Indholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2026 i Golf Digest

FOR 2026, I HAVE A GOLF GOAL that’s right up there with weight loss, reading the classics and saving money. The dividends stand to be lifechanging if I can only muster the discipline. I’m talking about playing more foursomes, of course. True alternate-shot. Like so many people in our society obsessed with success, I can struggle with being too self-centered, so what healthier way to check the ego than to fully enmesh my golf game with another? By comparison, foursomes make fourball—casually referred to as “best-ball” or when the lowest individual score of two partners counts for each hole—hardly seem like a team game. Like soccer or hockey or businesses where individual performance is secondary, a footnote even, in foursomes you’re truly sharing and passing the puck. Whether you leave…

I’M A PRO WHO OWNS SEVERAL DRIVING RANGES across the Midwest. Ten years ago, I started investing in simulators to keep my clients busy during the cold months. My ratio of outdoor mats to simulators is 15-to-1, yet simulator golf accounts for 40 percent of my business. Avid golfers can’t get enough of it, and it’s also great for beginners. But it’s not just a novelty. There are also real opportunities in the simulator golf world. Professional golfer Jordan Weber received a DP World Tour invitation into the Omega European Masters (plus three additional exemptions into the European feeder circuit, the Challenge Tour) for winning the Order of Merit on the NEXT Golf Tour, which is played on simulators. Some prizes rival tour events; the GOLFZON Tour winning team gets…

Solid Approach “When faced with a forced carry like this, it’s essential you stay down in the shot long enough to get the clubhead through the ball. Here’s how: As you swing back and through, focus on your pelvis. Feel like your rear pants pockets stay back as long as possible. This will help you maintain your original address posture longer, all but ensuring solid contact.” –NICK BOVA, GOLF DIGEST NO. 1 BEST IN STATE, HAMILTON FARM G.C., GLADSTONE, N.J.…

A WIDELY HELD BELIEF in fitness, popularized by Gray Cook and Mike Boyle, is that the body has a series of joints that alternate in roles. If joints that are supposed to have good mobility—such as the ankles or hips—are too limited, then the body recruits a stable joint with less range of motion—such as the knees—to help perform the movement. When stable joints are pushed to their mobility limits, that’s when pain and injuries occur. Taking this into consideration, if you want to protect your knees while you play golf, doing full-body exercises where the joints have to work in harmony is a smart way to train, says Ryon Bosscher, a Golf Digest Certified Fitness Trainer. Here are his recommendations for performance-boosting exercises that keep the knees healthy while…

You might be surprised to know that mallet putters have been around almost since the birth of the game. Large, imposing clubheads have always been their signature, with some designs wild enough to test even the most open-minded golfers. The extended back sides of some mallet heads resemble a Navy destroyer, but many players come to see them as things of beauty—that is, once they start rolling in putts. The unsightly appearance of mallets is starting to become less of an issue. Today’s mallets are a far cry from giant hunks of metal on the end of a stick. Many are the result of a precise marriage of materials, mechanical engineering and biophysics. All of this technology is brought together to keep off-center hits on line and the missed three-footer…

IF YOU SCRIPTED A MOVIE centered around the quintessential Los Angeles golf club, that lead would look a lot like Bel-Air. Winding through the mansion-dotted canyons of the Hollywood Hills, Bel-Air Country Club is a Tinseltown vision of Southern California golf with topography so steep it seems fictitious as golfers are guided hole to hole through tunnels, an elevator and the city’s most famous suspension bridge. The design is one of the cornerstones in the trilogy of great Los Angeles courses built by architect George Thomas, and since it opened in 1926, Bel-Air has been known as much for its famous and colorful membership as for the unique arrangements of its holes. A who’s who of actors, directors, musicians, athletes, professional golfers and even U.S. presidents have played their golf…

To be a good golfer, you need to have a system for controlling wedge shots. I don’t mean just knowing a go-to yardage for each of your wedges. I mean being able to handle a variety of shots, like taking 10 yards off or playing to a front pin or a back tier. If you can’t dial in the shot with simple adjustments, you’re guessing—and guessing just doesn’t cut it. • With your other irons, you probably don’t get a ton of “in-between” shots. For example, if you hit your 8-iron 140 yards, I bet you feel fine facing a shot of 135 or 145. But if your gap wedge goes 90, and you’re looking at a tucked pin over water at 95 yards, you might be shaking. • That…

National Defenders For a second straight year, Marc Engellenner and Drazen Trkulja win in a playoff at the Golf Digest Open presented by Cobra Puma Golf “CAN I GIVE YOU Asuggestion?” Marc Engellenner (above, right) asked his partner Drazen Trkulja (above, left) as they stood on the tee of the second playoff hole of the Golf Digest Open presented by Cobra Puma Golf. Trkulja (ter-kool-yuh) promptly called him off, saying “I got this,” before hitting a drive down the middle and approach to 12 feet on the par-5 18th hole at Streamsong Resort’s Black Course in Bowling Green, Fla. The two-putt birdie secured the duo’s second consecutive win in the gross division of the National Championship. A year after Engellenner provided the winning birdie in a playoff, Trkulja was happy to…

NO SPORT ON THE PLANET has a bigger heart than golf. Just look at the philanthropy that runs through it. Plus, the game teaches civility. Despite the disgraceful fan behavior we witnessed at the Ryder Cup, golf spreads a message of love, and its commitment to make the lives of our youth and teens better is unparalleled. The First Tee, the thriving program for kids ages 5 to 18, has been a favored project of mine since its beginning in 1997. Started by former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, the First Tee received an immediate boost when President George H.W. Bush became its first Honorary Chairman. He was succeeded by his son, President George W. Bush, in 2011. I can vouch firsthand that their roles were anything but honorary.…

EARLY LAST SPRING, Austin Eckroat did what many PGA Tour pros do—he started chasing extra distance. As one of the better iron players on tour, Eckroat couldn’t understand why he was hitting the same clubs as the longest hitters on par 3s but was 20 yards shorter with his driver. “We were trying to see what he was doing differently with his driver compared to his irons,” says Steve Eckroat, Austin’s father and longtime swing coach. “What we saw visually made sense; he tended to hang back more on his right side and didn’t get to his left side as fast as he did with his irons. We worked on that, but what we discovered was we were really focusing on the wrong thing for his swing. It got him away…

AKEEN GAMBLER AND Golf Digest reader, Richard Ward, introduced us to a game called “Bundle,” and it seems like so much fun, we’re now sharing it with you. Bundle’s appeal is that it keeps you fully engaged to the very end of the round—even on bad days. Here’s how to play. NUMBER OF PLAYERS REQUIRED: Four. BEST FOR: Groups who carry cash, all skill levels, and players who will stay in the fight even when they are struggling. HOW TO PLAY: Each player in your foursome forks over $20 (or another agreed-upon amount) to put in the “Bundle,” so to speak. Next, a random order is established, and the No. 1 player who tees off first literally holds onto the bundle of cash, which in this case would be $80.…

Q: IS THERE EQUIPMENT THAT CAN HELP ME REGAIN DISTANCE? I’M 62 AND 20 YARDS SHORTER THAN 10 YEARS AGO. There are few scenarios in golf more dejecting than no longer being able to carry that bunker at the corner of the dogleg or having to go up two clubs on your favorite par 3. Although equipment by itself probably won’t erase a 20-yard loss, optimizing your launch and spin conditions is a great place to start. As swing speed drops, launch conditions are likely to change. If you’re launching the ball too low or spinning it too much, try adjusting loft. You can fiddle with driver settings, but it’s better to see a clubfitter. At least use a launch monitor to compare results. Rapsodo’s MLM2Pro, which we use at our…

Age: 40 Tyler Rae Design: Founded 2009 Base: Wilmington, Del. Golf Digest is talking to the next generation of course architects, whose names might be new to you—but are popping up more and more with great projects. This interview has been edited for concision. The full Q&A is available on the “Feed the Ball” podcast with architecture editor Derek Duncan. What renovation work do you think you’re best known for? Rae: Probably Beverly Country Club in Chicago. In 2019, we restored the course, and I spent four or five days a week there for months and shaped everything you can think of, so that one had a lot of my fingerprints on it. Probably also Wakonda (above) in Iowa or Lookout Mountain in Georgia (Golf Digest’s Best Renovation winner in…

It’s that time of year—the season for wading through sites and sales in search of the perfect gift for every golfer on your nice list. We’ve made your job a bit easier with this roundup of creative, clever and downright useful golf gifts, all of which are designed to encourage your friends and family to maximize merriment along the way. From techy must-haves like rechargeable heating and cooling devices to artisanal, hand-crafted canvas range buckets, this list has goodies for men, women and even kiddos, whether they’ve been playing from the day they could crawl or are hoping to make a swing of it in the new year. With a variety of price points—including some stocking stuffers—you just might find a treat for yourself, too. 1. Sun Mountain Sports Legacy…

IN A WAY THAT LEAVES ME even more convinced that golf is the greatest game of all, I’ve always found it tremendous fun to play 18 holes with Jerry Tarde. I can hear the howls that opener just set off. “Isn’t that guy your boss? Even if it wasn’t fun, what else are you going to say?” Yes, this is a house job, but I go forth confidently because however conflicted and compromised the assignment might seem, the case supporting the premise is overwhelming. First, this is the concluding installment in a series celebrating Golf Digest’s 75th anniversary, and no one has been more responsible for the publication’s success in becoming the standard of golf journalism than Tarde. Second, nothing provides a more cogent representation of his philosophy, leadership and…

I MAY BE A GOOD CATHOLIC boy, but the closest religious figure in my life has been a retired rabbi from Long Island named Marc Gellman. He co-starred for many years on a cable TV show called “The God Squad” with the late Monsignor Tom Hartman. The rabbi plays golf. As he says, there are better rabbis and there are better golfers, but there are no better golfing rabbis than him. He’s a very funny man. His historical significance is that he was the catalyst in bringing the U.S. Open to Bethpage Black in 2002. This classic golf course open to the public had never hosted a national championship before. He brought it to the attention of the USGA, but more important, he was politically connected in New York State…

EVEN IN SATURDAY morning matches between old friends, things can get a little chippy when money is on the line. A recent dust-up that went down at a Northeast country club (and one that probably happens a fair amount around the country) surfaced an interesting rules conundrum. In a four-ball match, partners on the putting green had their golf balls on a similar line. The player who was likely to make a higher score was about to hit the putt to show his partner the break. The opposing team, wise in its ways, saw what was about to happen and immediately conceded the putt. You can guess what happened next: The player whose stroke was conceded hit the putt anyway. Clearly, this was done in an attempt to show his…

Busted As thin as driver faces have gotten in recent years, they’re still tough to damage through normal use. Manufacturers test durability by hitting thousands of balls at speeds seen only from the longest players. No amount of your usual swings or strikes with rockhard golf balls will make a dent. At 125 miles per hour or higher, however, most driver faces get a little stressed, possibly leading to more clubface spring in as few as 100 shots. Does that mean longer drives? Consider this: Testing on tour for hot drivers is on the rise.…

Yee-haw! The next great golf resort in the U.S. is in a ranch town in Colorado with less than 500 people. A solo development by Sand Valley co-owner Michael Keiser, its first course will open in 2026 for founders and VIPs before opening to the public in 2027. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw got the first crack, and Coore says Rodeo Dunes is “without question” the most bold and brawny course yet from his firm, with a number of blind shots dictated by the abrupt chop dunes. Check out the thrilling short par-4 17th, shown here. Six courses are planned on this 4,000-plus-acre site, which is 40 minutes from the Denver airport. You can make tee times for 2027 starting in February 2026.…

I DON’T HAVE A LOT IN common with Walter Hagen. I looked. He was born in 1892. I was born in 1985. He lived in New York. I live in Edinburgh. He was 5-10. I am 6-3. He won 11 major championships. I’ve won zero (at the time of writing). However, for one day, I was going to walk in the footsteps of “The Haig.” In 1920, Walter Hagen was excited to make his debut at The Open Championship. He arrived early at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club on the southeast coast of England. His first order of business was to get acclimatized to the links turf. He and his friend and fellow pro Jim Barnes set off early for a practice round. When the pair reached the 11th hole,…