I guarantee if you keep it that simple, you’ll give yourself…

▸ If you want to feel good about golf and what the sport does for others, you’ve come to the right place. For the seventh 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 country-music star Darius Rucker, CBS Sports commentator Jim Nantz and World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III as this year’s Golfers Who Give Back. ▸ No individual golfer gave back more than Arnold Palmer, and each of these 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…

Davis Love III is cruising around St. Simons Island, Ga., on the premise of cadging a driver shaft from one of the dozen or so PGA Tour players who also live in the area. “I’m not sure if it’s the shaft or the fact I’m using a driver from 2013, but I’m hitting it all over the place,” he says. Just back from his first tournament of the new season, he adds, “I really need to play and practice more. But there are so many distractions.” The “distractions” turn out to be pleasant. Love, 54, is also performing neighborly checkins on businesses and individuals who help support the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic played at Sea Island Golf Club. Love has served as the tournament host since 2010, and he monitors…

“If you’re a stiff-wristed putter, you’ll struggle from long range.” IN GOLF, your instincts can get you into trouble. A good example is when you have a long putt. The tendency is to think you have to hit the ball harder than normal. That mind-set leads to a short backstroke and a fast flick on the downstroke. The result is usually poor contact—and a putt that never gets to the hole. A better technique is to lengthen your backstroke but keep the pace of the motion the same. That produces more energy at impact—the longer stroke gives you smooth acceleration—and a better chance of catching the ball flush. It’s just like trying to get more distance on a full shot: Hitting the ball in the middle of the clubface is…

OUR LIST OF AMERICA’S 100 BEST CLUBFITTERS is the result of detailed polling of industry sources and our nearly 1,500-member course-ratings panel. We also considered nomination submissions and reader recommendations of more than 800 facilities (shops, fitting studios, golf courses, practice ranges, teaching academies). We break our list into state/regional facilities (86) and national chains (14), and all stores are accessible to the public. See our full state-by-state clubfitting directory at golfdigest.com. STATE/REGIONAL ARKANSAS ARKANSAS GOLF CENTER Conway CALIFORNIA CARLSBAD GOLF CENTER Carlsbad HAGGIN OAKS GOLF SUPER SHOP Sacramento KEPLER’S GOLF REPAIR Walnut Creek NO BOGEYS GOLF Laguna Niguel UNIVERSAL GOLF PERFORMANCE Los Angeles COLORADO D’LANCE GOLF PERFORMANCE CENTER Englewood GOTT GOLF Denver CONNECTICUT CHRIS COTE’S GOLF SHOP Portland/Southington DOWNTOWN GOLF Stamford GREENWICH GOLF FITTING STUDIO Greenwich PERFORMANCE CLUBWORKS Brookfield…

Surely there’s a golfer in your life who could use some cannabidiol. ‘Tis better to give than receive—though receiving one of these would be sweet.…

When asked to explain how he has picked up 20 yards with the driver over the past three seasons on the PGA Tour—yet, still puts it on the fairway—Francesco Molinari says, “I took the brakes off.” ▸ Leave it to an Italian to use a sports-car metaphor. ▸ Coming off his best year as a professional golfer in 2018, in which he won the Open Championship and the Quicken Loans National and went 5-0 in the Ryder Cup, Molinari is now in the “300 Club.” He averaged 301 yards off the tee on the PGA Tour last season, up from 281.6 in 2015. As if that distance gain wasn’t impressive enough, he did it without ruining his reputation as a fairway finder. Molinari averaged 64.3 percent of fairways hit and…

AS JAN. 1 approaches, it’s time to consider what New Year’s resolutions you’ll be making to help your golf game in 2019. For those who haven’t come up with any, here’s a suggestion: Learn the Rules of Golf. (No, really learn them this time.) Perhaps you’ve tried, only to find that by February, the copy of the rules book you picked up is covered with as much dust as that Peloton you bought to get into shape. Yet here’s the thing: There’s no better time than now to give it another shot because a new, modernized version of the rules goes into effect on New Year’s Day. In the most sweeping revision in more than 60 years, officials from the USGA and R&A, golf’s governing bodies, have reorganized the rules…

Sept. 23 was the first full day of autumn. Summer had officially passed, and my mood was matching the melancholy of Mother Nature’s final cycle of the seasons. It was the third NFL Sunday of the year, and my family had joined me in Minnesota for the weekend. While covering the Vikings-Bills game, I opened our broadcast as usual with, “Hello, friends.” Tony Romo and I covered Buffalo’s surprising victory and rejoiced during commercial breaks as we watched Justin Rose take the FedEx Cup at East Lake and Tiger complete his remarkable comeback with a parade down the 18th fairway. But this day was different. It marked what would have been my beloved father’s 90th birthday. He’s been gone 10 years now, after a 13-year unwinnable battle with Alzheimer’s. They…

The most extraordinary thing about the saga of Valentino Dixon is that it is not extraordinary at all. It is, of course, unusual and wonderful that Dixon developed his gift for sketching golf courses in prison—and that his talent drew the meticulous attention of Golf Digest’s Max Adler—but the specifics of the case look all too familiar. Dixon’s prosecution represents a textbook study in everything that can go wrong in the criminal-justice system—and, all too often, does. The story of Dixon’s conviction and 27-year incarceration reads almost like a checklist of some of the major flaws in our system. Eyewitness misidentification: check. Prosecutorial blindness: check. Inadequate defense: check. Dixon was unfortunate, to put it mildly, in that all of these defects converged in his single case, but he was by…

WHAT IS THE VICE WAY? NO MIDDLE MAN TOP PERFORMANCE SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGY HALF THE PRICE Despite success, the German golf ball start-up has not lost touch with its youthful and hip feel, even rebellious image. Now established as a significant player on the international market, VICE Golf’s strategy remains unchanged: uncompromising premium quality and attractive prices, prompt delivery and cool designs, all with a direct connection to the customer. The success confirms the young Germans’ concept: Outside the walls of the VICE compound there is a tremendous need to catch up when it comes to modernizing of the of worlds most popular sports. VICE Golf’s uncomplicated, but still unusual sales concept has quickly proven itself to be groundbreaking. The success curve has risen steadily since the founding of the company,…