Innehållsförteckning för May 2016 från Golf Digest

The best description of the robotic swing of Ben Hogan was authored by our late columnist Charles Price, who said Hogan hit the ball “like a machine stamping out bottle caps.” So it came as a bit of a surprise that the United States Golf Association’s golf robot was named “Iron Byron” after the more artistic swinger, Byron Nelson. Nelson became known as “the Mechanical Man” when he won 11 consecutive tournaments and 18 total in 1945. The True Temper shaft company built the first swing robot in 1967, modeled on Nelson’s “perfect swing,” and for decades the USGA used it to test balls for compliance with the rules. Most of the USGA’s testing is now done indoors, but modern versions of Iron Byron can be cranked up to 130…

“How wide do you want your fairway to be?” If I’m confronted with a huge open space when designing a course, I’ll sometimes put a bunker close to the middle of a fairway. The idea isn’t to punish the straight ball or have the erratic hitter think, “Well, if I aim directly at it, what are the chances?” The purpose is to create what are essentially two fairways. One is usually wider than the other, and there’s a reward for choosing the narrower side. A good example is the par-4 sixth at North Palm Beach (Fla.) Country Club (illustrated), a municipal course I did 10 years ago for the town we live in. Challenging the skinnier “fairway” on the right offers the best angle for the second shot. From the…

Plenty of teaching aids will help you groove your swing, but you won’t find many that are as cheap—or as easy to find—as alignment sticks. These thin poles can do everything from lining you up to your target to helping you make a better turn. A set of two might cost you $15 at the golf shop. But if you just came out of the snow season—like I did here in Michigan—you probably don’t even have to search for the golf-specific kind. The $2 versions from your hardware store were probably lining your driveway all winter to keep the plow from wiping out your lawn. Those work, too. —WITH MATTHEW RUDY Jason Guss, one of Golf Digest’s Best Young Teachers, is based at Hawk Hollow Golf Course in Bath Township,…

If you recall all those times you were urged to memorize The Rules of Golf but said, “Forget it, that’s what carrying around the booklet is for,” congratulate yourself for smart procrastination. The rules of the game have been updated numerous times since 2000, including hundreds of revisions or additions—some fairly significant. So had you committed as much of the book to memory as possible a decade or more ago, you might be out of touch with current mandates. If you’d like to get up to speed, here are a handful of the key changes that have taken place this century. IT USED TO BE . . . ▶ If your ball moved after you addressed it, you were penalized regardless of whether you caused it to move. ▶ It…

At the Players, it’s like you have 300 people running around who all think they’re your boss. My least-favorite tournament is the Players Championship. Ask around the locker room, and you’ll find some guys with the same answer. This might surprise you given the money—the $1.8 million first prize and $10.5 million purse are tied with the PGA Championship as the largest we play for. But a slightly more lucrative T-20 or T-40 doesn’t change the vibe. For me, that week at TPC Sawgrass is a guaranteed bad mood. I’m a fan of firm and fast, but there they bake out the fairways so much that it’s Mickey Mouse. If your ball lands on the frontright fringe at 18, there’s a good chance it’ll kick all the way into the…

Some players think of fairway woods and hybrids as fall-back options for when you want to play safely off the tee or hit the ball somewhere near the green on a par 5. Not me. I see them as offensive weapons. On the last hole of the LPGA Championship in 2009, I was contending for my first major and facing a back-left pin from 195 yards. I hit my 21-degree hybrid to three feet and made birdie to win. ▶ As for my 15-degree fairway wood (the equivalent of a 3-wood), the best I ever hit it was on the par-5 18th hole in the final round of the ANA Inspiration last April. Looking down a 200-yard shot to an island green, I knocked it on and made a two-putt…

CERTAIN GOLFERS SEEM DESTINED TO ENTER the game’s history as genuine characters. Of course, top performers often only appear to be so , because even normal traits placed under a magnifying glass can start to look like eccentricities. But the truest criteria for character status are personality, an appealing narrative and a distinctive natural style. To make the cut, it must all add up to being interestingly different. At 22, Bryson DeChambeau already checks all the latter boxes as he turns professional after a spectacular late burst as an amateur. In less than a year, the relatively unknown kid from Clovis in California’s dusty Central Valley has become the golf insiders’ favorite topic of curiosity. There’s no doubt he’s interestingly different. As a former physics major at SMU, where he…

YOU CAN’T JUST ROLL out of a golf cart and hit a flop shot. This high-lofted pitch—where the ball goes straight up, hangs in the air and lands dead—requires a decent amount of practice and a whole lot of confidence. It’s one of the game’s ultimate risk-reward plays. Hit it well, and your playing partners will be shaking their heads as you tap in for par. Hit it poorly, and you’ll be scrambling to save double bogey. I flop it only when I have to, mostly when I’ve missed a green right next to the pin and any other type of shot won’t get the ball close. Think of it as an “in case of emergency, break glass” shot. Here’s what I’ve been working on to hit the flop great…

JAMIE LOVEMARK AGE 28 LIVES Jupiter, Fla. STORY Won 2007 NCAA Championship; four top 10s on PGA Tour in 2015-’16. ACCURACY IS KEY A large part of my improved play can be attributed to hitting it straighter off the tee. That’s allowed me to take advantage of my length. That’s difficult to do when you’re in the trees. I have tons of confidence in my driver right now. WATER WORLD I love to surf. I don’t do it as much as I used to, but I surfed a lot when I was at USC. I like anything having to do with being on the water. Stand-up paddleboarding or fishing. You name it: If it’s on water, I’m in. —WITH E. MICHAEL JOHNSON Stuck in a groove I’m picky about keeping…

An early-morning tee time can be the worst for hay fever. From Atlanta to New York to Los Angeles, forecasters are predicting that this spring might be “pollengeddon.” Park a car at your neighborhood golf course, and you might come back four hours later and find it’s in a new color—yellow. The number of Americans 18 and older diagnosed with hay fever in 2014 was 19.1 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s nearly one out of every 13 adults in the United States. If you’re part of that group, golfcourse allergens from flowers, weeds, grass and trees might be affecting your game. “What causes allergies is the body’s immune system reacting to the pollen,” says Dr. Ara Suppiah, whose patients include several allergy sufferers on…

When I was in my 40s, I did something that middle-age men often do: I bought an expensive European two-seater that my wife didn’t know how to drive. I loved redlining around town, but, in truth, the car wasn’t suited to my lifestyle. (To fit my golf bag into the trunk, which looked like an attaché case, I had to remove my driver and angle it in first.) So when my insurance company threatened to cancel my policy if I didn’t get rid of the car—I’d just gotten a speeding ticket, and my son had just gotten his license—I wasn’t that upset. ▶ Lately, though, I’ve been feeling nostalgic—not for the two-seater, which by now I’d have trouble angling myself into, but for the car my wife was driving during…

 WE LIVE IN A BADASS WORLD, even if you don’t count the Badass Teachers Association (yes, there is such a thing). Think Cam Newton’s Superman end-zone celebration or Jose Bautista’s bat flip. Rickie’s high-tops or that Dustin Johnson pantherlike prowl. “I don’t think he’s even trying to do that,” my wife says, somewhat taken by it. Which is the whole point about being a badass, according to Hank Haney, former coach of Tiger Woods—arguably the baddest ass in golf. “If you call a great player a badass, it’s an affectionate thing,” Haney says. “But if a guy’s got no game and is substituting attitude for talent, that’s not gonna work.” We talked to several teachers and psychologists who work with pros and golfers like you. Here’s their advice on adding…

WE PLAY A GAME called Sweat. It’s the perfect golf gambling game. It’s played one on one or can be played two against two. Here’s how it works: Each hole is worth one point. In our case the point is worth $100, but it can be any amount. At any time during the play of a hole, a side can offer to double the bet. If the other side declines, they lose the hole and the point total. But here’s the kicker: If an opponent accepts the double, they also receive half a stroke. The half-stroke changes everything. If we’re playing a par 3 and I’m on the green, 40 feet from the hole, and you’re plugged in the bunker, I’ll double you and give you half a stroke. But…

Your opponent has a two-footer, you say... ▶ “Pick it up.” ▶ “Gotta see that one.” ▶ “Is mine good, too?” ▶ “Next one’s not good, either.” SOURCE: GOLF DIGEST READERS Here’s the dilemma when you face one of those slippery downhill putts: How do I hit this thing soft enough? Some people say you should make contact off the toe of the putter, but that can cause the face to twist open. Others say grip down to shorten the club, but that creates a different setup and feel. Do you really want to do all that on a putt that’s already freaking you out? The most effective method for handling short, speedy putts is two-fold: First, take an extralight grip; and second, make a slow-motion stroke. The light grip—and…

You’re playing along fine when suddenly a tee shot gets away from you. High and right, into the adjacent fairway. And there’s a group there. You yell “Fore!” (yes, you have to), then go over and try to be clever: “Can I borrow your fairway?” Of course, you have to play a shot in front of them, the worst part. A high-right tee ball usually comes when you fear going left. Or you’re trying too hard to drive it straight. Either way, you tighten up. Your hands and arms don’t catch up to your body on the downswing, and the clubface points right at impact. The mechanical mistake is, you turn your body too fast coming down, or your lower body slides ahead, causing a severe in-to-out path to go…