Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2018 i Golf Australia

IF you have spent any time watching a pay-TV service you will be familiar with the Discovery Channel.You know the one … documentaries on animals, space and lots of other scientific marvels. Well, Discovery is no longer just a channel. It is a massive company now known as Discovery Inc. and, as a golf fan, you will be hearing more about Discovery in years to come. Here’s why. Discovery recently struck a $2 billion deal to acquire the international television and streaming rights to PGA Tour golf through to 2030. The move is the latest high-profile sports agreement for the factual giant, following its successful Olympics debut earlier this year through its Eurosport division. The deal gives Discovery online and TV broadcast rights to more than 140 golf tournaments a…

IN 1987 Ian Woosnam won the Jersey Open, the Madrid Open, the Scottish Open, the Trophee Lancome, the World Match Play Championship, the Hong Kong Open, the Sun City Million Dollar Challenge, the World Cup individual and team (alongside David Llewellyn) trophies and was a star performer in the European Ryder Cup side that won for the first time on US soil at Muirfield Village. By almost any measure, the then 29-year old Welshman was the best player in the world that season. And yet. The following June, when Curtis Strange defeated Nick Faldo in a play-off for the US Open title, Woosnam was watching at home on television. No, he hadn’t missed the cut in America’s national championship; he simply hadn’t met any of the exemption criteria through which…

LANGER COMES CLEAN “Langer Comes Clean” said the headline in your May edition. Really? The article said that illegally ‘anchoring’ a putter occurs when the club, the gripping hand or the forearm is held against the body. It went on to say that Bernard Langer claims compliance by moving his top hand away from his chest as he’s about to putt. The European Tour’s Chief Referee jumped in to say that we have to take Langer’s word that he does that. But the article itself had also spoken of anchoring via the forearm. And the R&A’s explanation speaks about the banning of indirect anchoring points, the forearm being the main one. The article even has a photograph of Langer with his forearm muscles bulging, arguably from the effort of keeping…

The R&A has unveiled a new Women in Golf Charter as part of the organisation’s drive to increase the number of women and girls participating in golf and to encourage more opportunities for women to work within the golf industry. The Women in Golf Charter aims to inspire an industry-wide commitment to developing a more inclusive culture within golf around the world and to enable more women and girls to flourish and maximise their potential at all levels of the sport. Adoption of the Charter will also require national federations, like Golf Australia, to build on current initiatives and develop new projects that will focus on encouraging more women and girls to play golf and stay within the sport as members of clubs, while also empowering women to enjoy successful…

TO celebrate this month’s Open Championship we take you back to a light-hearted Nick Faldo moment. Where could his ball be in this photo? Correctly identify where Faldo’s ball is hidden on the grid, using the letters and numbers (eg. A4, B2 etc) and you could win two dozen Mizuno JPX-S golf balls. The new JPX-S is a soft compression edition of Mizuno’s three piece ball –producing a balanced performance for a wider range of swing speeds, which also boasts Mizuno’s Dimple-Cluster design for improved aerodynamics. TO ENTER: Select your grid reference and visit, www.golfaustralia.com.au, to submit your answer. The winner and the correct answer will be published in the September issue of Golf Australia magazine.…

The Victorian town of Bendigo has a strong sporting history primarily rooted in Australian Rules football and cricket, with AFL’s Selwood brothers among the town’s most famous exports. However if Lucas Herbert’s form of the past two years – where he has risen from outside the top-1,000 in the world ranking to as high as No.143 and earned two major championship starts – is to continue, Bendigo could become equally famous for its golfing pedigree. Interestingly, the 22-year-old admits now he originally planned to take the well-trodden path into a team sport with dreams of donning an AFL jumper or a baggy green cap. “If you asked me in winter, it was I wanted to be a Brownlow medallist and the captain of the Western Bulldogs. And if you asked…

Hitting fairways and greens is the bedrock of a solid score; you’ll never score well if you’re constantly chipping out of the trees, or trying to get up and down for par. In this article you will see a phrase – ‘stable clubhead’ – make a regular appearance. That’s because delivering the clubhead with stability at impact is at the core of accurate golf. In terms of direction it refers to keeping the blade squarer for longer, increasing your margin for error. For distance control, a stable clubhead relates to the consistent transfer of energy from club to ball. I’ll guide you through eight steps to work on both, and we’ll round things off with some strategy advice. #1 Hit shots with split hands Add stability to the clubface, and…

Marc Leishman’s soft knees and bent left elbow at the top of the backswing give his swing a casual and smooth look that makes average golfers jealous. However, the flowing motion belies the significant power he possess, which he generates from the ground up. Although not as obvious as players like Bubba Watson and Justin Thomas who get right up on their toes during their swing, Leishman loads his weight into the ground on the way back before his legs straighten at impact, giving him an appearance as if he is almost pushing off the ground. This leg action together with Leishman clearing his body to the left, makes the space that allows him to straighten his arms and deliver the club at serious speed. While the speed he creates…

HITTING ball after ball from the perfect lie on the practice fairway is the most common form of practice but fails to reproduce the challenge of the golf course where lies are rarely perfect. Sloping lies can be difficult to find on a driving range but if you do get the opportunity to hit balls from them it can be extremely beneficial to develop an understanding of how the ball is going to react when the ball is above your feet, for example. Generally the tendency is that the ball being above your feet is going to draw and the ball below your feet is going to fade. An upslope means your body slows down and your arms go past your body causing a draw shot that is also shorter.…

UPGRADE YOUR GEAR Titleist’s brand promise of “innovation, performance and quality excellence” extends well beyond its popular golf balls and clubs, with the company’s new 2018 gear range of golf bags, headwear, gloves, accessories and travel gear some of the latest products delivering all three. The new Club 14 Cart Bag is designed for use on golf carts and buggies – with ease of use and maximum storage front of mind – and features a 14-way top with dividers that extend all the way to the bottom of the bag to keep clubs organised and separated, while abrasion resistant materials provide outstanding durability. Forward facing pockets, including a magnetic valuables pocket, are all accessible when the bag is sitting on a cart and provide maximum room for everything golfers could…

THE COURSE LOCATION: May Terrace, Lockleys, South Australia, 5032. CONTACT: (08) 8352 5444; (08) 8443 6162 (pro shop). WEBSITE: www.kooyongagolf.com.au DESIGNERS: Herbert L. Rymill (1924); Martin Hawtree (2008); Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford (ongoing). COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Richard James. PGA PROFESSIONALS: John Corbett, Susie Mathews and Duard Nel. SLOPE RATINGS: 137 (Men’s black tees), 136 (Men’s blue tees), 134 (Men’s white tees); 137 (Women’s red tees), 130 (Women’s yellow tees). PLAYING SURFACES: Santa Ana couch (fairways); Bentgrass (greens). GREEN FEES: $220 (18 holes for Golflink card holders). THE CLUB MEMBERSHIPS: Kooyonga offers a wide range of memberships to allow everyone the opportunity to access the club. Junior memberships do not have an entrance fee and incur an annual subscription fee of $1,184.70. Category two memberships cost $3,159.20 per year with…

THE next instalment of a top female player taking on the men in a PGA Tour event is set to be played out this month when Brittany Lincicome tees it up in the Barbasol Championship. The Barbasol is the alternate event to The Open Championship so the field may only feature a handful of male players ranked in the top-100 in the world, which makes it an interesting prospect for the eight-time LPGA Tour title winner. The 32-year-old will take up a sponsor’s exemption to play in the event joining the likes of Annika Sorenstam, who famously played the PGA Tour’s Colonial Tournament 15 years ago and just missed the cut. Michelle Wie has played against the men several times, while the legendary Babe Didrickson Zaharias was the first to…

“… AFTER THIS WIN I THINK I’LL BE THINKING ABOUT THE RANKING AND TALK ABOUT THAT, BUT I EVEN WANT TO BE NO. 1, I WANT TO INSPIRE ALL THE KIDS IN THAILAND.” – ARIYA JUTANUGARN U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN WINNING SCORE: 11-under-par, 277. DEFEATED: Hyo Joo Kim in a four hole playoff. DEFINING MOMENTS: Jutanugarn looked almost impossible to beat as she made the turn in the final round, having added five birdies and a lone bogey to extend her overnight four-shot lead to seven with just nine holes to play. But with Kim playing steady bogey-free golf and in possession of a hot putter, Jutanugarn began to feel the pressure and opened her back nine with a triple-bogey seven, before a bogey at the 12th hole, where Kim,…

I PLAYED in my first Open Championship at Carnoustie in 1999. I was pretty excited. I had failed to qualify a couple of times while I was still an amateur, so it was special for me to make my Open debut during my first year as a professional. I had performed really well in the qualifying and was really looking forward to playing a course I had been to and really enjoyed a couple of times before. Sadly, that feeling didn’t last. It ended up being – still – one of the most disappointing weeks I’ve had in my career. And it remains, by a distance, my least favourite Open. Only a couple of holes into my first practice round, I sensed something was wrong. I’d seen enough Opens on…

Twenty-five years have passed since Shane Warne delivered the ball of the century to Mike Gatting and Paul Keating won the ‘unwinnable election’. Australia’s population was still under 18 million and Allan Border was set to become the greatest run scorer in the history of Test cricket. It has also been 25 years since an Australian was triumphant at golf’s oldest and most celebrated tournament; The Open Championship, which was won in record fashion by Greg Norman in 1993 at Royal St George’s. Australians have found more success at the Open than any other major championship – but the coveted Claret Jug has now eluded the kiss of an Australian for longer than any of the game’s four most prestigious trophies. Jason Day hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy at Whistling Straits…

‘GETTING A LITTLE BIT QUICK AT THE TOP IS ONE OF MY TENDENCIES, SO I’M ALWAYS WORKING ON THAT WITH BUTCH’ MY No.1 ACCURACY KEY One of the big things is making sure I’ve got a good rhythm and tempo, really trying not to get too quick. Getting a little bit quick at the top is one of my tendencies, so I’m always working on that with Butch. WHEN TO BE AGGRESSIVE It really depends on what my position is. You want to be in the short grass off the tee, but I tend not to be as aggressive at the pin with a longer club as I am with a 9-iron in my hand. MY SWING THOUGHT I can get a little bit quick, so one of my main…

DRIVER: Callaway Rogue with 9° loft, with Fujikura Speeder 757 Evolution IV X-Flex shaft. 3-WOOD: Callaway Rogue with 15° loft, with Fujikura Motore Speeder VC Tour Spec 9.2X shaft. 7-WOOD: Callaway Rogue with 21° loft, with Fujikura Motore Speeder VC Tour Spec 9.2X shaft. UTILITY: Callaway X Forged UT with 21° loft, with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 130X shaft. IRONS: Callaway X Forged (4-iron to pitching wedge), with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 130X shafts. WEDGES: Callaway Mack Daddy Forged (54°-10° S) and Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (58°-04° L Grind), with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 130X shafts. PUTTER: Odyssey Versa 1W. BALL: Callaway Chrome Soft X.…

VISION is the first port of call in a putting lesson. Golf is played side on to the ball so our vision is always distorted as we stand over the ball. How many times have you stood over the golf ball and looked at the hole and thought this isn’t exactly where I am aiming or it doesn’t feel right? “HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU STOOD OVER THE GOLF BALL AND LOOKED AT THE HOLE AND THOUGHT THIS ISN’T EXACTLY WHERE I AM AIMING OR IT DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT?” To analyse someone’s vision, I put an alignment stick down six feet from the hole and line it up dead straight, standing directly behind it looking towards the hole we both agree that it is lined up straight (pic 1). Then…

MODEL PLAYED: King F8, fitted with Aldila NV 2KXV Blue 60 Stiff shaft. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The grey ‘Nardo’ finish and CNC face milling of the King F8 made it instantly grab my attention from a visual standpoint and while visually bigger than some other drivers in the market, the shape when compared to some of Cobra’s older models is an improvement to my eye. Easy to align and appearing to carry less loft than stated on the MyFly sleeve courtesy of the contrast of the black clubface and grey crown, the F8 produced a high and strong trajectory that didn’t seem to spin too much, even in heavy winds. HOW IT PERFORMED: Armed with the knowledge that the King F8 is built for forgiveness, I was pleasantly surprised when multiple…

THE COURSE LOCATION: Glennie Ave, South Oakleigh, Victoria. CONTACT: (03) 9575 0444. WEBSITE: www.commonwealthgolf.com.au DESIGNERS: Sam Bennett (1921); Charles H. Lane (1926); Sloan Morpeth (1962); Kevin Hartley (1992); Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Clayton, Mike Cocking & Ashley Mead – OCCM (2006 and ongoing). SLOPE RATINGS: MEN: 132 (black), 131 (blue), 126 (white); WOMEN: 138 (white), 129 (red), 127 (green), 118 (gold). PLAYING SURFACES: Legends couch fairways, bentgrass greens. GREEN FEES: $250. Members of golf clubs within Australia who hold a Golf Link number will receive a 20 percent discount. PGA PROS: John Wade and Sandy Jamieson. THE CLUB MEMBERSHIP: Membership at Commonwealth is quite exclusive, however the process of joining is not overly onerous. New member intakes are approximately quarterly. These intakes will be subject to field sizes and player…

THE R&A recently published figures suggesting there has been a substantial spike in participation for shorter formats of the game; most notably, an increase in competitive nine-hole scorecards being submitted. These findings were to be expected, however, with various national bodies – including Golf Australia – introducing new and exciting ways to play the game in order to attract time-conscious people. Last year, for instance, the inaugural “Play 9” initiative gave club golfers the chance to tackle the back nine holes of The Australian Golf Club during the Australian Open. It attracted 163 clubs and nearly 2,500 entries. The Play 9 competition has already opened for 2018 – and 24 lucky players from around the country will experience nine holes at The Lakes Golf Club on November 17 (day three…

IT IS hard to accept that 30 years have passed since the Bicentennial Classic was played at Royal Melbourne and few of us will ever see another tournament as good. It was staged in 1988 by the late David Inglis, founder of the Australian Masters, who also brought Jack Nicklaus and Robert Trent Jones Jnr. to Australia to design the Heritage and National courses respectively. Inglis felt golf was not doing anything to mark Australia’s 200th birthday so he attracted the majority of the world’s top 50 players to Royal Melbourne with prizemoney of $1.5 million. By today’s standards, the money does not sound a lot but at the time it was the biggest purse ever seen in Australia. Back then The Age newspaper cost 40 cents and $1.5 million…

At 46 years of age and struggling to pull up any more trees, Padraig Harrington now often finds himself looking back rather than forwards. But with an illustrious 22-year career yielding three majors, 12 European Tour wins, three PGA Tour victories and six Ryder Cup appearances, it’s not hard to see why he affords himself the luxury of reminiscing. Certainly, the Irishman sits in with the legends of the game. Though sometimes it is easy to forget his ascension into golf’s history books was kick-started by the tense Open Championship victory in 2007 at Carnoustie, the setting for this year’s oldest major. With very fond memories, Harrington recollects that week when his career suddenly skyrocketed to new heights. “When I holed that winning putt on the fourth play-off hole it…

“A former PGA Tour professional recently asked me to research how many short game shots the average 90 shooter faces from 60 yards or less in an average round. It turned out the answer was 13, and that these 13 could be split into the following five categories: 0-20 yards on the fairway; 0-20 yards in the rough; greenside bunker shots; 20-60 yards on the fairway; and 20-60 yards in the rough. I quickly discovered two things. First, the key to gaining strokes in all these areas is getting the ball on the green in one shot. And second, the short game shots that cause higher handicappers the most problems are: 20-60 yards from the rough; greenside bunker shots; and 0-20 yards in the rough. So, if you’re looking to…

1 At address, Marc is perfectly balanced in an athletic posture with multiple features of his golf swing pre-set before he has taken the club away. Even with an iron Leishman’s, head is behind the ball and his right forearm is slightly above his left to deliver the path required to hit his reliable power fade. 2 As good as it gets! Look at the logos on Leishman’s shirt to see what has initiated the club moving back into the start of the backswing. Marc’s upper body is turning, while his arms maintain the triangle they formed at address. The slight head turn away from the target is reminiscent of the way Jack Nicklaus started his swing. 3 Leishman is doing a great job here of keeping the club in…

Developing his game in windswept Warrnambool, Leishman had to learn to control his golf ball to play well and has said he does so through the use of his hands. This ‘handsy’ action has made the 34-year-old one of best wind players on the planet and in addition to some unique footwork makes Leishman’s action unlike any other on the PGA Tour and something of a throwback to the swings of days gone by. Leishman transfers plenty of weight into his right side at the top of the backswing, with a significant hip turn and his left knee flexing more towards the ball than many other modern players, who restrict their hip rotation against their upper body turn. A classic shift of the hips towards the target starts his downswing,…

SUITABILITY: With eight loft settings and two adjustable weights, as well as a range of shaft options, the King F8 suits low to high handicappers looking for increased forgiveness on off-centre hits. MODELS: In addition to the standard model, the King F8+ offers reduced spin, lower launch and increased workability in a more compact head shape preferred by better players. SHAFTS: A range of premium aftermarket shafts in a variety of weights and ball flight profiles are available, including the Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei CK Blue 50, Aldila NV 2KXV Blue 60 and Aldila NV 2KXV Green 65. LEFT HANDED: Both the King F8 and F8+ are available in right and left handed. COBRA SAYS: Cobra’s thinnest and lightest driver face is produced through the use of CNC milling, which delivers…

“I’M TRYING REALLY HARD NOT TO DRINK BEFORE 8AM ON WEEKDAYS. WEEKENDS, TOO, IF I’M HONEST.” IT’S 7:48. Cold. Windy. Threatening skies and talk of pulling out, but only if things proceeded from the potentially bleak we had to properly bleak. Our first hole was the par-5 9th, gettable in two given the mild hurricane up our clackers. Driver high off the toe and it ran like it was being chased past the bunkers into the land of the reachable. There was a funny feeling about today. I’d ditched a conventional big brand technology hybrid to welcome back to the bag a Maltby 2-iron; Ralph not Roger Maltby. He is my yoda. Almost everyone laughs at this club, but it works well enough. The ball soared, just making the edge…