Innehållsförteckning för September 2022 från Golf Monthly

I thoroughly enjoyed the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews. It was a superb week, from the well-thought-out champions event on the Monday right through to the thrilling climax on Sunday afternoon, when Cameron Smith was a fully deserving winner. For me, St Andrews remains an unparalleled venue for a Major, not just because of the history but also because of the nuanced test it presents. Yes, there are drivable holes, but that adds a dimension to the excitement on offer. What the course really rewards are the skills of shot-making and short game, particularly if the wind gets up. Bill Elliott eloquently reflects on the historic championship on page 42. Despite the quality of The Open Championship in St Andrews, there’s no getting away from the fact that the…

Kevin Kisner A missed cut at the low-scoring Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit was the fifth in seven starts for the usually consistent American. David Law The Scot secured his Open debut via a T4th finish in Ireland. He made the cut at St Andrews before then finishing T3rd at the Hero Open. Sepp Straka The Austrian’s missed cut in the Rocket Mortgage Classic made it five in a row. He now finds himself sliding down the world rankings. Cameron Young The rookie claimed his fifth runner-up spot of an amazing season in the Rocket Mortgage Classic two weeks after just missing out at St Andrews.…

Team Europe have got their man… again! As was widely expected after Henrik Stenson was stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy for joining LIV Golf, Luke Donald is the man now tasked with wresting back the fabled gold trophy in Rome next year. And what a challenge the Englishman faces after the USA’s emphatic win in Wisconsin last year. With that in mind, we wanted to gauge the mood around his appointment. Safe to say, it’s largely positive. A veteran of four matches as a player and two as a vice-captain, the 44-year-old could, arguably, have one of the most difficult tenures as a Ryder Cup captain, as the fallout from the rise of LIV Golf and Stenson’s decision to defect continues. However, Donald, four times on the winning…

Keep turning Remember, you need to take sand first on bunker shots, so address the point where the lines intersect (depicted by the rear ball here) when practising and not where your actual ball lies. Keep your body turning as you swing. If it stops, you’ll lose consistency and end up hitting it with only your arms and hands as your body loses speed. Correct set-up Take a relatively square set-up with the ball about a clubhead’s width from your front heel to encourage a fairly shallow angle of attack, rather than getting too steep on it and simply digging the club into the sand. Utilise the bounce in the sole by opening the face slightly so the grooves are pointing towards your left toes. No arm rotation Arm rotation…

SkyCaddie has brought its game-changing, ground-verified yardages to an even more affordable device in the form of its new LX2 GPS watch. It provides the same error-corrected front, middle and back distances as the handheld SX550 and LX5 watch for over 35,000 pre-loaded courses. The most impressive feature on the LX2 is the ‘Always-On’ JDI 1.28in touchscreen display, which allows you to see the screen crisply and clearly even in the brightest sunlight. On that screen, you can see large, easy-to-read numbers, while also accessing shot-measurement functionality as well as watch and fitness features, including the time, an alarm, a stopwatch and a step count. The LX2 weighs just 57g, so it feels compact enough on your wrist to not distract you as you swing. It should also automatically detect…

A former member of the European Tour and two-time winner, Wayne is part of the Sky Sports golf team. He writes exclusively for Golf Monthly Well, it’s been an eventful time in the world of golf since my last column. In between the incessant LIV Golf chat, we’ve had memorable Majors in both the men’s and women’s games, with my compatriot Cameron Smith reigning supreme at St Andrews (more on that later). We’ve also had the announcement of Luke Donald as the new European Ryder Cup captain following Henrik Stenson’s move to LIV. I was both surprised and disappointed by Henrik’s decision. To me, once you agree to something like that and give your word, you stick with it. But it is what it is and we are where we are.…

Longevity in golf is one of the most underrated skills in the game. Generally speaking, if your name isn’t Bernhard Langer or a handful of others, you fill your boots as quickly as possible in the early days after turning 50 and then watch things head south. Miguel Angel Jimenez, now 58, has won twice this season already on the PGA Tour Champions. In the rear-view mirror are 717 appearances on the DP World Tour, a record that may never be beaten. He’s done it all with a smile on his face, a trademark cigar in one hand and a glass of Rioja in the other. He’s a genuine phenomenon. When he turned 40, he had seven wins on the DP World Tour, but his tally now stands at a…

1. Correct club selection Get to know your carry yardages and work on the average, rather than the one in ten you might hit out the sweetspot. I’d always recommend hitting one club more and swinging it smooth if you’re ever in doubt. You’ve got to factor in the slope, weather conditions and temperature. Even if each of those things is only making two or three yards difference, that adds up to a full club more. You’ve also got to look at your landing area. If the green is firm, land it short of the flag and allow it to release, whereas if it’s soft you can carry it the whole way. Also, what kind of slope is it landing on? A downslope will kick it forward and an upslope…

There are a variety of conditions and scenarios in which nearest point of complete relief comes into play, among them free relief from immovable obstructions, animal holes, ground under repair and temporary water. Collectively, these are termed abnormal course conditions, from which you are allowed to drop within one club-length of the nearest point of complete relief. To determine your nearest point of complete relief, you should use the club with which you expect to play your next stroke. For example, say you find yourself 120 yards from the hole but standing in temporary water, you need to imagine that the temporary water is not there and select the club you would normally hit from that position, e.g. a pitching wedge or 9-iron. You would then use that club to…

GM verdict For golfers with the dreaded chipping yips or who simply struggle to get up and down, the new ChipR from Ping could be the answer. It combines elements of a putter and a wedge to improve performance, but we’d recommend you see this as much more of an extension of your putter rather than a wedge. Our first few sets of balls were all played with more of a chipping stroke, which resulted in a lack of loft at impact but also no fats, thins or anything slightly jolting, which was an encouraging start. Once we started employing more of a putting method, there was more loft and a hugely satisfying strike. The weight (325g) is more like that of a putter or lob wedge and this is…

ASK OUR EXPERT What golf club do people never contemplate but really should? Troy Mullins, via email Probably a 5-wood or larger hybrid. I find they work particularly well through the rough and can be effective off the tee, especially on relatively short or tight courses. Another option would be to choose a techy iron over a feel-based, one-piece model. Unless they rarely stray from the sweetspot, even better players should really be using something that will perform better on poor swings as the experience out of the middle is very similar. What should I do if I prefer a different club to the one that performed best during a fitting? Ryan Smith, via email You need to put clubs in your hand that you feel comfortable with. While the…

Beleive it or not, the golf swing is a movement that requires the right kind of footwear to deliver support, control and power. Here, we compare ten of our favourites across both cleated and spikeless categories from the 40 or so pairs of new golf shoes the GM team has tested so far in 2022... Looks You need to like the look of your golf shoes and styling is very much down to personal preference. The G/Fore MG4x2 and Duca Del Cosma Churchill offer two of this year’s most contrasting looks, the former boasting a running trainer vibe and the latter providing a classic, brogue style with impeccable detailing. We’re also seeing an increasing trend for the ‘hybrid’ golf shoe – one that can be worn on or off the…

ASK OUR EXPERT Which are the bestconditioned courses you’ve played this year? Eleanor Woodward, Gloucester By this time of year I’ll have invariably played many courses in peak summer condition, but despite this year being no exception, one course has really stood out – Tandridge in Surrey, home club of my colleague Rob Smith. I’ve played it a number of times over the years, but never before seen it as beautifully presented as it was on June 1. The greens were the purest and best I’ve putted on this year and the presentation and conditioning of the whole course had been taken to another level – particularly the approaches and green surrounds. A week before that, Prince’s in Kent had been in its usual tip-top condition, but for a surprise…

Appleby Despite its easy access in the foothills of the North Pennines, this delightful moorland course is wonderfully peaceful and secluded. Designs of modest yardage often tend to be compact in their layout, but that is never the case here, with an expansive routing where each hole is very much its own separate adventure. With no par 5s, the greatest challenge comes from the longer par 4s, eight of which extend over 400 yards. Of these, the attractive 6th and 14th are the pick of the bunch. Two of the short holes are also very memorable: the downhill, bunkerless 4th with its panoramic backdrop, and the amazing, blind 15th (pictured), which is described elsewhere in this issue as it’s a hole that on its own justifies the green fee. Glorious…

There weren’t many cowboys in Welwyn Garden City 50 years ago, but it turns out Nick Faldo was one of them. At least he is now. Yippee pardners. Now 65, he is stepping away from his TV work and retreating with wife Lindsay to a sprawling ranch deep in rural Montana, where the 150 acres he owns have alpacas and llamas roaming around. It’s Faldo’s fourth marriage, Lindsay’s sixth. Hard to see what could possibly go awry. Bernard Gallacher once told me he rather worried about Nick ending up a lonely older man, but it appears Bernard needn’t have fretted. Fact is, he always was a natural loner, a man apart, a golfer who didn’t want to give anything away to rivals. It was his way and it worked. At…

Close but no cigar Like many, I am sure, I was disappointed when Rory McIlroy did not win such a historic Open Championship (nevertheless well played Cameron Smith). There is much talk about his failure to win a Major Championship since 2014, but let’s not forget he has won the Race to Dubai three times and the FedExCup twice. This clearly requires an incredibly high level of consistency. I tried to work out if he would be the ‘overall Major Champion’ for 2022 by totalling the scores in all four Majors for as many top players as I could think of, with a minimum criterion that a player must have made the cut in all four events. This, surprisingly (or maybe not for the commentators), eliminated many high-profile candidates. As…

Brooke Henderson birdied three of her final five holes to clinch a thrilling Evian Championship and lift her second Major trophy. The 24-year-old led by two to start the day, but then dropped three shots in her opening six holes at Evian-les-Bains in France. But rather than panic, the Canadian kept her composure, recovering with back-to-back birdies at 14 and 15, before calmly rolling in a ten-footer on 18 for a level-par 71 and a one-shot victory over Sophia Schubert. “I’m super excited to have my second Major win,” she said afterwards. “It was definitely an interesting day. Not the day I wanted, but I stayed patient. “The saying is Majors are won on the back nine on Sunday, so I kept that in mind. I feel I’ve got a…

SOUND BITES “I PLAYED LIKE A CAPTAIN” “I WOULDN’T BE DOING A HENRIK” “THE INTEGRITY AND HISTORY OF THE GAME IS FOUR ROUNDS, EVERYONE TEES OFF AT DIFFERENT TIMES, AND I THINK IT WOULD BE A SHAME FOR GOLF TO BE LIKE THAT FOR US” “TIGER IS A NEEDLE-MOVER. YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THE BEST. SO YES, THAT NUMBER WAS SOMEWHERE IN THAT NEIGHBOURHOOD” “I’VE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY TO SHOOT 77” Justin Rose launches new event on LET Access Series Building on the success of the Rose Ladies Series, Justin and Kate Rose have unveiled the Rose Ladies Open, a 54-hole LET Access Series tournament in September. England Golf handicap scheme for non-club members hits 25,000 subscribers BRIEFS The iGolf platform, which allows non-golf club members to gain…

Reachable par 5 says Fergus Bisset Shorter par 5s stand out on a scorecard. When I take a first glance down at the pars and yardages at any course, par 5s measuring around the 500-yard mark are what get me excited. Those are the holes that will offer a chance to push on, or to recover shots that might have been frittered away. For me, a reachable par 5 screams opportunity. Find the green in two and putt for eagle! Of course, a drivable par 4 also offers a chance to reach the putting surface in a shot under regulation, but, far more than a reachable par 5, they tend to be severely risk-and-reward holes. Often the short par 4 will be incredibly well protected if you choose to take…

Sarah Stirk is a Sky Sports presenter and co-host of the Stirkers and Radar podcast: Instagram @ stirkersand radarpod or Twitter @ stirkersradar Like most people, I was saddened but not surprised by Henrik Stenson’s decision to jump ship to LIV Golf a few weeks back. It had been one of golf’s worst-kept secrets and it seemed inevitable once The Open had finished that we would get the news. The Swede’s legacy will be greatly tarnished by the whole saga and I can’t help but think there was a better way around it. I suppose he took the view that he was at his most valuable to LIV at this point given the publicity the whole thing has brought. “If the Ryder Cup is caught in the crossfire, the damage…

Photography GOLF FOUNDATION Children have none of the preconceptions about golf that many adults share – they just want to pick up a club and hit the ball. The Golf Foundation is the charity that has helped young people to do this since 1952. Talk to its committed team and you soon discover they share much the same philosophy as the kids: it’s simply a great game to enjoy, and it should be enjoyed by everyone who wants to try it. Sir Henry Cotton, who won three Open Championships either side of the Second World War (1934, ’37, ’48), said of junior golf: “We should give the game, without compromise, without intimidation, without prejudice, to as many as we possibly can.” Cotton, along with Jack Burroughs of British Steel Golf…

How did Matt’s quest for extra distance come about? I remember watching him from the side of the 11th at Augusta one year. He was playing with Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas. Matt hits this unbelievable 7-wood into 20 feet, but Brooks and Justin are hitting 6-, 7-irons. That is hard to compete with. The stats guys said that if he could maintain his accuracy but gain ‘X’ amount of yards, he’d gain ‘X’ amount of shots per round. I knew of Sasho [MacKenzie] and we ended up spending a couple of days with him. The Stack deserves a lot of credit for his recent success, but it came with its challenges. Can you elaborate on what some of those challenges have been? Unfortunately, he started to get some neck…

1 Weight transfer is really hard to see, but it’s a vital part of your swing. If you get it right, it creates speed and power and helps you deliver the clubhead to the ball on a good swing path. If you get it wrong, it can cause a lot of different faults that result in less power, poor strikes and errant shots. In fact, a lot of the common faults that amateurs suffer from have a root cause of poor weight transfer. To be a good ball-striker, you need to transfer your weight into your back foot in the backswing and into your front foot in the downswing. The majority of your weight should be in your front foot at impact. 2 Begin with about 50% of your weight…

1. Short-game shots Set yourself on your left side at address and just stay there all of the time. The key is that you want to try and hit the ball cleanly and have your divot under or ahead of it. The way you do that is by leaning in and staying on that left side. My divots start right there in front of the ball, and I make sure I don’t do any scooping. That would be the same in bunkers. Don’t try and help it up in the air by going back on to your right side. I’ve got a very simple practice drill for chipping – get yourself an alignment rod, put it four or five inches behind the ball and just make sure you’re coming into…

1 Fergus’ ball is in a greenside bunker with a tall face. He walks towards the front of the bunker to see where the hole is and rakes the footprints he has made on his line of play before playing. What is the ruling? A There is no penalty. B Fergus gets one penalty stroke. C Fergus gets the general penalty (two strokes). 2 In stroke play, Jezz and Fergus are due to start their round at 8:30, but Fergus is running late and arrives at 8:32. Fergus eventually tees off at 8:34. What is the ruling? A There is no penalty. B Fergus gets the general penalty (two strokes). C Fergus is disqualified. 3 In match play, Fergus’ ball lies close to the base of a tree, so before…

Looks The Tour Speed has a slightly duller finish than the Pro V1 balls and a more creative sidestamp, which provides more effective alignment assistance on the greens. GM verdict The 2022 Tour Speed is the second generation of this mid-priced, urethane-covered ball from Titleist. It comes in at around £10 a dozen less than the brand’s tour-played Pro V1 models, while offering similar levels of performance. We were hugely impressed by the original version but wanted to see if Titleist had been able to improve on it, so we conducted a thorough test of the new ball both on the course and using a SkyTrak launch monitor. Off the tee, we gained an extra 2mph of ball speed, yet the new version spun a fraction less. This translated into…

Wilson’s Launch Pad hybrids (£175) are draw-biased to help players with a slice The Callaway Rogue ST Max hybrid (£249) boasts a refined sole for better turf interaction The TaylorMade Stealth DHY (£219) is easier to launch than a traditional utility iron The Ping G425 Crossover (£235) features a thinner face that delivers a towering flight We’d all like to strike a 2-iron like Tiger Woods, but the reality is long-irons can be frustratingly hard to hit for a lot of amateur golfers. As such, hybrids have been designed as more forgiving long-iron replacements. Put simply, they’re easier to hit from almost all lies. That’s why, in recent years, many club manufacturers have experienced greater demand for custom-fit irons in 5-PW, with fewer golfers taking up the option of carrying…

While returning to see developments at some excellent Top 100 and Next 100 courses such as Silloth, Hayling and Stoneham, I called in on some less well known courses for the first time. This included a pair of nine-holers, each of which greatly impressed me. First was St Bees in Cumbria, an absolute beauty that is owned by the local school and run entirely by its members. The course dates back to 1929 and works its way over a glorious, undulating coastal plot, with fabulous views out to sea and inland towards the Lake District. Two of the par 4s, the 3rd and the 5th, would not look out of place on a championship links. Closer to home, Rustington’s surprisingly mature parkland layout in West Sussex could be overlooked as…

A few months ago, following publication of our 100 Hidden Gems supplement, reader Peter Walker wrote to tell us about a particular golf hole close to his Surrey home. “I’ve also found delight in playing courses that would not qualify as hidden gems in their entirety, but where you do stumble on an individual hole that both thrills and entertains,” Peter told us. “A hole that you feel would grace any course you have ever played. “For me, one such hole is the 6th at Gatton Manor, all the more so because the true beauty of the design slowly reveals itself as you crest various slopes after a tricky blind drive. Suddenly, there in front of you is an approach that must carry an attractive dell with a stream meandering…

How does it feel to be a St Andrews Open Champion? To win an Open Championship in itself is probably going to be a golfer’s highlight in their career. To do it around St Andrews, it’s just unbelievable. This place is so cool. I love the golf course. I love the town. I’m just really proud of how I knuckled down and managed to get it done. Did you enjoy being the chaser, putting pressure on from behind? I sometimes think being behind on certain golf courses and in certain situations is maybe a good thing. It’s very easy to get defensive with the lead and keep hitting it to 60, 70ft. You can make pars all day, but you’re not going to make birdies. I think it was a…

Your dream four-ball? Tiger, Jack and my old man. Best moment in golf? A toss up between my first Major in 2015 at St Andrews and winning for the first time on tour in Perth in 2019. Would you rather win The Open at St Andrews or The Masters? I would have to say The Open at St Andrews, but it’s close. What’s the best thing about being a tour pro? Easy. Getting to play golf for a living. Favourite app on your phone? The music app or Spotify. Which three players would you take on a night out? My two best mates are Jason Scrivener and Justin Walters. Andy Sullivan would have to be the third. What would you be doing if you weren’t a golfer? I’d be involved…

1984 Fuzzy Zoeller beat Greg Norman in an 18-hole play-off at the US Open. Zoeller shot 67 while Norman carded a 75. Two-time Major winner Dustin Johnson was born in 1984. His birthday falls on June 22. Severiano Ballesteros won his fourth Major in the 1984 Open Championship at St Andrews. His joyous moment of victory was immortalised in this iconic photo on the 18th green. Some of 1984’s film releases were The Terminator, Gremlins, Beverly Hills Cop and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Top pop stars met in a Notting Hill studio to form Band Aid and record the Christmas No.1 single Do They Know It’s Christmas? ELSEWHERE... The original Apple Macintosh PC went on sale and sold well thanks to an iconic advert. Ridley Scott’s Orwellianthemed…

By Jeremy Ellwood Among the many fine courses in south-west Spain are the two at recently rebranded La Hacienda Alcaidesa Links Golf Resort – the Links course, pictured here, which enjoys a tantalising setting right on the shores of the Mediterranean, and its sister Heathland layout. La Hacienda recently joined the European Tour Destination network of golf resorts, with a complete renovation of the Links course under the guidance of Kurtis Bowman, who worked for Nicklaus Design until 2009, forming part of a major investment programme. The remodelled layout was unveiled to great acclaim in July, opening up even more impressive views over the Mediterranean, along the coast to Gibraltar and across to North Africa. For those who like their golf right by the water’s edge, In south-west Spain? Why…

Well, in the end it was almost everything I’d so eagerly anticipated. So near and yet, actually, so far. How did you feel? I felt rather upset with myself for not properly applauding the final-round brilliance of Cameron Smith. Oh, my hands clapped, my face smiled, all that stuff, but somehow it didn’t fit properly into the picture. Something was missing. This was, after all, the 150th playing of the most relevant golf competition on the planet and a time for real celebration. And yet beneath the noise and the clamour and the occasional, pleasing outburst of merry chaos as the fans swayed this way and that and the dust rose from the pounding of all those feet, there was a weird sense of imbalance and of something absent. Smith,…

How much of an honour is it to be the Solheim Cup captain for Europe? I’ve loved every second of the Solheim Cup. Everything about it is an adrenaline rush. It’s an extremely big honour to lead the European squad in 2023! This is an even bigger honour than representing Europe as a member of the Solheim Cup team. Playing in the Solheim as a player was a dream from an early age, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever be a captain. But that being said, I feel like I am ready to take it on, what with all of my personal experiences from being both a player and, in more recent years, a vice-captain. How and when were you told about the captaincy…

Drive through an avenue of trees There’s no option here, it simply must go straight. With no bail out on either side, those who tend to be a touch errant with the longer clubs face a serious challenge. The sight of encroaching trouble on either side can set the pulse racing and lead you to make a defensive swing, trying to guide it down the narrow corridor. Tightening up like this will generally make it more likely for you to stray into the woods, but trusting yourself to make a free and full swing is very difficult. 1st tee shot It doesn’t mater how well you’ve prepared, how mentally ready you are or how many balls you’ve hit in the nets, you have no idea how your day is going…

How long have you been working together? Since he was 15. He came for a lesson like a regular punter. Harold Swash was still around. We fitted him for a putter that he used up until a couple of years ago. Bettinardi made him an exact replica that he uses now. Was it clear that he had a really big future at that early stage? Well, not really. You never really know at that age. I’ve been around a lot of young golfers through working with England squads and it’s really difficult to predict the future. There are so many talented players who don’t go on and do well. Matt didn’t present physical qualities that made you think he was destined for stardom. But he always had an attitude, application…

Abnormal course conditions It’s one of the eternal quirks of golf that the best of shots can sometimes end up in the worst of lies and some of the worstplayed shots can end up in position A+. Unfortunately, Justin Thomas suffered the former during the US Open third round when a prime tee shot down the middle left him with an awkward second. Chris Wallace, Rules manager at The R&A, explains... Having found the short stuff from the tee on the 4th hole, Thomas found himself in a less-than-perfect lie in the fairway due to a large drainage grate in close proximity to his ball. Things like drains and cart paths are not generally treated as part of the challenge of playing the course and free relief is usually allowed…

GM verdict Cobra’s King Forged Tec franchise has always sat bang in the middle of the players’ distance iron category. Now into its fourth generation, the range has expanded and been refined to better meet the needs of golfers looking for improved results on their approach shots. The prior King Forged Tec iron was a monster in terms of the distance it generated, so the 2022 version had its work cut out. But Cobra believes the new five-step forged body and face, along with the tungsten weighting inside the hollow head, should elevate the user experience to loftier heights. Visually, the 2022 King Forged Tec is a stunner. Clean and elegant, it incorporates more of a V-shaped rear section versus the straight lines of the previous generation. The only negative…

H aveyou been custom fitted for your putter? Stats suggest you probably haven’t, and that you have for your driver and irons, despite the putter being the most used club in the bag. To educate golfers on the putter fitting process and the importance of understanding your stroke, we teamed up with SIK to give two Golf Monthly readers their first ever putter fitting, help them understand more about their putting stroke and fit them for one of the latest models in the SIK range. SIK offers golfers 120 different combinations through its comprehensive fitting process. Under the watchful eye of fitter Oli Leett in his putting hub at Tickenham Golf Centre, readers Mike Chapman and Matt Morrison tested out new SIK putters and began to understand their own strokes.…

Edited by Jeremy Ellwood & Rob Smith Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Old Head Golf Links is blessed with probably the most stunning location for a golf course anywhere in the UK & Ireland. An aerial view reveals that the course and its amenities fit just perfectly on to every available piece of navigable land on this spectacular peninsular in County Cork. The course sits at number 33 in the Golf Monthly Top 100 and is as pretty as a gallery of pictures. On a clear day, the views from the edge of the towering cliffs are unbeatable, and if the wind has a rare day off, it’s even possible to score well! Heaven on earth With five par 5s and five short holes, the design was a collaboration…

What are the course’s special features? We’re on incredibly light soil, so it plays brilliantly all year round. We never have temporaries, and in all my time here the course has been closed for a total of two hours because it was too wet! I can’t think of a course which plays better through the winter, but we have a great watering programme, so it’s in wonderful condition in the summer as well. Why is it the right club for you? There are so many familiar and friendly faces. Very few leave to go and play elsewhere. I’ve been a member for over 30 years and there are hundreds who have been here longer than me. How has the course changed in recent years? We have restored the heathland feel,…

Gog Magog Situated just outside the historic university city of Cambridge, the unusually named Gog Magog enjoys an elevated, rolling setting and is blessed with two very fine courses. The Old dates back to 1901 and boasts a strong pedigree with subsequent revisions by Willie Park Junior, JF Abercromby and James Braid. The Wandlebury was designed by Martin Hawtree 25 years ago and offers an alternative that has been used for Open qualifying. Together, they make for a very compelling downland destination. GF: 18 holes: £85 Low evening sunlight over the tough but attractive par-4 16th on the Old course at Gog Magog. Southerndown Southerndown is on the rugged coastline of South Wales not far from Royal Porthcawl. It is also quite unlike any other course; an undulating, heathland adventure…