Innehållsförteckning för March 2024 från Golf Monthly

The PGA Tour has completed a landmark investment deal with Strategic Sports Group worth around $3 billion through its new commercial venture, PGA Tour Enterprises, the circuit’s CEO Jay Monahan has confirmed. The consortium – led by Fenway Sports Group and also including New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s Cohen Private Ventures, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry – is preparing to inject the money into PGA Tour Enterprises, which will increase the for-profit entity’s valuation up to around $12 billion. A statement from Monahan revealed that, as part of the agreement, almost 200 PGA Tour members will collectively be able to earn circa $1.5 billion in immediate and future equity shares, with players receiving more depending on career achievements, recent accomplishments and rankings.…

Regardless of your background, identity or golfing ability, the chance to tee it up on the Old Course at St Andrews, one of the most famous and prestigious links in the world, is considered a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those who love the game. So naturally, Golf Monthly’s deputy editor Joel Tadman, women’s editor Alison Root, and Top 50 Coach Katie Dawkins jumped at the opportunity to play over this most hallowed of golfing turf. Here, they reflect on their first-time experiences and explain just why this venerable old links stirs the senses like no other golf course in the world. • Joel Tadman – Deputy Editor I’ve walked down Golf Place in St Andrews many times – after all, this is one of the most special places in golf, where…

90% The hero driver of the Qi10 family has a much broader appeal than its predecessor It’s always exciting when a new TaylorMade family of drivers is introduced, with the Qi10 series consisting of a standard model, the low-spinning Qi10 LS and this, the Qi10 Max. It’s very apparent that it is the hero product of this particular family, so much so that the whole series was named after this model. The quest for 10k MOI was what TaylorMade’s engineers set out to achieve, hence the ‘Q’ for quest, the ‘i’ for inertia and the ‘10’ for 10k, giving us the Qi10. For context, previous attempts to push MOI higher had plateaued around the 8,500 mark and it had always been felt that pushing for higher and higher MOI went…

Ping has long been producing some of the best game-improvement irons on the market, but more recently it has focused its attention on the elite player category, too. The Blueprint family sits firmly within that genre and the new Blueprint S model has already gone down well on tour. Blueprint S is a compact-profile, minimal-offset players’ cavity iron pitched towards the low-handicap market. The dimensions are just about spot on and will really appeal to players who have gamed blades over the years. The topline is nice and thin, the blade length is compact without being intimidating and it really frames the ball beautifully at address. The offset is very minimal, although it does appear to increase gradually as you head up into the longer irons. There is something of…

With so much new equipment being launched at the start of every calendar year, it can be hard to keep track of everything that is new to the game. Luckily for you, we’ve collated this handy guide to the key new releases so far this year. It has never been more important to do your research – the last thing you want to do is part with your hard-earned cash for a product that isn’t quite right for you. The next ten pages will give you the lowdown on all the latest drivers, irons, wedges, putters, golf balls and footwear that have already been announced this year. Alongside the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke family and Ping G430 10k Max driver we covered last month, 2024 is gearing up to be…

01 Scotty Cameron 2024 Phantom Master craftsman Scotty Cameron has taken the renowned Phantom franchise and given it a significant set of upgrades for 2024. Four primary shapes (£429) have been introduced, all with new alignment aids that were at the heart of the design process. These four primary shapes include the iconic wingback mallet Phantom 5, the more angular wingback Phantom 7, the brand new ring-weighted Phantom 9 and the high-tech, high-MOI Phantom 11 mallet, which is also brand new. Dual-milled face technology has been improved for a softer, more consistent sound and feel, while additional vibration dampening has been added to also improve sound. The grip – a modern take on the tour-favoured Baby T – has a new proprietary shape and contour to better fit players’ hands…

Just where southern Portugal’s mountains and lowlands descend into the sparkling sea, the Algarve is a golfing paradise with something for everyone both on and off the course. Top-quality courses proliferate along the jagged coastline, and it is in the centre around Vilamoura that there is the greatest concentration. Here, the Dom Pedro Old course, where umbrella pines flank every hole, is one of the most famous, while next door, Pinhal was upgraded nearly 40 years ago by Robert Trent Jones Snr. Nearby is Laguna, a links-style design where water and sand dominate, while at the same location is the Millennium, a Martin Hawtree design on mainly open land with just a few holes running through the pines. Opened in 2004, Victoria is an Arnold Palmer creation built with tournaments…

A wonderful benefit of writing about courses for Golf Monthly is that I have managed to play almost all of the Top 200 designs in the UK and Ireland. I will therefore happily hold my arthritic hands up and confess that I am completely spoiled. In my defence, my love of golf courses and my thirst for the new mean that I will also very happily head off and play just about anywhere. This includes courses completely off the radar, some of which only their mothers would love. In the November 2015 issue of Golf Monthly, I wrote: “If you love playing golf, there really is no such thing as a bad course.” I stand by that, and I honestly believe that even the most modest or poorly conceived design…

Variety is the spice of life I have been a Sky Sports subscriber for a few years and I find the golf coverage really good to watch. Its programmes, whether live or more usually edited highlights, show a good mixture of tee shots, approach shots, chipping and putting, interspersed with drone flyovers to give context and strategy for the holes in question. There’s also interesting, humorous and informed commentary on the shots we see. Recently, I was looking forward to watching the PGA Tour Champions tournament from Hawaii, with its wonderful scenery and well-known senior competitors. But I turned it off after about ten minutes after watching nothing but about 20 consecutive putts, all of them, very strangely, holed from various distances. What is going on in the editing process?…

Try it on the range I sometimes even play nine holes using this training aid but I would start at the range with some full shots and movement drills. 1 I don’t like using the term ‘one-piece takeaway’, because it can be a little misleading. What we’re really referring to is the arms, torso and trail hip all working at a good rate. We don’t want the club to get caught behind us or, as pictured here, to become disconnected from the body. This is a classic example of a disconnected takeaway. Note how the right elbow is bending, my right wrist is extending and there’s no torso turn. 2 The training aid I’m using here is an amazing piece of kit. It gives you that awareness of what is supposed to…

Alex Fitzpatrick’s 2023 season was something else. A year ago, the Hallamshire golfer was setting out on the Challenge Tour, a schedule he had never played before, having turned pro just six months earlier. Now he has already successfully played his way off Europe’s second-tier tour and, thanks to some similarly brilliant play on the main tour, has a category that will get him into all the big events this year. Fitzpatrick first entered our consciousness when, as a 14-year-old, he was on his brother Matt’s bag when he won the US Amateur at Brookline in 2013. Alex twice played in the Walker Cup and reached as high as fourth in the world as an amateur. Like his older brother, he’s as normal and unassuming as anyone in the game,…

• What is the shot? 1 Tommy has been well known for his held-off follow-through in recent years – that kind of punch-shot finish position. Watching him in Dubai at the start of the year, it appeared as though he had much more of a rounded finish and a full follow-through, but you’ll still see him revert to this long-arm finish from time to time as a drill on the range or when hitting a lower shot out on the golf course. It’s something he used to work on with his swing coach, Alan Thompson, to improve the quality of his ball-striking. • How does he play it? 2 When he plays this shot, Tommy doesn’t fold his arms to a full finish with the club behind his back. Instead, it’s…

Callaway’s Chrome Soft franchise did a lot to gain the brand serious traction in the ball market and now it has opted to introduce a new ball at the top of its hierarchy. To clarify the new landscape of Callaway golf balls, the Chrome Soft is still with us, but it now sits just below the Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X, which are taking its place as the premium ‘tour’ balls. Of the two brand-new balls, the Chrome Tour is designed to be softer feeling but slightly lower spinning through the bag. The target player here is someone with a high swing speed who doesn’t want to have to throttle back to avoid excessive spin. We tested it up against its sibling, the Chrome Tour X, and the golf…

WILSON STAFF MODEL X BALL £52 PER DOZEN 89% Wilson’s newest ball is designed for players looking for a firm, fast feel but with plenty of spin. It maintains many of the same technologies that made the Staff Model such a hit last year, but with some further optimisations on iron spin levels. In testing, it held its own against the best-selling balls for distance and spin characteristics, without quite doing enough to disrupt the long-term leaders in this part of the market. PING BLUEPRINT T IRON £200 PER CLUB 92% Ping’s modern twist on a classic forged blade is an absolute stunner. The minimalist appearance of the clubhead creates a wonderfully clean and unfussy aesthetic. Good strikes are rewarded with a beautifully soft and deep impact feel while mishits…

BALLS 01 Callaway Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X The new Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X (£55) are now Callaway’s flagship tour-level balls. A new Hyperfast Soft core aims to add as much speed as possible via a rubber system in which a base polymer blends with a mixture of other materials to create optimal compression conditions. Both feature a new cross-over dimple pattern that uses hexagonal and spherical shapes for maximum ball-flight stability. 02 Srixon Q Star The fifth-generation Q Star Tour (£36.99) – available in white, yellow and Divide colourways – continues to deliver maximum greenside spin and tour-level performance at moderate swing speeds. A reformulated FastLayer core, soft urethane cover and Spin Skin technology combine for more control and distance than ever in this franchise. A…

• Essentials Purdis Heath, Bucklesham Road, Ipswich, IP3 8UQ Stats: par 71, 6,439 yards GF: round: £125wd, £135we Although the club was founded in 1895, it was not until the late 1920s that it would relocate to play over this glorious expanse of gently undulating heathland on the edge of town. Its founding father, initial captain and chairman was James Ransome from the leading turf-care family. The original course was a mile or so to the north of the current site, an enjoyable test in its own right that is nowadays the home of Rushmere Golf Club. James Braid was called back for the move, and it is largely his subtle and very pleasing design that is still enjoyed today. Over the last decade or so, the course has benefited…

• Sutton Coldfield GF: 18 holes: £95 Alister MacKenzie of Augusta National fame designed many excellent courses, including this heathland beauty near Birmingham. Most unusually, there is a back-to-back-to-back trio of par 5s beginning at the 5th, all of them running in a different direction. This generally means that what the wind giveth, the wind will also taketh away. None of the three is particularly long, so it may well be here that you can make your score on this testing layout. The relatively recent bunker refurbishment has helped turn what was already a strong course into one that is extremely good. • The Dyke GF: 18 holes: £60wd, £70we More than 600 feet above the English Channel, which it overlooks from its gentle, south-facing slopes, The Dyke is a…

• Congratulations on winning your fourth Dubai Desert Classic. How does that feel? It feels amazing to have won that big coffee pot four times. I certainly don’t take anything for granted, and I always appreciate the opportunity to be able to do what I do. Dubai has always been a place where I come back to and reminisce about my career, because I really feel like it’s where everything started. • You first played here 18 years ago. What are your memories of that? The arc of my career and Dubai in general have sort of tracked each other pretty consistently along the way. The first Desert Classic, I took a media credential and I walked inside the ropes to follow Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Thomas Björn. Just…

“THE GAME IS F****** IMPOSSIBLE, ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE”James Morrison endured a tough weekend at the Dubai Desert Classic and let his unfiltered feelings be known after a 76 on the Sunday “EVERYBODY GIVES ME C*** ABOUT THAT. I’LL FOREVER HAVE THAT. I OWN IT”Bryson DeChambeau addresses his infamous ‘par 67’ Augusta National remark “IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE A SPORT ANYMORE, IT LOOKS MORE LIKE A BUSINESS”Mike Lorenzo-Vera thinks modern golf is in danger of forgetting the history and traditions of the sport “QUITE A LOT WAS CARRYING ON FROM THE WORK WE STARTED”Henrik Stenson was not surprised by Europe’s Ryder Cup win in Rome, saying Luke Donald used a lot of the plans he put in place before losing the captaincy 19 At 19 years, four months and 11 days, South…

• County Sligo, Ireland GF: €250-€275 Stats: par 71, 6,574 yards Harry Colt knew a thing or two about golf course design: some 300 courses bear his name in one guise or another, and County Sligo Golf Club embraces that name like a lover. Located at Rosses Point and easing its way into Sligo Bay, this is the grand dame of the region. Colt created a classic links, overflowing with intrigue and strategic nuance. The variety of terrain enabled him to create distinct styles of hole, which today challenge golfers in so many ways. You start on rising ground – the 2nd green is the course’s highest point, showing off that variety and the world of beauty around it – before towering tee shots, first on the 3rd and then…

• Is it only winning at Augusta National that earns you a return visit? No, it’s not just winning, though former Masters Champions do earn a lifetime invite. For 2024, there are 17 living champions who have already confirmed that they sadly won’t be teeing it up, including former British winners Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle (who had played in every Masters from 1985 to 2023). But if you haven’t actually got a Green Jacket hanging in the closet, then finishing in the top 12 at The Masters will earn you an invite to next year’s tournament. • How well do you have to perform in the Majors to earn an invite? If you win The Open Championship, the US Open or the US PGA you get to…

With such an enduring presence on the LPGA Tour, it’s hard to believe that Lexi Thompson is still only 29 years old. But let’s not forget that her golf journey began at an exceptionally early age when, at 12, she became the youngest player ever to qualify for the US Women’s Open before turning professional at just 15. Florida-based Thompson grew up living on a golf course, where her two older brothers, Nicholas and Curtis, also played. “I knew at the age of ten that I wanted to fully commit to golf, practise relentlessly, and make it my livelihood,” she says with a focused and determined demeanour that resonates throughout our conversation. Growing up, golf consumed Thompson’s life. She was homeschooled and made numerous childhood sacrifices to pursue her ambition…

Slow play. It’s the topic of conversation among golfers that just doesn’t seem to want to go away. Tap in to the post-round chat in virtually any clubhouse bar or 19th hole, and someone, somewhere will be moaning about how long it’s just taken them to play a round of golf. Part of the problem with golf compared to other sports is that there are several clashes of culture, if you like, every time you venture out onto the golf course. The same arena must accommodate simultaneously everyone from the scratch golfer to the 54-handicapper; the long-established player to the rank novice; the octogenarian to the lively youth; the nippy two-ball to the inevitably slower four-ball. It’s little wonder that this sometimes results in frustration and friction among the various…

A lot of club golfers really struggle when they’re faced with these greenside bunker shots where there is very little green to work with and they want to hit that soft, high recovery. As a practice drill, I recommend that you get out a mid- to long-iron – as daft as it sounds – as this will make you find the loft via your set-up and swing. Open the clubface up at address and then take your grip. The key really is to stand further away from the ball as it will make you get down low into your knees with your hands sitting lower. This will create the cup in your wrists that will get them to hinge and help generate the height you need. How can I get…

Throughout winter we will all have seen temporary accumulations of water on the surface of the ground on our golf courses. ‘Temporary water’ is classed as an abnormal course condition from which free relief is allowed if there is interference with the lie of your ball or area of intended swing or stance. David Wilson, rules manager at The R&A, explains how to proceed if that temporary water is in a bunker. The photo here is of the 15th hole in last year’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters at Doha, in which the ball of South Africa’s Jayden Schaper has found temporary water within the bunker to the right of the green. Schaper was entitled to free relief and did this by finding his nearest point of complete relief, where there…

Titleist says that replacing the T300 with a club bearing a new name is testament to the fact that this is a vastly different iron worthy of such an accolade. It continues to be Titleist’s main game-improvement model, sitting between the hybrid-iron T400 and the players’ distance T200. The look of the T350 better matches the rest of the T-Series, in particular the T200, with the cavity now covered by a back plate that also helps to manage the sound at impact. This is a marked improvement on the visual package and strengthens the appeal of a blended set within the series. Down at address, the T350 doesn’t scream high-handicapper so much as mid-handicapper, boasting offset and a generous footprint but without a chunky sole or thick topline. The T350…

Watch the full test on the Golf Monthly YouTube channel! In part two of our Retro Review series, we take a look at one of the most iconic fairway woods of the past 15 years – the TaylorMade RocketBallz or RBZ for short. Launched in 2012, with marketing claims of 17 more yards, the RBZ fairway had a lot of tour and retail success, so we wanted to put it up against a modern-day equivalent to see if it could still compete. What was the tech? The main technology story was what TaylorMade referred to as the ‘Speed Slot’ – a cut-out portion just behind the face that facilitated increased flexing and higher COR for more ball speed. It also filled with dirt pretty quickly! A thinner crown than usual…

How many golfers consider their shoe to be a piece of performance equipment like a golf club? Probably not many, but when you consider your shoes are your only points of contact with the ground, it should probably be an investment golfers take more seriously. The rise of more casual, spikeless golf shoes has been a great thing for the game, reintroducing fashion and versatility back into the sport. But are these the right types of shoes to help performance-driven golfers get the most from their games? This was the question Under Armour was asking itself as it went back to the drawing board to design its next family of tour-level shoes – the new Drive Pro and Drive Pro SL. These shoes have been designed from the ground up,…

“Sam Torrance took being a top-class pro golfer seriously but not too seriously” January is an odd month, almost meaningless, certainly downbeat, the diary equivalent of a misplaced semi-colon in the yearly sentence. Don’t know about you but I always feel an urge to do one of two things during those drab, tedious weeks: 1) Clear out stuff or 2) Clear off somewhere (always preferable). Anyway, this year, for various reasons, the clearing off option was not on the table so I consoled myself with some of the hinterland drawers that have remained firmly closed for some time in my study. I found various things. Some very old Dunlop balls, and even older scorecards from various rounds played in foreign places – so old I was actually under par in…