Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2015 i Golf Australia

TWO Australians have won The Open Championship at the Home of Golf, St Andrews. The The last man to do it was Kel Nagle, one of the game’s great gentlemen who sadly passed away earlier this year. It is now legend how the then 39-year-old maintained his composure to fend off a charging Arnold Palmer to win the Centenary Open in 1960. The first man onto the final green to celebrate with the new Open Champion was good mate and World Cup winning team mate Peter Thomson (pictured above). “When I greeted him on the 18th green, it was the happiest moment of my golfing life,” Thomson confessed in his eulogy at Nagle’s funeral. ‘Thommo’ did more than shake his friend’s hand, he gave him the jacket off his back…

THE 85 Tiger Woods shot at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament in early June was sure to elicit a wide range of opinions from everybody with a forum to express one.And in the age of Twitter, everyone has a forum. Hank Haney taught Woods after he left Butch Harmon in 2004 and, if winning was the measure, was equally successful. Woods won six majors (out of 23) and 31 Tour events from 93 starts with Haney and eight majors from 24 starts and 34 from 127 Tour events with Harmon. If it’s not the greatest career in golf, it’s only behind Jack Nicklaus; and no matter what happens from here, at his best he showed us golf played at a level unattained by anybody else. Haney resigned his commission in 2010…

TWO of the game’s biggest names, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler, recently faced off in a game of pool. Let us know how you would caption this photo. Submit your caption on the entry form found on our website (not in the comment box) for the accompanying photo and the best entry judged by Golf Australia’s editors will win a pair of 2015 adidas Tour 360X shoes, worth $149. The new Tour 360X shoes continue the evolution of the Tour 360 family. With its Tour-proven performance and stability unquestioned, the new model features increased cushioning and comfort. For more information visit the website www.adidasgolf.com  or call 1800 700 011 TO ENTER: Visit www.golfaustralia.com.au and click on the ‘WIN’ icon to submit your entry.Entries close July 29.The winner will…

I HAVE never been moved to write into your magazine but Brendan James’ article (The Spieth Effect, Golf Australia , May issue) really struck a chord with me. Like most golf fans I was also impressed with the way Jordan Spieth played and conducted himself in winning the Masters. And like Brendan and his son, I was lucky enough to watch all this unfold with my son and he is now showing more interest in playing golf. When I told him that Spieth would be coming to Sydney for the Australian Open at the end of the year, he asked if we could go and watch him play. We’ll be there and I have no qualms standing with my son, who is nine, in the gallery to…

WE were always friendly enough, without being friends exactly. But in the years before Colin Montgomerie turned professional, I played a lot of golf with the Yorkshire-based Anglo-Scot. Looking back, it was an interesting experience. Strangely, given how much he has achieved in the game since those times now 30 years ago, Monty was something of a late developer. When he went to college in America towards the end of 1983 – already 20 years old – he wasn’t one of the top-dozen amateurs in Scotland. That soon changed, though. When Monty returned to the UK nine months later, his time in Houston had very obviously made an extraordinary difference to his level of performance. Days after he got back, he and I were two quarters of a practice round…

I HAVE decided not to play in this month’s Open Championship for many reasons, most importantly because of my work as an analyst for Fox Sports in America. We will be covering two events immediately prior to the Open – the US Open and US Senior Open – so I would have had zero time to prepare. With this lack of preparation, I did not want to take a spot from a younger player that could use this Open to catapult himself to a higher level and maybe kick-starting a great career at the top of professional golf. So as I close one chapter of my life and move on to the next, I took some time to reflect on my five favourite moments from the Open Championship: 1. Royal…

I used to live across the road from Rory and his parents. I was the pro at Holywood and was a good friend of Gerry’s, who was off scratch. I went to his wedding and then when Rory was born it was clear he loved golf from an early age. In the summer he’d come up to the club even though he wasn’t a member and he’d be chipping and putting all day. I’d have a look at his clubs and make sure they were the right weight and so on. When he got a bit older I’d get a shaft in them that suited him better, that kind of thing. He joined Holywood Golf Club at eight but I moved to Bangor. So they’d come down here on a…

Here at The Ridge we have one of the biggest junior golf programs in Australia. One of the reasons that our program is so successful is the effort that we put into ensuring the juniors are constantly learning and developing their skills. To be a better player you need to constantly enhance and develop your skill set. The best players in the world are great athletes, they have great hand-eye co-ordination, which in turn helps them to play a variety of shots. Don’t think that you need to always be doing golf-specific drills or practice to improve. Try out some of these basic skills to enhance your skill set. And when you are doing these skills, try using both sides of your body to improve. 1. Walk a balance beam…

BAND ON THE RUN Gone are the days when judging the distance to the green involved looking for a 150-metre marker or sprinkler head. GolfBuddy has just launched the world’s first golf GPS band – the GolfBuddy BB5. The BB5 combines comfort, fashion and function to greatly improve any player’s game. With a wide range of coloured bands available, the GolfBuddy BB5 is the latest ‘must-have’ wearable gadget, both on and off the course. It is packed full of GolfBuddy technology and features, like Dynamic Green View, which means distances given are always directly from the golfer’s angle of approach to the green. Another added bonus for golfers, the BB5 is water resistant, giving users the freedom to use the device in all conditions. RRP: $299.95 Contact: For more information,…

WHAT OUR TESTER SAID: MODEL AND SHAFT PLAYED: Bridgestone J715 9.5° driver, fitted with a stiff-flex graphite shaft. All clubhead configurations were retained in neutral settings. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I enjoyed the feel of this driver immediately. The shaft is more than 20 grams lighter than in my driver, which is probably closer to what I should be using. I really like the way it lines up at address, as well as the grooves on the underside of the clubhead. VERDICT: The Bridgestone J715 is a fantastic driver to hit. Straight away I produced a gentle draw that I hadn’t been able to achieve for a while. All day long, there was this nice little draw off the tee and I’d estimate up to 20 metres more distance. The margin for…

THE CHALMERS RÉSUMÉ He has ten professional wins, with five of those victories coming in Australia. His best finish in a major championship was a tie for fourth at the 2000 US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. Chalmers is one of only two players to win the Australian Amateur, Open and PGA (Bob Shearer is the other). He lines up in his third Open Championship this month, after winning the Australasian PGA Tour Order of Merit. Kingston Heath GC Melbourne This course is defined by fantastic short par-4s and holes that demand a confident decision. It’s also home to one of the greatest par-3s in the country, the 15th. I even wish they kept the tiny 10th hole (pictured above) in the tournament rotation. Royal Melbourne GC (West course)…

Gil Hanse “As a purist, I don’t believe it replaces the feel, look and smell of grass. But where water usage is a critical issue, synthetic could be the only solution. Artificial is better than not at all.” Tom Doak “The development of affordable artificial turf might bring golf to new landscapes where water is scarce, but I hope it will never be considered a replacement for the natural environment.” Jonathan Gaunt “The quality of the materials is improving year-on-year, so I can foresee a fully synthetic layout soon, likely in an arid or desert location. It is good to see Jack Nicklaus leading the charge.” Kyle Phillips “Will we see a fully synthetic course soon? Sure, I think we will. But will there be a time when you go…

IT was in 1993 that my relationship with the Old Course began. I was 16. My father grew up in the United Kingdom and hadn’t been back since before I was born. So he and I took a trip to see my grandmother, who was living on the Isle of Man. Before and after that little adventure, however, Dad and I drove across the country playing lots of golf. The highlight of the trip, however, was when we arrived at St Andrews. I can still remember how excited I was as we approached the town. I was already into golf by that stage; I had bought into everything about the game. So we entered the daily ballot to see if we could get on the Old Course the next day.…

326 METRES (357 YARDS) PAR-4 What a hole. I mean, looking at the road when you’re on the tee hitting your shot! You see the road and all it takes is a really quick shot and it’s out-of-bounds! That stands out. And then you’ve got the hotel in the background. Obviously it’s pretty neat there. It’s all about the history of the game at St Andrews. You’ve seen Jack stand on the bridge, you’ve seen the greats make putts to force a play-off, you’ve seen putts missed, you’ve seen putts made to win ... so yeah, it’s the Home of Golf and it’s fun watching that, seeing that, and now being a part of that. Birdie is my best score on 18. I haven’t made eagle yet. Can I pick…

Being able to play a positive chip that pulls up near the hole is a skill that can really lower your score. The mistake I see most golfers make is taking too little loft for their low chipping. The key to this shot is using a more lofted club with a smaller, faster swing. SHORT & SHARP Perhaps the most important aspect of this chip is clubhead acceleration through impact. That’s why this chip requires a smaller, faster swing to get the ball spinning off the clubface. THE SET-UP To play this shot effectively, position the ball back in your stance at address and have your weight a little more forward to encourage a downswing that hits the ball first. STABILITY Your body needs to be very quiet hitting this…

BY the end, the unexpected had become the expected. After surely the craziest, loopiest and most nonsensical – not to mention enthralling – last day in US Open history, a few things at last became clear. Jordan Spieth will next month go to St. Andrews, the Home of Golf, for the Open Championship halfway to winning the Grand Slam. Jason Day is one tough competitor. There is nothing more suffocating than final round pressure in a major championship. If in doubt, ask Branden Grace and Dustin Johnson. Louis Oosthuizen on a hot streak is capable of almost anything. Rory McIlroy is the best player on the planet. But not the best putter. Winning any of the four most important events in golf is hard, at times excruciatingly hard. Oh, one…

THE COURSE LOCATION: David Low Way, Bli Bli, Queensland. CONTACT: (07) 5373 1000. WEBSITE: maroochyrivergolfclub.com.au DESIGNER: Graham Marsh (2015). SLOPE RATINGS: Men: 127/125/122/115; women: 122. PLAYING SURFACES: Greenlees Park couch (tees and fairways), Bermuda TifEagle (greens). COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Pat Pauli. PGA PROFESSIONAL: Sean Seymore. GREEN FEES: $50 (18 holes), $30 (9 holes), $38 (cart). THE CLUB MEMBERSHIPS: There are six membership categories available, including seven day men’s memberships costing $1,016 annually,while ladies cost $1,014.There is a joining fee of $1,500. Juniors (under 18) pay $196.10 (boys) and $197.60 (girls). CORPORATE GOLF: The club can offer your company exclusive day-long use of the course on Corporate Fridays, while the new clubhouse has been designed for impressive flexibility – the function room opens on to an al fresco terraced area to…

MAY PHOTO CAPTION COMPETITION We had some clever entries to our photo of One Direction’s Niall Horan taking a tumble during his caddie duties for Rory McIlroy. The best entry according to our judges came from Peter French of Barton, ACT, with: “Niall, I know I told you to keep a low profile, but this is ridiculous!” Congratulations Peter, you win a pair of adidas Tour 360X shoes worth $149. BRIDGESTONE DRIVER WINNERS All subscribers to Golf Australia magazine were entered into a draw to win one of six Bridgestone J715 drivers,valued at $599 each. The winners were: Marilyn Buckley of South Yunderup,WA; Ray Dunn of Bundaberg East,Qld; Chris Foley of Kallangur, Qld; Albert Lam of Mona Vale, NSW; Greg Malligan of Kelso,NSW and Jim Yeadon of Ballina,NSW. golf Australia…

HENRIK Stenson loves gadgets. So when the Swede reveals he’s using a new training aid “to warm up before every round”, you know the concept must be special. Step forward DST Golf’s wedge and 8-iron, training clubs that feature an unusual-looking curved shaft, invented by former Challenge Tour player Bertie Cordle. “DST stands for Delayed Strike Technology,” Cordle says. “After becoming frustrated with the way I was hitting the ball, I studied the four players I considered to be the greatest ball-strikers ever. I wanted to know what the swings of Moe Norman, Ben Hogan, George Knudson and Lee Trevino had in common. The answer was not much, apart from their impact positions.” Cordle studied ultra-slow motion videos to pinpoint the physics behind optimal impact. “My research proved the clubhead…

IF I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t have believed it – Tiger Woods shooting 85 at Memorial. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather. I thought he was coming good but based on what I saw during that round, there is no way Tiger will be a factor again. I reckon his head is so scrambled with swing stuff he needs to walk away from the game and not pick up a club for a year. The focus in recent years has always been on his body and his injuries but it is easy to see he is now cooked mentally. I play off single figures and know a little bit about the golf swing and even I can see he’s trying to work with a swing that is…

RESIDENTS whose homes adjoin the Greg Norman-designed golf course at Sanctuary Lakes in Melbourne’s west are excited by the recent discovery of an extremely rare albino sparrow. Believed to have been hatched on the course last November, it has been photographed and identified by three independent experts who say it is only the seventh confirmed sighting anywhere in the world this century. The chances of seeing the bird – known as the White Angel to some members and Piaf to others – are quite slim. Sparrows are quite territorial and don’t move far from where they are born, says Tom Parkinson, one of Sanctuary Lakes’ many nature lovers. He’s happy to talk about this unusual house sparrow (Passer domesticus) but won’t say where it can be seen. “Our fear is…

Imagine if this story unfolded at the Open Championship at St Andrews this month: “R&A forgets to book Old Course for final round … hackers slotted in between top pros ... Adam Scott makes play-off but is threatened with disqualification after his ball collides with green fee-paying amateur on 17th green ... Ruling to be made after play-off against Rory McIlroy … Australian star refuses to participate unless situation is clarified … McIlroy declared winner but forced to walk all 18 holes before he can pick up trophy … Scott says he will never return to St Andrews again …” Unbelievable, I agree. Yet this is the scenario that faced a young Scottish professional 139 years ago at St Andrews. A remarkable story in many ways, it involved all the…

OUT-OF-BOUNDS Ian Baker-Finch won The Open at Royal Birkdale in 1991 playing sublime golf, shooting 64 and 66 in the final two rounds. But by the 1995 Open at St Andrews, his confidence was gone. Paired with the legendary Arnold Palmer, who was making his farewell appearance at The Open, ‘Finchy’ snap-hooked his ball from the 1st tee, straight over the parallel 18th fairway and out-of-bounds, nearly 150 metres to his left. It may be one of the widest fairways in golf, but he wasn’t the first to do this, and he certainly won’t be the last. With its ‘out and back’ design, the boundaries of the course come into play at several holes, including the 1st, 16th, 17th and 18th. If, after playing a shot, you think your ball…

WHAT OUR TESTER SAID: MODEL AND LOFT PLAYED: Callaway Mack Daddy PM-Grind 60° lob wedge with 10° of bounce. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: It’s a different design, but I can see the idea behind the size and shape of the clubhead. My only concern is the leading edge appears to not sit flush to the ground, so we’ll see how that performs. VERDICT: I ended up using the Callaway Mack Daddy PM-Grind wedge a lot, both out of bunkers and for general chipping and pitching. The leading edge didn’t bounce uncontrollably like I thought it might as instead I found the sole design performed well. It actually sits beautifully; flop shots felt easier because of the head shape so there is merit in the design. For me, the Mack Daddy PM-Grind wedge…

LET THE PALM GUIDE “The first move in the swing is often called the takeaway. I like to think of it as setting the club in motion; the swing is one fluid motion, not a series of static positions,” says teaching pro Gary Nicol. “Having been fortunate to see Rory in action at close quarters, I’m pretty sure he sees this as a position to ‘swing through’ rather than ‘swing to’. Assuming you have a neutral grip, let the palm of your right hand control the pace and direction of that first couple of feet. The palm of your right hand and the clubface are like Siamese twins – what one does, the other has to. We may never come close to hitting the ball like Rory, but we can…

Scoring in the low 90s is common for most golfers. Being able to score better than a bogey per hole requires some analysis before your prepare and will lead to lower scores. CONTACT A divot must be made and always after the ball, not before. If the white painted line is the ball position, there is only one shot here that will be hit crisply and to the right distance. TARGET The divot here is across the painted line, which is pointing towards the target. This divot is evidence of a swing path that will cause a slice or pulled shot for a right-hander. ROCK THE CRADLE When you are rocking a baby to sleep, you simply rock your arms back and forth. It’s the same with the putting stroke…

THE driver is the only club in your bag where you actually want to hit the ball on the upswing or, in other words, after it has just passed through the bottom of the swing arc. This is obviously the opposite of hitting an iron where you hit down on the ball. But for maximum carry and less spin, which equates to greater distance, you want to drive the ball with an ascending clubhead, like Shane Lowry is here. To do that, you move the ball a little forward in your stance, so it is in line with your left heel (for right-handers) or even your left shoulder. The only problem with that, and I see it with a lot of club golfers, is when you move the ball forward…

There was nervous excitement coming from Tiger Woods early in US Open week as he talked a good game and, again, noting he was improving with the swing changes he was working on with coach Chris Como. But Chambers Bay found him out. It chewed him up and spat him out. In retrospect, Woods had no chance by taking a ‘work-in-progress’ swing into that arena. He was an underdone prize-fighter being led to the slaughter. And slaughter it was. Rounds of 80-76 saw him finish ahead of just one player, Darren Clarke, and further away from the cut line than at any stage in his nearly 19 years as a professional. And it could have been worse, if not for a holed putt here or there. Consider this: He hit…

VICTOR HARBOR GOLF CLUB VICTOR HARBOR, SOUTH AUSTRALIA RANKING: Victor Harbor ranks 91st on Golf Australia’s Top-100 Public Access Courses list, and was a new entrant to the list in 2015. That position makes it the second-best public-access course in South Australia. THE DEAL: Green fees for non-members are $35 on weekdays and $48 on weekends. Several cool discounts are available, including a $30 green fee for rounds after 5pm (granted, that’s more useful to know in summer) and a $120 week-long fee for holidaymakers that begins from the day of issue. GOOD TO KNOW: Ambrose, every hacker’s favourite format, has its Australian origins at Victor Harbor. What Americans know as “Scramble” is called Ambrose here courtesy of Richard Ambrose, who planted the seed for the format while visiting Victor…

BYRON NELSON CHAMPION WINNING SCORE: 18-under-par, 259 DEFEATED: Defeated Americans Charley Hoffman, Jimmy Walker and Scott Pinckney by four shots. DEFINING MOMENTS: Having slept on the lead, or a share of it, for three nights, Bowditch surrendered top spot on the leaderboard before reaching the turn on the final day. But it was a short-lived surrender. Four back-nine birdies, including a gem at the par-3 17th, saw him roar back into the lead and claim his second US PGA Tour title. WITH THIS VICTORY… • Bowditch became the third Australian to win the Byron Nelson in seven years, after Adam Scott (2008) and JasonDay (2010).• The 32-year-old booked himself a spot in the 2016 Masters.• He stormed up the list in the FedEx Cup to be inside the Top-20. “You start to see…