Innehållsförteckning för June 2018 från Golf Digest

I grew up on a public course in Philadelphia and took lessons from a Cadillac-driving PGA pro named Joe Hunsberger. He was a good teacher and got me started with solid fundamentals. I was lucky that we clicked. Most golfers go to only two or three pros in their lifetime. The first season I got a job at this magazine, I went to a Golf Digest School in Boca Raton, Fla. Jim Flick fixed my grip. Bob Toski got me out of the sand. Davis Love Jr. tried to teach me good posture. Peter Kostis showed me how to make a descending blow. Chuck Cook kept me laughing. They were the best teachers in the game. Then I started working on stories with Paul Runyan, who gave me a one-lever…

Did a mechanical tweak help resuscitate the tour’s best short game? STAN UTLEY “When Tiger got in trouble with his chipping, he tended to let the handle move too wide in the backswing. When that happens, the head isn’t really swinging; you’re moving the whole stick together. Then if you accelerate the grip to start the downswing, you bring the grip through impact first, which ruins the engineering of the club. In the swings I see now, the club is setting earlier and releasing earlier, and he’s using the bounce. When you use the bounce, the lies don’t become scary. You’re hitting the turf with the back of the wedge and skidding. You want to land the plane shallow and on the back wheels.” RANDY SMITH “It’s absolutely amazing to…

“The most important thing is to keep your balance.” We all practice on ranges where our feet and ball are on flat lies. But on the course, things aren’t always so friendly. A lot of times you’ll find your ball in a spot where you can’t stand and swing like you do on the practice tee. A common lie I see amateurs really struggle with is when the ball is below your feet like I’m dealing with here. This shot is unnerving for amateurs, because they play it like it’s on a flat lie. The result is typically hitting it fat or thin. Ideally, you should spend some time practicing shots from different lies, but until that happens, here’s some advice to help you make better contact. When I’m on…

AUSTIN COOK AGE 27 LIVES Jonesboro, Ark. STORY Won the 2017 RSM Classic in his fourth start as a rookie. MONDAY MAGIC After I graduated from Arkansas, I wasn’t sure whether to pursue medical school or golf. I tried Monday-qualifying, and I had six top-25s in 10 starts as a non-member. That told me I could do it. FAMILY TIES My grandpa, John Cook, was a club pro and played in nearly 100 PGA Tour events. He played the final round of the 1965 Memphis Open with Jack Nicklaus. I know he’d be proud of me making it on tour. —WITH STEPHEN HENNESSEY FEEL-GOOD MUSIC I keep practice rounds light. I just want to see the course. I’ll listen to chill tunes like Chris Stapleton (shown) on my Bluetooth speaker.…

NOT PLAYING WELL. PLAYING TOO WELL; IT’S BOUND TO END. HUNGRY. HAD TOO MUCH FIBER FOR BREAKFAST. COURSE DOESN’T FIT YOUR EYE. SHOES DON’T FIT YOUR FEET. NEW SET OF IRONS. NEED NEW SET OF IRONS. DIDN’T SLEEP WELL. HAD A VIVID DREAM ABOUT DEVELOPING THE YIPS. DON’T PLAY WELL WHEN THERE’S NO MONEY ON THE LINE. DON’T PLAY WELL WHEN THERE’S MONEY ON THE LINE. PROBLEMS AT HOME. PROBLEMS AT WORK. PLAYING PARTNER IS HAVING PROBLEMS AT HOME AND/OR WORK, AND HE’S DOMINATING THE CONVERSATION.…

THE ENABLER DAD Guy who lets his kid run wild without any discipline. THE ‘DON’T DO THAT’ DAD He barks out every breach of etiquette, ends up yelling the whole time. THE DELUSIONAL DAD He thinks his son is destined for the PGA Tour because he can occasionally make contact. THE TIGER DAD The guy who yells at his kid when he misses a green or makes bogey. THE PHILOSOPHER DAD He tries to turn every golf moment into an opportunity for dispensing spiritual advice. THE OLD DAD He plays with his grown-up kid, and now he’s the one being watched over. THE MISERABLE DAD He desperately needs a break from his kids, but no. He’s stuck with them for the day.…

Three looks based on one pair of out-there shorts. BUSY PRINTS CAN SEEM intimidating, but they’re actually versatile and surprisingly malleable. If you choose a piece with an all-over pattern, keep everything else solid. It’s a foolproof way to build a perfect outfit. Colors can range from mild to bright. To prove it, here are three entirely different summertime looks featuring one pair of out-there shorts.…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Excerpted with permission from The Illness of Medicine: Experiences of Clinical Practice, copyright © 2018 by Michael J. Young, M.D., GM Books, 263 pages, $30. I’VE BEEN A PHYSICIAN for three decades, and handling Friday-night call duty was always particularly stressful for me. Often it followed a busy week and involved trying to avoid problems over the ensuing 72 hours while covering my practice and my partners.’ If Friday night was bad, the weekend would almost certainly be difficult. Problems came in multiples—and tended to go from bad to worse. One such weekend began on a beautiful Chicago summer night. As usual for a call night, I went to bed around 10 p.m., hoping to get a reasonably good night’s sleep. Often, that was difficult, not because of…

▸ When the USGA announced this year that it was going to switch to a two-hole playoff and sudden death thereafter to determine future winners of the U.S. Open in case of a tie after 72 holes, those who usually follow the championship on TV had a perfect excuse to go happily singing and dancing into the night. No longer would they be forced to call in sick at work to watch the 18-hole playoff on Monday. Unless of course it involved Al Watrous versus Aubrey Boomer. Who would care? ▸ I, however, slumped over in regret when the news hit that after 123 years of 18-hole playoffs, five playoffs of 36 holes, and one of 72 holes, the winner of the grand old Open title has suddenly been reduced…

An agent—not mine—once told me his secret for success was to recruit golfers who were “really smart or really stupid.” Average intelligence, he believed, had a strong correlation with average careers. Implicit in his confiding this was that he held me in the former category. Sometimes I wish I were in the latter. I don’t believe there’s a sport where more information is thrown at the athlete than golf. To have an unthinking nature can be a huge blessing. You can just disregard all the TrackMan and ShotLink data and go play. Of the top-125 players in the world, maybe 30 operate in this state of blissful ignorance, and there are at least four or five in the current top 20. The following is a tee-box interaction I overheard between…

“A tight-lie flop requires commitment, swing speed—and stones.” I’m guessing you’ve hit a miracle shot once or twice. Maybe you threaded it through the trees, or nipped a wedge off a cartpath. Before I joined the PGA Tour, I had a lot of fun making trick-shot videos with my brother, George. I’d hit golf balls in midair with a driver, skip them across ponds to a target on the other side, bank them off trampolines—you get the idea. Miracle shots are really hard to pull off, but when you’re playing for a score, you need to improve your odds. I’ll show you three stroke-saving trick shots that will look miraculous to your playing partners and opponents, but if you follow my advice, you’ll feel comfortable hitting anytime. THE TIGHT FLOP…

You fired at the flag but missed. Now your ball is in the rough, and you’ve got about five feet of green between you and the hole. Your best—and probably only—option for getting up and down is a lob shot. You need to hoist the ball way up in the air, and drop it close to the hole like it has a parachute strapped to it. How do you do it? First, know that you should only attempt a lob if you’ve got some cushion under the ball. If it’s on hardpan or sitting down in the rough, simply pitch onto the green and hope you can two-putt to get out of there with minimal damage to your scorecard. But if your ball is sitting up, you can easily execute…

KIKUYU KUSH THIS THICK-ROOTED CROSS-STRAIN KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED DURING MUNDANE TASKS, LIKE PRACTICING BUMP-AND-RUN CHIPS. MYRTLE HAZE A MEMBER OF THE SATIVA FAMILY, IT OPENS A BALLOON OF CREATIVITY INSIDE YOUR HEAD. RESCUE SHOTS ONCE REGARDED AS IMPOSSIBLE WILL FEEL DESTINED. ROYAL STINGER THE GENOMES OF THIS PURPLE-HAIRED PRINCE CAN BE TRACED TO MERRY ENGLAND. GREAT RELIEF FOR SEIZURES, MUSCLE SPASMS AND SWING CHANGES. STIMPANZEE BRIMMING WITH THC, THIS HYBRID OFFERS BLISSFUL AND UPLIFTING EFFECTS. IT’S KNOWN TO COMPROMISE COORDINATION, SO DON’T BE SHOCKED WHEN YOU PUTT LIKE A MONKEY. CYPRESS JOINT THIS HIGHLY PALATABLE INDICA IS FAMOUS FOR BUDS THAT RESEMBLE THE NAMESAKE TREE. REDUCES ANXIETY IN UNFAMILIAR FOURSOMES.…

The stuff’ he’ll be excited to unwrap on June 17. Because he doesn’t need another “World’s Best Dad” mug.…

Q I’ve often heard that putts will break toward any body of water near the green. Is there any scientific evidence to support this? BRENT LEDFORD, BOISE, IDAHO A Putts often do break toward the water, but it’s not the H²0 they’re reacting to. As short-game guru Stan Utley explains, “Putts break because of gravity.” If there’s a mountain to your right and a lake to your left, the land will typically slope from right to left—and that’s the way a putt will tend to break. The era of the golf course you’re playing has a lot to do with this general rule. Older courses were primarily built along existing terrain, making it easier to spot these breaks. Modern architects can move more dirt, tricking players with counterintuitive topography. Your…

When I get students who complain about poor chipping, here’s where I go first: How far are they standing from the ball? If you’re more than a foot away, you’re adding variables that just aren’t necessary. The biggest issue is, the club will tend to swing around your body, with the face fanning open (top photo). It’s hard to hit a good chip from that position. Here’s a simpler way to go. Start with your back foot across from the ball, and get very close to it. That sets the ball position back in your stance. Then, sole the clubhead behind the ball, and aim the face on the line you want the shot to start. Raise the grip, so the shaft is more upright. Finally, put your front foot…

“Constantly borrowing tees? You need a new downswing.” If you’re regularly popping up tee shots or the ball isn’t rolling very far once it lands in the fairway, you’re hitting down on the ball too much. That’s OK for an iron shot off the turf, but not if you’re swinging a driver. A tell-tale sign your downswing is too steep is if you’re constantly breaking tees in half like you’re splitting firewood. If you want to maximize distance with your driver, you’ve got to hit up on the ball, and a simple fix is to literally stand up during the downswing. Let’s practice this move. As your start the club down, I want you to thrust your hips forward like I’m doing here. I recommend doing this without a ball…

Just about everybody hates a slice. This isn’t an opinion. It’s fact. Golftec, the instruction company that has given more than seven million lessons at its nearly 200 locations, revealed two details about its customers: 96 percent want to hit anything but a slice, and only 8 percent come to Golftec hitting a draw. The slice, friends, is still golf’s most confounding swing fault, or as Nick Clearwater, Golftec’s vice president of instruction calls it, “an epidemic.” The good news is that it’s a very fixable problem. Yes, by all means, see a quality instructor. A slice is caused by the most common of swing flaws: swinging the club down steeply on an out-to-in path with an open face to that path at impact. This creates sidespin that sends the…

There was no puff of white smoke billowing from the United States Golf Association or Royal & Ancient headquarters, but for some golf officials, the announcement might have been as momentous as the selection of a new pope. ▸ Six-plus years in the making and 12 months after circulating a first draft for public comment, in March, golf’s rules-makers arrived at a final, modernized version of The Rules of Golf. ▸ The new rules go into effect Jan. 1, 2019, though some—including Seminole Golf Club president Jimmy Dunne—have said they’ll start using them this season. It’s not hard to see why people would want to get a head start. The new rules are easier to understand and apply, and they include changes that stand to make the game faster and…

MY FIRST YEAR AS A HEAD PRO, I gave a clinic one afternoon on chipping. After we finished, a student came up to me and said, “I didn’t like that. You never told us what club to hit on those shots.” Even though I was a novice teacher, I got it right that day. I could’ve told her what I would do in those spots, but she would’ve tried to memorize that and not discover it for herself. The right way depends on the golfer—the shots you like, your comfort level in different situations, the clubs you have confidence in. It’s not one-size-fits-all. ▸ In this article, I’m going to give you a few mechanical keys for playing around the greens, but then encourage you to try different variables that…

BEAU HOSSLER knows the drill. When he was a junior golfer growing up in Southern California, he had talent, but it took some time for him to find his way. Eventually, he put in the work to become a Rolex Junior All-American. A little later, he went off to the University of Texas, where he struggled as a freshman. But he adapted to campus life and went on to earn national player-of-the-year honors. Hossler prepared to be humbled once more after settling in Dallas (where he plays out of Trinity Forest) and embarking on his pro career in February 2017, seven months later than he expected because of a freak injury. Only this time, the learning curve has turned out to be even shorter. In just 11 Web.com Tour starts,…

WHAT COMES TO MIND when I think of the 1986 U.S. Open at Shinnecock? For one thing, the car ride over on the Sunday before the tournament started. Earlier that day, I’d lost at Westchester after sharing the 54-hole lead. All my career I was a good closer, but this time I played lousy and lost. It was a 2½-hour drive out to the end of Long Island, and it started out quiet. Then my wife, Maria, who until her passing in 2012 was my partner, my teammate, the love of my life and my everything, starts asking questions. “So what happened today?” she said.“It was just one of those things,” I said. “I blew it. It happens.” “Why did you blow it?” she said. I said, “Can we just…