Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2020 i Golf Digest

“There’s a big difference between having unbelievable skill and being a great player.” THINK of the best golfer you know personally. Perhaps it’s the teaching pro at your course, or the many-time club champ, or your son’s friend who works at Golf Galaxy. You’ve seen the quality of this person’s shots and allowed yourself the extravagant thought: How much better would so and so have to get to make the tour? Pervasive possibility is one of our game’s great pleasures. Unlike other sports where inborn size and body type are basically prerequisites to be world class, golf is more egalitarian. Though it certainly helps to be built like Dustin Johnson, there are plenty of physically ordinary types like Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowry and Kevin Kisner who spread hope widely. And…

“I feel like I’m throwing an upper-cut punch.” I’VE ALWAYS felt more comfortable playing a cut off the tee, and I don’t swing out of my shoes nearly as often as I did in my 20s and 30s. Still, there are certain times when I need to hit a high, hard draw to maximize distance like you see me doing here. Maybe I have to fly it 290 to carry a bunker, or maybe I need to squeeze every yard out of my drive to get home in two on a par 5.? When I decide I’m going to send one deep, the first thing I do is tee the ball a little higher. It’s an old-school trick and something I’ve used for pretty much my whole career. A higher…

“Short courses showcase golf as a brisk outdoor recreation that everyone can play quickly.” IT MIGHT BE SURPRISING to learn that the number of 18-hole courses in the United States didn’t surpass the number of nine-hole courses until 1974. Though sometimes viewed now as anachronisms, sub-18-hole courses played a critical role in the growth and development of the game throughout much of the 20th century. Something similar might be happening again. An unexpected recent architectural trend is the popularity of short courses: entertaining, quick-play accessory designs stuffed with ambitious architecture. Miniaturized versions of their full-size siblings, they follow no formalized number of holes—there are 13 at Bandon Preserve at Bandon Dunes, 17 at The Sandbox at Sand Valley, and 10 each at The Nest at Cabot Cape Breton and the…

“Mallets are now designed for straight and arcing putting strokes.” WHEN Phil Mickelson, a user of classic blade putters his whole career, started putting with an oversize mallet late last year, it was an indication that even for the most ardent blade proponent, the mallet’s benefits are too real to ignore. Luke Williams, Odyssey’s senior director of product, says Mickelson’s switch to a modern mallet reflects a wider trend among average golfers—especially now that mallets can be designed to work with both the straight-back, straight-through motion, which favors a “face-balanced” design, and the arcing stroke typically used by blade users with a “toe-hang” design. “Phil has always been particular about feeling the face release, but with the mallet, he believed his start lines were a lot more consistent,” Williams says.…

IT’S HARD to get time with Butch Harmon, especially after he announced his retirement from tour travel in 2017. So it says a lot about Danielle Kang’s potential that she joined his roster at the end of 2018. She won a month later, and again in 2019, the third victory of her career. But it might be her gains off the tee that demonstrate how good she’s getting. She averaged 248.7 yards off the tee in 2017. Last year, it was up to 261.7 yards. “Danielle has a lot of power for her size [5-foot-6}, and we’ve worked to get her in position to really deliver that power,” Harmon says. “She used to be long in the backswing and moving off the ball too much. We tightened her up, got…

$181,000 ANDREW DICKSON LONG-NOSE PUTTER 314 ROUNDS AT PEBBLE BEACH 603 SETS OF WILSON UTILITY IRONS 2,784 YEARS OF “PGA TOUR LIVE” 36,200 COORS LIGHTS AT THE TURN A VISUAL HISTORY OF GOLF’S GREATEST TRANSFORMATIONS A VISUAL HISTORY OF GOLF’S GREATEST TRANSFORMATIONS WHAT YOUR SUMMER GOLF VACATION SAYS ABOUT YOU CAPE KIDNAPPERS You’re REALLY good at sleeping on airplanes. MYRTLE BEACH You have a lot of dollar bills you need to get rid of. SWEETENS COVE You once broke up with a girl for not complimenting your Jones carry bag. TPC SAWGRASS You’re a family man, and they wanted an “island” getaway. ST. ANDREWS You’d rather it just be winter. MUIRFIELD VILLAGE You’re practical. Why fly to Scotland when Ohio is around the corner? THE 5 MOST BEAUTIFUL TOPTRACER ARCS…

IN THE NEAR FUTURE, the broadcaster’s habit of oohing and aahing over every Bryson DeChambeau 350-yard driver blast will become passé. His turbocharged power has been a new toy for us to ogle lately, but it has become the new, stratospheric norm and isn’t going away anytime soon. Bryson is a full-blown star now, and all he needs to do next is perform better in the majors for his “brand” to head for the stratosphere, too Golf’s return this summer from the COVID-19 shutdown arrived with considerable risk. I admire PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and his team for navigating brilliantly through a fluid situation. With the return came the potential for a huge reward, in that the tour essentially would have the sporting stage to itself in the heart…

“I lower the flight more intuitively.” IM NOT AS SHORT as I used to be off the tee, but I’m still not one of the longer hitters on tour. For me, hitting fairways is absolutely crucial because I don’t have the luxury of hitting a lot of short irons into greens. I’m able to compete because I find so many fairways. Despite ranking 151st in driving distance last season (288 yards), I ranked 35th in strokes gained/off the tee. I also led the tour in nearest average proximity to the center of the fairway (20 feet, five inches) and was second in average proximity to the edge of the fairway when I missed it (18 feet, 10 inches). I go about my driving differently than most guys on tour. I’ve…

“My No. 1 rule on the greens: Hit with a square face.” ONE COMMON PIECE of putting advice I’ve never liked—and so many players use—is to picture the putting stroke as a pendulum. That image promotes a long, flowing stroke with no acceleration into the ball. It might look smooth, but the downside is inconsistent contact and unpredictable results. Instead, think about giving the ball a pop at impact. That’ll naturally make your stroke a little shorter and faster, which will help you hit the ball with a square putterface. In putting, where the face is pointing at impact almost entirely determines the direction of the putt. For righties, an open face starts the ball to the right and a closed face sends it left. It’s crucial to start your…

WE PARTNERED WITH CLUB CHAMPION, the leading premium clubfittter, to see how the data supports oversize putters. We matched a mallet and blade putter to golfers’ length specs. Putts were analyzed by the SAM PuttLab, which measures dozens of performance attributes through ultrasonic-motion capture. Below we detail how mallets outperformed blades in specific areas. (The percentages, in red, reflect how much better mallets rated in three key metrics.) Overall, across 100 scores, mallets rated higher than blades 62 percent of the time. FACE ANGLE AT IMPACT Getting the face pointed at the target at impact is critical to good putting. In our test, seven of the 10 players were more square at impact with a mallet putter than with a blade. ANALYSIS Face angle at impact doesn’t tell the whole…

“You’ll find the ball goes a long way by making a small, smooth swing.” I SEE A LOT OF AMATEURS get overwhelmed around the greens by thinking each situation requires a different shot. But to get more consistent, it’s better to use the same technique in different ways. Let me explain with the simplest of all chips: the bump-and-run. The goal is to land the ball on the green and get it rolling quickly. Here I’m flying it about a third of the way, but the ball stays down. Some people use a lob wedge, but that’s too much loft. I’ll use a 7-iron, a 5-iron or maybe even a hybrid. The shot is so much easier to control with less loft. As for technique, I think of it as…

EVERY FEW YEARS a new study is published stating that public speaking is the biggest fear in the United States. This leads us to believe there can’t be many American golfers in those studies’ survey groups. It’s not addressing a crowd most players fear—it’s addressing a ball on the first tee. Your friends might be dismissive of your affliction and say it’s all in your head, but that’s the point, isn’t it? You look forward all week to playing, only to find yourself overwhelmed mentally right before the opening tee shot. Is there something you can do about it? Absolutely, says performance coach Greg Cartin, who counsels athletes in the Boston area. The first step in tackling first-tee jitters is understanding how they manifest. “A lot of it is excitement,”…

A RETURN TO NORMAL (KIND OF) IF YOU could see what I see, you, too, might conclude that the view from the patio at Colonial Country Club presents a victorious setting for the resumption of competitive golf. We’ll stop under the famous statue of Ben Hogan to have a look around. Soon this week someone will climb a ladder and place a medical mask on the unsmiling face. But first. Look left with me. Follow the twist of the 18th fairway to the green below, where champions of the old invitational on the PGA Tour—Nicklaus and Trevino, Palmer and Hogan, Crenshaw and Mickelson—have holed out to win since 1946. Across the stone-banked pond is the tee of the 10th, just over the path from the ninth green and, sweeping right…

ON MOST WEEKDAYS, by the time you drop the kids off at school or head into the office, basketball Hall of Famer (Big Game) James Worthy has played 18 holes and hit two buckets of long irons. This even though he’s 59 and coming off knee-replacement surgery. What’s your excuse? “One thing I’ve been able to bring to golf is the work ethic,” says Worthy, who won an NCAA championship at the University of North Carolina and three NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. “There are some things you can feel. When I’m playing basketball, I can feel when I’m hot. I know I want the ball. I haven’t quite gotten there with golf yet, but I know when I’m striking it pretty well, and I know when I’m…

“With what’s at stake, a little means a lot.” I SAW the announcement on Twitter: Caddies will be allowed back. It was a sense of relief after rumors the PGA Tour’s scaled-down return would be a players-only affair. But under that tweet, I saw a question that we see and hear all the time: Do players even need caddies? There are many in the game, including some players, who have the mind-set that the things we help with are negligible. We don’t have enough space to gut that pig—I’m sure you can guess my feelings on that matter—so let’s tweak the question slightly. How much of a difference does a good caddie really make? If you’re looking to quantify it, 10 strokes per season. Easy. That might not sound like…

“Longer swings don’t necessarily generate more power.” A LOT OF ATTENTION is given to footwork and using the ground as leverage to generate more power in the downswing. But if you’re looking to pick up some extra yards, what you do with your feet in the backswing is just as important. For years I’ve been telling my students to coil, not turn, as they take the club back. The length of the backswing isn’t nearly as important as feeling wound up at the top. Obviously, a healthy shoulder turn is part of it. But so is good footwork. Good golfers use their foot closest to the target, as a resister (you can’t coil without it). Biomechanist J.J. Rivet, who works with European Tour pros, used sensors on major champion Justin…

It’s an awesome feeling when you drive it great, stripe your irons, hole a bunch of putts and post a score in the low 70s. But if you want to do that regularly, you’re going to have to rely on more than just solid ball-striking and a hot putter. All good players have a variety of specialty shots that they use around the course to turn bogeys into pars and pars into birdies. They might use them only once a round, but if executed properly, these shots often are what make the difference between a good score and a great one. Here are six that will get you down to scratch. “THE BEST SHOT YOU HIT IN A GREAT ROUND IS OFTEN THE ONE THAT SAVED THE ROUND.” THE BABY-DRAW…

RON WHITTEN In 1965, the great Dan Jenkins picked an All-Star team of golf holes for Sports Illustrated, The Best 18 Golf Holes in America, selected by a committee of one, although he allowed Ben Hogan a nod or two. What set Jenkins’ list apart from other pretenders was a self-imposed restriction. His All-Star team, he said, couldn’t have five quarterbacks and three tight ends. Each hole had to play the position it occupied on the real course: best first hole from among all starting holes in America, best second hole, and so on. His article later became an influential book, and today each club he featured still treats Dan’s selection as a papal blessing. Jenkins joined Golf Digest in 1985, and in the early 1990s it was suggested that…

Lucas Glover BREAKFAST Egg-white omelette, fruit, oatmeal SNACK Apple, protein bar LUNCH / PLAYING Grilled chicken with steamed vegetables SNACK Trail mix, nuts, raw vegetables DINNER Thai Uber Eats: chicken, sautéed spicy vegetables Bryson DeChambeau BREAKFAST Four eggs, five strips of bacon, toast, two protein shakes LUNCH / PLAYING Two GoMacro protein bars, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, three protein shakes DINNER Steak, potatoes, two protein shakes…