Innehållsförteckning för January 2025 från Golf Monthly

Aaron Rai could easily be the most grounded, least excitable player in all of golf. So, when he describes his breakthrough victory on the PGA Tour as “potentially life-changing”, you know it is not just hype. As well as securing the English golfer a cheque for more than $1.4million, Rai’s two-shot victory at the Wyndham Championship earned him a two-year extension on his PGA Tour card, and automatic entry into all of the Signature Events in 2025. Oh, and a first trip to The Masters, a prospect which has got even the seemingly unflappable Rai fighting to contain his excitement. But despite all those rewards for his wire-to-wire win in Greensboro, North Carolina, it is a triumph that will never rank as the one he cherishes most. That distinction belongs…

The opportunity to get out onto the golf course during the winter months is a bonus, especially when the weather has hindered your usual routine of hitting the fairways with your friends. Finding a day when the sun is shining or the rain has subsided for a few hours can be a real cause for celebration, but winter golf presents its own challenges and being prepared can help you to enjoy your round more and improve your score. These 12 winter golf hacks are a great way to adapt your game to the conditions you typically face during the off-season, but they can also help get you into good habits and hone your skills ready for the start of the next golf season… Shot on location at West Surrey Golf…

Some marriages just make sense in golf – Faldo and Sunesson, Phil and Bones and, perhaps most of all, Bob Vokey and Titleist. I picked up one of the earliest Vokey models – a 200 Series – for a mere £38.99 and put it up against today’s Vokey SM10. With the best part of a quarter of a century between them, I was expecting significant performance differences… What was the tech? The Vokey 200 was cast from soft 8620 carbon steel for the ultimate feel, with U grooves for optimal spin and a distinctive hosel knurling as a nod to a bygone era. The investment casting process ensured precise profiles and sole shapes. This model had a raw, untreated finish, allowing the head to rust over time. How did it…

Situated in the extreme south-west of South Africa where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, the Western Cape covers 50,000 square miles of beautiful mountains and rugged shoreline. Most visitors focus on the southern stretch from Cape Town across to George, a holidaymakers’ dream that is also home to many of the nation’s finest courses. This is a region renowned for its wine making and excellent accommodation. On top of this, the exchange rate means that it is one of the world’s best-value golfing destinations. Often recognised as the finest course in the country is one of three at the superb Fancourt Estate in the suburbs of George. Surrounding a terrific golf hotel bordered by two rivers, the Montagu and Outeniqua courses are both very good, especially the former, which…

Many will know of the Goodwood estate in West Sussex but will naturally associate it with either horse racing or motorsport, not golf. While in some ways the scale of the golf operation – despite now boasting 42 holes following the opening of the short six-hole Copse course last spring – pales in significance compared to horses and cars, in others it is of equal importance. “Golf at Goodwood isn’t necessarily the first thing people think of about Goodwood,” admits general manager Gary Beves, “but it plays a huge part in the estate and, of course, it’s one of the few parts that is in operation 365 days a year. As a result, the members are hugely important to us and the wider estate.” This sentiment is echoed by the…

Mar Hall GF: 18 holes: £100 Although the origins of the impressive hall itself date back to 1828, the Dave Thomas design only opened for play as recently as 2010. The luxury hotel now boasts 53 rooms, as well as lodges and several dining options, and there are various stay-and-play packages for golfers. The course runs through the estate’s 240 acres of mature parkland bordering the River Clyde, overlooked by the towering Erskine Bridge. Strategic play is key here, with specimen trees adding to the test. Subject of a multi-million-pound investment over the last year or so, Mar Hall continues to improve and impress. Carton House GF: check website for details Just 15 miles to the west of Dublin, Carton House was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Kildare…

Preserving tradition and standards I must disagree with reader Allen O’Connor [December issue, Your View] in approving Portmarnock as a potential Open venue. It is a fine course but it is situated in Ireland, which is a different country. If that were to be approved, what is stopping The R&A taking it in the future to, say, Dubai or China on money-making grounds? Never underestimate the ability of sports administrators to betray the heritage of the sport. On another topic, I simply do not understand the furore about dress codes. Most sports do have a dress code – for example, cricketers wearing all white [Ed: not so much these days]. All that is being asked of people is to dress smartly. Golf has managed to preserve its etiquette and good…

Tiger Woods has weighed into the Ryder Cup pay debate and believes American players should receive as much money as possible for competing in the biennial match. However, he doesn’t feel members of Team USA should pocket the funds and insists the money should be donated to charitable causes to help grow the game and benefit local communities. It’s an opinion Woods has held for a considerable amount of time, as he told Golf Monthly’s editor-at-large Bill Elliott in the late 1990s (read more on page 114). Woods’ comments were in response to reports that the PGA of America is considering paying its players $400,000 for competing at Bethpage Black. “We had the same conversation back in 1999 and it was we didn’t want to get paid, we wanted to…

Practice Like anything in golf, you need to practise to not only improve but also work out how to adapt to different types of sand and lie. 1 The fundamentals The ideal ball position for a routine bunker shot is just inside the lead heel, with weight favouring the lead side around 60/40 to 70/30. Shane Lowry has talked in the past of how he has been guilty of sitting back at times, affecting his angle of attack. Note how he flares open his lead foot about 45° to help him pivot around the lead leg and retain loft through impact. Great bunker players release the club past the hands, which you can just about see here. 2 Keep it smooth Average club golfers get quite anxious about getting the…

Norway GF: approx £116 to £193 (resort guests £81 to £148) Stats: par 71, 6,662 yards If everything were easy to accomplish for minimal effort, where would life’s challenges lie? In the case of the stunning Lofoten Links, a dramatic course within the 68th parallel of northern latitude on the Lofoten Islands in Norway, the challenge of simply getting there is more than rewarded by the sight that greets you on arrival. The vision of owner Frode Hov, Lofoten Links has come a long way in 26 years, growing from six to nine holes, then finally 18 in 2015. More recently, the on-site accommodation offering has expanded with the addition of cosy, Nordic-style lodges. The 18-hole layout is a true one-off, playing over lush green slivers that weave through moody…

When I was asked to travel to Portugal in September to talk to Sergio Garcia about his career and the second, nearly finished course at Terras da Comporta that bears his design signature – the Torre – I’ll admit to being a little hesitant. Yes, he’s a big name and a great player, but in many people’s eyes his reputation has been more than a little soured due to various incidents on tour and, of course, his high-profile defection to LIV two years ago. For many, here was a man who appeared to have been served extremely well financially by the two main tours for 23 years making it sound like it had all been a bit of an ordeal. I would count myself among them, reflecting that when he…

Going for a custom fitting for a brand new set of clubs is one of the most exciting things a golfer can do. The prospect of being expertly guided into the best irons or the best driver to improve your game is surely one to relish and, in the main, reality matches expectation. There are many excellent club fitters out there providing a brilliant service. Manufacturers pride themselves on helping you to improve your game via their equipment to garner as many brand-loyal fans as possible. This is why they offer so many compelling options which, if fitted correctly, can offer incredibly high levels of performance and, in turn, lead to very happy golfers. However, while far from widespread, things are not always as they seem in the custom-fitting bay.…

Shot on location at Infinitum Resort, Spain 1 Set-up should vary to influence your angle of attack into the strike according to what kind of club you are hitting. For a driver, you need an upward sweeping action; with an iron, you want a downward descending blow. Good iron players strike down, taking ball then turf. Common faults often trace back to poor impact dynamics, perhaps the club striking halfway up the ball due to a shallow approach. With a descending blow into the base of the ball you should take a divot, which promotes solid strikes. Remember – hit down to hit up with irons. 2 A key difference between a driver and an iron is that the ball is on a tee with the former. You should aim…

1 IRON SHOTS The biggest thing is knowing your distances – how far your shots carry through the bag. It’s not about knowing how far the ball rolls out to – the carry distance is what is going to keep you out of trouble. You’ll have some courses where it rains and gets very soft, and others where it’s firm and the ball is going to land and roll. The biggest thing I encourage you amateurs to do is to get a good understanding of your carry distances with your irons, especially down to the wedges, as that will help you be aggressive and attack shots more out there. 2 CHIP SHOTS I grew up missing every green on the planet and every fairway so it became a necessity to…

The HackMotion swing analyser goes a step beyond the more basic training aids. By using a clever, interactive sensor system, it helps you ingrain the correct wrist angles during the various stages of the golf swing. There is real-time feedback and absolutely no lag, all thanks to the cutting-edge technology that powers the device. The app interface is extremely user-friendly and offers a step-by-step process to help you set up your device, asking exactly what you want to get out of your practice so it can tailor drills for you specifically. There are short videos on the app that help you to understand how to analyse the data collected and there is even the facility to look at comparative average data collected from PGA and DP World Tour players, such…

You may have noticed the latest controversy in the professional golf world. It got the interweb humming with a mix of surprise, disbelief and, for some sensitive souls, a sudden loss of faith in the game’s elite, richly rewarded world. Yes, the PGA of America is seriously considering paying its Ryder Cup players $400,000 for deigning to represent their country next year. How awful is that? Answer: not at all if that’s what they want to do. The fact is the Americans have been paid for playing in the old competition for the last 20 years or so. At least as far as I’m aware they have. What they are presently considering is increasing the money. I played a small part in that when, at a US Open in the…

Rory, congratulations on winning your sixth Race to Dubai and record third DP World Tour Championship. What does it mean to you? It means a lot. I’ve been through a lot this year professionally and personally. It feels like a fitting end to 2024. I’ve persevered a lot this year. I had close calls where I wasn’t able to get it done. So I’m pleased to be able to get over the line. I thought saving par on 15 was huge. I made four great swings coming in – the wedge on 16, the shot on 17 and two shots on the last. I’m really pleased with the way I finished and thankfully I hung on on a tough day and got it done. You’ve equalled Seve Ballesteros’ record with…

“GOLF IS JUST A GAME. AS FRUSTRATING AS IT CAN BE, THERE IS MORE TO LIFE”Lexi Thompson was philosophical after bringing the curtain down on her full-time LPGA Tour career “WE DO NEED THE PROFESSIONAL GAME TO SORT ITSELF OUT”Outgoing R&A chief Martin Slumbers calls for the current division in the men’s game to be resolved “THAT TOURNAMENT IS SO MUCH MORE THAN GETTING PAID. WE DON’T NEED MONEY TO DRIVE US TO GO PLAY”Patrick Reed responds to reports that American players will receive $400,000 to play at Bethpage Black “HOLY S***. WE GET TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN NEXT YEAR”An emotional Joel Dahmen embraced his wife after securing his PGA Tour card for the 2025 season…

Cobra is entering 2025 with a new family of drivers, continuing the Darkspeed look and feel but adding in an all-new hosel adapter that the brand hopes will allow all golfers to find their perfect set-up. The DS Adapt’s highlight feature is the Future Fit 33 adapter, which gives players and fitters 33 different hosel adjustments and allows them to decouple loft from lie for the first time in a Cobra driver, so both can be altered independently of one another. Whether you want more or less loft, or to make the lie more upright to increase draw or flatten it to introduce a fade, each of the 33 settings has been given a letter-number code, with each code sitting on a large mandala-patterned graph that will be available to…

It’s fair to say that traditional 18-hole golf has struggled with a perception that it is an expensive hobby. Add up the cost of membership, green fees, equipment, clothing and lessons, and it can be seen as a sport that only the wealthy or socially elite can afford. That perception is changing, though. The game has evolved over the last 20 years and, while 18-hole golf may still be the backbone of the game, there are now many more ways to play via different versions of the sport that are a lot more affordable. There’s a feeling among many that ‘golf has become cool’. Even before the pandemic did golf a favour and ended up boosting participation levels with lots of new faces, the game had started to shrug off…

Yes, this is a great way to overcome any chipping worries and a fantastic way to calm overactive hands. Address the ball out of the toe as here – don’t be scared and have some trust in this – then get the shaft angle working a lot steeper. Walk in close, grip down and put a little more weight on your left side. The idea is to just make a putting stroke and let the toe of the club pop the ball up and do the work for you. Playing it off the toe does deaden the impact so do factor that in. I’m using my 54˚ wedge but you can use either plenty of loft or a pitching wedge. How can I start my putts on line? By GM…

Carnoustie’s Barry Burn is certainly one of the more famous penalty areas in golf; many of us can think of some iconic moments in golf over the years involving this waterway. The Senior Open in 2024 added yet more incident, but this time it was the bridge on the 17th hole that was involved… Miguel Angel Martin found his ball had come to rest on the bridge crossing the penalty area, and asked for Rules support from the referee team. However, there is no free relief available in this situation and the referees correctly informed Martin that he had to either play the ball as it was lying (which he did) or proceed under the options for penalty relief for a red penalty area. This is because free relief from…

Essentials Murcar Links, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, AB23 8BD Stats: par 71, 6,303 yards GF: round: £150wd, £170we The 20-mile stretch of coastline northwards from Aberdeen is home to no fewer than four links in the Golf Monthly Top 100. With the new course at Trump Aberdeen set to open later this year, that number may well increase before too long, making an already first-class golfing destination even stronger. Perhaps the least well-known of these is the excellent Murcar Links, which currently sits at 91 in the UK and Ireland. It borders Royal Aberdeen and it’s so close that an overhit approach to the 3rd green here could end up on the 10th tee next door. A fine pedigree This proximity has led to strong connections between the clubs, which…