Innehållsförteckning för February 2020 från Golf Australia

WE all know golf is the most frustrating of all sports. As weekend warriors we hit the course hoping this is the round where it all comes together. Last week you couldn’t putt but you hit it great. Each of the three weeks before that, you hit it sideways all day and couldn’t miss with the flatstick. If only there was a day when all facets of your game would come together at once for that round. That round you can boast about for years to come. That round which becomes the benchmark for all future performances. What if you had that round and that was as good as it will ever get for the rest of your playing days? I’ve no doubt, like me, you’ve been trying to replicate…

He was really something wasn’t he? Along with just about every other living, breathing punter on the planet, your humble correspondent was entranced by the sight of the greatest golfer we have yet seen performing close to the top of his peerless game during the recent Presidents Cup matches. The combination of Tiger Woods and the composite course at Royal Melbourne was intoxicating. “Best-ever meets the best we’ve got,” you might say. There was just one caveat clinging to that enjoyment. It was difficult not to feel a little disappointed as Woods and the other 23-players on show in the biennial contest between the United States and the International squad launched a succession of short irons into almost every one of those wonderfully contoured greens. Yes, Alister MacKenzie’s masterpiece stood…

LAY YOUR PRACTICE BARE I read somewhere that hitting practice balls in bare feet can help improve your ball-striking. Is this true? David Nolan Via email If you are finding it difficult to hit the shots out of the middle of the clubface, or your shots are flying left or right or both, you could really benefit from practicing in bare feet. The key is balance. If you are unbalanced during the golf swing any number of poor shots can be the ultimate result. Poor balance is usually the result of swinging too hard. That said, it’s OK to swing hard at the ball as long as you are balanced throughout the swing. A balanced finish means your belt buckle, chest and eyes should be facing the target, with most…

February 7, 1962: Sam Snead becomes the only man to win an LPGA tour event when he defeats 14 LPGA players to win the Royal Poinciana Plaza Invitational. February 10, 2015: Princess Anne, Laura Davies, Annika Sorenstam, Renee Powell, Belle Robertson, Lally Segard and Louise Suggs are the first women given honorary memberships into the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. February 15, 1998: Brad Hughes won his second Australian Masters title, recording an Australasian PGA Tour record breaking 24-under-par 268. He defeated Mat Goggin by five strokes and smashed the Masters record by five shots. February 27, 1992: A 16-year-old amateurTiger Woods plays his first PGATour round in the Genesis Open. He birdied the 1st hole, carded a 72 and ended up missing the cut.…

When Regina Korda watched from her seat at Melbourne Park as her husband, Petr, thrashed Marcelo Rios in three explosively dominant sets to win the 1998 Australian Open men’s singles title, she was three months pregnant. The precocious child emerged on July 28, 1998, in Bradenton, Florida. She would be named Nelly. An estimated 358,049 babies were born around the world on that day, but none of them would feel the identical connection that Nelly felt in her soul. It was almost as if she knew she was destined to do something great on Australian soil one day, following in the footsteps of her father. “I was there, in a way,” she says of Petr’s victory, which vaulted him to No. 2 in the world. “It’s pretty cool. I don’t…

PTSI has been around as long as human combat itself. In the earliest surviving major work of literature Epic of Gilgamesh, which dates back to 2100BC, the main character is haunted by the trauma of his close friend’s death, suffering many of the effects experienced by modern day sufferers of PTSI. Seemingly, each new war leads to another term to describe the same symptoms. In Europe in the 1600s it was coined nostalgia, a term later applied during the American Civil War. It has also been variously described as shell shock (WW1), battle fatigue, war neurosis and soldier’s heart (WW2) among others. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was first used to describe the distress of US Vietnam veterans in the 1970s and entered the vernacular of the American Psychiatric Association…

In the world of golf course architecture there is a widespread and very understandable assumption the person with their name on the golf course is the one primarily responsible for its creation. It’s not a belief rooted in any sort of reality. In the spring of 1926, Dr Alister MacKenzie came to Australia and transformed golf in this country. In Adelaide he reworked some of Royal Adelaide’s holes including conceiving the brilliant short par-4 3rd hole. In Sydney his visits to New South Wales, Royal Sydney and The Australian were important, although barely any of his work remains at the latter two and almost all of the greens at NSW are altered from the years of MacKenzie’s association with the club. Royal Melbourne though was his primary focus and it…

1 THE SUMMER APPROACH SHOT 141 METRES TO PIN, 30°C, DRY, 5MPH TAILWIND It’s a beautiful summer’s day with light breeze and your driver splits the fairway. You’ve only got 141 metres to the flag and you know it’s playing shorter. It’s a mid-iron for most handicap golfers and let’s assume it would be a perfect 7-iron in 15°C with no wind. The extra 15°C at mid-iron is around five metres carry, a 5mph tailwind is roughly four metres and you should also allow for a couple of metres extra release in the firmer summer conditions and downwind. You need to select your club that carries around 129 metres. Actual yardage: 141 metres Playing yardage: 129 metres 2 THE WINTER DRIVE 5°C, LIGHT RAIN, 10MPH HEADWIND There’s a daunting cross…

You know it… but you still do it! According to Shot Scope’s database of more than 30 million shots, 80 percent of missed greens are missed short. To explain this more simply, on average a 20-handicap golfer hits four greens in reg per round. This means they miss 14 greens per round, and of those 14, 11 are missed completely short of the green altogether – a pretty staggering statistic. Double trouble Shot Scope’s mapping data reveals 72 percent of danger is at the front of the green (sand or water), whereas there’s only 28 percent behind. So missing long is significantly less of a problem than short. Stats reveal 96 percent of golfers play right-handed. Breaking their misses down in more detail, 47 percent miss short right compared with…

Of course, from around 145-200 metres you have a choice of long iron or hybrid to cover the distance. But what do the stats say about which is better? As this graph shows, it comes down to handicap level. For the elite amateur, there is not much to choose between the two. For lower handicaps it is more down to the individual golfer and their preference as there is not much statistical advantage to either club. However, the picture changes as the handicap rises; a 20-handicap golfer is more than twice as likely to hit the green from 190 metres with a hybrid compared with an iron. For 14 handicaps and upwards, it is certainly worth considering swapping the long irons for hybrids as the overall results suggest more accuracy…

Take a look at this table (right). It is clear to see that between eight and 26 handicaps, there is minimal difference between the number of birdies per round. However, when you look at the average number of double bogeys, the 26-handicap golfer makes FIVE more a round than a two-handicap golfer. This is where the difference lies between those top end handicaps and mid-range handicaps. It is clear that the fastest way to reduce your handicap is not to make more birdies –but to reduce the number of costly doubles in a round. Measured approach One way to do this is to change the strategy with approach shots. A tough pin tucked behind a bunker is a no-go, unless a perfect golf shot is executed, which is highly unlikely…

We are led to believe that if we make a good swing, we’ll hit a good shot. Sound familiar? The golf coaching industry and the culture it has created has led us all down that path for decades, largely without foundation or success. Our belief is this concept is fundamentally flawed. Over the years we have seen far too many extremely talented players lose their way and ultimately their game as a direct result of their pursuit of the perfect swing, whatever that looks like. Rather than asking “what is wrong with my golf swing?” would it not make more sense to ask “what is wrong with my shots?” Trying to figure out what is wrong with your swing will have you questioning 101 different ‘moves’ and there will be…

CALIFORNIA DREAMING Some golf courses belong on every player’s bucket list – and Pebble Beach is right up there alongside the likes of the Old Course at St Andrews, Augusta National, Royal Melbourne and Cypress Point. So, if you’ve ever considered visiting the stunning Monterrey Peninsula to play Pebble Beach, now might be the time to pull the trigger, thanks to Golf Explorer. The three-night trip starts from $4,095 per person, twin share and includes luxurious accommodation at The Inn at Spanish Bay (Pebble Beach Resort); one round of golf and cart hire at Pebble Beach Links; one round of golf and cart hire at Spyglass Hill; and return transfers from San Francisco Airport to Pebble Beach Resort. You will also be on the doorstep of the world-renowned Napa Valley,…

TIGER WOODS and his all-star Americans might have lured the masses, but the real star of the Presidents Cup was the course. The plaudits for the Royal Melbourne Presidents Cup Composite Course were loud and widespread from the players and captains, to the media and gathered galleries. The greatest aspects of Australia’s premier course had been showcased to the golfing world and the golfing world loved it. “Royal Melbourne is not one of the longer golf courses we play, but it is tricky. And when it gets fast and if we get hot weather, we get the northerlies coming in there, it can get quick, like it was in 2011,” Woods said. “Here, you can have a sand wedge in your hand and you can’t fire at a flag, you…

WHAT A CUP! Australia has never seen anything like the Presidents Cup, and probably won’t ever again. I was at Royal Melbourne for the Cups in 1998 and 2011 and thought I had seen the best of them when the Internationals won. But this last Cup was even better, given the standard of play and the enthralling nature of the competition. I followed (as best as I could) Tiger Woods’ singles match against Abraham Ancer and it was golfing drama of the highest quality. Watching Woods play, possibly, his last round in Australia was something I’ll be able to tell the grandkids one day. Quite the end of an era really. Stan Jenkins Via email Want to get something off your chest? Let us know your opinion via e-mail to:…

Having never hidden my desire to hold on to history, I wondered during a moment of absent thought, what if the old stuff is as good as the new stuff? Is it time to look back given the fresh year? Time to stop getting caught up in what we might be missing, and remember what we already have? Clubs, I mean. Not balls, and not even drivers, but irons. What if the older clubs performed as well as the newer clubs? Now, I know the big time manufacturers keep reinventing wedges, but it’s hard to see how they’re different. In fact, as a test, I went to the old bag in the shed and pulled out five different short irons, including my home-made “Shooter” and showed them to my wife.…

You’ve been in this job a wee while now. What have you made of it so far? We could be here for an hour just on that question alone. I quite often go back and think about my interview five years ago. I’ve played golf all my life. Club golf. I love the game. But my interests were my family and business. I took from the game more than I gave. But I’ve always known there is something different about golf too. It was a huge surprise when I was asked to interview. You didn’t apply? No, I didn’t. If I’m honest, I didn’t even know it was open. I got a phone call asking if I wanted to interview and I didn’t even know Peter (Dawson) had retired. So…

During his 40 years as course superintendent at Kingston Heath Golf Club, Vern Morcom was commissioned to design, remodel or build dozens of courses throughout Australia including: Angelsea GC (Victoria) 1950-53 Cobram-Barooga GC (NSW) 1955 Curlewis GC (Victoria) 1947 Geelong GC (Victoria) 1948 Glenelg GC (SA) 1955 Healesville GC ((Victoria) 1957 Lakes Entrance (Victoria) 1956 Launceston GC (Tas) 1955 Leongatha GC (Victoria) 1956 Long Island GC (Victoria) 1945 Lonsdale GC (Victoria) 1950 Moe GC (Victoria) 1956-63 Mt Gambier GC (SA) 1957 Naracoorte GC (SA) 1956 Patterson River GC (Victoria) 1948-50 Rosanna GC (Victoria) 1962 Rossdale GC (Victoria) 1949 Royal Hobart GC (Tas) 1956-63 Spring Valley GC (Victoria) 1949 Flinders GC (Victoria) 1956 The Grange GC (SA) 1956-61 Kingston Heath GC (Victoria) 1928-67 Kooyonga GC (SA) 1960 Metropolitan GC (Victoria) 1946…

We all have ideas about how we play the game, and where we lose shots… but how accurate are they? Thanks to modern shot data technology, we now know. Leaving approach shots shy of the green may be an accepted, common strategic error, but did you know the typical club golfer leaves four out of every five approaches short? Or that, on the greens, some 84 percent of putts over five feet also finish short of the hole? These are just two stats thrown up by data capture system Shot Scope, which regularly crunches the numbers from more than 30 million golf shots, played over hundreds of thousands of rounds. But the folk at Shot Scope have taken this further to identify the nine most common strategic errors we all…

Traditionally, the 3-wood has been seen as a safer alternative to a driver. Well, not according to the stats! Consider this data, based on all handicaps across 30 million shots. Yes, the 3-wood is just 1 percent more accurate than the driver. DRIVER V 3-WOOD DISTANCES This stat compares the distance of the two clubs. It is evident that, on average, a driver will go around 25 metres further than a 3-wood, which is probably what you’d expect. So the driver goes further, which will leave a shorter shot to the green than if 3-wood had been hit, and is scarcely any less accurate. Clearly, unless the drive/hole does not demand distance, there is little benefit in choosing a 3-wood over driver. DRIVER V 3-WOOD FAIRWAYS HIT This is where…

By and large there are two types of amateur golfers – those who reach for their lob wedge all the time around the green, and those who reach for their 7-iron. The graphics below show examples of two short game players who represent either approach. Both have poor short games. In contrast, a good short game player demonstrates a much more even distribution of club usage. This allows them to keep their technique the same, while letting the changing club take care of the varying challenges thrown up by the short game. The data clearly suggests that golfers who do this see the benefits in their scores. POOR SHORT GAME PLAYER GOOD SHORT GAME PLAYER FIX IT IMPROVE YOUR SHORT GAME: ONE-LEVER ACTION The stats show you…

EMBRACE YOUR INNER MAVRIK Callaway has embraced the maverick spirit with its new range of clubs. The MAVRIK family of drivers, fairways, hybrids and irons designed to push performance through a rebellious and disruptive attitude. Further expanding on the company’s use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning through the employment of a supercomputer that debuted in last year’s Epic Flash drivers, the entire range is powered by AI. Marking the first time AI has been used by Callaway to create the faces of its fairways, hybrids and irons, the technology has also been refi ned in the Flash Face SS20 made from the stronger FS2S titanium of the MAVRIK, MAVRIK Sub Zero and MAVRIK MAX drivers, delivering what the company calls “the finest combination of distance, forgiveness, consistency and…

For eight years, Sam Birchall has been doing something that most of us will never achieve. The 84-year-old has been playing to – or beating – his age almost every time he tees it up. “The first time I played to my age was when I was 76 and I’ve been playing to it ever since,” Birchall told Golf Australia magazine. The 12-handicapper plays most of his golf at Boomerang Farm Golf Club on the Gold Coast. But he was born in Manchester, England, in 1935. Birchall enjoys two competitive rounds every week – and he is gifted a golf ball by men’s captain Roger Blackford whenever he shoots better than his age, which he believes could be around 30 or 40 times in recent years. “Roger always says, ‘I’ve…

THE COURSE LOCATION: 215 Victoria Road, Yering, Victoria 3770 CONTACT: (03) 9739 0110 WEBSITE: www.easterngolfclub.com.au DESIGNER: Greg Norman Golf Course Design. SLOPE RATING: South Course: Black 130, Blue 128, White 122, Red 130, Yellow 120; North Course: Black 129, Blue 127, White 124, Red 127, Yellow 117; East Course: Black 128, Blue 127, White 120, Red 124, Yellow 117. PGA PROFESSIONAL: Scott Barradell. PLAYING SURFACES: Grand Prix couch (fairways), T1 bentgrass (greens). COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Jay Infanti. TEE TIMES: The Eastern is a private member club. Guests of members are welcome ($60 per round) as are accommodation guests of Yering Gorge Cottages ($95). Members of international and interstate golf clubs ($150) can apply for a visitor tee time, which are available Sunday to Tuesday and Thursday to Friday. THE CLUB MEMBERSHIP:…

Young Tom Morris was the first superstar of the game. The son of the legendary Old Tom Morris first entered the Open Championship as a 14-year-old boy and by the time he tragically passed away a decade later he had won four Open Championships and was the best player in the game. He is the youngest ever Open Champion and his feat of four consecutive remains unmatched today. Author Stephen Proctor – an avid golfer and a senior newspaper editor – has spent the past decade studying the history of the game and in this, his first book, he shines the spotlight on Young Tom’s life and brilliant career. Proctor’s tome has been extensively researched and chronicles his career from his first appearance in a professional event at the age…

PUNISHMENT DIDN’T FITTHE CRIME It was a shame that the many controversies surrounding Patrick Reed seem to divert attention away from a very successful Presidents Cup. There was the ‘moving sand’ matter on the eve of the event and it followed him all the way to Melbourne, where he made fun of the incident. Then his caddie gets involved in a push-and-shove with someone in the gallery. And the reaction from the PGA Tour? Wrist slaps all the way. They even posted footage to their social channels of Reed making light of the controversy. Miscued or what? Reed brought the game into disrepute but the only penalty he received was the two shots in the Bahamas. Hardly a punishment befitting the crime … and ensuing fallout. Darren Greeves Via email…

When the final edition of the Melbourne Age newspaper produced with metal type was put to bed in 1983 I souvenired a slug of lead bearing the famous “We were wrong” insignia. While most papers of the era tried to ignore or weasel their way out of mistakes and only acknowledged them under threat of expensive legal action or public outrage, The Age put its hand up and righted its wrongs. Last month’s column in this magazine mentioned a golf writer’s dinner held on a boat in Sydney. This was incorrect. It was in Melbourne and I was there. It was not an earth shattering error but it was wrong and made worse by the fact that this lamentable lapse of memory was picked up by a colleague far, far…

Successful siblings in golf are nothing new. On the LPGA Tour alone, the Kordas (Jessica and Nelly), Jutanugarns (Ariya and Moriya) and Sorenstams (Annika and Charlotta) have all been winners. There has also been plenty of notable brother and sister combinations to achieve success in their respective areas of the game, however, the unique Vic Open offers Minjee and Min Woo Lee the chance to claim an unheralded record in golf. Now a European and LPGA Tour event for the men and women, the tournament has been a leader in the golf world for parity across the genders, played at the same venue for the same prizemoney. The Lee’s potentially bringing even more attention to the event if they were able to claim their respective flights and hold the trophies…

Shot Scope’s award-winning V2 shot tracking system uses GPS to provide the golfer with an accurate assessment of every shot hit. Chipped, lightweight tags, screwed into the butt of each club, send data to a wrist-worn device, which reads every detail of how the club was used and moved. All activity is plotted on a course map to create a comprehensive and accurate picture of the golfer’s movement, and the results of each shot. After the round, users can access this information either through a smart phone app or online dashboard. Since its introduction, Shot Scope V2 has reduced its users’ handicaps by an average of 2.7 shots. For more details visit shotscope.com…

Knowing and understanding your game – your shot patterns and where you’re most likely to miss – is the first step to improving. The best players in the world don’t always hit great shots; however they understand better than anyone where not to miss, as well as knowing what they are most likely to do, especially under pressure. This is something especially under pressure. This is something any golfer can do, simply by taking a little time to think about your shot patterns and the dangers you face. Consider a hole with water down the right, as illustrated here. If your typical miss is to the right, you can build a strategy based on that knowledge; the left semi or even the rough is not a bad result, certainly compared…

Shot Scope’s database of over 30 million shots has highlighted that an enormous 84 percent of putts over five feet are left short. Yes, there is an argument that a putt left a foot short is better than a putt raced six feet past the hole. However, that stat means that almost nine times out of 10 we are giving the ball NO CHANCE of going in! Getting the ball to the hole should be a focus for anyone when they step on the green. Pelz’s 18 Short game guru Dave Pelz did some research that found that the ideal pace of a putt is to get the ball rolling so that it finishes no further than 18 inches past the hole. Pelz suggests this will allow the ball to…

The first port of call for our five-day Moroccan golf journey was the Palmeraie Palace, an oasis of luxury and refinement nestled in the heart of a lush, cool palm grove ten minutes’ drive from the hustle and bustle of Marrakech. This exquisite property is richly decorated in intricate Moorish designs that feature large archways, opulent furnishings and a décor in rich earth tones. After checking in we were asked to make ourselves comfortable on a collection of carpets and cushions by a water fountain in the tiled foyer area. Before long, resident tea-maker Aziz Igouzoulen appeared through an archway wearing a flowing white robe and a maroon fez hat, carrying a silver tray with an elegant metal teapot packed with fresh mint leaves, tea and sugar. After the tea…