Innehållsförteckning för July 2015 från Compleat Golfer

The contrast could not have been starker. One minute I was watching the European players battling the course, weather and, to an extent, their own mental strength on the remarkable Royal County Down course and the next I switched channels to see the Americans playing target golf on a course that looked like it had been photoshopped. Even though the Byron Nelson Classic featured seven South Africans, I struggled to stay interested. It was as though all of the subtle nuances of the sport had been extracted, leaving a diluted version that rewarded bombers and dart throwers who had little need for imagination or course management. Perhaps I’m being a little unfair on the TPC Four Seasons course, given that it was very wet, but Steven Bowditch’s winning score of…

After being voted one of the most overrated tour professionals (alongside Ian Poulter), Rickie Fowler quickly showed how wrong his anonymous peers were by winning the Players Championship in May, and he didn’t even wear his Sunday bright orange attire this time around. It’s hard to excuse his fashion faux pas of wearing off-white trousers with purple shoes on the final day, but following his destruction of the island-green par-three 17th hole, which he birdied three times on the final day to win the unofficial ‘fifth Major’ in a playoff against Sergio García and Kevin Kisner, we’ll let that one slide. Fowler has been the driving force behind Cobra Golf since he became the headline player for the brand a few years ago and he still uses woods with orange…

Miguel Ángel Jiménez – otherwise known as the most interesting man in golf – has been at it again, this time notching up holes-in-one in consecutive weeks on the European Tour. The Spaniard’s ace on the 2nd hole at Wentworth in the third round of the BMW PGA Championship took his tally on the European Tour to 10, breaking the record he previously held with Colin Montgomerie. “It’s very prolific this year, over the last few months,” said the 51-year-old. “You get the right distance, the right club, hit a good shot and that’s the ingredients you need to make a hole-in-one. You know, it’s so many years out there, 10 holesin-one. It’s nice to have the record. I have also holed a couple of times from the middle of…

FOR MORE COLUMNS from Joanne Lefson, visit her blog at bit.ly/joanne-lefson. Move over Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr, the greatest fight of the century was almost during the third round of the WGCCadillac Matchplay Championship in San Francisco in early May. It isn’t very often that you see US Tour players almost come to blows – but that’s exactly what happened when Keegan Bradley got into Miguel Ángel Jiménez’s face on the back nine of their match-up. Jiménez, who ended up winning, apparently disagreed with how Bradley was taking the drop. Bradley’s caddie Steve ‘Pepsi’ Hale seemed to mock Jiménez with a fake Spanish accent and when Jiménez told him to shut up, the verbal jabs started. If you want to see it, google it. Ringside seats are free.…

4 is the number of shots by which Adam Scott led the 2012 Open Championship going into the final round. The Aussie disappointed with a 3-over 75, however, allowing Ernie Els to overtake him with 68 and win his second Open Championship. 6 is the number of South Africans who have qualified for the 2015 Open Championship thus far. They are Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Thomas Aiken, Branden Grace and George Coetzee. 10 Open Championship wins have been achieved by South Africans. Bobby Locke claimed the Claret Jug four times, Gary Player three times, Ernie Els has done it twice, and Louis Oosthuizen, once. This stat makes South Africa second only to the United States in Open victories by country since the Second World War. Zimbabwean Nick Price…

JAKE REDMAN AGE: 28 TURNED PRO: 2010 HOME CLUB: Fancourt CAREER EARNINGS: R847 903 TOP 10S: 7 BEST FINISH: T2 2014 Lombard Insurance Classic The transition from being a top amateur golfer to the paid ranks is a tough one and many players will tell you that, with Jake Redman being one of them. Despite being one of the most affable and colourful (thanks to his PUMA sponsorship) players on the Sunshine Tour, Redman has struggled to cross the final hurdle into the winner’s circle despite ending his amateur career on a real purple patch when he destroyed the 2010 Sunshine Tour Qualifying School by five shots. The most impressive statistic from that achievement was that the event was cut short by one round due to bad weather, yet Redman…

Golf in South Africa is a year-round game. We are extremely fortunate that our courses do not have to shut down in the winter due to snow. That doesn’t mean that golf in our winter isn’t without its challenges. In the Cape it’s often very wet over winter, while in Gauteng it gets bitterly cold in the mornings and evenings. With the right attitude and the right equipment there’s no need for the weather to get the better of you – you can still play well and enjoy your round. To start, put away your summer, lightweight golf shoes and make sure you have a decent waterproof pair. It’s a good idea to have them re-spiked ahead of the winter season. After all, if you can’t maintain your footing during…

BUNKERS The Spectacles, Coffins, Hell – the bunkers on the Old Course all have names. Perhaps the most famous is the fearsome Road Hole bunker at 17. During the third round of the 1978 Open, Tsuneyuki ‘Tommy’ Nakajima came to the 17th hole 4 under for the day and tied for the lead. He played a smart approach to the front of the green and his putt looked good until it caught a ridge and trickled down into the Road Hole bunker. His first and second attempts hit the face. His third did escape the bunker – briefly – before rolling back in. Finally, his fourth settled 10 feet past the pin. Nakajima missed the putt and finished with a quintuple-bogey. Get too close to the face of the bunkers…

THE PERFECT MATCH THORBJØRN OLESEN, AFRASIA BANK MAURITIUS OPEN 9 MAY 2015 Bel Ombre, Mauritius Nike Golf Shirt: R1 200. Nike Vapor Flex driver: R6 000. That moment when the two synchronise in the perfect pose: PRICELESS. Now we know what the Nike Golf designers have spent all their time doing. 1 GETTING AWAY WITH IT, TWICE MATT KUCHAR, THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP 8 MAY 2015 Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida It’s not so much about the way Matt played his shot one handed and backwards, but more about how the ball managed to stay there from his tee shot in the first place. 2. HOMETOWN GLORY WEBB SIMPSON, WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIP 17 MAY 2015 Charlotte, North Carolina Webb certainly felt the love on his return to his home course, but he…

Daniel Slabbert has shown he is clearly the most dominant disabled golfer in South Africa, following his fourth victory in the Nedbank South African Disabled Golf Open in the last five years. The 23-year-old leg amputee from Kathu began the day with a one-shot lead over one-armed Reinard Schuhknecht and this quickly disappeared following a birdie by Schuhknecht on the first hole. The pair battled it out for the next few holes before Slabbert forged ahead and never looked back. A spectacular birdie on the final hole, where Slabbert needed only a 7-iron for his second shot into the par-five 18th, sealed a three-stroke victory over defending champion Josh Williams from Canada. Two-time champion Iglin Grobbelaar fired the low round of the day, a 74, which left him in a…

In stark contrast to his regular career, Colin Montgomerie can’t seem to stop winning Majors on the senior tour. The 52-year-old won just about everything on offer as a regular tour golfer, including 46 tournaments and eight European Tour Order of Merit titles, but failed to land a Major title in 71 attempts. Life on the senior tour has been a little kinder to the Scot, who successfully defended his Senior PGA Championship title at French Lick in Indiana in May. He has now won three senior Majors in just 10 attempts. Monty had many close calls in Majors over his career but failed to convert any of those into wins. It seems he’s using that experience to win at senior level. “It was frustrating to come to these championships…

Not a day passes when 16-year-old Citrusdal golfer Ignation Douries doesn’t pause to marvel at the biological wonder his legs perform every day. “Six years ago, this life that I am leading right now was just a dream,” Douries said. “I was born with a disability that left my leg muscles stiff as cardboard. Walking was something other people did. I watched my friends running around and envied them, but after surgeries to my ankles and feet failed, I thought it was the end of the road.” Douries struggled to make peace with his destiny and didn’t raise his hopes when, in 2009, doctors suggested back surgery. “I didn’t want to be disappointed again, but then the procedure worked,” he said. “The muscles in my legs began to relax and…

WRITE TO THE EDITOR, Compleat Golfer, PO Box 180, Howard Place, 7450 or send email to golfeditor @ramsaymedia.co.za. Please be sure to include your full postal address. NB: we reserve the right to edit published letters. SLIPPERY SLOPE A big fuss is being made of the course ratings and how to balance the length and other factors. I suppose this has all to do with creating a ‘fair’ handicap for players. The article on slope rating [March 2015] was interesting and showed how far the mathematicians will go. I have always been amused at the ‘importance’ of course ratings. I played Sun City – a supposedly tough course with a rating of 74 – on a good day in 79 shots. Then I played Strand – a supposedly easy (if…

FOR MORE COLUMNS from Dale Hayes, visit his blog at bit.ly/-dale-hayes. Peter Matkovich once told me that golf courses are like women. Thank goodness we all like different ones. I’ve been lucky enough to play most of the great courses around the world but here are some courses that I really would like to play, including some that I want to get back to again. I never thought I would get excited about playing on a Jack Nicklausdesigned course as they all have a ‘sameness’ about them. A new course has just opened in New York called Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point. As I hear the name ‘Trump’, I’m already on guard but the photos are spectacular. Nicklaus has created a links by moving tons of earth and has…

Some things just look right. And that’s exactly what springs to mind when you watch Charl Schwartzel hitting golf balls. Many tour professionals possess technically orthodox swings, yet very few make it look as easy as the South African. While plenty of hard work and practice-ground hours have gone into building such a technically superb action, Charl is quick to point out that adhering to the fundamentals his father taught him when he first picked up a golf club is the secret of his success. “I’m fortunate that I was given the right basic advice from a young age,” Schwartzel says. “My dad drilled the basics of grip, posture, rhythm and balance into me. I’ve always stuck by those four fundamentals. If you’re playing badly, you will usually find the…

Known affectionately as ‘the home of golf’, St Andrews in Scotland is often top of the list when it comes to places to visit for golf aficionados. The Old Course, with its world-renowned opening and closing holes in front of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse, forms the central area for golfers, while the rest of the city is cluttered with hotels and pubs which the many students of the St Andrews University frequent. If St Andrews and the Old Course are on your bucket list, there will no doubt also be plenty of time to explore several other activities and attractions in and around the city. In order to make this experience one worth remembering, here are some of the recommended places to visit during those hours not spent walking…

it’s no secret golf is a difficult game for newcomers to learn, and even those tour professionals who seem to have mastered the sport have off days where they can’t seem to find the middle of the club. Mast ammies can understand their frustration. So, in order to make sure golf can be enjoyed by all levels of golfer, equipment brands have invested millions of dollars into designing clubs that make the game easier to play. Two massive improvements have been the introduction of adjustable drivers and highly forgiving irons, yet the invention of the hybrid club a decade ago has arguably had the biggest impact of all. These days this is one weapon that no golfer should be without. Hybrids add diversity to a player’s arsenal. Not only are…

The ‘Go fetch it’ drill that I am going to explain has many benefits to a golfer who suffers from any of the following issues: ■ The ball comes out with low flight due to striking the ball at the bottom portion of the club, ie below centre. ■ The ball quickly tails towards the left with a draw (for a righthanded golfer, opposite for a lefty) especially if the golfer is falling back during the shot. ■ The ball curves to the right with an incomplete followthrough and the player is hanging back on the shot. ■ The shot doesn’t feel hot or solid off the clubface. There are many more options but these are the most common faults. Just bear in mind, of course, that this drill will…

FOR MORE TOUR RESULTS Follow The Fairway Mole on Twitter @TheFairwayMole. US TOUR WGC- CADILLAC MATCHPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP TPC HARDING PARK, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 29 April-3 May 2015, $9. 25 million RORY MCILROY After getting the better of Paul Casey and Jim Furyk in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively, Rory McIlroy beat Gary Woodland 4&2 in the final of the WGC-Cadillac Matchplay Championship for his first title in the US in 2015. THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP TPC SAWGRASS, PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA 7 – 10 May 2015, $10 million RICKIE FOWLER Rickie Fowler finished birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie on his last four holes of the Players Championship to reach 12 under par for the tournament. He then trumped Kevin Kisner and Sergio García in extra holes, sealing the victory with yet another…

1 RORY GETS OWNED He may be the best player in the world, but Rory McIlroy is definitely not the strongest, as he found out when he arm-wrestled a 17-year-old golfer during a junior clinic. ■ Bit.ly/RoryArmWrestle 2 THE OFFICIAL FRACAS Much has been said about the altercation between Keegan Bradley and Miguel Ángel Jiménez during the WGC-Cadillac Matchplay Championship. Who do you think was at fault? ■ Bit.ly/KeeganvsMiguel 3 PROFESSIONAL WARM-UPS A great round usually starts with a good warm-up session. Take a look at how some of the world’s best get the job done before teeing up. ■ Bit.ly/CGWarmingUp 4 THE ENTERTAINING ACE Miguel Ángel Jiménez showed why he is such a popular and entertaining character when he made an ace during the Spanish Open and showed us…

GREENSIDE MANNER A married couple is out for their weekly round of golf, enjoying a great day and great play but on the 9th green, something terrible happens: the wife screams in agony and collapses. “Oh no,” the husband exclaims, “you’re having a heart attack!” “Help me, dear,” the wife implores, “find a doctor.” The husband runs off as fast as he can to find a doctor. He returns to the green quickly, picks up his putter and lines up his putt. His wife raises her head off the green and glares at him. “I’m dying over here and you’re putting!?” she asks incredulously. “Don’t worry dear,” says the husband calmly. “I found a doctor on the 2nd hole and he’s coming to help you.” “Well, how long will it…

A recent trip to Britain to play links golf opened my eyes to how slow and aggravated golfers can be in South Africa. We were just a twoball and managed to play fairly decent golf throughout the trip, which allowed us to complete most rounds in under three-and-a-half hours (halfway houses are almost non-existent in Britain). It was the manner of how we were often allowed to play through if the group in front felt they were holding us up, however, that got me thinking. The same kind of etiquette is very rare here. More often than not, slow players resort to anger and rudeness should they be asked if a group can play through, regardless of whether it’s the marshal or players behind asking. There’s no need for ego…

The governing bodies of amateur golf in South Africa, the South African Golf Association (SAGA) and Womens Golf South Africa (WGSA), have agreed to unify and reorganise their operations in the best interests of furthering the sport and ensuring its future within the South African socio-economic, legal and political environments. The South African Disabled Golf Association (SADGA) and the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) are expected to be incorporated in the near future. The new non-profit body has been branded Golf RSA and will be headed up by Grant Hepburn (pictured right), a familiar face to regular readers of Compleat Golfer. Hepburn is a highly rated teaching professional and the managing director of the SAGDB. “For some time now the SAGA has been looking at professional structures,” Hepburn explained.…

FOR MORE COLUMNS from John Botha, visit his blog at bit.ly/john-botha. Some years ago I was fortunate enough to find myself in conversation with the legendary Lee Trevino, who at the time had a thing or two to say about the emergence of the new breed of tour professional. Never one for understatement, ‘Supermex’ bemoaned the fact that these faceless individuals played a mechanical brand of golf: they all had contrived swings, and he maintained that without their yardage books they may as well have been blindfolded. “Take a look at Seve Ballesteros,” Trevino suggested, “because he’s probably the last artist you will ever see.” A huge fan of the mercurial Spaniard at the time, I certainly knew exactly what he meant. Much of what the six-time Major champion had…

TO WATCH ONE OF THE WORST TEE SHOTS IN MAJOR HISTORY log onto bit.ly/CGBaker-Finch I n 2001, the British Open famously gave David Duval his sole Major. It marked the start of a decline that robbed him of any future wins on tour. Long before Duval, however, Australian Ian Baker-Finch suffered the same fate – only his end was far more brisk and brutal. “I don’t think anybody in the history of the game has had the rise and fall that this guy has,” said David Leadbetter, renowned golf instructor. “It’s a very sad story.” Queensland-born Baker-Finch was 18 when he turned professional in 1979. After getting a set of clubs at the age of 12, he became an assistant pro at 15, perfecting his game along the way. He…

‘BRANDS WANT TO BE PART OF A SPORT PLAYED BY HIGH ROLLERS AND BUSINESSMEN.’ Sponsorship in golf is big business and it is common to see brands from highend industries associating themselves with the sport of gentlemen. Think golf and you think of premium cars, financial institutions, mobile phone companies and luxury watches. It makes sense for these brands to want to be part of a sport played by high rollers and businessmen – they want to fish where the fish are and tap into a market of people who can afford to purchase their expensive products. The case of the luxury watches is an interesting – and, as it turns out, longstanding – one. Ever since Rolex presented Arnold Palmer with a gold Oyster Perpetual to honour his achievements…

GOLF FITNESS GARTH MILNE To watch videos of the tips, visit Bit.ly/GarthMilneTips. Your ability to keep your spine straight throughout your golf swing is imperative to good ball-striking. The spine is the axis of the torso’s rotation. Professional golfers’ consistency comes from their ability to maintain their spine angle throughout their golf swing. The way the body is held has a lot to do with the way it moves. The starting position influences the movement that is to follow. When the body begins in a poor position, the brain tries to make up for the problem by unnecessarily altering body mechanics in an attempt to catch up or correct the movement. When you exercise it is important to adopt what is termed the ‘Universal Athletic Posture’ (UAP), of ankles, knees…