Innehållsförteckning för October 2016 från Golf Digest

A golf pro walks int o a bar. Well, not just any golf pro—Beef Johnston, this summer’s juggernaut who’s ranked 86th in the world, made three out of three cuts in America, finished eighth in the Open at Troon and won the Spanish Open on the European Tour. He’s wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates flat-brim cap and a Wu-Tang hip-hop T-shirt. He’s talking to everybody, and everybody wants to talk to him. We’re there to video Beef giving lessons in a London pub. It’ll get almost 300,000 views on Golf Digest’s Facebook Live. What’s your best advice for 10 more yards, Beef? Stand a bit wider, give yourself a good balance, make a big turn and give it a rip. Really pummel it out there. Earlier in the day, he posed for…

Nothing’s worse than being just short in two and making 6 because you bladed one over the green. The hybrid chip can be a lifesaver, especially when you have a lot of green to work with. One thing to keep in mind: The ball comes off a hybrid pretty hot, so it’s just a little bump to get it going. I use my putting grip because the motion is a lot like a putting stroke. Set up with the ball off the instep of your back foot to make sure you catch the ball first. Stand close to the ball, and choke down on the grip a few inches to shorten the club. The shaft should be pretty upright at address. This will help you make a straight-back, straight-through…

“The smart player sees a large bunker in sections.” on par 5s, bombers get excited when they have a chance to reach the green with the second shot. Same with shorter hitters on long par 4s. Although it’s great to embrace opportunity with aggressive play, the amateur mistake is to get preoccupied with covering the distance of a lengthy approach and ignore what’s going on around the green. Laying up or planning to miss to a certain side should be part of your thinking. Because let’s be reasonable: If you’re using a wood or hybrid, your chances of hitting the green are less than 50 percent. You need to ask, From where am I most likely to put my third shot close? Consider the par-5 13th hole at Concession Golf…

Just as the eyes are the windows to the soul, the setup in putting is the window to the stroke. If left alone, the stroke will mirror the positions established at address. Set up well, and your stroke will flow naturally; set up poorly, and you’ll be fighting yourself the whole way. It’s easy to pick out good and bad putters by looking at their setups. But every golfer has the ability to putt as well as a tour pro because, physically, putting demands very little. You don’t have to be strong or fit or flexible. But you do need to get into a good setup. Here are the steps I teach. —WITH PETER MORRICE I watch how players set up and think, Here’s a good putter or No chance.…

The late Seve Ballesteros was the ultimate match-play golfer. He has a 20-12-5 record in eight Ryder Cup appearances as a player, and he captained the Europeans to victory in 1997. He also won the World Match Play Championship five times. Needless to say, the guy knew what he was doing. And so can you. Use Seve’s wisdom, and you just might take down your next opponent, 5 and 4. —BRITTANY ROMANO 1. “Making your opponents fear the worst is a powerful weapon in match play.” In other words, embrace the competition. Step to the tee box with confidence, and volunteer to hit first. Hit a good shot? Pick up the tee before the ball lands. Walk with a purpose, and never let anyone see that you’re nervous. Your…

When it comes to the flagstick, there are the written rules you must follow and the unwritten ones you should honor. Here’s a refresher course to ensure your time on the greens goes smoothly. WRITTEN ▶ Striking a removed flagstick or the attended flagstick (including the person tending it) when making a stroke anywhere on the putting green is a penalty (loss of hole in match play; two shots in stroke play, and the ball must be played as it lies). Remember this key thing when you play: If you authorize someone to tend the pin, the responsibility for what happens next is on you. If your attendant doesn’t pull the flagstick out in time, or someone in your group or match places it in a spot where your ball…

Maybe it’s all over. Odds are, it is. So many key indicators say so: three recent back surgeries/procedures, recurring chip yips, scores in the 80s, WDs, the quiet desperation in a muttered “C’mon, Tiger” before hitting a third straight pitch shot into the water. In the history of golf, no great player who has fallen from the top for this long has ever returned to dominance. And no dominant player has ever dropped so far as quickly— from a record 683 weeks at World No. 1 (for periods from June 1997 to May 2014) to No. 683 in August 2016—as Tiger Woods. The shock is still being absorbed. If the Woods era has truly ended, it will have happened at an age younger than any all-time player since Bobby Jones.…

Most players get to the No. 1-handicap hole and think about just trying to survive without destroying the round. Being cautious is understandable. We feel it, too, especially in the majors, where course setups can be brutal. But you’ll have more success if you treat that 485-yard par 4 the same as all the others, instead of playing it safe. I used the strategies here to win two major championships, and they’ll work just as well for you no matter what hole you’re playing. It’s time to start looking forward to the challenge and stop playing with fear. —WITH MATTHEW RUDY “Keep your backswing tempo the same. Nice and smooth.” DON’T OVERSWING Long, hard holes are usually visually intimidating from the tee. That’s done on purpose to make you uncomfortable…

When the pros hit wedge shots, like European Tour player Thomas Pieters is doing here, they’re controlling the distance and height very precisely. There’s no guessing and hoping it gets close. You can have that kind of control, too, if you start using your body the right way. Pieters isn’t trying to smash the ball as hard as he can, but he’s still making a definite body turn through. If you skip this part and use mostly arms, you won’t make consistent contact—and you won’t have good distance control. To check your body turn, imagine the ball has a camera on it and that the camera is looking up at you. If you played back the video after the shot, you should see the left side of your chest moving…

Worst result you’ve ever had punching out? ▶ Negative yardage: 40% ▶ Ball got stuck in a tree: 31% ▶ Damaged my club: 19% ▶ Hit myself: 10% SOURCE: GOLF DIGEST READERS There are times when an off-line shot puts you in a place where all you can do is hit the ball low and advance it to a better position. In these situations, you need the punch shot. It’s smart, user-friendly and can eat up a good chunk of yardage toward the green. Just remember one thing: To use it reliably, you have to practice this shot. Let me show you how in four steps. David Leadbetter is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional. 1. USE LESS LOFT Select a longer iron than normal, like a 6-iron where you might…

Q While addressing his ball under a tree, a playing partner was dive-bombed by a large red-tailed hawk. Rather than have him risk further damage to his Tilley, we allowed him to move the ball away from the tree without penalty. Were we correct? JON GRANTHAM, TUCSON A To truly understand the gravity of the situation, we went down to the public library (it’s still open!) and did some good, oldfashioned, 1980s-style research on red-tailed hawks. Fascinating animals. Did you know they can have wingspans of more than four feet, are also known as a chicken hawk, and frequently cause damage to Foghorn Leghorn? Regardless of what the Rules of Golf says, we believe you made the right call. No gap wedge in the world was going to save his…

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Order it neat? Yes. Rocks? Sure. With diet soda? Um, no. Golf in the fall is bittersweet. You can’t help but appreciate the crisp air and the vibrant foliage in much of the country, but you know the end is near. Instead of dwelling on winter’s impending arrival, enjoy these last few weeks of the golf season and toast another year well played—or at least played. These new bourbons will help. They represent a whiskey renaissance in terms of production techniques and creative recipes. They taste like bourbon but offer something different if you’re tired of the same ol’ same ol’. —RON KASPRISKE WOODFORD RESERVE MASTER’S COLLECTION BRANDY CASK ▶ The latest in a collection of small-batch whiskeys that vary from the company’s original grain recipe. This bourbon finished its…

If reduced feel isn’t an issue for Phil Mickelson, how could it be an issue for anyone? A few years ago, rain fell steadily during the first round of a local tournament. One of the guys in my threesome hung a towel and several gloves from the stretchers of his umbrella, and before each shot he would wipe the grip of his club while squeezing the umbrella’s handle between his upper arm and his chest. Then he would dry both hands and put on one of the gloves, and if anything got wet during any of that he would do it all again. On the 12th hole, a gust lifted the umbrella off the top of his bag, where he had propped it to keep his clubs dry while he…

ON THE FINAL HOLE of the PGA Championship in July, I left myself in the one place I didn’t want to be: short-sided in deep rough with a bunker between me and the flag. But there was never a question which club I was going to use from there to set up a two-putt and the biggest win of my life: my 60-degree lob wedge. I’m unconventional in that I use my lob wedge for every short-game shot. I learned this from my dad, who was a scratch player. Dad’s thinking was: Why try to get good at chipping with four or five different clubs when it’s easier to master just one? My coach, Butch Harmon, says I’m the only tour player he’s ever taught who uses this approach,…

In 1959, Jules Alexander was a fashion photographer who, on a whim, took the train from New York City to suburban Mamaroneck to check out the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club. Alexander hadn’t photographed golf. He didn’t have a press credential. Yet when he wandered onto the course, he was perceptive enough to recognize something unique in Ben Hogan who, at 46, was still a commanding presence. Alexander died in August near his home in Rye, N.Y., at 90, after a celebrated career capturing iconic images of the game’s biggest figures, from Palmer to Nicklaus to Woods. Alexander’s most celebrated picture is the one above of Hogan leaning against his putter on the green, head turned to the side, a cigarette in his right hand. When Alexander…

Thinking about your swing from beginning to end is natural, working from address to backswing to downswing to finish. But starting from the opposite end—the finish—can help influence the way you curve shots. How your swing ends says a lot about the motion you made to get there. For example, a finish with the right side noticeably lower than the left and the weight hanging back a little (above, left) indicates you’ve swung down from inside the target line and the hands and arms were moving faster than the body. That tends to produce a right-to-left shot—a draw. If you do the opposite, where the chest and hips are facing the target at the finish and the right shoulder is high (above, right), you’ve probably hit a shot that…

one of the first things I hear from beginning golfers is that they didn’t get fit for clubs because they didn’t think they were good enough for it to matter. The truth is, a 20-handicapper gets more benefit out of a fitting than a scratch player does. Good players adjust quickly to the equipment they have in their hands, but high-handicappers end up fighting their clubs as much as they do their swings. Think of it as a cycle: Improve your swing, tweak your clubs, repeat. Here, my wife, Debbie Doniger, who’s also a teaching pro, is helping me groove my swing with a new driver. Remember, there’s help for you out there! —WITH MATTHEW RUDY Kevin Sprecher, one of Golf Digest’s Best Teachers in New York, is based at…

The more you try to help it up, the more you chunk it. Dumping a pitch shot short and into a bunker might seem like a random event, but it happens all the time. There has to be more to it than just nerves, right? Right. A poor setup and lack of body turn are the major culprits. Make sure you’re not leaning away from the target at address to try to help the ball up. The more you lean back, the farther behind the ball you hit. Keep your spine centered above your hips, and play the ball in the middle of your stance. These positions promote body rotation and solid contact. If you’re using a 60-degree wedge, set the face square. You have plenty of loft. If…

Do you want your new clubs single-use or multi-purpose? For example, are you partial to a driver that’s big and forgiving or one that allows you to tweak an array of settings? Do you want irons designed to launch it high and far, or do you want a compact head that lets you control trajectory? Even in wedges, you can choose between larger heads with wider soles and limited lofts or models that offer multiple lofts, sole designs and bounce configurations. Knowing what you want from your wedges, irons and driver is the first step toward knowing what kinds of clubs should be in your bag. MIZUNO T7 ▶ Infusing forged carbon steel with ultra-strong boron makes the grooves more precise and durable. The grooves, soles and shapes change as…

Percentage of golfers with non-standard grips who . . . ▶ Bought clubs “off the rack” 3% ▶ Bought custom clubs 15% ▶ Bought grips separately 45% SOURCE: GOLF PRIDE considering the punishment your wrists endure because of golf— helping you swing the club through thick grass, plugged bunker lies and twohour grind sessions on the range—it’s amazing more golfers don’t suffer hand injuries. “Actually, they do,” says Dave Phillips, golfand-fitness expert at the Titleist Performance Institute. “They’re fairly common, and you typically don’t come back quickly from one.” The forces applied to the hands throughout the swing can cause soft-tissue inflammation or sprains, nerve damage, or fractures to the eight tiny carpal bones of the joint. The most easily injured is the hamate bone on the pinky side of…

Every golfer needs a windproof jacket. They’re more affordable and easier to pack than a waterproof jacket, and they offer an effective way to regulate your body temperature. The key is comfort. The best windproof jackets use lightweight, water-resistant and breathable fabrics for protection. A stiff breeze is no match for these jackets. This easyto-pack, seam-sealed quarter-zip jacket doubles as a waterproof and windproof option. Each pocket is also sealed with waterproof zippers. ZERO RESTRICTION $215 You might be familiar with the effective Gore-Tex material Galvin Green uses in its rain jackets. The company also has jackets that feature Gore’s Windstopper fabric GALVIN GREEN, $275 Mesh lining on the interior of this half-zip pullover adds ventilation and comfort. It’s lightweight and windproof: ideal for an athleticlooking wind jacket. NIKE $125…

“It’s the gold standard when it comes to sports pension plans. It’s really a remarkable plan.” A round the turn of the century, before two economic downturns—the combination of the dotcom bust and September 11 in 2001, followed by the Great Recession of 2007-’09—there were staggering estimates of what some PGA Tour players would have in their deferred-income plan when they retired. Tiger Woods would have $1 billion, it was guesstimated, and journeymen competitors would amass tens of millions. Not only did those projections not foresee economic collapse, they also assumed an unrealistic rate of growth for PGA Tour revenue based on the staggering 40-percent purse increase in 1999 fueled by the first TV contract in the Woods era, which was negotiated less than a month after Tiger’s finalround Masters…

▶ If you’re like a lot of the amateurs I’ve seen, you take too much sand on greenside bunker shots. People say you need to hit the sand first, but most golfers overdo it—and end up leaving the ball in the bunker. I hit these shots differently. My philosophy is that you don’t need to chunk it out with a lot of sand. You can control the shot better if you take less sand. You’ve probably done this by accident and hit a great shot that popped out with spin and checked up by the hole. The big chunk tends to roll out too much, so it’s hard to control. To try my technique, there are a few things you need to do in your setup. Take a wider stance…