Innehållsförteckning för April 2022 från Compleat Golfer

10 Shane Lowry Whenever I play with one of the world’s top golfers I feel like I’m going to school. I try to study their game and understand how they do what they do. Whenever I’ve played with Shane I’ve walked off the 18th saying, ‘I’ll never be able to do that.’ Shane has the best short game in the world of golf. Period. The man can not only up-and-down from anywhere, but he holes so many chips it’s frightening. He attitude is special too. He’s so competitive, but more impressively, he loves playing ‘ugly’ golf. Hitting fairways and greens doesn’t interest him He wants to make the crowd question him by hitting shots that are out of this world. His caddie Beau is also a great guy and their…

When Gary Player stands over his tee shot as one of three honorary starters at this year’s Masters, the great golfer will have a few butterflies in the stomach. Which might come as a bit of a surprise to those who think there’s ice running through those veins. After all, Player is one of the most decorated of all Masters champions – the fourth most number of Green Jackets, most consecutive cuts made, second most cuts made, third most top 10s and third most top-25 finishes. ‘When there are millions of people watching you (on TV), it doesn’t matter who you are, you want to make sure you hit it down the middle,’ he said while spending some time back in South Africa over the summer. Player will again join…

It has been 25 years since I was briefed to produce the first ranking of the 50 best golf courses in South Africa. I viewed it as a daunting project because I could foresee that many golf clubs and their members might be unhappy with the outcome. Try telling golfers that their home course is not as good as the one down the road. Yes, we had some easily identifiable famous courses to put at the top of the list, but determining which ones should follow them, and in what order, presented a minefield of a challenge during what was proving a far-reaching decade for golf in South Africa. At the time there was a pack of eye-catching modern courses being built as part of the golf estate boom which…

• Augusta National was conceived by 13-time Major winner Bobby Jones and businessman Clifford Roberts. They purchased a 365-acre fruit nursery for $70 000 and construction began in 1931, with Dr Alister MacKenzie the course designer. The course officially opened for play in 1933. • Having decided to host a golf event, Roberts suggested it should be called the Masters Tournament. Jones felt it was too presumptuous, so in 1934 the Augusta National Invitation Tournament was launched. The title changed to The Masters in 1939. • In 1937 Augusta National introduced the tradition of members wearing green jackets. Now a symbol of status, the original idea was to make members more identifiable for patrons in need of assistance. • Each hole has been named after a plant that can be…

And on the sixth day God rested. One of the most chaotic and confusing Players Championships came to a conclusion with Cameron Smith the last man standing. It was a fifth PGA Tour win for the Australian. It came at the tournament with the biggest winner’s purse on the Tour and in what is so often called the ‘unofficial fifth Major’. A ‘real’ Major looks next for the 28-year-old. The Australian left the best for last after what had been a seemingly interminable event, with the field being despatched from two starting tees – the 1st and the 10th – on the fifth day. Smith birdied the 71st hole, the famous short par-three 17th at TPC Sawgrass, to stretch his lead to three shots with one hole, the tough par-four…

On a game where the golden rule is to ‘always keep your eye on the ball’, it is often things taking place ‘off the ball’ that determine success. For the past three years. Zander Lombard has been meticulously building a team outside the ropes that is now translating into success inside the ropes. After a good finish to the end of 2021 with his second place at the shortened Joburg Open that secured him a spot at The Open Championship this year, Lombard has started 2022 well with tie-third finishes at the DP World Tour’s Ras Al Khaimah Classic and at the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour co-sanctioned Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open. It’s early days in the season, but in mid-March he was 20th on the DP World Tour…

With the rise of golf estate living, greats of the game such as Ernie Els, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus have all lent their considerable expertise to some impressive layouts across the country. Naturally, the drawcard of big-name designers is their name. They’re used to sell property and the estate in general. Eye of Africa Golf Estate, south of Johannesburg, is one such example, being the first design in Africa by former world No 1 Greg Norman, and the result is a golfing experience unique in a country already well known for quality and diverse offerings. Home to the Eye of Africa PGA Championship from 2016-2020, the course is seen as a true championship layout; a big-course set-up in the modem sense, measuring over 7 200m from the championship tees.…

Kyle de Beer kept the South African winning streak alive at the SA Amateur as he edged Scotland’s Rory Franssen 4 & 2 in the 36-hole final at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club’s East Course. De Beer, a member of the Golf RSA National Squad since 2019, never trailed in his match and got off to a flying start to be 6 up by the 13th hole, before turning after 18 with a five-hole lead. Although the damage was already done, the Scot fought back hard and reduced the deficit to just two, with five holes to play. A costly bogey on the 33rd hole swung the momentum back in favour of the home player and De Beer sealed it on the next hole. ‘I’m really excited and happy,…

As I mentioned in last month’s column, I didn’t have the best start to the year with my health, or on the course, but on the upside it was good to have three weeks off to get some solid preparation for a fortnight in Asia. This year I joined a new golf course in Florida, called Turtle Creek. The members have been very welcoming, and the course and facilities are top-drawer. It was also a lot of fun playing with some of the other pros and low-handicap members to keep me competitive. In my three weeks off, I worked with my trainer Ken McDonald three times a week. During this time we worked on trying to regain some of the strength and speed I had lost due to being sick.…

Courses are rated on six criteria for a total of 100 points. The two most important criteria are playability and conditioning, with 20 points each. The other four each have 15 points. Playability looks at how a course’s design challenges the low-handicap player yet remains fun for the high-handicapper. Design variety examines how varied the holes are in terms of lengths, configurations, hazard placements and green shapes. Shot values asks how well the holes present a variety of risks and rewards, an equal test of accuracy, length and finesse. Aesthetics is about how the scenic values of a course adds to the enjoyment of a round. Memorability is not about how well a golfer remembers the holes, but how the design features add to the individuality of each hole, and…

A large gallery surrounded the 9th green as Jack Nicklaus studied his 11-foot birdie putt. They had assembled for two reasons: to get a glimpse of the ageing warrior as he finished his outward half, and then to wait for the groups playing behind him, the eight younger men who would surely battle it out for the 50th Masters tournament. With 10 holes left, Nicklaus was a sentimental favourite, but little more than that. At two under par for the tournament, he was out of the chase. Out of the chase in a larger sense too. Over the previous season or so Nicklaus’ age had begun to tell. His once-matchless touch and confidence with the putter, in particular, had disappeared. He had not scored a victory in two years, a…

South Africa’s men’s hockey team played a tournament in Potchefstroom in February. It was a big deal; they hosted India, Germany, France and the Netherlands, in the FIH Pro League at the North-West University. Someone, who may well have been a disciple of the dimpled ball, decided that all the games would start at either 6pm or 8pm, leaving the day free for other activities. And so it was that my SuperSport producer and I made a pact to find some time for golf. I left home in the Midlands at 7am one Saturday, cruised down the hill into Pietermaritzburg and came to a grinding halt. A tanker carrying gas had overturned at Ashburton and the N3 was closed. People were getting out of their vehicles, lighting cigarettes and settling…

Recently, for the first time in a long while, I was dished a massive plate of perspective. This came to me when I played at the Jonsson Workwear Open in Durban. When you’re a professional golfer you are spoilt; that’s not even open to debate. You play on the best courses which have been manicured to perfection before your arrival. Fairways that resemble carpets, fairway and greenside bunkers that couldn’t look or feel better and greens that have had hours of TLC. What most of us don’t know, however – or perhaps ‘truly understand’ is the right way of saying it – is the work that goes into getting the course that way. You’ll often hear the tournament winner thank the greenkeeping staff, but that winner will never actually know…

‘Never tall the audience how good you are – they will soon find out for themselves.’ Phil Mickelson might take note of this famous quote from that other great escapologist, Harry Houdini, as he plots his most amazing recovery yet. Because it is quite possible that the crowds have finally seen through his facade. Professional golf certainly has. Between them, Mickelson’s driver and Mickelson’s mouth have landed their owner in serious trouble over the years. He has always managed to free himself from their worst intentions, except this time it appears different. The 51-year-old’s Saudi Arabia controversy is out of bounds. He needs to reload, and beg for the chance to be able to play three off the tee. Will he do so? Well, a piffling show of contriteness has…

Freddie Mercury will probably turn in his grave as I use a Queen reference in starting off a column on the rules of golf. Hopefully all the Queen fans out there will forgive me, but thunder and lightning are indeed very, very frightening out on the golf course. During the summer months it is probably our biggest fear and something we constantly monitor and worry about when trying to get a tournament played on schedule. While the weather is not usually a rules issue, it does become one when you have suspensions and stoppages of play. The rules prescribe specific procedures for when a player may stop play and when play is suspended by the committee. A player is allowed to stop playing only in exceptional circumstances and usually it…

17th hole, 524m, par five The finishing stretch at Eye of Africa is as good a line of holes you can play in South Africa, with the show-stopping standout being the par-five 17th. The club’s golf manager, Marc Alexander, describes this unique risk-and-reward hole, which encapsulates all the defining features of the course. ‘Our signature hole at Eye of Africa doesn’t just look great in photographs, it’s also an incredible hole to play in many different ways. For your average golfer it’s a genuine three-shot par five, and all three of those shots come with a particular challenge. ‘From the tee. the preferred side of the fairway is the left as there is a bunker guarding the right side Apart from avoiding this bunker, playing your second from the left…

MEN JUNIORS 1 (1) Daniel Bennett (Beachwood GC) DNQ (DNQ) Christiaan Maas (Pretoria CC) 2 (2) Pascal Gunther (Bryanston CC) DNQ (DNQ) Yurav Premlall (Glendower GC) 3 (3) Hannes Strooh (Krugersdorp GC) 4 (4) Joshua Koekemoer (Silver Lakes CC) 5 (5) John-William Blomerus (Serengeti Golf & Wildlife Estate) 6 (6) Ivan Verster (Pinnacle Point GC) 7 (7) Jack Buchanan (Milnerton GC) 8 (8) Malan Potgieter (Kirkwood GC) 9 (9) Amilkar Bhana (Country Club Johannesburg) 10 (10) Jaden Deltel (Bryanston CC) 11 (11) Christopher Bagnall (State Mines CC) 12 (12) Stefan Jacobs (Randpark GC) 13 (13) Fhbrizio de Abreu (Woodhill CC) 14 (14) Werner Potgieter (Olivewood GC) DNQ (DNQ) John Stephan Bredekamp (Randpark GC) 15 (15) Keagan Crosbie (Centurion CC) 16 (16) Tristan Leonard (Silver Lakes CC) 17 (17) Dylan Kayne…

THE MASTERS 7-10 APRIL 2021 revisited: Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to win a Major golf championship, holding his nerve down the stretch to capture the 85th Masters after a dramatic final round. Carrying the hopes of a nation on his shoulders, Matsuyama calmly ground out clutch pars and struck four crucial birdies in a pressure-packed march at Augusta National, to hang on over the final holes for a historic one-stroke victory. He won a Green Jacket, symbolic of Masters supremacy, a top prize of $2.07-million and a place for the ages in Japanese sports history. ‘I’m really happy,’ he said through a translator. ‘Hopefully I’ll be a pioneer in this and many other Japanese will follow. I’m happy to open the floodgate and many more will follow…