Innehållsförteckning för Oct 2024 - Issue 425 från Golf Australia

Among my favourite sports quotes of all time is the one from Adam Scott after he claimed his Masters victory in 2013. The magical soundbite has been turned into part of the intro theme of the Playing From The Tips podcast, hosted by former Golf Australia magazine Deputy Editor Jimmy Emanuel and colleagues Rod Morri and Adrian Logue – a show you should be listening to each week. “It is amazing that it’s my destiny to be the first Australian to win; it’s incredible,” Scotty says in the intro. The extended quote includes: “We [Aussies] like to think we’re the best at everything. Golf is a big sport at home, and this is the one thing in golf we hadn’t been able to achieve.” It ranks high among my favourites…

In a match which instantly etched itself into golfing history, Fred Couples delivered a masterclass in a clutch performance on the final day of the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994, won by the Americans 20-12. The Presidents Cup was launched as a biennial competition to showcase the best players from the U.S against the best players in the world outside Europe. The stage was set at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, a private set up in Gainesville, Virginia (scene of this year’s Solheim Cup). The world watched with bated breath as Couples squared off against formidable Zimbabwean Nick Price, representing the David Graham-captained Internationals. With the Cup hanging in the balance, Couples emerged as the hero for the U.S, sealing a win which would become a cornerstone of this…

Australia’s Golden Age of golf architecture was unsurprisingly centred in the big cities of Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, where the founders of the early great courses and ultimately most historic clubs came across ideal, sand-based land upon which to build some of the game’s finest layouts. Royal Melbourne’s 1926 committee enticed Alister MacKenzie to Melbourne and not only did he construct what is arguably his finest course, he showed us the importance of great golf architecture and what it looked like. Outside the biggest cities, not a single course came remotely close to matching the quality of what MacKenzie and his contemporaries – including Alex Russell, Cargie Rymall and Eric Apperly – had made, and very little architecture of any consequence was built after the Second World War. Then, in…

Camiral Golf and Wellness has announced major upgrades to its renowned Stadium Course, as well as further investment in its awardwinning customer experience, solidifying its position as Spain’s No.1 golf resort, according to Golf World’s Top 100 Continental Europe Resorts rankings for 2023. This critically acclaimed Stadium Course – three-time Spanish Open venue and multiple DP World Tour event host – reopened on September 7, having completed its sustainability-focussed upgrades, which included changing the grass types on its fairways to Bermuda Celebration and Paspalum, matching the premier playing surface at the prestigious Augusta National. According to the club, the upgrade will ensure consistent, high-quality playing conditions which meet the expectations of elite and discerning golfers from around the globe and further augment visitors’ experience at the world-class resort, located 20…

Golf was born on flat, sandy land deemed unsuitable for any kind of agriculture. History, however, shows us that relatively flat sites can still produce great golf courses because of what lies beneath. Some of the world’s most acclaimed courses have emerged from what was once unspectacular and almost featureless terrain. For example, Carnoustie in Scotland and the gem of the Melbourne Sandbelt, Kingston Heath, cover flat countryside, but have become renowned for their routing, hazards and the features which don’t rely on dramatic topography to produce interesting golf. They are great because of their sandy soil below the surface, which enabled their architects to extract the finest playing characteristics from the landscape. Yes, where there’s sand, there’s hope. Now imagine how exciting it might be for a course designer…

This is a simple drill, but a good one for feeling green speed and line – the two pillars of putting. It’s a good one for repeating an action and doing it “loose”, relaxed, with soft hands. The first putt, you just hit to anywhere on the green. No target, no requirement for “weight” – you just putt it. Could be six, 10, 20 feet. That ball then becomes the target for your next three putts. And on each one you just try to recreate that exact weight, line, speed and feel of the first putt. This drill is all about feel – it’s a good warm-up drill rather than a more technical one. You want to just be totally focused on the target and replicate that first putt using…

Conveniently located just 20 minutes from Auckland’s CBD, in stunning bushland between the lower slopes of the Waitakere Ranges and the Manukau Harbour, Titirangi Golf Club, the country’s only Alister MacKenzie-designed course, is one of New Zealand’s top-10 marquee layouts and is recognised as being one of the best golf courses in the country. In Māori, Titirangi means “fringe of heaven”. Perhaps Dr MacKenzie had that in mind when he designed this course back in 1927, as there is something heavenly about playing Titirangi. The course is sculptured out of a majestic setting, the 18 holes weaving their way through a beautiful backdrop of lush native New Zealand bush. Mackenzie spent a week on the site in 1927 and it is “a measure of his genius that it took less…

CALLAWAY’S NEW APEX AI200, APEX AI300, AND APEX TI FUSION IRONS COMPLETE PERFORMANCE One of the industry’s leaders in equipment design, performance and innovation, Callaway Golf have announced their new line of Apex Irons. Led by Apex Ai200 and Apex Ai300 offerings with performance that stands alone, these are the only irons with a forged body and forged Ai Smart Face for distance, feel and exceptional spin control. Apex Ai200 is Callaway’s most complete players distance iron, featuring an elegant hollow-body design that blends performance and precision. The forged hollow-body is combined with a Forged 455 Face Cup to create Tour-level sound and feel in a stunning, premium profile. In addition to enhanced feel, the Forged 455 Face Cup delivers outstanding speed across the face. This unique combination of speed,…

As is invariably the case when links golf in variable weather conditions rears its fascinating head, the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon delivered on multiple fronts. We were treated to a well-deserving and talented “champion golfer of the year” in Xander Schauffele. After four days in which the best players on the planet were tested in ways they rarely experience, the course surely gained a new level of respect from all concerned. And the iconic par-3 Postage Stamp lived up to its long-held reputation; the shortest hole on the Open rota producing a range of scores all the way from two, to Joaquin Niemann’s quintuple-bogey eight. All of the above contributed to a highly entertaining week on the Ayrshire coast. Ah, but here’s the thing. A closer inspection of…

After two days and 12 loops of the nine-hole, 18-flag Sporties Mini Golf course on the banks of the Murray in Cobram Barooga, the $13,000 Australian Mini Golf Open was all tied up. On 14-under (202) were three men: Josh Mars, the reigning Oceania champion; Cam Couper, a four-time NZ Open champion and Matt Anstey, who reached the final of the World Adventure Golf Tour match-play championship in Brno in the Czech Republic. It meant the Australian Open was going to an 18-hole play-off. With the pressure on, the three-ball still couldn’t be separated, each man posting an even-par 36 around Mini Golf Creations’ signature layout at Sporties Barooga. It was time for sudden-death minigolf. First to fall was Anstey, who made bogey-three on three, before Couper and Mars matched…

On one of my recent Brain Booster podcasts, Solheim Cup star Bronte Law was talking about time spent with one of her heroes, Ian Woosnam. “Ian told me that, for him, the game is a mental one,” she explained. An innocent enough comment, perhaps … though one that prompted two responses from listeners, both of which amounted to the same thing: “Of course golf is mental for Woosie … he already knows how to swing the club.” These comments, I think, reflect not just a general misunderstanding about the point of the mind game, but also a widely held belief among club players: that golf becomes an increasingly mental game as the skill level rises. Hackers should work on their technique, while tour pros, their methods locked down, need to…

QUICK TIPS SPEED IT UP TO GENERATE MORE POWER One goal I have had has been increasing my clubhead speed. To do that, I tried to make everything in my swing faster. It makes my hand path longer, my turn bigger and I’m pushing harder off the ground, which translates into a faster clubhead. That’s a big difference from what many amateurs do. They try to swing faster but don’t turn their hips or shoulders more. That restricts speed. It should feel like you’re letting the clubhead go, instead of directing it through the impact with your hands. When it comes to hitting fairways, one of my tendencies is to aim too far right, and that’s when I get into trouble off the tee. My stock shot is a little…

The Hero Dubai Desert Classic is set to return for its 36th edition from 16-19 January, 2025. As the oldest golf event in the region, this prestigious tournament will once again bring together a starstudded lineup of players, promising an unforgettable experience for all attendees. Some of the world’s top golfers will be competing for the US$9 million prize pool at this prestigious Rolex Series event on the DP World Tour’s 2025 Race to Dubai schedule. Spectators will enjoy daily entertainment, live music, a dedicated kids’ zone, plus great food and drinks over four fun-filled days. General admission tickets will again be free, with hospitality packages also available soon. This year’s tournament was claimed by Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. He clinched the title with a commanding performance, finishing seven strokes…

Another stableford competition, another 31 points, another four hours swimming in the viscous soup of competitive juice, another half-joking post-round quip to our club’s teaching pro: mate, you don’t do psychiatry services, do you? Half-joking? Not even joking. Because seriously, game – what are you like? I’m not sure if this hobby-come-habit-come-all-consuming-addiction is healthy for either of us. Is there not another way? This publication’s Architecture Editor, Mike Clayton, will tell you there is. He reckons Australians are “obsessed” with stableford competition golf. He doesn’t know why golfers don’t go out for five holes here, 11 holes there. Just go out and whack the ball around for an hour or two for no other reason than fun. Clayton in his professional playing days was as hard-bitten as any of the…