Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Golf Australia

THE 2017 editions of the Emirates Australian Open and the Australian PGA Championship will be played in consecutive weeks starting at the end of this month.There is no questioning that both are prestigious events with long, rich histories of great players holding their respective trophies aloft. In Sydney, fans will get to see the reigning Open Champion and the defender of our national title, Jordan Spieth, alongside our highest-ranked player, Jason Day. On the Gold Coast a week later, Masters Champion Sergio Garcia will make his first PGA appearance beside our own green jacket winner Adam Scott. Four brilliant players who will undoubtedly attract thousands of golf fans through the gates at both events, which certainly vindicates the appearance fees each will receive just for teeing it up. Spieth and…

WEST Australia’s Hannah Green will play on the LPGATour in 2018. The 20-year-old was one of 10 Symetra Tour players who sealed their card at the recent Tour Championship. Green finished second on the Tour’s Order of Merit, which guaranteed her card and also gained her Rookie of the Year honours. “It’s pretty cool to think I’ll be on the LPGA next year,” Green said. “My time on the Symetra Tour has been a big learning experience about my golf game and about myself as a person. “I’m glad I got to spend this time on the Symetra Tour in order to get to the LPGA.” With three victories and 12 top-10 finishes, Green became one of only five players in SymetraTour history to surpass $100,000 in prizemoney in a…

IN THE wake of the recent Presidents Cup, I’ve heard all kinds of comments and conjecture regarding the future of the event. Everyone seems to have an opinion after watching America’s convincing 19-11 victory over the International squad. But here’s the thing.To me at least, too many people are overly concerned with the small things. Team spirit. The pairings. The balls players use. All that kind of stuff. Here’s the reality. For the last hundred years or so, when it came to picking a group of golfers to take on anyone else, the United States were better. Which is why, for a long time, they won the Ryder Cup without really having to try too hard.They never had to learn the nuances of team golf because they were so superior…

The storied and nomadic history of The Australian Golf Club is set to gain another chapter with the 2017 tournament marking the club’s record setting 20th as host. Largely unchanged since it last staged the event in 2015 The Australian will again play as a par-71 measuring 6,619 metres. With the 1st hole again playing as a long par-4, rather than the gentle par-5 which opens the course for the members. Although nowhere near the extent of Jack Nicklaus’ 2013 update to his own 1970s design, changes have occurred at the 4th and 12th holes since 2015, presenting players with a slightly different challenge than in previous years. While a new fairway bunker at the par-4 7th won’t come into play for the tournament players. Despite being played from a…

Are modern golf clubs that much easier to hit than the equipment of eras gone by? There is no doubt the highly advanced drivers and irons on the market today are designed to offer maximum forgiveness on off-centre strikes and, with precise weighting, are far easier to square up at impact. These two technological advances alone allow players to swing much harder at the ball knowing that, even if their swing is a little off, they will hit a good shot. So what happens when a driver clubhead is half the size? What happens when the sweetspot on an iron is the size of a five cent piece and there is no perimeter weighting to help you square the clubface at impact? To answer these questions, we decided to test…

MODELS PLAYED: Golf Pride MCC Plus4 ALIGN and MCC ALIGN FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The MCC design offers a nice blend of feel, performance and looks. The addition of the new Align red rib didn’t look or feel like much before the grip was installed but once on the club it was noticeably raised and easily felt when gripping the club. HOW IT PERFORMED: As a round grip user I was surprised to learn that one in three Golf Pride users on Tour favoured a ribbed grip. While ribbed grips were good enough for Ben Hogan and the offer of grip consistency should appeal to every golfer, my experience fitting grips for over 10 years is that round versions are far more popular with average players. My time with the Align grips…

Growling Frog. The mere utterance of the name a decade or so ago would spark anyone to sit up in their chair quizzically wanting to know more about a frog that growls. Today, mention the words “Growling Frog”, particularly around golfers, and chances are they’ll tell you it’s a golf course north of Melbourne, after all it’s a name you’re unlikely to forget in a hurry. The distinctive name is derived from the protected Growling Grass Frog that is found in the wetlands that run through the layout. Growling Frog can be found about 30km out of the city at Yan Yean and opened for play in September 2004. In the 13 years since, no other course project in Australia has been undertaken in quite the same way. Unlike the…

DO YOU see the big golf events roll around every year and say to your mates, “We should bloody do that!” And your best mate says, “We bloody should.” But you don’t, because real life has a way of getting ahead of your unreal life, right? Sometimes, things fall the right way. You could win a trip. Your mum or dad might cough up a “We’ll never get another chance” kind of holiday. Or, if you’re really lucky, you’ll end up on a golf show for Fox Sports, creatively titled, The Golf Show. And someone will say, “You’re going to the Presidents Cup.” When I finished wetting my pants I realised there was a job to do. So, for you lot who are inclined to wait for something like that…

Sometimes it’s easy to buy into the notion professional golfers all lead lavish lifestyles. We see cheques handed out every week worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and assume that’s what it must be like for every player. That’s simply not the case. Some struggle with the fierce competitive nature of the sport, while others never get the right opportunities. For Jason Norris, it took more than 20 years of hard work, a series of injuries and two close encounters with death for that opportunity to come knocking. But the South Australian grabbed it with both hands at the Fiji International in August. “It was such a phenomenal feeling winning in Fiji,” Norris said. “We all know only a certain percentage of golfers make it. There’s a lot of guys…

 WHEN working with golfers, whether they be from the Golf NSW and Golf Australia High Performance squads or club golfers, one common goal is providing quality feedback when exercising. Correct feedback allows the golfer to know when activating the correct muscles and doing an exercise correctly, and when they are not. … THE CAP CREATES PRESSURE THROUGH THE BANDS TO FEEL LIKE YOU ARE PUSHING AGAINST TO ACHIEVE LENGTH IN THE SPINE. Used by PGA Tour winners Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt, the range of GravityFit products is driven by the idea that the effect of gravity helps facilitate core muscles. All the GravityFit products give people instant feedback to facilitate correct technique, with a range of golf specific applications that can be done in the gym, on the range…

MODEL PLAYED: Directed Force Reno 2.0 with Press Grip. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The size and unique shape of the putter head were instantly intriguing. As was the shaft placement in the head which produces the Directed Force’s ‘lie angle balancing’. While I was originally a little unsure about such a large head and the very different feel of the Press grip the black head, black shaft and black grip gave the putter an overall stealth-like look that helped to hide the size when over the ball. And like most golfers I can get past looks in favour of performance. HOW IT PERFORMED: Before I laid hands on the putter I used the company’s online fitting tool where I sent a short video of myself putting and was provided with the necessary…

IT’S a great title, one befitting the most historic and prestigious championship in one of the world’s leading golfing nations. There’s no denying that basic fact. But a harsh reality has emerged over the last few years. Right now, the Australian Open isn’t what it was. Or should be.Which is one of the game’s top-10 events. Yes, the roll-call of winners over the last decade contains major champions like Jordan Spieth (twice), Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy – the Stonehaven Cup clearly remains a desirable item on at least a few high-profile wish lists – but the 113-year old Aussie Open is today not nearly as important as it once was. It can even be argued that Australia’s national championship isn’t actually the biggest deal in this great…

 WINNING SCORE: 15 under, 273. “THIS WILL DEFINITELY SET UP MY SEASON AND HOPEFULLY SPRINGBOARD ME INTO ANOTHER REALLY GOOD YEAR.”– BRENDAN STEELE DEFEATED: Fellow American Tony Finau by two shots. DEFINING MOMENTS: Steele, the defending champion, entered the final round two shots behind Tour rookie Tyler Duncan, who got off to a disastrous start with five bogies on the front nine knocking him out of contention. After making the turn in three under without dropping a shot, Steele held the outright lead at 15 under par before the 34-year-old ran into trouble at the par-4 12th hole where he made bogey, dropping him into a tie for the lead with Finau. Steele offset two bogies with rallying birdies at the par-5 16th and 18th holes to pull away from…

AUSTRALIA’S foremost golf course designer was honoured recently with the release of his biography, Discovering Alex Russell, the Man and His Legacy , by Neil Crafter and John Green. Most players with a sense of history can associate Russell’s name with the design of the East Course at Royal Melbourne while those who tend to bore you to tears (present company included) at dinner parties or in the bar can add Lake Karrinyup in Perth, Paraparaumu Beach in New Zealand and Yarra Yarra in Melbourne’s Sandbelt to the list. This alone makes him a significant figure in our game and many aficionados until now have lamented his lack of wider recognition. Another view is that it is good the book has taken so long because it has…

Jordan Spieth has been unabashed in his praise and love of Australia, and in particular Sydney, since his maiden Australian Open victory in 2014. Each of his successful trips to our national championship has resulted in a springboard for the following year. The former World No.1 acknowledges the ability to “kick back” while he’s here as an additional benefit to his successes in Sydney. “I love Australia it’s my favourite place I’ve ever travelled to, to play golf and the city of Sydney is just one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” Spieth has said. Spieth will arrive in Sydney for the 102nd staging of the Australian Open from November 23 to 26 in red hot form, which is an ominous sign for the rest of the field.…