Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2016/ January 2017 i Golf Digest

As editor I’ve been fortunate to work with the three commissioners who ran the PGA Tour since its founding. I edited a rules column written by Joseph C. Dey Jr. after his tenure (1969-’74); he had the imperious bearing of a medieval archbishop. It was once said in our pages, Dey kept a copy of the New Testament in his right breast pocket and The Rules of Golf in his left—“he helped write one of them.” I then enjoyed a tumultuous relationship covering Deane Beman, the tour’s greatest commissioner but an intense dictator (1974-’94). The commissioner I’ve come to admire best is Tim Finchem, 69, whose 22-year reign as the most powerful man in golf will end when Jay Monahan takes over in January. My first recollection of Finchem was…

There are lots of reasons golfers miss greens— poor contact, overswinging, too much curve on the ball. But the root problem is usually one of three bad habits: 1. NOT TAKING ENOUGH CLUB. I almost never see an amateur hit over the green on a fullswing approach. When facing a full 8-iron shot, take the 7 and swing smoothly. You’ll hit the ball more solidly, and get the distance right. 2. AIMING POORLY. This stems from just not thinking properly. Most golfers are happy to put the ball anywhere on the green, so they aim at the middle. Problem is, that doesn’t allow for their natural shot shape. For example, if you’re a left-to-right player and you aim at the middle, your target goes from the whole green to…

2016 DRIVING ACCURACY ▶ 2016 SAND SAVES Soren Kjeldsen’s swing is one of the most unusual for a modern-day tour pro. There is no rigidity in his hands and arms, no emphasis on the big muscles or a huge shoulder turn to generate more power. Instead, the Danish pro’s wrists cock early, his left arm bends and his hands never rise above his head as he takes the club to the top of the backswing. It might look unusual, but it works. The four-time winner on the European Tour finished T-7 at this year’s Masters, T-9 at the British Open, had four other top-10 finishes; and he won the Irish Open in 2015. He has been working with Scottishborn instructor Colin Smith since 1992, and although Smith has helped maintain…

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU AGE 23 LIVES Clovis, Calif.; Dallas STORY 2015 U.S. Amateur and NCAA champion. Earned 2016-’17 PGA Tour card with Web.com Tour win in September. TINKERER AT HEART At 17, I discovered single-length clubs. My coach, Mike Schy, and I grinded down a bunch of shaft flexes and clubs to build my first set. Then David Edel built my set for my amateur career. With Cobra’s support, I’m proud of our new one-length irons. NEW PUTTING STROKE? I’m thinking about switching to the sidesaddle method in 2017. I’m always trying to gain an advantage, so I won’t rule anything out. —WITH STEPHEN HENNESSEY…

“Some bunkers are to challenge; others are to help you aim.” Sometimes there’s no substitute for experience. With rare holes, if you haven’t walked the land, you’ll want to be paired with someone—maybe a caddie—who can clearly articulate what lies ahead. But most of the time, a simple scorecard drawing shows all you need. As a designer, I try to give golfers very clear cues with the bunkering. Take the par-5 16th at the Condado de Alhama Golf Resort (illustrated), a course I designed in Murcia, Spain. At 636 yards from the back tees, almost nobody is getting home in two. From overhead it might look like a jumble of obstacles, but what you have to do becomes pretty straightforward if you ask, “What shot do I want for my…

How much range time would it take to master the game? Q I work at a country club and see members practicing two or three hours, three to four times a week on the range. Is there an amount of time where there is a limited return on all that work? JOHN OLIVERIO, PITTSBURGH A There has been a lot of research on what types of practice are best, but we don’t know of any studies on how much to practice. Malcolm Gladwell famously wrote in his book Outliers: The Story of Success that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master something. For example, it took us that long to figure out you could take apart a Rubik’s Cube and put it back together with all the colors matching.…

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If I tossed you a golf ball and asked you to toss it right back to me, without even thinking, I bet you’d throw it with your dominant arm. What this should tell you is that even though you’ve got two arms, you feel more comfortable using one over the other. Remember that when you swing the golf club. A good golf swing is a blend of coordinated movement from both sides of the body, but it’s really your dominant side that wants, and should, dictate the action. For most of you, that means taking a right-side approach to your swing. Grab a bath towel and I’ll show you how. —WITH RON KASPRISKE BACKSWING: LOAD AND SEPARATE Wrap a towel around your right arm at the elbow joint and hold…

If you want to become better at pitching, my first piece of advice is to put your ball in lots of scenarios when you practice. Why hit 50 from the same spot when you get only one swing for each shot on the course? Next, understand how your wedge is supposed to move through the grass. It’s supposed to glide, not dig. To get it to do that, feel like you’re letting the clubhead strike the ball a split second before the hands move over the top of its position (small photo). That means keep your grip pressure light, and resist the urge to prevent the clubhead from releasing in fear of hitting it too far. Keep the club moving. A great way to practice this action is to…

No matter how long or short your swing, one fundamental you need to apply is keeping your arms “connected” to your body as you swing back and through. If you do it right, you’re making it way easier to have good timing during the swing and to move the club on the correct plane. It’s easy to see when your lead arm “disconnects” by moving away from your body on the backswing. But the trail arm pulling back behind you causes just as many problems. Either way, your swing gets shifted off plane, and you’ll have a hard time getting your body, hands and arms to work together on the downswing. Ideally, your lead arm moves up your chest in the backswing, and your trail arm doesn’t do much more…

Sophisticated fitting tools aren’t just for drivers. The typical golfer purchases a new putter every six years, according to Golf Datatech, an industry research firm. (This is up from five years in 2013.) Clearly, the putter is a more considered purchase, especially as average prices have more than doubled during the past two decades. The confidence that comes from a proper fitting is another reason why putters are sticking. Sophisticated fitting tools aren’t just for drivers: High-speed cameras and devices like SAM PuttLab and Quintic show you how a putter can fit and improve your stroke. So skip the emotional attachment. Today, a fitting makes for a lasting relationship with your new putter—like perhaps one of these six.…

WE HIGHLIGHT fitters in two lists this year. America’s 100 Best, the elite fitting facilities in the country, are cited here based on a poll of our course-rating panelists and industry sources, as well as our internal reviews of nomination forms. On GolfDigest.com, look for the 100 Best and our list of nearly 600 additional Golf Digest Certified fitters, locations that offer the tools, such as a launch monitor, to conduct a proper fitting. The two lists were culled from an examination of more than 1,200 facilities. CALIFORNIA Carlsbad golf center Carlsbad Golden golf mart San gabriel Haggin oaks super shop Sacramento Kepler’s golf repair Walnut creek No bogeys golf Laguna niguel Plaza golf Torrance The club fix Irvine (plus locations in ariz., Calif., texas, n.y.) Urban golf performance Los…

Hot dog after nine? Yes. Plastic ball markers? No. We use the same clubs they do, wear the same clothes and copy their attitudes (we see you, fingerwaggers). But what about the reverse? Are there any ways tour pros act like amateurs? Our unscientific survey of PGA Tour players at the 2016 Travelers Championship: USE A BALL WASHER? Yes 33% No 67% “I’ve never used one of those things,” Patrick Rodgers says dismissively. Adds Colt Knost: “I don’t think you even see them out here anymore.” The pros’ preferred method is a damp cloth, ideally employed by someone other than themselves. “I’ve used [the ball washer] on my golf cart,” says Martin Laird. “Sometimes, when I’m playing at home and my caddie isn’t there to do it for me, I…

Just a guess, but there are probably three or four things you need to work on with your golf swing to improve. Am I right? Then jot them down. I don’t care if you use an index card, like I do, or dictate them to your smartphone. Just make a list of swing keys, and when you practice, stick to them. For example, maybe you swing off your back foot and need to transfer your weight better. Or maybe you cut your swing off short, and should let your chest keep turning. Whatever issues you have, don’t let them always get the best of you because you’re not paying attention to how to fix them. Working with my swing coach, Tony Ruggiero, I’ve identified four fundamentals that I constantly try…

BING CROSBY, OR DAD TO ME, was the most popular entertainer in the world in his day, a day that lasted the better part of five decades. In 1977, the last year of his life, he was still selling out shows in London and New York City. “Just imagine something five times stronger than the popularity of Elvis Presley and the Beatles put together,” Tony Bennett said in 1999. Dad’s influence spanned generations. The Beatles’ first hit single, “Please Please Me,” was inspired in part by a line in one of Dad’s songs. “I remember the day I wrote it,” John Lennon said. “I heard Roy Orbison doing ‘Only the Lonely’ or something. And I was intrigued by the words to a Bing Crosby song that went, ‘Please lend a…

ALMOST four decades after the celebrated Tom Watson-Jack Nicklaus Duel in the Sun at Turnberry, two players separated themselves in another classic showdown for the Open Championship. Phil Mickelson started at Royal Troon by tying the major-championship record with a 63—call it a 62½ after his putt for 62 lipped the cup—but Henrik Stenson closed with a 63 on Sunday to hold off Mickelson’s bogeyfree 65 in perhaps the finest head-to-head final-round matchup in the game’s history. ▶ “They scored better than we did,” said Nicklaus, whose 65-66 finish in 1977 fell one short of Watson’s 65-65. Added Watson: “They played better.” ▶ In the days, weeks and months after the events at Troon, Golf Digest interviewed Stenson, Mickelson, their caddies and 16 other key figures who were intimate witnesses…