Innehållsförteckning för July 2020 från Golf Digest

TO SAY GOLF is more entwined with its equipment innovations than other sports isn’t opinion. It’s numbers. During the past 40 years, of the tens of thousands of patents granted in sports, golf ideas have numbered twice as many as those for football, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, swimming, bowling, soccer, lacrosse and skiing combined. Feverishly anticipated by many, decried by others, golf products have relentlessly pushed forward technologically throughout Golf Digest’s 70 years, a time that’s likely seen more innovation in each successive decade than in the preceding century. Of course, with that kind of progress, choosing one representative for each of the past seven decades meant leaving out memorable inventions (Softspikes, hybrids and launch monitors, to name three). But whether you’re a major champion or a beginner, the seven…

IN 1985, I was just out of college and took an entry-level photography job at Golf Digest in Trumbull, Conn., owned then by The New York Times Company’s Sports & Leisure magazine division. To be honest, I was less interested in golf than I was in the number of consumer and trade publications the company owned. I didn’t plan to stay more than a year or two, just long enough to add published tear sheets to my portfolio to help launch my career. Well, I’m still here, and a big reason is because of one assignment that set the trajectory for my career—one that has included millions of frames and miles traveled to photograph golf courses, tournaments, instruction and, of course, golf legends. In 1992, Golf Digest Design Director Nick…

GOLF DIGEST published its first article on how to play this magnificent and infuriating game in the spring of 1950. Fittingly, it was titled “How to putt.” Can’t get that right, the editors must have figured, and there’s no sense in learning the rest. But since that time, the rest has been covered in this magazine by a Hall of Fame list of regular contributors including Byron Nelson, Paul Runyan, Harvey Penick, Sam Snead, Bob Toski, Davis Love Jr., Jack Nicklaus, John Jacobs, Jim Flick, Butch Harmon, David Leadbetter, Tom Watson, Jim McLean, Michael Breed and Tiger Woods. As part of our 70th-anniversary celebration, we’re republishing one insightful instruction article from each decade of Golf Digest’s existence. These articles come from the player who was the most dominant during that…

I HAVE ALWAYs enjoyed studying and comparing sequence photographs of golf swings. I’ve learned from poring over pictures of the swings of Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, for example, and then relating them to my swing. I like to hear what great players think about and feel before and during their swings. In the next nine pages, we’ll look at stop-action photos of my swing from two camera angles, face-on and down the target line. I picked pictures that show me at what I consider to be the crucial stages of the swing, and my commentary accompanies each photograph. Essentially, I tried to make major points that can apply to your swing as well as mine. Since there are as many golf swings as there are sets of golfers’ fingerprints,…

I HAVE REDUCED EVERY FACET of my game to a couple of fine points to keep it grooved. It’s a one-two punch for success that might benefit you, too. The idea is to simplify what you’re trying to do, so there’s a better chance your swing will repeat.? Take my iron play: (1) I make a full shoulder turn while keeping my head from moving to my right. At the top, my shaft is parallel to the target line and the toe is pointed down, which means the face is square. (2) I release stored power at impact. My head stays steady as my hips turn left and my arms extend.? Read on to get my two steps to playing each of my dominant shots. “At the top, the toe…

I CAUGHT UP WITH BEN HOGAN at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth, where he’s still a member. The clubhouse was closed, so we kept at least six feet apart for this interview in the parking lot. No handshaking, which he seemed to appreciate. Known for being a semi-recluse, Hogan said the quarantine has improved his disposition. BEN, YOU’LL BE 108 IN AUGUST. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF IN A HIGH-RISK CATEGORY? Well, heck, yes. HOW HAVE YOU BEEN FEELING? I don’t remember, and if I had any health problems, I wouldn’t tell you about’em anyway. Everybody’s got problems—they don’t want to hear about mine. SO HOW ARE YOU AND VALERIE SPENDING YOUR TIME IN SELF ISOLATION? I’m not a very good gin player, [but] it passes the time. DO…

IF YOU’RE ON “Jeopardy!” remember: “Who is Herbert Warren Wind?” is the answer to “The greatest golf writer of all time.” Among countless feats, he coined the phrase “Amen Corner,” co-authored Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons, wrote The Story of American Golf, and recycled his knowledge in an annual “Golf Quiz” for Golf Digest. You can’t simply Google the answer to his questions. It’s almost as if he presaged the Internet’s effect on trivia when he stopped producing the quiz in 1980. In the spirit of Wind’s style, we imagined what he might ask about the modern game. The accompanying 10 questions are a mix of actual Wind bogglers and ones we made up. 1 Tommy Armour was one of golf’s greatest teachers—and one of the greatest characters as well. For…

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN one of those golfers who needs a swing key to play well. I don’t like to rely on feel. To my mind, good feel is the result of sound mechanics and, later, confidence. Think about it; if all you have to consider when you’re over the ball is one simple swing key, you can block out negative images. You can forget the water in front of the green or the big bunker on the right. When you get to that stage, every shot becomes the same, at least in your mind. And isn’t that what the swing is all about: the reduction of variables so that you can focus on just one key thought. Remember, the less complicated anything is, the easier it is to repeat. On…

IT’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE swing thoughts on the tee. They help take your mind off all the bad things that can happen and put your focus on what you need to do to put one in the fairway— way down the fairway. But just as important as mechanical thoughts is making sure you’re swinging with good tempo, particularly with the driver. You could have amazing technique, but if you can’t put it all together with the right rhythm, you won’t hit your best tee shots. So let’s start there as we try to make this your driving consistently good.? You might notice I’m wearing in-ear headphones. I like to listen to music when I practice to help improve my rhythm. I tend to get a little quick in the transition…