Innehållsförteckning för June 2018 från Golf Australia

THE FACT IS SHORT GRASS, NOT ROUGH, IS THE GREATEST DEFENCE A COURSE HAS BECAUSE IT FORCES PLAYERS TO CONTROL THEIR BALL. THE US Open Championship – spruiked as the toughest challenge there is in golf – will be played this month and, in my opinion, there has been no more important staging of the event in its previous 117 editions. Why? The jungle drums are getting louder surrounding the distance issue and the USGA, again, has felt the need to lengthen one of the game’s classic layouts at Shinnecock Hills as a result. The layout will measure a 7,445 yards for the championship, which is comparable to recent US Open venues. But the USGA has also invested in a “tightening” of the great course, which has seen seven of…

Known as one of the Tour’s ‘flushers’ Justin Rose has been an elite ball-striker for more than a decade. Working with coaches Sean Foley and Justin Buckthorp to improve his swing technique and physical conditioning, he has been able to keep up with the new generation of power hitters that play the game in a different way to Rose, who came up through the ranks in the 1990s – before the days of high-launch, low-spin drivers. Rose hasn’t been outside the top 15 on the PGA Tour in ‘strokes gained – tee-to-green’ the last eight seasons and he’s picked up over 1.25 shots per round on the field in his long game every year since 2012. He’s also increased his driving distance by 10 yards over that same time. Over…

TWIST FACE To counteract hook spin, the face has been “twisted” open to increase loft in the high/toe area. To counteract a slice, the face has been closed/ delofted in the low/heel area. HAMMERHEAD SLOT The reinforced outer area of the slot permits a lighter, more flexible face, while the centre portion increases ball speed on low strikes and drops spin for more distance. Y-SHAPE WEIGHT TRACK Stripping back the weight of the clubhead enabled TaylorMade to create a track system with two 11g weights that can be used to alter the CG location and launch conditions.…

MODEL PLAYED: MP-18 3-iron to Pitching Wedge, fitted with Dynamic Gold S300 shafts. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Absolutely pure. Even after a long time in the golf industry I still get excited to open a box to get my first look at new clubs. But the combination of being a lover of all things blade irons as well as the preceding reputation and classic looks of the MP-18, took this feeling to a whole other level. The simple, understated appearance of the back of the iron looks great in the bag. While the satin chrome finish and clean, squarer lines than on other recent Mizuno irons, give the MP-18s an almost perfect look at address for mine. I am very particular about the look of pitching wedges and often replace them with…

SUPERSTITIONS? Yeah, I got a few: nothing I can’t handle. It’s not like I’m headless if I step on a crack in the pavement or don’t find an east-west facing spot in the golf club carpark on a Saturday morning. I do tend to use the same ball marker – while it works. There’s no glove because one time I played well gloveless and realised that had to be the secret to good golf. For a year or so I didn’t use a tee for iron shots because – well, I can’t remember now, but it was probably the same reason for ditching the glove. God help new golf shoes if they don’t perform straight out of the box, put it that way. But properly superstitious? No chance. It’s not…

THIS bothered me. In the immediate aftermath of Patrick Reed’s recent victory in the Masters, nine-out-of-10 of the follow-up articles seemed to be about his background and his family. Almost none of the post-tournament coverage concentrated on the golf.That didn’t seem quite right to my way of thinking. And it certainly wasn’t what I wanted to read. I get that when someone wins his first major the world needs and wants to know where the new star came from. Fans are interested in the “back story.” But I don’t feel like, when Patrick has just finished first in the game’s biggest tournament, that his relationship with his parents or what went on during his college days should have been the central storylines. For me, the big story was that Patrick…

STROKES GAINED – TEE-TO-GREEN 2009 – 0.395 (60th) 2010 – 0.952 (12th) 2011 – 0.937 (15th) 2012 – 1.762 (4th) 2013 – 1.912 (1st) 2014 – 1.506 (5th) 2015 – 1.471 (6th) 2016 – 1.325 (5th) 2017 – 1.281 (9th) 2018 – 0.591 (55th) STROKES GAINED – OFF THE TEE 2009 – 0.189 (64th) 2010 – 0.338 (39th) 2011 – 0.186 (93rd) 2012 – 0.355 (35th) 2013 – 0.459 (17th) 2014 – 0.402 (30th) 2015 – 0.550 (12th) 2016 – 0.678 (5th) 2017 – 0.560 (14th) 2018 – 0.589 (11th) DRIVING DISTANCE 2009 – 288.1 yards (90th) 2010 – 287.8 (97th) 2011 – 290.6 (99th) 2012 – 290.9 (80th) 2013 – 296.6 (27th) 2014 – 295.1 (49th) 2015 – 303.5 (14th) 2016 – 303.9 (16th) 2017 – 300.9 (35th) 2018…

THE BIG TEST TaylorMade and Callaway have dominated the driver market in recent years. They’ve led the club counts on tour and the sales figures at retail based on technologies that have separated their products from the rest of the pack. For many golfers, deciding which new driver to invest in is largely a two-horse race. Last year, Callaway wrestled the coveted No.1 spot in the driver market away from TaylorMade. TaylorMade’s second-generation M1 was its most adjustable driver ever and undoubtedly more forgiving than its predecessor but the Jailbreak Technology in Callaway’s Epic boosted clubface efficiency and ball speeds. Even better, it had a tech story that was simple to understand and resonated with the masses. Both companies face fresh challenges in 2018. Fresh off a sale to private…

1. YOU NEED SPEED TO GO WITH A HIGHER LAUNCH Modern drivers are engineered to maximise distance by launching the ball high and with low spin. Great news if you hit up on the ball at impact and swing at over 105mph, but most club golfers hit down on the ball with a swing speed closer to 90mph. So while high launch and low spin increases distance, you have to be able to launch the ball high enough and with enough speed to keep it in the air long enough to reap the benefits. 2. IF YOU DON’T HAVE SPEED, YOU’VE GOT TO ADD LOFT That’s not to say these high launch and low spin drivers won’t help you if you’re a handicap golfer. The solution is to add loft.…

 JUST when I thought it was safe to assume the United States Golf Association had started to see the light as far as the US Open was concerned, this happened. Watching on television, I stumbled across one of those fluffy half-hour golf programmes that are little more than free advertising vehicles for various resorts and equipment manufacturers willing to provide the ever-smiling hosts with free flights and accommodation.You know the sort of thing I mean. WHAT OUR FRIEND IN THE STUFFED-SHIRT ACTUALLY MEANT WAS THAT STRAIGHT DRIVING – NOT ACCURATE DRIVING – IS WHAT THE USGA SEEKS TO REWARD. Anyway, amidst the happy-clappy “reviews” of courses I will never play and shoes I will never wear, there was a brief interview with a guy from the USGA. He was talking…

SPENDING five hours or so watching Cameron Smith ply his trade should be mandatory for any person looking to get into sports psychology and was in need of a study subject who has the lid firmly placed on their emotional pot. I followed the young Queenslander as best I could for his final round at this year’s Masters. Playing alongside World No.1 Dustin Johnson, he opened his account on Sunday afternoon with a birdie at the 1st hole having caressed a 7-iron into 10 feet and rolling the putt in dead centre. There was a brief wave to the crowd and he was off. When he missed the green at the par-3 4th and carded a bogey, his reactions were no different to when he made birdie 35 minutes earlier.…

You would be hard pressed to find many golf clubs outside of Scotland, let alone in the United States, with as much history as this year’s US Open Championship host venue – Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Built on what is said by some to be a Native American burial ground, the private New Jersey club possesses the oldest clubhouse in the country, was a founding member of the USGA and was the first US club to admit women, which it did from the very beginning. The par-70’s tournament history is similarly rich, dating back to 1896 when the club staged the second US Open Championship on what is still the shortest course in tournament history at just 4,423 yards. The 1896 event also saw Shinnecock Hills local John Shippen, who…

Since 2016, the R&A and USGA have issued an annual report on driving distances. The 2016 and 2017 reports made little impact due to the fact that their findings found consistent but unexceptional growth in the distances professional golfers hit the ball. In March, however, the 2018 report announced significant changes. The USGA’s Executive Director Mike Davis set the ball rolling in early February, when he stood up at his organisation’s annual meeting and stated: “We do not think increased distance is good for the game.” R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers made similar noises. “We are looking at the longest on record average driving distance,” he stated. “It has caused us serious concern.” The report left the media salivating and manufacturers perspiring. While we expected news of another “slow creep”,…

It is a nice confidence boost to stand on the putting green holing dead straight eight-foot putts again and again. But practicing breaking putts is extremely important to improve your putting performance – and can even improve your green reading skills. Having feedback on starting line is absolutely crucial when practicing breaking putts. You need to be specific with your aim point and where you are trying to start the ball. And then we are trying to use exactly the same stroke mechanics and timing as you would with a straight putt, treating every putt as though it is dead straight. Some time working on breaking putts should incorporate training aids that help provide feedback on the starting line, which also help develop an improved perception of the target. A…

JAILBREAK Two rods connect the sole of the club to the crown to stiffen the body so more energy is transferred into the flexing of the face. This propels the ball forward more efficiently. VARIABLE THICKNESS X-FACE The added stiffness provided by Jailbreak enabled Callaway to make its face significantly thinner in key areas for enhanced ball speeds – and forgiveness. TRIAXIAL CARBON CROWN Rogue has the largest triaxial carbon crown Callaway has ever made – less than 0.6mm thick. It’s 65% lighter than titanium, which offers significant weight savings.…

The M3 and the Rogue are both low-spinning and remarkably stable and forgiving – an incredibly difficult combination to achieve. The engineering and application of technology to do this is impressive but the tech isn’t for everybody. These clubs are designed for you to hit up on the ball at impact – and the majority of club golfers do not. “These are not plug and play products,” Murray says. “If you drop the spin, the ball is more susceptible to sideways movement through the air and you have to launch it higher and faster to keep it airborne. That means the clubhead has to work extremely hard. From a fitting perspective, we’re going to have to work harder to find a player’s optimum set-up. The loft and the use of…

MODELS PLAYED: Rogue 3-wood, fitted with Aldila Synergy 60 Stiff shaft. And Rogue Sub Zero 3-wood with 15° loft, with Project X Even Flow 75 6.0 Stiff shaft. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Just like the drivers, the Rogue fairway woods possess a tidy overall look. At address, the standard model sat square to my eye and looked bigger than the Sub Zero, but I would certainly not describe it as too big. In contrast, the Sub Zero was slightly open and more compact behind the ball and instantly appealed to me. The Rogue appeared to have more loft visible at address, which will help increase confidence for those who struggle to get fairway woods in the air. Whereas the Sub Zero looked to almost carry less loft than the stamped 15°. HOW…