Innehållsförteckning för January 2020 från Golf Australia

As was clear for all to see in the immediate aftermath of his recent victory at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, Tommy Fleetwood is an emotional wee soul. Almost two years had passed since his previous win in Abu Dhabi – a near-eternity for one of golf’s top-10 players – and he was, at least briefly, quite overcome by it all. Which is no surprise. While it has been obvious for a while that the 28-year-old Englishman is one of the more accomplished ball-strikers in professional golf, he is also one of the most approachable members of the game’s elite. This is a lad who has never forgotten where he came from. It measures only 6,253-yards and plays to a standard scratch of 69, but for Fleetwood, Southport’s…

Biggest achievement/disappointment Signing with IMG! No, probably winning the British Masters and then the disappointment was not getting the fruit and nut bar from Justin [Rose]. He just gave me the regular Cadbury Dairy Milk, which I’ve never been a fan of. I should say he did get me one after, so I can’t say that. I’ll go for losing my card in 2016. How did you spend your first big pay cheque? I seem to remember buying an iPad. I threw my laptop out of a window of a hotel in Toulouse in 2011. It was broken. I’d had it for years and it was doing my head in. So, I slung it out of the window. Last time you were starstruck? Since becoming as famous as I’ve become,…

I was on an aeroplane when the thought occurred. At least for those playing at the top level, golf clubs have been getting easier to use for some time now.Which has allowed us to hit shots that are miles better than those we grew up hitting. A high draw that carries at least 250 yards through the air is just one example. I couldn’t imagine doing that as a teenager – it was a fantasy shot – but it became routine when I made it onto the Tour. And yes, it is fun to smash a driver as hard as you can and produce that high draw. Or hit a hybrid 240 yards over water and stop the ball close to the hole. That is all positive. Of course it…

Our panel of 35 judges started looking at courses for this ranking in December 2017, when our 2018 list was published. They had until November 1, 2019, to submit their votes for as many courses as possible. At the start of the 23-month voting period, each judge receives a basic set of guidelines to help them determine the order of their list. Judges are instructed to place primary importance on design, followed by conditioning and visual appeal. Climate and seasonal effects – including drought and timing of visit – which are out of the hands of course maintenance staff are taken into account when assessing a course’s presentation. Once the judges have presented their personal ranking, every list is added to a master spreadsheet with points/votes allocated to each course.…

The world needs to know this, I feel. How many pairs of glasses do you own? And how many colours are involved? The challenge is that my prescription changed last year. I am now replenishing. But I am looking forward to understanding and seeing what our new corporate partner, “Maui Jim” has to offer. All I can say is that I like to have more than 10 pairs on the go at any one time (laughs). Do you get appearance money? (laughs) Unfortunately, I don’t. But I am prepared to be an ambassador for Maui Jim. Not a paid ambassador though. Good answer. Good? That’s a great answer (laughs). I spoke with swing coach Denis Pugh recently. He says you are the fastest golfer on the planet. Fair comment? Me?…

43 Professional wins. 24 European Tour wins (8th highest of all-time). 8 TH Englishman to lift the Harry Vardon Trophy on two occasions or more, winning in 2000 and 2009. 37 M At the time of going to press, he was second on the European Tour prize-money list with €37,465,393, just behind Rory McIlroy (€38m). 1 Of a select group of golfers to have won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. 19 Wins in different countries. 2 ND Only to Sir Nick Faldo in the list of England’s most prolific winners worldwide. 19 Major top-10s. 10 Ryder Cups for Europe and the greatest number of participations in Ryder Cup-winning teams (seven wins, three losses). 2 Westwood and Luke Donald are the only two players…

Flexion and extension of the legs creates a toe-to-heel/heel-to-toe weight shift. The feeling is down and left with forces going to the ball. The glutes have the same motion as the back. In the Lower Body Swing (LBS), the knees lead the hips and the hips lead the shoulders (pics 3 & 4), which is completely opposite to the modern swing where the shoulders lead the hips, hips lead the knees and there’s no left foot rolling. Take note of the position of the left arm, which – according to Weedon – is ideally below the level of the right shoulder (pic 04). There has been no lateral hip shift, which creates minimal spinal load. Also, the ankles, knees, hips and shoulders are more in line with each other, which…

Why do I play golf? Such a simple question, such a short question, but unless you are brutally honest with yourself about the answer we believe your progress will always be somewhat limited. If you have a big enough why then you will always find the how. So why do you play golf ? Be careful as your brain creates an answer for you because it is likely the answer is a conditioned response to what you think you should say – even to yourself. Our premise is that since you began to play the game in the first place, the reasons you kept striving to get better may well have been hijacked, for reasons we will explain. The culture of the game and the messages from certain sections of…

RORY McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth may have won multiple major championships throughout their 20s. But did you know that 71 percent of male major winners have been over the age of 30 since the year 2000? Research conducted by physiologists has revealed that the peak age of major winners since the year 2000 has been 31 years old, despite the success of the aforementioned young guns. Essentially, players in the men’s game appear to be peaking from 30 onwards, with 57 out of the past 80 major champions claiming their titles after their 30th birthdays. Reflecting on last year’s major champions exemplifies this, with three out of the four winners well into their 30s … Tiger Woods claimed his fifth green jacket at Augusta National in April –…

1. Took up golf aged three. Thirteen years later, he contested the British Boys final against Tom Lewis. He lost. 2. After leaving school with one B, five Cs, a D and an E in his GCSEs, Eddie read his first book at the age of 22. He now has his own blog. 3. A year after turning pro, Eddie was on the brink of bankruptcy before claiming his maiden win on the Challenge Tour in May 2012. 4. He played the final round of the 2018 Open Championship hungover, but still shot the best round of the day (a five-under, 67) to finish tied sixth! 5. Victory at the 2018 British Masters was his second European Tour success, and took him to a career-high 33rd in the World Rankings.…

JANUARY 1 England’s oldest course, Royal North Devon GC, becomes plastic-tee free. It is understood the club is the first in the UK to place a ban on the tees. “The simple fact is that plastic tees are more likely to harm the birds and animals we share our wonderful course with,” the club said in a statement. “The greenkeepers will also tell you that they can do a great deal more harm to their equipment than a wooden tee.” JANUARY 2-5 Xander Schauffele returns to Kapalua’s Plantation Course to defend the Tournament of Champions title he captured in 2019 with a final-round course record 62. JANUARY 14-19 The Australian Men’s and Women’s Amateur Championships move to the Sunshine State and will be contested at Royal Queensland and Brisbane Golf…

1 Tiger Woods will continue to move the needle in the world of golf and contend at more than one major championship while playing an extremely limited schedule. 2 Woods will make a run at representing the United States at the Olympics. After the withdrawal of two players ahead of him in the ranking, the ‘Big Cat’ will join Brooks Koepka in Tokyo. 3 The R&A and USGA release their distance report in February and the first step is taken to reduce the prodigious distances elite players hit the ball. 4 Jeongeun Lee6 will surpass compatriot Jin Young Ko as the dominant player in the ladies’ game, with her main challenges for the World No.1 spot coming from American players, including Danielle Kang, Lexi Thompson and both Korda sisters. 5…

Back in 2014, London golf pro Reeves Weedon was watching a television interview in which Jack Nicklaus was giving his thoughts about the modern golf swing. The Golden Bear, one of the game’s longest hitters, was lamenting that rhythm had been sacrificed in the quest for power and, in doing so, swings such as the X-Factor (where a player tries to minimise hip turn and maximise shoulder turn) had created a generation of players, including Tiger Woods, who were prone to back injuries: “A lot of the swings are far more violent at the ball,” Nicklaus observed. “The game is far more an upper body game today, and we used to play more from the ground up. I only had one operation when I played, and that was for a…

Can you please outline how the men’s Official World Golf Ranking works? Bradley Toomey Via email All tournaments held by the ‘Eligible Golf Tours’ around the world distribute World Ranking Points (with the exception of team events). All players competing in these events, be they professionals or amateurs, are awarded points based on their finishing position, with the number of points distributed based on the tournament’s ‘strength of field’. Strength of field is calculated by combining what the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) calls ‘World Rating’ and ‘Home Tour Rating’. The world rating takes into account the number of players inside the top-200 of the current rankings competing in the event, while the home Tour rating is based off the number of players from inside the top-30 of the previous…

THE COURSE LOCATION: Park Rd, Cheltenham, Victoria, 3192. CONTACT: (03) 9584 1733. WEBSITE: www.victoriagolf.com.au DESIGNER: Oscar Damman, William Meader & Dr Alister MacKenzie (1927); Mike Clayton (1995); Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Clayton, Mike Cocking & Ashley Mead – OCCM (2019). SLOPE RATINGS: Men – Black 134, White 129, Silver 135, Blue 132; Women – Red 137, Yellow 118 and Silver 146. PLAYING SURFACES: Pure Distinction creeping bentgrass greens; couch fairways and tees. GREEN FEES: Victoria is a private club but interstate and overseas guests, who are members of a golf club, can apply for a tee time. COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Steven Newell. PGA PROFESSIONALS: Paul Wright, Andrew Cooper and Denis McDade. THE CLUB FACILITIES: The Victoria Golf Club Teaching Centre was opened in 2013 featuring the latest in state-of-the-art coaching and fitting…

It’s a golf day, not unlike any other. It’s a random fourball I’m in, and everyone’s into it. Good shots, bad shots, smiles and grimaces and the occasional “how good is golf!” Normal, like any other golf day. Mick (let’s pretend that’s his name, but it’s not. It’s really Michael) is a handy practitioner, though a little crouched. He’s been on the quiet side for the back nine, playing well, enjoying himself, and starting to rack up a fairly decent Stableford score. On the 15th, he sidles up and says as if it’s just popped into his mind. “Oh, yeah. That’s what I was going to ask you. That magazine you write those stories for – the ones that always sound like they’re made up.” “Yes,” I said cautiously, thinking…

The ranking of courses for 2020 saw 172 layouts receive votes from our judges, which breaks the record of 168 set in 2018. The following courses finished just outside the Top-100 based on our points system. The top-four courses outside the 100 finished less than two points from claiming a century spot. 101. RIVERSDALE GC 102. TWIN WATERS GC 103. MANLY GC 104. INDOOROOPILLY GC – WEST COURSE 105. NOOSA SPRINGS RESORT 106. FRANKSTON GC 107. NARACOORTE GC 108. THE FEDERAL GC 109. ROYAL FREMANTLE GC 110. KEYSBOROUGH GC 111. MONASH GC 112. THE SANDHURST CLUB – NORTH COURSE 113. FLINDERS GC 114. ROYAL PERTH GC 115. SECRET HARBOUR LINKS 116. PYMBLE GC 117. LONG REEF GC 118. MORNINGTON GC 119. THE SANDHURST CLUB – CHAMPIONS COURSE 120. LEONGATHA GC…

BANG! NAILED IT • Tiger Woods will win a major and become a playing captain at the Presidents Cup (Jimmy Emanuel). BANG! • Despite winning ‘The Match’, Phil Mickelson’s form will start to drop off in 2019 and for the first time in 25 years he will fall out of the Top-50 of the world ranking. He will also miss the Presidents Cup for the first time since the first matches were played in 1994. BANG! • On the LPGA Tour, South Korea’s Jeongeun Lee6 earned her card through Qualifying School and will be a regular contender this year. She’s a seven-time winner on the competitive Korean LPGA and will likely be the Rookie of the Year in 2019. BANG! • Playing in her second year on the LPGA Tour,…

1973 Born in Worksop, Notts. After 12 years, the Vietnam War ended and popular sitcom Last of the Summer Wine started. 1986 A relatively late starter. Aged 13. Chernobyl’s nuclear power station exploded and Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launching. 1990 Four years on, celebrated his first-ever victory. Start of the Desert War following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and The Simpsons hits the small screen for the first time. 1991 Won the coveted Peter McEvoy Trophy. The Iron Curtain was lifted and the Cold War ended … and Queen’s Freddie Mercury died. 1993 Turned pro at plus 4 after winning the British Youths’ Amateur Open. Basketball legend Michael Jordan retires and Buckingham Palace opens its doors to the public. 1994 His debut campaign on the European Tour. A…

These are the key positions of the modern swing. The shoulders turn 90 degrees, while the hips turn 45 degrees to the target line, creating torque (pics 3 & 4). The weight is on the right side with both knees flexed, whilst the glutes (the biggest muscles in the body) have moved very little. The golf club is more upright than the Lower Body Swing (see page 116). The lateral shift (side-to-side motion) during the swing inflicts massive torque on the lower back. As you can see (pic 5) there is a slight rolling of the left foot. With the knees leading the hips and the hips leading the shoulders. You can also see a C-like body shape from down the line (pic 6). Weedon recommends, “for a golfer’s longevity…