Innehållsförteckning för May 2024 från Golf Magazine

From the Editor By the time you read this issue, someone will have won golf's first major, the Masters, and either Scottie Scheffler or a player you've never heard of will have bagged a Tour victory. As many golf pundits have written online and in papers and magazines, professional golf currently sits in uncharted territory, the changes being—depending on who you ask—either 1) challenging, 2) bad for the game or 3) business as usual. I'll take the latter, with one obvious caveat—the schism created by the launch of a competing tour to the one we've known and loved since it officially broke away from the PGA of America in 1968. What remains the same is that the top circuit has always produced a dominant winner (i.e., Jack, Tom Watson, the…

1 Number of times in the last 50 years a player has won on the PGA Tour in back-to-back weeks with the same player finishing runner-up both weeks. Scottie Scheffler won the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship with Wyndham Clark finishing runner-up both times. (SOURCE: JUSTIN RAY) 163 CLARK'S OWGR TO START 2023. AFTER BACK-TO-BACK RUNNERS-UP IN MARCH 2024, HE WAS UP TO A CAREERHIGH FOURTH. Keeping it Straight When Si Woo Kim won the Players Championship in 2017, he ranked 142nd in driving accuracy. In the seven seasons since, Kim has quietly reversed the trend to become one of the straightest drivers on the PGA Tour, ranking ninth in driving accuracy through the 2024 Players. 604 The number of additional weeks, as of the 2024 Players, that…

> 1 lb sliced sharp cheddar > 4 oz blue cheese > ½ stick butter > 2 cloves garlic > ½ cup beer > 1 tbsp Worcestershire > 2 tsp white wine vinegar > 1 tsp dry mustard > dash cayenne pepper > salt and pepper to taste In a food processor, combine cheddar, blue cheese and butter. Pulse for one minute. Add remaining ingredients. Pulse until fully blended. Refrigerate for two hours. Remove and sprinkle with more cayenne pepper. Serve with your favorite crackers. Follow Chance Cozby's foodfocused Instagram account at @3piecesofpecan. More tasty recipes at golf.com/clubhouse+eats.…

Assuming you're talking about those testy 70- to 120-yard wedge shots, making ball-first contact is paramount. Anything less and the wet grounds will have their way with you. There are three key things to help you achieve the contact you're looking for. First, position the ball slightly back in your stance (by about one ball position). Next, stay centered on your backswing, making sure you don't shift your weight into your trail foot too much. Finally, make sure to get your sternum on top of, or even out in front of, the ball at impact. I also suggest trying the Gary Player walk-through drill, which is a great way to ensure you'll catch ball-first on those soggy lies. Scan this code for $70 off the yearly subscription price of Parker…

GEAR GRIP SLIPPAGE is an obvious concern when the rain is falling. The same goes for when it's hot or humid (or both) and your hands are sweating. The month of May can produce both conditions, so here are a few moisture-defying products designed to improve your chances of maintaining the delicate relationship between hand and club. Callaway's Thermal Grip gloves ($25 a pair)—with their fleece cuff lining, microfiber outer shell and full suede palm—are specifically designed for very unpleasant weather. SuperStroke's S-Tech Cord grip ($9 each) relies on a Cross-Traction texture to provide tack and feedback no matter what you're facing. FootJoy has had great success with their RainGrip gloves ($27 a pair), thanks in part to their autosuede palm material and quick-drying knit. Lastly, Lamkin's UTX Ultra Tack…

There's a good chance you've heard it before, but it still bears repeating: The golf ball is the only piece of equipment in your bag—save for your grips—that sees action on every shot you take. Think about that for a second. In a world where golfers are spending more time (and money) than ever before on clubfittings to optimize their setup, the golf ball remains the forgotten piece of the gear puzzle—an all-important aspect that some leave up to chance. If you're a high-spin golfer blindly playing a ball designed to induce more rpm, you're likely sacrificing distance and consistency on the course. It's akin to grabbing a suit off the rack and expecting it to fit like a well-tailored Cesare Attolini. It's time to change how you look at…

THINK / PLAY / LIVE YOUR APPROACH SHOT landed just shy of the green. The lie is good, but you definitely have some cabbage to navigate between you and the apron. Sure, you can putt this one, but your putter may not have enough loft to get the ball moving smoothly across the long grass. And you'll probably end up making a “jabby” stroke because of it, removing any sense of distance control. I have a better solution: Putt this with your hybrid. A hybrid's extra clubface loft (usually in the 17- to 27-degree range) provides just enough lift to help the ball motor over the rough and onto the green. The best thing about opting for a hybrid in this situation is that you get to use your normal…

THINK / PLAY / LIVE YOU DROVE IT into a fairway bunker. No problem. You can still reach the green with a few simple tweaks to your setup and swing. First, the setup: Take a slightly narrower stance, position the ball just forward of center and set 60 percent of your weight over your front foot. Each of these adjustments make it easy to create ballfirst contact. (You don't want to take sand like you do in a greenside bunker.) As far as your swing goes, the key move is to remain centered, keeping your nose over the ball throughout your motion. If you sway, you'll catch it fat, because the sand is too soft to push off of to get back on top of the ball. I ask my…

Spotlight Miura Golf has made its mark in the world of equipment by producing some of the best-feeling forged irons and wedges on the planet. Now, for the first time in their history, they are offering the classic Miura feel and performance to all kinds of golfers with the introduction of the polymer-filled hollow-body IC-602 irons ($3,150/3-GW; miuragolf.com). The body of the IC-602 is made from soft carbon steel, while inside the head tungsten is utilized to precisely position the center of gravity and boost forgiveness. The face of the irons (3-9) is comprised of a fast chromoly steel, while a softer S35C steel is used in the pitching wedge and gap wedge. The irons also feature the Miura Versatile Sole to create more efficient turf interaction so all golfers…

IN AN AGE OF FIVE-HUNDRED-YARD par 4s and 6-irons that fly farther than Old Tom Morris’ 1-wood, Bobby Jones’ attunement to the mind, “Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course—the distance between your ears,” still rings true. I've worked as a mental coach for dozens of PGA Tour professionals over the past 25 years, helping them fulfill their dreams of winning golf ‘s biggest events. There's a lot to navigate, as you can image, but whether we're walking down the immaculate fairways at Augusta National or through gnarly U.S. Open rough, I see in my players’ eyes that the mind is the most daunting hazard out there. In this new monthly column (and through more content on GOLF.com), I'll share what I've learned and studied, what…

CHANCES ARE you've heard the term 10K being bandied about at your local course, but you're still not quite sure what it means. Without getting too far into the gear weeds, it's a mythical number combining heel-to-toe and top-to-bottom Moment of Inertia. Better known as overall forgiveness. The higher the number, the more stable and forgiving a driver will be. Up until this year, no driver had been able to break the 10K g-cm2 threshold until PING's G430 Max 10K, TaylorMade's Qi10 Max and PXG Black Ops came along. For golfers wondering if upgrading to a 10K product is worth the dinero, we pitted G430 Max 10K against G430 Max in a head-to-head test that revealed 10K was more forgiving and retained launch characteristics and spin rates on common mishits,…

If money is the most ubiquitous thing in pro golf, then money games are a close second. Walk around a Tour stop during any early-week practice round and you'll find yourself besieged by them—big-money matches, skins games, $10 “dots,” $50 “hammers.” The friends play for a lot; the acquaintances play for a little. But everybody plays for something. Even the guys playing alone. Like Tom Kim, who's meandering up the 18th fairway at TPC Sawgrass on Players Championship Monday with a sort of convivial swagger and a modest audience of three—his caddie and your correspondent included. Kim, stocky and a mere 21 years old, is one of golf ‘s most popular young stars in part because of that impish bravado. As a 20-year-old member of the International squad at the…

THINK / PLAY / LIVE: THE ENLIGHTENED GAME Lessons Yes, fried eggs in a bunker are nasty lies. Your first instinct may be to simply roll the ball out of the depression it made in the sand. Tsk, tsk. Trust me: This one is easier than you think. Simply use your everyday bunker setup and swing, with the following two adjustments: 1) As you settle into your stance, “shut down” the club by turning it inward so that the toe of the club points more toward the target than the clubface (left); and 2) emphasize steepness in your downswing and really go after the sand just behind the ball (below). Swing hard and don't fret: These two moves work as if by magic. Derek Swoboda teaches at John's Island Club in…

A lot of rec players think they need to get the club under the ball to hit soft and high shortgame shots. Not true. The secret is to get the club down to the ground. That's your mission. It starts with a solid setup, where you're bent forward from your hips, with your arms hanging straight down. Because of the way your arms hang at address, your trail elbow naturally folds as you swing the club back. So… in order to get the clubhead back to where it started, you must straighten your trail arm as you swing into impact. Arm straightens, club gets all the way to the ground and—presto!—the ball “climbs” the clubface, giving you the shot height you need to land the ball softly on the green.…

G: Jack Nicklaus did really well in Ohio, where he started. You did really well in Ohio with the Buckeyes. Jack's done really well in Florida, where he is now. You did well in Florida when you were coaching the Gators. Are there any other similarities between you and Jack Nicklaus? UM: [Laughs] Probably not. I got to play golf with Jack every year for, like, seven years. He's a bigtime Buckeye fan, obviously. He played at Ohio State, and he's a great friend. So that's the biggest similarity: We're both Buckeyes, love the game of golf and love the football team. G: You've played at a ton of great places, including several rounds at Augusta National. What are your top five favorite courses? UM: Well, Augusta is number one…

Clubhouse GOLF.COM / SMART GOLF STARTS HERE / MAY 2024 IN A BALLROOM AT THE BILTMORE HOTEL IN MIAMI, FLA., AT LIV GOLF'S 2024 CONTENT SHOOT Dylan Dethier: What was the first big lesson you learned about professional golf? Patrick Reed: It was [in 2011], right after we won our second national championship at Augusta State. I was 6-0 in match play there. I literally tapped in, we won, and then drove to Memphis because I was in my first-ever PGA Tour event. My caddie was our assistant head coach, and we made a game plan. I'm paired with two veterans; both have won on Tour before. And the next thing you know, about six holes in, I'm seeing both of them hit iron off this one tee. My game plan was…

Clubhouse THIS YEAR MARKS the 60th anniversary of Congress’ declaration of bourbon whiskey as “America's native spirit,” and Kentucky—the host state of this month's PGA Championship, which will be held at Louisville's Valhalla Golf Club—is where nearly all of it is made. What is bourbon, exactly? Think of it this way: All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. To be considered bourbon, the spirit must meet specific criteria: It must be made in the United States, its mash (the mixture of grains from which the product is distilled) must contain at least 51 percent corn and the distillate must be stored in new charred-oak barrels and not contain any additives. There are also some distillation guidelines to follow: The mash must be distilled at 160 proof or…

Clubhouse THE “VANILLA” PITCH SHOT, as I call it, is a great place to start when trying to build your foundation for all kinds of shots around the greens. It's a basic mid-trajectory pitch that comes off with lots of spin yet still provides a solid amount for margin of error. How do you hit it? Grab your 56- or 60-degree wedge and set up with the shaft pretty much vertical, ball slightly forward of center. Your clubface can be square to just slightly open. As you start back, focus on turning your torso—no need for any hip, leg or hand action (see inset photo above). As you come through impact, continue the torso-turn theme. You should feel as if the buttons on your shirt are facing the target as…

GEAR IN THE INCREASINGLY crowded athletic wear marketplace, brands go to great lengths to stand out. Levelwear (levelwear.com), a family-owned and managed apparel company founded in 1987, has taken a different approach. The Canadian outfit has steadily built a strong reputation based on consistent quality and superior customer service. Licensing deals with major sports leagues like the MLB, NHL, NBA and PGA Tour have made Levelwear products so prolific, you likely have a garment or two hanging in your closet without even knowing it. Tune in to a pro golf broadcast and you'll see dozens of golfers wearing Levelwear, from Tour players Corey Conners and Adam Hadwin to Carlota Ciganda and Amy Olson on the LPGA. Hadwin is a longtime brand partner and says he not only appreciates Levelwear's quality…

FERRULES ARE a great way to add personality to your clubs, but with use they also take a beating in your golf bag. With the help of a few easy-to-find items you can restore their shine in no time. 1. The only things you need are pure acetone and a couple of disposable shop towels. Be sure not to use nail polish remover because it can leave a dull finish. 2. Fold over the shop towel a few times and saturate a small area with acetone. 3. Take the saturated cloth and quickly swipe around the ferrule to remove imperfections and bring back shine. Use a new piece of towel for each club. 4. For ferrules that may be more roughed up, repeat the process to help minimize and remove…

One of the coolest shots in a pro's arsenal is a greenside pitch that spins like crazy and stops immediately after hitting the green. Few are better at pulling it off than seven-time PGA Tour winner Billy Horschel. As he explains, you want to open the face of your wedge at address—and keep it open. “Rec players never get the face open enough,” Horschel says. “They set it square and then try to ‘scoop’ the ball into the air.” This makes it impossible to get the perfect contact you need to generate spin. “Other than opening the face,” he adds, “the other priority is to use the bounce on your wedge. Don't be afraid to hit the ground!” There's one more bit of secret sauce to hit a spinny pitch.…