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DAYS TO JUMP-START YOUR GAME UNDERCOVER TOUR PRO

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HOW TO PLAY

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Contents 06/16

36 COVER STORIES

FEATURES

30 30 DAYS TO JUMP-START YOUR GAME Jordan Spieth’s coach offers tips from tee to green. By Cameron McCormick

36 OLD SCHOOL Three wise men, two tattoos and millennial man Rickie Fowler. By Jaime Diaz

60 PRAIRIE PERFECTION Sand Hills wasn’t so much designed as discovered. By Barry Havenga

PLAY YOUR BEST 11 LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP

40 STICK IT FROM ANY DISTANCE Try my new keys for hitting great wedges. By Rickie Fowler

Are you getting along with your fairway woods? By J B Holmes

66 SWING SEQUENCE: DANNY WILLETT

14 TOM WATSON

What you can learn from the Masters champion.

Unlock extra power by rotating your hips.

69 HOT LIST: GOLF BALLS

15 DAVID LEADBETTER

82 CLOSE OUT/UNDERCOVER TOUR PRO Even the players get into trouble at Augusta National. With Max Adler

16 CHRIS KIRK My bunker cheat sheet.

17 JIM MCLEAN

US OPEN PREVIEW

The punch-out that gets you into even more trouble.

46 GORILLA IN THE MIST Another 7 500 trees are gone at Oakmont, leaving it barren, brawny and beautiful. By Ron Whitten

52 RELIVING THE TRAUMA

Score inside 100 metres.

18 JACK NICKLAUS My rules for playing short par 4s.

19 HANK HANEY Beat blocks and hooks by synching up your swing.

68 WHAT’S IN MY BAG Billy Horschel.

THE GOLF LIFE 22 PRINCE’S GRANT International awards for Prince’s Grant, Fancourt and Lost City.

24 RULES The do’s and don’ts of cleaning your golf ball.

25 THE CORE 3 exercises for golfers to solve your back pain.

26 ASK GOLF DIGEST 28 THINK YOUNG, PLAY HARD Lyle Rowe.

72 GALLERY 74 AMATEUR SCENE 78 INSIDE THE ROPES 80 SUNSHINE TOUR 81 SUPERSPORT DIARY

21 years after playing at Oakmont, I’m still demoralised. By David Owen

54 WHY THEY CAN’T BREAK 63 Reliving Johnny Miller’s record. By Jaime Diaz

6 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

COVER PHOTO BY WALTER IOOSS JR • THIS PAGE BY WALTER IOOSS JR • BEN WALTON • GOLF DIGEST RESOURCE CENTRE

The One for The Open. Mercedes-Benz is proud to be an Official Patron of The 145TH Open. Dedicated to the #PerfectDrive. www.facebook.com/MercedesBenzGolf

6 16 / Behind the Scenes EDITORIAL

EDITOR STUART McLEAN (021) 417 5195

We can learn from the Scots

By Stuart McLean, Editor t’s not altogether surprising that Scottish golfers have been dominating the SA Amateur Championship (May issue) in recent years. Amateur golf in the UK, particularly Scotland and England, is highly organised all the way up from grassroots to elite level, and the work of these golfing bodies is having great results thanks to excellent funding and disciplined strategies. A Scottish golfer, Connor Syme, 20, also won the Australian Amateur in January, arguably an even better achievement than his countryman Craig Ross winning the SA Amateur at George. At grassroots level, ClubGolf Scotland introduced more than 50 000 primary school children to golf in 2015. There’s much that the SA Golf Association can learn and copy from Scottish Golf, if they had the mind and will to do so. The two countries have a good golfing relationship, and there are key parallels between us. Neither of us are that big in world golfing terms, but we have a shared passion and talent for the game. During the boom years Scotland reached a peak in 2005 of 263 000 member golfers at 600 courses. That is now down to 220 000 members, but campaigns have turned the tide of declining membership. We have also seen affiliated members of clubs drop to under 120 000 men and 17 000 women, but no one at the SAGA appears to be tackling this as a national problem. The Scottish Golf Union website presents a clear picture of how differently they view the future of golf compared to how we do so here. Scottish Golf works closely with each and every one of its clubs, and they have a powerful vision of how to build and grow the game. Their site provides an instructive experience for golfers with valuable and relative information, particularly those new to the game. There’s a Club Finder tab which reveals everything you need

8 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

to know about every golf club in Scotland – membership offers, special deals, open competitions for visitors. You can find jobs in the golf industry on this site. There’s a Scottish Golf radio show, a 35-minute digital podcast which can be downloaded weekly, and a Scottish Golf membership card for club members which provides a variety of benefits. When you look at what they’re doing, and the way they promote the game, by comparison we’re still in the 20th century. Golf clubs here are expected to do everything on their own, without national support. One of the headings within their website is, What Does Scottish Golf Do For Me? That one statement shows a commitment and promise to every club golfer in Scotland. Could the SAGA get away with saying something like that, and coming up with answers? Scottish Golf has 7 key goals which they believe will help them realise their vision for the game. They are: Stronger Clubs, More Golfers, Quality Coaching, Winning Golfers, Outstanding Events, Excellent Governance, and Strong Partnership. Once the new Golf RSA body is up and running, we need to reinvent our vision of golf in this country. Our affiliated fees need to be used in growing different areas, promoting golf, and not just going to elite programmes and expensive overseas trips. And we need to relook at our development programmes. Are the right children being targeted, or is development only about the underprivileged? There is incredible golfing talent in South Africa, the game is still popular, we have wonderful courses, but we need improved and inspirational leadership from those who control the game here.

stuart.mclean@newmediapub.co.za

Deputy Editor Barry Havenga Head of Creative: Consumer Division Mark Serra Managing Editor Chantel Kleinsmidt (021) 417 5156 Designer Samantha Presence Photographers Grant Leversha, Jamie Thom, Luke Walker

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EDITED BY PETER MORRICE

Long-distance Relationship Are you getting along with your fairway woods? Try my keys BY JB HOLMES

know a lot of amateurs lower their expectations on approach shots from 200-plus metres. Granted, your odds of hitting a green from out there are never great, but my advice on fairway woods will help. Start with this drill: Practice making controlled swings that allow you to finish in balance like I am here. That’s the tempo you want. Treat it like you were swinging an iron to a specific distance. If a shot is too long for a 7-iron, you hit a 6. Same thinking here: Every fairway wood has a distance limit. Don’t try to stretch it. – WITH ron kaspriske

P H OTOS B Y J D C U B A N

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 1 1

Play Your Best | FAIRWAY WOODS

“To hit a cut, set up with your feet and shoulders open.” GO LEFT TO RIGHT FOR CONSISTENCY

like to fade or cut the ball, which I recommend for you because making a swing that curves a shot left to right seems easier to repeat for most golfers. It also will help you hit the ball higher, which comes in handy on long shots over obstacles like bunkers or water. To hit a cut, set up with your feet and shoulders open, or aligned left of your target. Then make a swing where your body rotates significantly towards the target before the club reaches the ball. I can’t emphasise this enough: Keep turning all the way to the finish. If your body stops and your arms and club keep swinging, you’ll hit it dead left.

JB Holmes has four wins on the PGA Tour, including the 2015 Shell Houston Open.

1 2 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

SETUP

BACKSWING

Ball position is important for solid contact. It should be forward of centre in your stance – but not quite up to where you play a driver.

Swing back until you feel the muscles around your left shoulder stretched. Wherever that is, that’s your top of the backswing.

DOWNSWING

IMPACT

Bump your left hip towards the target as you start down. This shallows the club’s path and keeps it to the inside. It’ll help get the ball up.

The club should still be descending at impact and should stay low to the ground just after. The key here: Keep turning through.

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 1 3

Play Your Best | TOM WATSON 21% 16% 14%

49%

Which of these clubs 5 HDCP reliable for you? is most ▶ 7-iron ▶ Putter ▶ Driver ▶ Hybrid

42% 34%

SOURCE: GOLF DIGEST READERS

Don’t Skip the Hips

Turn them back for more power he movement of the hips is important for generating clubhead speed at impact. But most golf instruction focuses on how the hips unwind as the club swings into the ball. Not to be ignored is how they should rotate on the backswing. The hands, ar ms and shoulders start the swing, which in turn gets the hips to rotate.

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Notice I said “rotate.”You don’t want the hips to slide. Brace on the inside of your right foot, and turn your right butt cheek behind you. Remember these keys: The right hip turns back, and the left knee moves towards the ball (above). That combination lets you fully wind the upper body, storing power that you’ll use to fire the club through impact.

Hip rotation in the second half of the swing happens in a flash. As you shift your weight forward by pressing down with the left heel, your hips will slide slightly, no more than a few inches towards the target. That slide happens as the hips start to undo their backswing turn. Your end goal in the downswing is to transfer your weight to your left heel while rotating your hips until your bellybutton faces the target. Let your hips lead the way, and you’ll max out your speed at impact.

ELEMENTARY WATSON The hips take a beating over years of playing golf, which is why I had a hip replacement in 2008. Stretching and exercises that strengthen the muscles around the pelvis are important. If you must have surgery, don’t think your best golf is behind you. I almost won the British Open at age 59, and I’ve been able to compete in the Masters every year since 1975, this one being my last. Tom Watson is a Golf Digest Playing Editor.

JD CUBAN

DAVID LEADBETTER |

Play Your Best

How many golf lessons have you had in your life? ▶ None: 32% ▶ One: 9% ▶ Two to nine: 26% ▶ 10 or more: 33% SOURCE: GOLF DIGEST READERS

Pitch It with Precision Using the A Swing inside 100 metres f you’re able to pitch the ball accurately around the greens, you’ll shoot lower scores. My A Swing can be used for pitch shots with great results – all you need to do is make a few adjustments. Start by thinking of the pitch swing as a mini version of the full swing. Follow these steps to develop your pitching technique and watch your scores drop.

ILLUSTRATIONS: TODD DETWILER

David Leadbetter, author of The A Swing, operates 25 golf academies worldwide.

DOM FURORE

1. OPEN THE CLUBFACE

2. TWEAK YOUR STANCE

3. SWING IT BACK SHORT

4. TUCK IN THE KNEE

▶ The unique motion of the A Swing – with a more upright takeaway – initially puts the clubface in a closed position. To compensate for this on short shots like pitches, point the clubface slightly right of the target before taking your grip.

▶ From a narrow stance, set your hips so they’re open to the target, but pull your right foot back so your stance is closed. This open-and-closed setup helps stabilise the lower body and encourages you to release the club properly through impact.

▶ Take the club back about halfway. The hands should stay close to the body, and the wrists should set early so the shaft swings into that upright position. The backswing should be shorter to help promote acceleration coming down.

▶ As you swing down, feel the right knee tucking in softly behind the left. This will help create a good impact position: the hands leading the clubhead. You’ll push the ball off the turf with the proper backspin and trajectory for more accuracy.

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 1 5

Play Your Best |

BUNKERS BY CHRIS KIRK

How much practice do you devote to the short game? ▶ Less than 10% ▶ 10-25% ▶ 26-50% ▶ More than 50% SOURCE: GOLF DIGEST READERS

Cheat Sheet for the Sand The 3 keys you really have to know

uring the offseason, I play a lot with my amateur buddies in Atlanta. I have a big edge in the short game, and bunker play in particular.These tips are for them – they know who they are – and for you, too. (1) At address, lean to your front side. Push 80 percent of your weight to your forward leg, enough that you feel pres-

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sure in the thigh.That sets up a descending blow. A lot of golfers hang on the back foot, sensing they need to help the ball up. But you’ve got to hit down. (2) With the clubface slightly open, take the club back to the outside.Then swing down on an out-to-in path, but not too steep.You don’t want to dig. You’re looking for a sliding action. Let the bounce, the

heavy sole of your sand wedge, control the depth. (3) The final key is rhythm. Keep it slow and smooth. See my long follow-through? You can only do that with a nice, even tempo. Remember these three tips, and you’ll be fine. Chris Kirk, 31, has four PGA Tour victories and played on the US team that won the 2015 Presidents Cup.

DOM FURORE

JIM MC LEAN |

Play Your Best

Get a look at the shot before you hit it. NO TARGET? THINK ONE UP Golfers often take chances without realising it. When I worked with Payne Stewart, we talked a lot about OTEs (opportunities to excel). When he hit his ball into trouble, his instinct was to play the hero shot. He learned that just getting back in the fairway can be a good shot. Imagine a green in the fairway and “hit” that green. Having a clearly defined target helps you stay on task. —RICHARD COOP, ED.D.

Why’d I Do That? You punch out sideways – into more trouble

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y C H R I S G A S H

hanks to a wild drive, you’re surrounded by trees, but for once you listen to that voice inside your head: Just punch it back in play. Problem is, you hit the ball too hard, sending it across the fairway into the junk on the other side. Not your finest moment. Next time you face a shot like this, do what most golfers don’t do: Walk out towards the fairway, and take a look. Pick a target that allows for some roll. Remember, a low punch shot is going to run, espe-

cially with a middle iron. When hitting out sideways, many high-handicaps make too big a swing. Take the club back slow, and keep the motion compact. Also, be careful not to put hook spin on the ball. That’ll just make it scoot even further. The more advanced player can try a cut swing. To do that, stand closer to the ball, open the face and swing out to in. The ball will fade and run less. But remember, an open face sends the ball higher. If you have to stay under branches, take less loft. Now go hit the next shot on.

At the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot, Phil Mickelson was up by a shot on the final tee. A sliced drive wouldn’t have killed his chances if he’d just pitched out to the fairway. Instead, he went for the green with a 3-iron. The ball ricocheted off a tree. His next found a buried lie in a bunker. Three shots later, Phil’s double bogey had cost him the title. “I am such an idiot,” are the words we’ll never forget. Jim McLean is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional.

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 1 7

MICKELSON: JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES

THE PITCH-OUT THAT NEVER WAS

Play Your Best | STRATEGY by Jack Nicklaus

Are you happy being 1 up, or do you want to get to 2 up? Situation Golf How to choose the right shot for the moment

he most popular format among weekend golfers is match play. You can play head to head (singles) or with a partner (better ball). It’s a kinder game than stroke play because big numbers are less disastrous, and it’s fun because there’s another layer of

strategy. In addition to understanding how your skills fit a particular hole, you weigh what the other player or team is capable of. Match play gets exciting when there are two or three ways to play a hole. More permutations exist for your shot to affect your opponent’s next move. On

the fourth tee at Old Corkscrew Golf Club, a course I designed in Estero, Florida, you have three choices. How the match stands might factor into your decision, but most important is to lean on your strengths. I’d bet you have a hole like this one where you play. – with max adler

LAYING UP SHORT

Are you a long driver? If so, this could be an opportunity to apply pressure in a match. If the wind direction is favourable and the tees aren’t set too far back – the card reads 283 metres from the whites – conditions might be right to drive the green. Even if your ball doesn’t quite get there, leaving a short pitch from the fairway is a strong position. It might compel your opponent to try to match it with an aggressive shot that he’s not entirely comfortable with. If you’re hitting second off the tee, be ready to put your driver away if your opponent tries this and rinses one.

This is the safest spot to aim a drive. By selecting a shorter club off the tee, you play to the widest section of the fairway. The trade-off for this less demanding tee shot is a longer approach. But if you feel confident with your irons, the green is nice and wide from this angle. And you won’t have to carry any greenside bunkers. Smart match-play golfers don’t treat every hole like it’s a mustwin. Sometimes playing for a probable half is okay. They know there are other holes on the course that will suit them better.

PARTNER POLICY

LAYING UP LONG This is a good blend of safe and daring. The water is out of play, but you still need a solid drive to get a ball all the way down here, where you’ll be rewarded with a short approach. It’s the right option for the golfer who’s more likely to make birdie by sticking a wedge close than by bombing a 250-metre drive. There is a wrinkle on this hole: The green slopes from right to left, so it’s tough to stop any shot coming from the right. A back-right pin would be a vote against driving it here.

1 8 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

I love father-son events. Gary and I won the PNC Father/Son Challenge years ago and still compete. The format is a two-man scramble, which we treat a lot like better-ball. That is, we have the more dependable player go second. Nowadays, that usually means me putting a drive in play to free Gary to try whatever he wants. But sometimes he’ll say “Dad, I think you’re more dependable here,” and I’ll play second. It’s all about how we feel on a given hole.

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y C H R I S O ’ R I L E Y

DAVID CANNON/GETTY IMAGES

CHALLENGE THE GREEN

HANK HANEY |

36% 14% 10%

40%

Play Your Best

What would you most like to 5 HDCP be able to say after a round? ▶ I made some putts ▶ I hit the ball solid ▶ I drove it well ▶ I had a good score

42% 34%

SOURCE: GOLF DIGEST READERS

ALL TOGETHER

Maintain the relationship between your hands and chest as you go back and through.

Beating Blocks and Hooks The answer is to keep your body and arms in sync

JD CUBAN

ommentators analysing tour pros have a phrase they use to describe a certain good-player mistake: They call it “getting stuck.” It’s a colourful term, but I’m not sure if regular golfers – like those I go back and forth with on Twitter – know what it means. The easiest way to picture it is to compare it to the opposite problem: a slicer coming over the top. In that move, the player swings the club down from the

outside on a steep angle. Getting stuck is coming from too far inside and behind the body. The upper body obstructs or interferes with the club’s path to the ball. The most common reason players get stuck is, they don’t keep the arms and club in front of the chest as they turn back and through. When the club trails the upper body on the way down, the hands have to flip the clubhead over to recover. Hello, hook.

If that player tries to make a big body turn through to compensate, the club gets even more stuck. That’s often a block. If you can keep the same relationship between your upper body, arms and the club from address through impact, you’ll be able to swing fast and free. Hank Haney is based at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch, Lewisville, Texas. To get fixed in Golf Digest, send Hank your swing on Twitter: @HankHaney.

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 1 9

Jordan Spieth

Bubba Watson

Rickie Fowler

Henrik Stenson

Adam Scott

Louis Oosthuizen

68 YEARS. ONE BALL. THE #1 BALL PLAYED AT THE U.S. OPEN® FOR 68 YEARS AND STILL COUNTING. To be successful at the U.S. Open takes talent, precision and patience. It also demands a golf ball that provides exceptional distance, control and consistency. It’s especially true this year when players take on Oakmont Country Club, one of the most difficult courses in the world, with its tight fairways, hard and slick greens, and famous Church Pews bunker. And it’s why the overwhelming majority will rely on Titleist, just as they did when they played Oakmont in 1953, 1962, 1973 and 2007. And as they have in every U.S. Open for 68 consecutive years.

Justin Thomas

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Scott Piercy

Charley Hoffman

Jason Dufner

Webb Simpson

Zach Johnson

Kevin Kisner

Jimmy Walker

Kevin Na

Bill Haas

Rafa Cabrera-Bello

Source: Darrell Survey. U.S. Open is a registered service mark of the United States Golf Association速 and is used with the permission of the United States Golf Association. The USGA does not endorse or sponsor Titleist or its products in any way.

he Lodge at Prince’s Grant (pictured) is one of three South African destinations which have been recognised in the Golf Digest International Lifestyle awards. The Prince’s Grant golf estate, on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, is unusual in having large and luxurious rooms for guests on the upper floor of the clubhouse overlooking the opening holes of the course. Prince’s Grant developer Guy Smith has a passion for Scottish golf, and the architecture of The Lodge reflects that. Golf Digest have included The Lodge as an Editors’ Choice in their travel section among the best golfing boutique hotels around the world. Others in this category include Scotland’s Greywalls (adjoining the Muirfield links) and the Royal Golf Hotel (Dornoch), plus Casa Palmero at Pebble Beach. There are 15 rooms, seven in The Lodge and eight in the Umdoni Suites annex surrounding a pool. There is a pub and restaurant, and The Lodge is an excellent golfing destination or base for golfers visiting the North Coast, being 30 minutes from King Shaka Airport. Fancour t, w ith its exceptiona l reputation for 5 -star accommodation and golf, receives an Editors’ Choice as one of three recommended golf resorts in Africa/Middle East, the others being Heritage in Mauritius, and the Westin Abu Dhabi. The Palace of the Lost City is on a list of the world’s Grand Golf Hotels, alongside the likes of Gleneagles, The Greenbrier, Adare Manor, and Turnberry.” – STUART McLEAN

P H OTO B Y G RA N T L E V E RS H A

The tenth green at Prince’s Grant, with The Lodge in the background.

LOCAL TRIO AMONG THE BEST IN WORLD GOLF Prince’s Grant, Fancourt and Lost City are Golf Digest Editors’ Choices

The Golf Life | RULES

If your ball falls off the tee, can you clean it before re-teeing? DID YOU KNOW? Say you hit a ball that goes bounding down the cartpath. It’s pretty scuffed up, but there are no visible cracks, and the ball is still as round as when you bought it. Can you replace it during play on a hole?

No. A ball is not unfit for play solely because of scuff marks or scrapes, or the paint is damaged or discoloured (Rule 5-3). And remember, if you lift a ball to inspect it to see if it’s too beat up to keep using, do not clean it. If you do, it’s a one-stroke penalty.

ANSWERS 1. Can (rule 16-1b , definition: putting green) . If any part of the ball is touching the putting green, it can be lifted and cleaned after marking its position.

Squeaky Clean Your golf ball is shiny again, but is that a penalty? There are times during a round when the rules allow you to restore the pearly white finish to your golf ball, but there are times when you can’t. See if you know the difference by answering “can” or “can’t” to the following scenarios about whether it’s okay to clean your golf ball. – ron kaspriske 1

A sliver of the ball is on the putting green, but the rest is on the fringe. 2

Before your tee shot, you address a ball, waggle the club and accidentally knock the ball off the tee.

Your ball plugs in thick rough and has a wad of mud attached to it. 4

After hitting into a water hazard, you decide to take a penalty stroke and pick the ball up.

2 4 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

Your ball is interfering with your opponent’s stance, so he asks that you mark and lift it. 6

You find a ball covered in wet grass clippings and want to remove a little to determine whether it’s your ball.

You mark your ball’s position in the rough and pick it up after play is suspended because of a thunderstorm. Now it’s time to resume play, so you replace the ball back in the rough. 8

While searching for your ball, you find it next to a mower parked by the maintenance shed, and the mower interferes with your stance.You can’t move it, so you decide to take relief. 9

You’re playing in a scramble, and it’s your turn to hit from the fairway.Your ball was scuffed a little from the tee shot, and you want to restore its luster.

2. Can (rule 11-3) . The ball is not yet in play on that hole, so it’s okay to clean. 3. Can’t (rule 25-2 ,

definition: through the green) . A ball plugged in

grass higher than fairway height (closely mowed) can’t be cleaned under the embedded-ball rule. 4. Can (rule 26-1) . 5. Can’t (rule 22-2) . 6. Can (rule 12-2) . Just don’t remove any more clippings than necessary to identify it. 7. Can (rule 6-8d) . You can also mark, lift and clean a ball you left on the course during the delay. 8. Can (Rule 24-2b) . A ball to be lifted for relief can be cleaned no matter if an obstruction like a mower or cartpath is movable or immovable. 9. Depends. The R&A doesn’t recognise scrambles as a format under the Rules of Golf. The scramble’s organisers need to determine if you can clean your ball in this situation.

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y M AT T C H A S E

The Golf Life | THE CORE

Skip the chiropractor and try these moves instead. We’ve Got Your Back Three exercises to protect you from injury outh Africans play golf 12 months of the year, so we thought this would be a good time to ask an important question: Is your back up to it? Thought so. If you don’t want to end up spending your weekends horizontal, follow the advice of Golf Digest Fitness Adviser Ben Shear. He teamed with GD USA social-media correspondent, Paige Spiranac, to bring you exercises to protect your back from the aches and injuries golfers too commonly deal with. Do these routinely to stay healthy. – ron kaspriske

1 Lie on your back with one foot flat on the floor, shin vertical to the ground, and the other foot pointed upwards as you hold that leg’s knee close to your chest. Contract your glute (butt) muscles and raise your pelvis as high as you can. Hold for a second and then lower it. Do as many reps as you can. Switch legs and repeat.

Want more exercise help? Check out our new series: Total Golf Workout with Instagram Star Paige Spiranac

2 Start on your hands and knees holding a resistance band with one hand and anchoring it to the opposite foot. Extend the hand and foot while maintaining balance and stretching the body in a relatively straight line. Do as many reps as you can. Repeat with the other arm and leg.

3 Lie on your side with your feet stacked on a bench, head on a cushion, and your weight supported by the torso. Lift your pelvis and extend the top leg upwards as if opening a pair of scissors. Don’t let your hips sag. Hold for a second. Lower the leg. Do as many as you can, then switch legs. P H OTOS B Y D O M F U RO R E

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 2 5

The Golf Life | ASK GOLF DIGEST

now what? ▶ A tee marker was uprooted, so I stuck it back in the ground and teed off. Penalty?

Does it matter? Of course it matters. If you take your glove off after every shot and stuff it in your back pocket with the fingers hanging out, you look like “The Outlaw Josey Wales” walking down the fairway with his sixshooter holstered. It has no real purpose, but it sure does look cool. Removing the golf glove started decades ago by players such as Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead. They did it to improve their feel when putting. Back then, golf gloves were about as tactile as your grandmother’s mittens. But that’s no longer the case. The amount of feel in most modern gloves is much better. You might say the improvement parallels development in another product where sensitiv-

ity is paramount (rhymes with tondoms).

hold the typical approach shot. That’s why you rarely see the European or PGA Tour put a cup closer than four paces from the edge of a green; it’s too severe. Even on the final day of the Masters, only one cup was closer than five paces (the par-5 second). If you want to save face with your friend, just remember that there’s no such thing as an illegal hole location. The R&A “recommends” but doesn’t mandate spots. Hole placements are typically picked by the greenkeeper. Pray he got a good night’s sleep.

My friend says a hole can be placed on the green only where it’s flat for at least a metre around the cup. I say no way.

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I hope you didn’t have a bet riding on this one, because your friend is mostly correct. The R&A recommends that “an area two to three feet in radius around the hole should be as nearly level as possible and of uniform grade. In no case should holes be located in tricky places, or on sharp slopes, where a ball can gather speed. A player above the hole should be able to stop the ball at the hole.” The R&A also prefers hole locations that can

We never seem to have them long enough to find out. In fact, if you don’t mind dusting off a few of the sleeves you seem to be hoarding in your garage next to the packages of ramen noodles and batteries, we’d appreciate the donation. Titleist says its balls are still good after five years. If you’re wondering about a ball you scooped out of a water hazard, it depends on how long it was submerged. We once tested the average driving distance of two-piece balls that had been underwater. Balls submerged for more than eight days lost six metres on a centre-face strike. Conversely, today’s multilayer tourquality balls stored in your garage for long periods should be fine. – BY THE EDITORS

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What’s the shelf life of golf balls that are stored in a cool, dry place?

QUICK HITS ▶ New grips? Every 40 rounds. ▶ New spikes? Every 15 rounds. ▶ New beer? Every three holes.

Submit your burning questions here: ask@golfdigest.com or on Twitter @GolfDigest

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y R A M I N I E M I

C O U R T E S Y O F C H A M P • I L L U S T R AT I O N Z O H A R L A Z A R

I’ve noticed a lot of pros take their golf glove off between every shot. Most people I play with take their glove off only to putt. Does it matter?

Possibly not, but we wouldn’t recommend doing that again. Let course officials (the “Committee”) sort it out. If you were deemed to have gained an advantage by playing from the place you determined to be the teeing ground, the stroke-play penalty is two shots. In match play, if you and your opponent disagree where to tee from, you can make a claim before either of you play from the next teeing ground, and the Committee would resolve the dispute. It’s the same if you had left the marker and estimated the teeing ground.

In full flight at Humewood in his hometown of Port Elizabeth.

HATS OFF!

Lyle Rowe now has two Sunshine Tour wins. Interviewed by Barry Havenga LYLE ROWE AGE 29 BORN Johannesburg RESIDES Walmer, Port Elizabeth CAREER Won 2016 Zimbabwe Open and 2014 Zambia Sugar Open, shooting 67 and 68 in the respective final rounds, for come-from-behind victories. Earned Sunshine Tour card at 2009 Q School, and scored first pro victory on the Jamega Tour in the UK in 2010. Won on The Big Easy Tour in 2011. As an amateur won EP Amateur and prequalified for 2006 SA Open at Humewood. ››› ON BEING A TOUR PRO FROM PORT ELIZABETH

It hasn’t made financial sense for me to leave the Eastern Cape. I don’t have a sponsor so it would be more expensive for me to live in Gauteng. But I like the lifestyle in PE. It’s a laidback and friendly city, and I play and practice at three fine courses – PE Golf Club (where I’m attached), Humewood (a true championship layout) and Wedgewood (a 2 8 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

recently revamped layout). My dad owns a driving range (Walmer Woods) and we often travel up the coast to our holiday home at Kenton-on-Sea, where I have started SUP (Stand-Up-Paddle) boarding, which is fun and good for my fitness. ››› ON TURNING PRO WITHOUT A STRONG PEDIGREE

I wasn’t the best amateur, but I’m proof now that you don’t have to be. If you work hard

enough and have the self-belief that you belong out there, you can succeed. I didn’t have a good rookie season in 2009, but in 2010 I went to the UK and played on a payand-play satellite tour where prize money is generated from entrance fees. I stayed with friends and scrounged together enough money for a few months of tournament play which really toughened me up as a pro.The pressure of living week-to-week dependent on how you play is not for the faint-hearted. CARL FOURIE & PETRI OESCHGER/SUNSHINE TOUR

T h e G o | lTf HL I iNf eK ››› ON WHAT HE HAS LEARNT MOST

Patience is the most important word in tournament golf.You simply have to grind it out when things aren’t going your way – particularly if you start a round badly. There is always more time than you think to compose yourself and recover well. When I first turned pro the amount of pressure I placed on myself at the start of a round was quite ridiculous. But that’s what you learn with eight years of experience. ››› ON HOW QUICKLY THINGS CAN TURN AROUND

All it sometimes takes is one week in golf to change everything. The 2014 Zambia Sugar Open is a perfect example. I had missed the cut in Swaziland the week before, was really low on confidence, and didn’t see the point of travelling out of the country to go compete. But I changed my mind at the last minute, got on the plane to Lusaka, started the tournament eaglebirdie, and three days later scored my first Sunshine Tour win.You just never know in this game. But I do know that you have to put yourself out there – just keep playing. ››› ON PLAYING IN THE SA OPEN AS AN AMATEUR

I was 19 when I qualified for the 2006 SA

Open at Humewood. My back was troubling me heading in to the pre-qualifying, so I hit 2-iron off the tee at Walmer CC and made it. It was quite nerve-racking. There was obviously expectation from the locals and I received a lot of media attention. There was a terrific field at Humewood that year including Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Angel Cabrera and Trevor Immelman, so it was amazing to play in my national open at home. The weather was uncanny, hardly any wind for four days in summer – that never happens in PE! I would have loved it if the wind had blown as I know how to play in those conditions. I missed the cut, but it was the highlight of my amateur career. ››› ON LIFE AS A TRAVELLING PRO

There really are some characters out there. I’m good friends with Englishman Steve Surry, who is a terrible traveller, always getting things mixed up or lost. In April he flew out to the Zambia Open from Heathrow, but had to go via Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to connect to Ndola. But he got on the wrong bus on the tarmac in Ethiopia and flew to Gabon! He phoned the tournament secretary from Libreville to say he was going to miss the Pro-Am, but made it in time for the tournament.

Y O U N G / P L A

QUICK FIRE Window or aisle? Window. First person to call in a jam? My mother, Anne. Test match at Lord’s or Twickenham? Twickenham. First car? 1995 Toyota Corolla. Current car? Audi A3 TDI. Favourite TV show? Suits, The Black List. Lowest round? 61 at both Humewood and PE Golf Club in social rounds. Superstitions? It varies from week to week. Best friends on tour? Jake Redman, Michael Hollick, Daniel Greene, Matt Carvell and Steve Surry. Strongest player mentally on tour? Jean Hugo. Most naturally gifted on tour? Titch Moore. Longest hitter on tour? Dean Burmester. First thing you bought after first pay cheque as a pro? I can’t remember, but it would have been something very small! Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with, living or dead? Nelson Mandela and Tiger Woods. Which celebrity would you sacrifice to zombies? A Kanye West/Kim Kardashian combo!

IN THE BAG TaylorMade M1, 10.5 degrees TaylorMade M1, 15 & 19 degrees Irons (4-PW): TaylorMade RSi TP TaylorMade Tour Preferred (52, 56, 60) Odyssey V-Line TaylorMade Tour Preferred X

Lyle Rowe is sprayed with the sponsor’s brew by fellow Sunshine Tour players after winning the Golden Pilsener Zimbabwe Open in April.

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PHOTOGRAPHS DOM FURORE

DAYS TO BETTER GOLF

BY CAMERON Mc CORMICK

ETTER GOLF IS A TERRIFIC GOAL, BUT TRYING TO ACHIEVE IT WITHOUT A STEP-BY-STEP PLAN IS A RECIPE FOR FRUSTRATION. My friend and student Jordan Spieth didn’t become No 1 in the world at age 22 by jumping into the deep end on Day 1. He built skills on top of skills, and field-tested them over and over until they were married to his game.That’s our process. So when Golf Digest asked me to develop a programme called 30 Days to Better Golf, I was in. On the next few pages, I’ll show you how to build critical skills in four areas: putting, short game, iron shots and driving. Follow the week-to-week plan, giving at least a couple of sessions to each of the projects prescribed.Your skills will start to grow. In a month, you’ll be playing with more confidence – and maybe your best golf. Call it your New Golf Resolution. – with matthew rudy

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G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 3 1

week 1 putting: project accuracy The first skill is starting your ball on line. You need to get the face pointing where you want the ball to go and the path relatively straight. Find a 10-footer, and set two alignment sticks just wider than your putter as a track to the hole. At the far end, make a gate with two coins a little wider than the ball. Check your stroke by practising it over one of the sticks, then roll putts through the gate. By week’s end, have a goal of getting 25 out of 30.

irons: project contact

short game: project precision

Making solid contact when the ball is on the ground is a primary skill. It’s time to learn how to feel it. Set up four tees in the shape of a “T” (below), with the forward tee (on the target line) 10 centimetres ahead of the middle tee and sticking slightly out of the ground. With a 7-iron, make practice swings where you clip the middle and forward tees without touching the others. After 10 good swings, add a ball to the middle tee for 10 more shots.

This drill and the one I just described for iron play are related. You’re finding the feel of pure contact. Stick five tees into the ground in a line, each a clubhead width apart and barely sticking out of the turf. From a standard chipping stance, make swings clipping the top of the tee so it either breaks or pops out of the ground. When you can clip all five tees in a row, you’re ready to move on with five balls in place of the tees.

driver: project centre-face The longest drives come from hitting the centre of the clubface. To reduce your dispersion, use headcovers on either side of the driver head at address (with a little wiggle room) and make three successful practice swings without hitting the “bumpers.” After three good ones, spend 15 minutes hitting tee shots with the bumpers in place. Apply powder or face tape to your driver for extra feedback on where you’re striking it.

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short game: project flight

putting: project touch

Work on three functional short-game trajectories: low, medium and high. For a low shot (right), use a narrow stance, with the ball opposite your rear foot and your body leaning towards the target. To make the ball go higher, play the ball further forward and adjust the face open. Pick a target 20 metres away and alternate low, medium and high shots, landing them in different spots but trying to end up within a four-metre radius of the target.

Distance control is applying the correct force. From a hole, step off three feet and plant a tee. Do this for the four points of the compass, then putt three balls from 10 feet in each direction. The catch? Before you look up to watch the putt, call out if you think it will end up inside the box you made with the tees. You’re grooving feel. Once you’ve done it successfully from 10 feet, go to 15. By week’s end, try for 75-percent success from 35 feet.

irons: project curve control Place an alignment stick to represent the target line, and hold your fingers out like a double-barrel pistol. Your index finger represents where the face points at impact, and your middle finger the direction the clubhead is moving. Get both basically straight at impact – with the index a bit more in line with the aiming stick (left) – and you’ll hit it straight. Put a headcover 10 metres out, and practise lining up to it and controlling face and path. driver: project power Sequencing the downswing properly creates distance off the tee. To feel it, substitute a towel for your driver. Swing back and let the towel fall on your shoulder, then start down, keeping the towel in place as long as possible before whipping it through. Grab your driver and practise the same feel, letting the shaft sit on your shoulder as you start the downswing. Last, hit balls with that feel, but from a normal backswing position.

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short game: project challenge

driver: project fairway

Time to give your skills a test. Use one ball and work around the practice green, hitting easy, medium and hard shots. After each, score yourself on how close you hit it. A hole-out scores a -1, a shot inside five feet is zero, 5 to 10 feet is +0.5, 10 to 15 feet is +1 and outside 15 feet is +2. In 15 minutes, you should have played nine holes, recorded a score, and figured out which shots need work. Practise a bit, then try to beat your score.

To simulate the challenge of hitting fairways, set aside 14 balls on the range, and pick a pair of targets about 30 metres wide. Go through your full routine for each shot – visualising an actual hole on your course, making a practice swing and getting into your setup – then hit the drive. Give yourself 10 points for a “fairway hit,” subtract 10 for a miss (but zero for missing on the safe side on that hole). Next session, try to rack up more points.

putting: project gateway It’s time to measure your putting performance. Going along the four axes of the compass, use coins to make four gates that are a putterhead wide (right) and 15 feet out from a hole. Go back to 30 feet, and roll one ball from each direction, gathering critical information, like whether the ball rolled through the gate or how close it ended up. The goal is to marry direction and distance skills and to fine-tune your error-detection ability. irons: project consistency How well are you really doing with your alignment and accuracy? At the range, use poles or other targets to visualise a 20-metre-wide set of goal posts. Spending equal time with your pitching wedge, 8-iron and 6-iron, the goal is to hit 50 percent of your shots solidly and between the goal posts in a 15-minute span. Once you’ve achieved the 20-metre goal with each club, reduce the gap to 15 metres and go through the circuit again.

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cameron m c cormick, the 2015 PGA of America Teacher of the Year, is one of Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America. He is based at Trinity Forest Golf Club outside Dallas, where he works with World No. 1 Jordan Spieth and any golfer serious about getting better.

week 4 driver: project off-speed As a final refresher on the power and precision skills you’ve learned, this drill tests your ability to gear up and down. Using four balls, practise off-speed sets. On the first ball, make a full swing but at 50 percent speed for balance and centre contact. On the second, make a full swing at 75 percent with full target intent. On the third, go full speed with full target intent, and on the last, dial it back to 90 percent for balance and control.

irons: project pre-shot

putting: project readiness

Here’s a great way to structure a short range session or to warm up before a round. Use four clubs, and hit four to six shots with each. Focus on quality over quantity. On each shot, pick a precise target and go through your routine – making use of your positive memories of shots with that club. You’re gearing up your mind as much as your body. Set your alignment, waggle the club and try to visualise the flight of each shot.

You’ve developed the skills, now you have to tune the instrument before you play in the orchestra. Take three balls and pick random holes on the practice green. Try to putt the first ball three feet past a target hole, the second one three feet short and the third so it falls over the front edge. Before you leave the green, make some three-footers for a final confidencereinforcing step. You’re ready to take your new skills to the course.

short game: project go-to Like an airline pilot before a flight, go through some short-game checks. Work on clipping a series of tees set in the ground, then chip five balls at various heights. Is there one kind of shot that isn’t working well, or one that feels really good? If you get stuck on a bad one, reboot and find the flavour of shot that feels good. Hit a full cycle of those. That’s likely your go-to shot, but practise the others to round out your short game.

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 3 5

BY JAIME DIAZ

WISE MEN,

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oldschool?

TATTOOS AND MILLENNIAL MAN RICKIE FOWLER

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TANAKA walks outside the gallery ropes of the pro-am in Scottsdale, quietly aware that most eyes and many cellphones are on his grandson, Rickie Fowler. A female voice cries out, “Rickie, be in my selfie!” Fowler, 27, looks up, aligns himself visually with a boisterous group, strikes an Instagram-proven pose, awaits squeals of affirmation, and moves on, golf ’s millennial man in full. By coincidence it’s Wednesday, the day of the week that Tanaka, after retiring from his flame-cutting steel company in Southern California 24 years ago, would set aside to give his then-3-year-old grandson the choice between spending a few hours at an Inland Empire fishing hole or at the rustically pure Murrieta Valley Driving Range, learning golf. Before the tradition ended with Fowler going off to Oklahoma State on a golf scholarship, Tanaka got to a 10-handicap and his grandson was shooting 62s to win high school tournaments. “Good days,” says the 77-year-old in the faint Western twang often developed in an area with high-desert backdrops favoured by Hollywood for cowboy movies. “Rickie took all our quarters on the putting green, and he found out he had a gift. It was wonderful to watch.” he man called Taka by family and friends is lean and spry, wearing hand-medown Puma-logoed golf shirts from a certain three-time PGA Tour winner that happen to fit him pretty well. He and his wife, Jeannie, get to about half a dozen of their grandson’s tournaments a year, although it has got harder to see Rickie as his galleries have grown. This pro-am should afford some clearer views, as well as allow him access inside the ropes if he chooses. But Tanaka stays outside them, sitting on a portable seat, feeling uneasy about being a possible distraction. “Rickie’s got a lot of people he has to attend to today,” he says. Tanaka even declines the privilege when Fowler reaches the famed par-3 16th hole at

TPC Scottsdale, where the grandfather could have entered the eerily cavernous enclosure through the players’ entrance to get an up-close view of his grandson getting a gladiator’s welcome. “It’s all right,” Tanaka says. “What I really like is to see how he treats all the little ones who run up to him wearing orange with the big caps. He just has the touch with kids, and he knows it gives him the chance to motivate them to something better, not just golf.” Tanaka was especially proud to learn that Fowler had honoured his commitment to put on a junior clinic for The First Tee of San Diego the Monday after winning in Abu Dhabi, going from plane to tee in 18 hours covering 14 000 kilome-

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GROUNDED FROM HARDSHIP

lderly mentors have mattered. The first was Tanaka, his maternal grandfather, who as a young boy was taken with his family to a World War II Japanese internment camp in Wyoming, displaced from Pomona, California, where his father had a small poultry business after emigrating from Japan. “I was so young, I didn’t un-

Rickie Fowler with his grandfather, Yutaka Tanaka.

derstand the hardship,” Tanaka says. “Even after the war, we weren’t allowed to come back to California for two years and ended up going to New York state. My father was able to keep a business going and bring us back, but some of our friends lost everything. My parents hardly ever mentioned it, and I never talked to Rickie about it.” It’s why he was surprised and moved when his grandson had Tanaka’s name in Japanese tattooed on the inside of his left biceps. “I thought, Wow, that’s a tender place; had to hurt,” he laughs before becoming emotional. “Rickie did that with a deep feeling. It touched me pretty good.” Tanaka is dismissive of the idea that his grandson was the beneficiary of any special wisdom from “Wednesdays with Taka.” “I would pick him up at 2 o’clock on a school day, and we just did things together,” he says. “He didn’t talk much, mostly just watched. When we fished, he did everything right, and he had that patience where he didn’t mind if he didn’t catch anything. In golf, we were both beginners, but he could hit the ball, and he could concentrate, and he had drive. Those things came from his parents (Rod and Lynn Fowler), not me.” Fowler says his grandfather underestimates his influence: “Being around him gave me an attitude towards life. He’s always in a good mood. He loves having people around him. He treats people the right way. Loves life. He’s just . . . happy. It’s the way I try to be.” Tanaka made sure to keep his distance from Rickie’s development in golf. Fowler played in his first tournaments at 4½, and at 7 he began taking lessons at the Murrieta range from Barry McDonnell, whose deep roots in the game emanated from his grandfather, John Gilholm, from North Berwick, Scotland, who served as the head

COURTESY OF FOWLER FAMILY

yutaka

tres. “True golfers give back,” Tanaka says. For all of Fowler’s flash – he’s expanding golf ’s fashion boundaries to include high-tops with ankle straps under skinny-fit joggers – at his core, he’s old school. When his frequent practiceround partner and friend Phil Mickelson publicly criticised Tom Watson in the immediate aftermath of the US team’s latest loss of the Ryder Cup, Fowler nobly stood up for his largely abandoned captain.When Fowler won in Abu Dhabi in January, he sent champagne to the media room, à la Tony Lema. After the victory lifted him to No 4 in the world, Fowler resisted the media’s urging to declare The Big Three of Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy was now The Big Four. “We’ve got to take care of a major,” Fowler said, “and then maybe I can join the crew.” According to the tournament director of the John Deere Classic, which Fowler has skipped the past five years, he even says “no” with a well-mannered empathy. “Rickie was brought up in a humble home where he was never crowned,” says Clair Peterson, “and it shows.”

rickie has learned from his grandfather: ‘it’s the way i try to be.’

pro at the Country Club of New Bedford in Massachusetts for almost 40 years. After growing up caddieing at the club, McDonnell moved to Los Angeles, where he was an assistant pro at now-defunct Fox Hills Golf Club, fabled for its money games and for being the club where the nation’s best black professionals were granted practice privileges after the club was picketed by protestors of the PGA of America’s old “Caucasian only” clause. McDonnell saw all manner of self-made top players with idiosyncratic swings and developed a teaching philosophy that allowed for individual differences. McDonnell never used a video camera or even alignment sticks, leading Fowler to say he was taught “like it was 1950 instead of 1995.” The two would have long sessions under a pepper tree McDonnell picked out from a nursery across the street that became “the Hogan Tree,” the teacher sometimes calling the diminutive Fowler “Little Hawk.” The owner of the range, Bill Teasdall, had years before benefited from McDonnell’s teaching and life wisdom after his promising career as one of the best juniors in Southern California had foundered in an excess of swing theory. “Barry would say he wanted to make sure what happened to me would not happen to Rick,” Teasdall says. “He didn’t change his loop at the top, saying, ‘That’s how he finds the ball.’ He was always encouraging and positive. He’d say things like, ‘Okay, Rick, 18th tee at Augusta. Need a high cut. Can you do it?’ And Rick would bear down and say, ‘I can do it.’ Barry would tell me, ‘Two things I’m going to do with that kid. Stay out of the way of his talent. And build a great golf mind.’ ” The second part meant preparing Fowler for the stardom McDonnell was sure he would achieve. “Barry could see Rick was one of those special guys who can just flat do it, and he believed he would achieve a lot in the game,” Teasdall says. “He’d seen a lot of good players, and he studied great athletes, especially boxers. At Fox Hills, he had a regular game with Joe Louis. 4 0 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

Barry used to say, ‘Show me a superstar, and I’ll show you a tragedy.’ He would quote George Eiferman, a former Mr Universe he was friends with, who said, ‘Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.’ All that is inside of Rick. He never got cocky, and he’s never changed.” But when McDonnell became seriously ill from heart problems at the start of 2011, eventually passing at 75 in May of that year, Fowler, who had been PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2010, hit a prolonged lull, with only 14 top10s in 69 events through 2013. “That was very hard,” says Fowler, who has a tattoo of McDonnell’s signature on his left wrist. “He was supposed to caddie for me in the Par 3 at the Masters, and he couldn’t make it. It wasn’t like I had someone to turn to. It was a bit of searching as far as when I reached the max of where I was going with what I was doing.” HARMON’S INFLUENCE

nter Butch Harmon at the end of 2013.The two were familiar with each other from Fowler’s participation in numerous practice rounds with Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. With a teaching approach he summarises as “the ball is my barometer,” Harmon’s methods shared much in common with McDonnell’s, but with an added sophistication born from years of honing the swings of the best players in the world. Knowing that Fowler’s technique depended too much on his superb but not infallible athletic timing to drop the shaft into the correct downswing plane, Harmon has focused on reducing the size of the loop. Fowler’s backswing has become more vertical (the action still being grooved by a now-familiar elongated takeaway as a pre-shot waggle), making it less likely the shaft drops behind him on the downswing. It was that move, along with Fowler’s propensity for aggressiveness (never discouraged by McDonnell) that led to Fowler making

a disproportionate number of driving and approach-shot errors, particularly penalty results, for such a highly ranked player, as quantified by statistical analyst Peter Sanders of ShotByShot. com. The more efficient action has brought Fowler increased clubhead speed and more length. tracking progress At 27, Rickie Fowler has $23 million in PGA Tour on-course earnings. Some pro highlights after an All-America career at Oklahoma State, where he won the 2008 Ben Hogan Award: 2010 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year after two runner-up finishes (Memorial Tournament and Waste Management Phoenix Open). Member of US Ryder Cup team 2011 Best finish was T2 in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Career low round of 62 at Phoenix. 2012 Won the Wells Fargo Championship in a playoff with Rory McIlroy and D A Points for his first PGA Tour victory. 2013 Five top-10 finishes. 2014 Joined Jack Nicklaus (1971, 1973) and Tiger Woods (2000, 2005) as the only players to finish among the top five in all four majors in one season. Member of Ryder Cup team. 2015 Won the Players Championship and the Deutsche Bank Championship on the PGA Tour and the Scottish Open on the European Tour. Member of Presidents Cup team. 2016 Started the year with a victory in Abu Dhabi over a field that included Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, improving to a best of fourth in the World Golf Ranking.

major finishes YEAR

MAS

USO

PGA

2008

dnp

t60

dnp

2009

dnp

cut

dnp

2010

dnp

t14

t58

2011

t38

cut

t51

2012

t27

t41

t31

cut

2013

t38

t10

cut

t19

2014

2015

t12

cut

t30

Instead of bad rounds producing mid-70s scores that took him out of tournaments, they became manageable enough to keep him in contention. Fowler made a breakthrough in the majors in 2014, with four top-five finishes. However, he was winless and finished eighth on the money list. Spurred on by Harmon, whose greatest strength as a coach is probably instilling self-belief, Fowler jumped a level in 2015, winning the Players, the Deutsche Bank and the Scottish Open. And this year Fowler is off to the best start of his career. “Rickie is a joy to be around because he loves the game and all the talking and joking and friendship that goes with it,” Harmon says, “but when it’s time to work, he’s a great listener, and he absorbs things very fast, which is a mark of talent.What he’s shown me is that he truly wants to be the best. He’s proven in the tournaments he’s won and the players he’s beaten that he’s got it in him. At Abu Dhabi, he was paired the first two rounds with Jordan and Rory, and I needled him a little: ‘They’re not even talking about you.’ He kind of came back at me and said, ‘I’ll get them to notice me.’ And he did. Right now all I see is a player who is going to keep getting better.” If so, it dramatically increases Fowler’s chances of winning majors. As he prepares for the future, highlighted this year by Augusta, Oakmont, Troon and Baltusrol, he bolsters his confidence with scenes of the past. “I think about the driving range all the time,” says Fowler, who now lives in Florida. “Walking there from elementary school, middle school, high school, or spending the whole day there in the summer. I think about my times there with my grandpa, and all the times with Barry. I still go there sometimes when I’m back home, and when I get under that tree, it’s like, I can’t hit it bad. It’s a special place for me. Old school.”

GET ALL OVER IT

BY RICKIE FOWLER

HOW TO HIT WEDGES TIGHT FROM ANY DISTANCE

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i already feel a lot more comfortable on the course than I did last year. My priority now is to win a major, and I plan on being in the mix on the big Sundays in 2016. One reason I’m confident is that we have a plan. Butch Harmon and I went through the 2015 stats, and one thing really jumped out: My wedge game was weak. In almost every category the PGA Tour keeps, I was up there – driving the ball long and gaining strokes tee to green and making putts. But from 100 to 125 yards, I finished last year 145th on tour. On average from that range, I hit the ball 21 feet from the cup. That’s just not good enough. Five or six feet closer, and all of a sudden you’d see a lot more putts go in. Sure, I’d have days where I was throwing it in there tight, but overall, distance control with the wedges cost me. So, what I give you here is my revamped wedge game. I did a lot of work over the winter getting sharp with three basic shots: the full wedge, a flop-pitch shot and the chip. Master these, and you can cover just about any situation. Slick wedge play makes your on-days great and your off-days still pretty good. — with max adle r

BACKSWING

Short and Wide

‘with wedges, never get loose at the top.’

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I carry four wedges: pitching, gap, sand and lob. The lofts are 47, 52, 57 and 62 degrees. For me, a full swing with a pitching wedge flies 140 yards, and a full lob wedge goes 90. What all great wedge players can do, of course, is dial up the random “tweener” yardages the course throws their way – 121 yards, 107 yards, 84 – whatever’s awkward given how far their full wedges carry. The first step to distance control, Butch says, is matching up the arms with the body. That means your trunk and hands arrive at the top of the backswing at the same time. In this photo, I know I’ve done that because you could draw a line from my chest straight out to my hands. (An unmatched backswing would show my hands out-running my chest and drifting behind me.) With the longer clubs, like a driver or 5-iron, it’s okay to have a longer backswing. To be free and rhythmical and get more power, you can let your arms go back a little further after your body stops turning. But with wedges, never get loose at the top. Think short and wide. Your goal is to produce a consistent amount of power, not maximum power.

Now suppose your full gap wedge goes 110 yards and you’ve got 104 to the hole. To make that wedge fly six yards shorter, a lot of amateurs swing softer. They try to slow down a hair at impact, but that often causes them to hang back and flip their hands. Forget distance control – now they’re lucky if the ball gets in the air. A better method is to set your hands lower on the grip, then swing at normal speed. For me, gripping down an inch takes off five yards. Sometimes I’ll go down the entire length of the grip to take as much as 20 yards off a wedge. Swinging aggressively is the only way to achieve good contact and to get the ball flying on a predictable trajectory. In this photo, you can tell I’ve fired my hips and chest towards the target with speed. I’m turning through with my big muscles so that my arms and hands feel as if they’re just along for the ride. Like the backswing, I want my follow-through to be abbreviated. Again, check out how my hands are in front of my chest, not lazily drooping over my shoulder. When I practice, I like to hit to different targets. Mixing it up with each ball simulates what you face on the course: one chance to get it right.

‘swinging aggressively is the only way to achieve good contact.’

THROUGH - SWING

Turn to the Target

FLOP - PITCH SHOT

‘on a scale of 1-10, your grip pressure should be a 1.’

Hold the Face Open

44 2016 4 4 / golfdigest J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G| Oapril LFDIGE S T. C O . Z A

Here’s a tough one: a tight lie over sand to a tucked pin, 40 or 50 yards away. It’s too far for a flop, and a basic pitch will scoot to the far side of the green. You need a shot that’s a hybrid. I call it a flop-pitch. Given the prospects of a poor shot here, it’s natural to be tense. But being tensionfree is critical. Start by letting your right arm hang. With the grip resting in the fingers of that hand, let the face fall open so the back of the club lays flush to the ground (left, top). The leading edge will flare open. Now open your stance a bit. Finally, set both hands on the club. If you take your grip with the face open, you’re effectively creating a weak grip, which is when both hands are rotated counterclockwise. That’ll help maximise loft at impact. On a scale of 1-10, your grip pressure should be a 1. I don’t think about the backswing; it’s just a slight turn with a little wrist hinge. My focus is the follow-through. Swing across the ball and along your stance line, and don’t let the hands release (left). Your divot should be shallow, and the face pointing to the sky at the finish.

BASIC CHIP

Swivel Your Chest

Okay, this is not the most exciting shot, but a standard chip saves more strokes than any other shot. And if you can learn to hit it solid, it bleeds into the rest of your game. To start my practice sessions, I begin with little 10-yard chips to hone the feeling of centre-face contact. So here’s a quick refresher on the basics: Take your setup with a bit more weight on the front foot. Some golfers stand open, but I prefer to set up square with a narrow stance. Push your hands just ahead of the ball so the shaft is leaning slightly forward. The chip is basically an upper-body movement. I don’t want my hips or legs moving much at all. To make this little swing, I feel like a slight swiveling of my chest is the motor that drives the clubhead. The forward angle in my wrists created at address stays fairly constant, but the key is to not be overly stiff during the swing, especially at impact. I see a lot of amateurs tense up and dig the leading edge. With soft wrists, you let the club release past your hands just a tiny bit (left). This activates the bounce, that wide bottom of the clubhead that saves us all from hitting hot screamers and chili-dips.

‘the key is to not be overly stiff during the swing.’

april 2016 | golfdigest.com

a n o t h e r 7 5 0 0 t r e e s a r e g o n e a t o a k m o n t, l e a v i n g i t b a r r e n ,

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br awny & be autiful by ron whitten |

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dom furore

2016 us open oakmont

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 4 7

hat’s the saying? We can’t see the forest for the trees? In the case of Oakmont Country Club, which from June 16-19 hosts a record ninth US Open, we can’t see the forest for the lack of trees. The last time the US Open visited Oakmont, in 2007, when Angel Cabrera won by a stroke – Tiger Woods missed a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole, and Jim Furyk bogeyed the 17th after trying to drive the short par 4 – the course had been so clear-cut that we proclaimed Mighty Oakmont had returned to its roots. “Its one-of-a-kind character has been reclaimed, restored and revitalised by astonishing tree removal,” we wrote.“It’s back to the barren look and brazen playing characteristics it had when it hosted its first US Open, in 1927.” Back then we reported more than 5 000 trees had been removed along Oakmont’s fairways, widening the panoramas and highlighting ferocious bunkering and deep drainage ditches that had previously been obscured beneath foliage. John Zimmers, Oakmont’s course superintendent, now confirms that crews actually removed about 7 000 trees before the 2007 US Open. But here’s a surprising footnote: Since 2007, Zimmers and his team have removed another 7 500 trees.

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These days, from the veranda on Oakmont’s clubhouse, one can see some portion of every hole, a view all the way to the flag of the hilltop third green at the far northeastern corner of the property. What’s more, if you didn’t know the Pennsylvania Turnpike existed – it separates holes 2 through 8 from the rest of the course – you wouldn’t sense it from today’s view. Because the turnpike is recessed, it’s merely a horizontal shadow, barely noticeable. When dense rows of trees were on either side, they had

emphasised its existence. In the process of chain-sawing away 60 years of growth, Oakmont’s dramatic topography has been fully revealed. Without a backdrop, the front-to-back slopes of the first, sixth and 10th greens are obvious. (For this year’s US Open, the back of the sixth green has been expanded, providing new pin placements, and at 12 two bunkers were removed and one was expanded. Those are the only major architectural changes to the course, which will play at par 70 and

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6 601 metres, down 10 metres from 2007.) Elsewhere, hills look steeper and distances more deceiving. The downhill, par-5 12th now seems like it should be reachable in two even at 610 metres, though it’s not the longest hole in US Open history – the 16th at Olympic Club in San Francisco beats it by three metres. WHEN OAKMONT LE ADS, OTHERS FOLLOW

W pre vio u s pages: the church pews bunker between the par-4 third and par-5 fourth holes. left: the par-4 ninth and clubhouse. below: the h a l f w ay h o u s e .

hy does this tree removal matter? Because Oakmont is the standard for American championship golf. Besides US Opens, it has been the site of five US Amateurs, three PGA Championships and two US Women’s Opens. Much of what happens at Oakmont affects the game. After all, it had fast greens decades before they became fashionable. Those swift greens caused the Stimpmeter to be created in the late 1930s, and whether that’s a positive or negative, the Stimpmeter measurements of green speeds are here to stay at many, many clubs. For this year’s US Open, the United States Golf Association wants Oakmont’s greens rolling at 14 feet on a Stimpmeter, the

2016 us open oakmont

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same speed they measured in 2007. A near-universal high regard for Oakmont makes controversy acceptable. In 2007, the USGA played the par-3 eighth from a new back tee, stretching the hole to as much as 275 metres for the final round. (After acing the hole in a practice round at 263 metres, Trevor Immelman was asked if he saw the ball go into the hole and replied, “We couldn’t see that far.”) At nearly any other club, a 275-metre par 3 would be considered a joke if not a travesty, but because it happened at Oakmont, a number of golf architects subsequently embraced the idea of an extremely long championship tee on a oneshot hole to require champion players to use a metal wood to reach the green. Oakmont gave architects cover to fight technology with an extreme measure. The tree-removal programme at Oakmont might well be this storied club’s finest contribution to the game of golf. It reversed a trend it had helped start in the 1950s, the “beautification” of inland American courses by a sanctioned programme of constant and misguided planting of trees funded by green committees and membership drives. Thumb through Oakmont’s tournament programme from 1962 – the year 22-year-old Jack Nicklaus won his first professional major, indeed his first professional tournament, in a playoff over Arnold Palmer – and what jumps out are aerial photos showing hole after hole dotted with saplings. Plus seven advertisements for tree nurseries. It’s no wonder that the USGA subsequently selected Minnesota’s Hazeltine National for the 1970 US Open, despite cries that the eight-year-old course looked far too immature to host a national championship. Hazeltine at that time didn’t look any younger than Oakmont. Hazeltine, site of the 2016 Ryder Cup (Sept 30-Oct 2), now has towering hardwoods on many holes. Oakmont was leafy green for US Opens in 1973, 1983 and 1994, but then the club stopped planting trees and started removing them in bunches. Quietly, at first, and strictly to improve the health of turf normally blanketed in shade.Then-superintendent Mark Kuhns, with the approval of his 18-member green committee, had a crew assemble at 4am. Under truck lights, they’d set down tarps, chop down a tree, cut it up, haul it off, grind the stump to ground level, vacuum up wood chips and leaves, then slap sod over it. By dawn, they’d be finished, and golfers playing the hole were

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 4 9

e r n i e e l s w o n at o a k m o n t i n 1 9 9 4

2007 scoring stats The field scoring average was 75.72. Tour pros tend to beat up par 5s, but the 557-metre fourth (5.06) and the 610-metre 12th (5.41) both played over par. The easiest hole was the 327-metre 14th (4.05), and the hardest was the 443-metre 18th (4.60). 2007 stat leaders

2007 us open top finishes • Angel Cabrera 69-71-76-69 – 285 • Jim Furyk 71-75-70-70 – 286 • Tiger Woods 71-74-69-72 – 286 • Niclas Fasth 71-71-75-70 – 287 • David Toms 72-72-73-72 – 289 • Bubba Watson 70-71-74-74 – 289 • Nick Dougherty 68-77-74-71 – 290 • Scott Verplank 73-71-74-72 – 290 • Jerry Kelly 74-71-73-72 – 290 • Justin Rose 71-71-73-76 – 291 • Stephen Ames 73-69-73-76 – 291 • Paul Casey 77-66-72-76 – 291

(+5) (+6) (+6) (+7) (+9) (+9) (+10) (+10) (+10) (+11) (+11) (+11)

sa scores • Tim Clark 72-76-71-74 – 293 (+13) • Charl Schwartzel 75-73-73-76 – 297 (+17) • Rory Sabbatini 73-77-78-73 – 301 (+21) • Ernie Els 73-76-74-78 – 301 (+21) among those missing the cut • Phil Mickelson (74-77) • Sergio Garcia (79-75) • Henrik Stenson (79-76) leaders by rounds • • • •

Round Round Round Round

1, 2, 3, 4,

Nick Dougherty, -2 Angel Cabrera, E Aaron Baddeley, +2 Cabrera, +5

Driving distance, George McNeill, 285 metres; fairways hit, Fred Funk, 41; greens in regulation, Tiger Woods, 49; putts, Niclas Fasth, 114; birdies, Geoff Ogilvy, 14; bogeys, McNeill, 26; double bogeys/others, Jason Dufner, 8/0. oakmont’s other us opens 1994 After finishing at five-under-par 279, Ernie Els won a 20-hole playoff. Els and Loren Roberts shot 74s to eliminate Colin Montgomerie (78) before Els’ birdie on the second hole of sudden death. 1983 Larry Nelson holed a 62-foot putt after play resumed on Monday morning and won at four-under 280. 1973 Johnny Miller’s final-round 63 put his winning total at five-under 279. 1962 Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer finished at one-under 283 before Nicklaus won the playoff, 71-74. 1953 Ben Hogan won $5 000 with a total of five-under 283. 1935 Sam Parks won at 11-over 299. 1927 Tommy Armour and Harry Cooper tied at 13-over 301 before Armour won the playoff (76-79). oakmont’s us women’s opens 2010 Paula Creamer shot a final-round 69 to win by four strokes at three-under 281. 1992 Patty Sheehan and Juli Inkster tied at fourunder 280 before Sheehan won the playoff (72-74). oakmont’s us amateurs 2003 Australia’s Nick Flanagan beat Casey Wittenberg on the 37th hole. 1969 Steve Melnyk won by five strokes in stroke play (286). 1938 Willie Turnesa beat Patrick Abbott 8/7. 1925 Bobby Jones beat Watts Gunn 8/7. 1919 Davidson Herron beat Bobby Jones 5/4. oakmont’s pga championships 1978 After tying Jerry Pate and Tom Watson at eight-under 274, John Mahaffey won with a birdie on the second playoff hole. 1951 Sam Snead beat Walter Burkemo, 7/6. 1922 Gene Sarazen beat Emmet French 4/3.

rounds in the 80s

future us open venues

Aaron Baddeley led Tiger Woods by two strokes entering the final round but triple-bogeyed the first hole and finished T-13 after an 80, one of 60 rounds in the 80s in 2007. The breakdown in scoring: 80 (17 times), 81 (15), 82 (8), 83 (6), 84 (5), 85 (4), 86 (3), 87 (1), 89 (1).

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

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Erin Hills, Hartford, Wisconsin. Shinnecock Hills, Southampton, New York. Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula, California. Winged Foot, Mamaroneck, New York. Torrey Pines (South), La Jolla, California. The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts. Los Angeles CC (North), California. Pinehurst Resort, North Carolina.

none the wiser. Kuhns removed almost 500 trees that way until one day a caddie pointed out a gaping void to an influential club member. It quickly became a contentious issue among the membership. There were meetings, threatened petitions and the spectre of a lawsuit. Some called Kuhns “The Butcher of Oakmont” to his face. But the green-committee members doubled down, campaigning that Oakmont’s trees should be removed because they were contrary to the original concept of founder H C Fownes. Among the evidence they presented: a 1938 Grantland Rice article, which referenced Oakmont as a links as famed as St Andrews; a 1949 aerial of Oakmont showing scant trees; and a 1994 Golf Digest article critical of the prettification of the course (“Has the Old Bully Lost its Punch?” June 1994). Eventually a majority of the members

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a r e m a i n i n g s e n t i n e l at t h e 3 8 9 - m e t r e t h i r d h o l e .

came around, but although they grudgingly allowed Kuhns to continue some tree removal, they refused to allocate additional funds. He had to squeeze the expenses from his normal operating budget, and as a result other areas of the course suffered a bit. In late 1999, Kuhns moved to Baltusrol, site of this year’s PGA Championship, and Zimmers took his place. He stepped up the tree removal, tying many expenses to club capital projects to cover costs. By 2002, the effects were so dramatic it warranted a follow-up story in Golf Digest (“Mission: Unpopular” October 2002). The story quoted Tom Meeks, then the USGA’s senior director of rules and competition: “If any club thinks they would be hurting themselves by cutting down a few trees, go look at Oakmont and see what they’ve done. They are the leaders in the clubhouse.”

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AN EX AMPLE OF SUSTAINABILIT Y

or this year’s US Open, the USGA plans to highlight Oakmont’s treeremoval programme as another facet of sustainability. After all, instead of replacing the trees with lush, maintained turf that would demand additional water and chemicals, many areas of former forest are now covered in tall fescues that need little maintenance and turn bronze and wavy in later summer. (Trivia note: Though other bunkers at Oakmont are edged by a bluegrass-ryegrass mix of maintained rough, the huge Church Pews bunker between the third and fourth holes has each pew planted in unmaintained fescue, because the club believes the famed hazard deserved a distinctive look.) Other grand American courses have removed pointless trees in the past decade and a half, and some were chopping and pruning even before Oakmont’s exten-

sive clear-cutting became public. But had Oakmont not succeeded in its effort in such a dramatic, visual manner, and had that effort not been well-received (finally) by its membership and those who study and promote golf-course architecture, it’s doubtful that similar programs would have occurred at such prominent clubs as Olympic and Oak Hill. The nearly treeless Oakmont is an extreme example, a total reversal of the sentiment that trees belong on a golf course, because its heritage didn’t rely on aerial hazards whatsoever. Other clubs are more content to retain some trees for safety or aesthetic purposes, which is fine. But the lesson of Oakmont is that every club should re-examine its landscape. Most would find many of their trees superfluous and, as at Oakmont, the character of their layouts would improve once those trees are removed.

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RELIVING THETRAUMA OF MY ROUND AT OAKMONT 2 1 y e a r s l at er ,

i’m still demor alised

by david owen

the us open approaches, Oakmont Country Club begins to bring its greens into compliance with the exacting championship standards of the United States Golf Association – by slowing them down. That’s what the club’s members mean when they say that if you want to see the course when it’s truly challenging, you have to visit not during the US Open but during the men’s member-guest. I believe them. I’ve played Oakmont just once, in 1995, and I don’t care if I never play it again. “We like to punish the members and traumatise the guests,” the club’s president said 15 years later, when I was still recovering from my round.

Shortly before I played Oakmont, I watched highlights from the previous year’s US Open, which Ernie Els had won. The fairways during that tournament were so firm that tee shots seemed to run for miles, and I was looking forward to hitting a few boomers of my own. But rain fell steadily for days before my visit, and on the few occasions when I hit a fairway my ball either splashed or plugged. The rough was like kelp, and the club’s notorious drainage ditches, whose apparent purpose is to turn not completely terrible drives into disasters, were worse. Surprisingly, the drenching seemed not to have affected the greens. Pitch shots ricocheted, like bullets bouncing off of Superman’s chest, and I never got used to the speed. On one hole, my caddie told me to stroke a very slightly downhill 30-foot putt “like a three-footer” – by which he meant a one-footer on a normal course. I gave my ball the feeblest of taps and watched it roll 10 feet past the hole. “Good putt,” he said. I made one miraculous birdie (on the 17th, a very short par 4) but no pars, and hardly

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y E D D I E G U Y

counterexample, among the world’s best courses, is Augusta National, because Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones, who designed it, believed that even a major-tournament venue ought to be fun for civilians to play. Their shared ideal – which was inspired largely by the Old Course at St Andrews, and might be thought of as anti-Oakmontism – was “the most enjoyment for the greatest number.” MacKenzie and Jones believed that, in high-level even any bogeys. Most of competition, excessively my hole scores were like the 2016 punitive golf holes also undead demons in “Game of us open obscured the difference Thrones”: dreaded Others. oakmont between g reat golfer s William Fownes, whose and merely good ones, by father created Oakmont in reducing opportunities for 1903, once famously said, “A shot poorly played should be a shot the kinds of thrilling escapes that only irrevocably lost.” The Fowneses’ goal was brilliant players can pull off. Giving to build a course that would demoralise nightmares to superstars is probably nearly everyone who played it, and part of the fun of being a member of successive generations of members have Oakmont, but it doesn’t usually make for embraced that principle. The US Open exciting tournament viewing. Near the top of almost any golf fan’s has been played at Oakmont more often than on any other course, and it’s easy to highlight list from recent years would be understand why, because the masochism Phil Mickelson’s shot to the green from of the club’s greens committees has the pine straw on the 13th hole in the been a good match for the sadism of the final round of the 2010 Masters, and USGA. The last time the US Open was Bubba Watson’s looping recovery from played at Oakmont, in 2007, there were the trees on the 10th hole during sudden just eight rounds under par – and two of death against Louis Oosthuizen in the those were shot by the eventual winner, same tournament two years later. After Angel Cabrera, who finished at five over. comparable misses during an US Open at In the minds of some players, Oakmont, both players would have been exasperating difficulty is the highest forced to hit the same shot that you or goal in golf architecture; indeed, Golf I would have: a sideways slash back into Digest (USA) “100 Greatest” list play. And, if they had, we wouldn’t be began as the “200 Toughest.” A leading thinking about those shots now.

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by jaime diaz

j o h n n y m i l l e r s e t at o a k m o n t ?

why hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t anyone broken the record

2016 us open oakmont

54 5 4 / golfdigest.com J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D| I Gjune E S T. C2016 O.ZA

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GO L F D I G EST R ESOU RC E C E N T E R

you appreciate metaphor, the best one in golf is Charles Price’s tightrope: “Tournament golf is when they raise the rope to 60 feet,” he wrote. “Championship golf is when they take the net away.” But if you prefer numbers, consider this: Since 1977, there have been 29 scores of 60 or better in regular PGA Tour events (23 60s and six 59s). In the four major championships each year since 1973, the lowest score – shot 27 times – is 63. ▶ In a regular tournament, 63 doesn’t get much attention. At the 2014 Humana Challenge, Patrick Reed shot three consecutive 63s. But if that number is shot “when they take the net away,” we pay attention. ▶ Forty-three years ago, Johnny Miller fired the first 63 in a major, at the 1973 US Open at Oakmont, where the championship returns in June. Ever since, no one has done better. Or, as we shall see, as well. The score of 62 in a major has been threatened numerous times, almost as often by those who ended up not shooting 63 than by those who did. It looked like it might fall in the first round of last year’s Masters, when Jordan Spieth was eight under par through 14 holes. But instead of birdieing the par-5 15th, historically the easiest hole at Augusta National, he bogeyed it and finished with a 64. Then at St Andrews, where fears of the modern game making the Old Course irrelevant have intensified over the past decade, David Lingmerth went out in 29 in the first round. But he came back in 40. On those occasions where it seemed 63 was certain to be broken, something improbable on the 18th green kept it safe: ▶ In 1980, Jack Nicklaus missed a threefooter for 62 in the first round of the US Open at Baltusrol, telling The New York Times’ Dave Anderson last year, “I just totally choked.” ▶ In 1986, Greg Norman three-putted from 28 feet at Turnberry in the Open Championship, missing a five-foot comebacker that also made him the only player to shoot 63 in a major with three bogeys. ▶ On the same hole at Turnberry in 1977, Mark Hayes drove into a pot bunker and missed a six-footer for par. ▶ At the 2013 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, Jason Dufner left his 10-footer for birdie two feet short. ▶ Tiger Woods’ 18-footer at Southern Hills in the 2007 PGA lipped out so cruelly he said his score was “62½.” ▶ Nick Price’s 30-footer for birdie at Augusta in 1986 went so far down, going all around the cup, that he surmises “Bobby Jones’ hand came up and popped it out.” Of course, in golf, no matter what, the player believes he left something out there. “Someday, someone will birdie every hole for 54 and complain about an eagle putt that didn’t go in,” says Gary Player, not surprisingly the oldest to shoot 63 when he did it at 48 in the 1984 PGA at Shoal Creek. “I made a helluva lot of birdie putts that day. But

the 12-footer I missed at the last stays in my mind.” Even record rounds – maybe especially record rounds – have couldas and shouldas. Only 12 of the 27 63s in majors were achieved without a bogey. Vijay Singh’s 63 in the 2003 US Open at Olympia Fields – only he and Norman have achieved the feat twice –included a three-putt from 15 feet and a missed eight-footer on the 17th. In the final round of the 1995 PGA at Riviera, Brad Faxon missed three putts of five feet or less. In the 2010 Open, Rory McIlroy missed a five-footer for birdie on the Road Hole. Isao Aoki had only 24 putts in shooting eight under at Muirfield in 1980, but they included three missed six-footers for birdies. A month before, playing two groups ahead of Nicklaus in the US Open,Tom Weiskopf didn’t birdie either of Baltusrol’s closing par 5s in his 63. Perhaps the player with the least regret is the most recent one to shoot 63 in a major, Hiroshi Iwata, at last year’s PGA at Whistling Straits. Iwata shot 29 on his closing nine, playing the last eight

miller needed 29 putts – a threep u t t at t h e e i g h t h “ c h a n g e d m e from nervous to determined.”

holes in seven under par, and made a scrambling par on his last hole, the 475metre, par-4 18th. He hit only 10 of 18 greens, had 22 putts and made birdies from off the green three times. But even Iwata had a bogey, on the par-4 ninth, the one time he failed to get up and down. Iwata went on to finish T-21, which points to the random nature of hot rounds, even in majors. Of the 63-shooters in majors (see chart), nine didn’t even finish in the top 10. And only six won. BRE AKING D OWN MILLER’S 63

hich gets us back to Miller. He was 26 when he won at Oakmont, yet to embark on his January 1974 through January 1975 run of 10 victories – the last three by margins of eight, 14 and nine strokes – that would establish him as a historic golfer whose capacity for “hot” has been matched only by Woods. But the seeds were planted with Miller’s 63, which still has more bona fides than any other. It was shot in the championship designed to be the hardest. The place was Oakmont, historically the toughest of all US Open sites, which was then a par 71 (35-36), not the par 70 it first became in 2007. It was shot in the last round, one Miller started six strokes behind the leader, trailing a pack of 12 golfers that included Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Player, Nicklaus, Julius Boros, Gene Littler, Weiskopf and Jerry Heard. Miller took the lead on the back nine, ending his round with two birdie putts that lipped out. All told, it’s why the first 63 remains the best. Miller will tell you about it. His frequent references to the round – especially as a commentator – have caused a backlash. When he says things like, “I mean, it was sort of an easy 63 – pretty pure,” Miller, now 69, seems a victim of “the older I get, the better I used to be” syndrome. But his playing partner that day at Oakmont, Miller Barber, said, “It very easily could have been 60.” A closer look reveals Miller’s round has mostly been underappreciated. G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 5 5

A L ATE SWING KE Y

fter a third-round 76 that left him discouraged, Miller found a swing key late in his warm-up before the final round after he heard a voice in his head say clearly, “Open your stance way up.” “It wasn’t a suggestion, it was a command,” says Miller, who has a mystical streak he says emanates from a long line of artistic people on his father’s side. On the other hand, after the round he said he had used the same thought before shooting 63 in the fourth round of the Bob Hope Desert Classic four months earlier, when he finished T-2 with Nicklaus in Palmer’s last PGA Tour victory. “I had a tendency to close my stance,” Miller says, “and that adjustment did two things: It restricted my backswing, which could get a little long, and freed up my downswing so that I started firing my body much faster. I let my feet point way left, but my shoulders and the club were aimed right at the flag.” Miller missed only two fairways – his pulled tee shot on the 551-metre 12th hole was his sole encounter with deep rough, and he made an improbable birdie there after hitting a 4-iron to 14 feet. But otherwise playing from short grass, one of history’s supreme iron players hit all 18 greens, many with long irons. Nine of his full iron shots finished within 15 feet of the hole, four of them getting inside six feet. He had 29 putts – leaving him only 34 teeto-green shots; he hit the then-par-5 ninth in two – including a three-putt from 30 feet on the par-3 eighth hole. Amazingly, after the round Miller said the memory of a 7-iron shank he had hit on the 16th hole at Pebble Beach in a playoff with Nicklaus the year before had preyed on his mind. “Don’t shank – I was thinking that on almost every iron shot,” he said. Still, it was indeed an easy 63. TAKING ON THE D OUBTERS

lenty of contrarians have sought to diminish Miller’s round through two common but erroneous assumptions. The first is that Oakmont played inordinately easy because it stayed soaked by rain and a malfunctioning sprinkler system that was, depending on the account, either left on all night before the start of the tournament or before the last round. Author Adam Lazarus and Steve Schlossman, a professor in the history department at Car neg ie Mellon University, have refuted those claims with

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the majors’ 63 club

us open oakmont

▶ Players have shot 63 in a major 27 times but have won only six of those tournaments: masters player

year (rnd) to par/course

finish (versus winner)

Nick Price Greg Norman

1986 (3) 1996 (1)

-9 Augusta National -9 Augusta National

5 (lost to Jack Nicklaus by three) 2 (lost to Nick Faldo by five)

1973 1980 1980 2003

-8 -7 -7 -7

Oakmont Baltusrol Baltusrol Olympia Fields

won by one stroke won by two 37 (lost to Nicklaus by 17) T-20 (lost to Jim Furyk by 11)

(2) (3) (2) (3) (4) (2) (4) (1)

-7 -8 -7 -9 -7 -7 -7 -9

Turnberry Muirfield Turnberry St Andrews Royal Birkdale Royal St George’s Royal St George’s St Andrews

T-9 (lost to Tom Watson by 16) T-12 (lost to Watson by 13) won by five T-12 (lost to Faldo by 10) T-5 (lost to Ian Baker-Finch by five) 2 (lost to Greg Norman by two) 12 (lost to Norman by nine) T-3 (lost to Louis Oosthuizen by eight)

(2) (1) (2) (2) (1) (4) (3) (2) (3) (2) (1) (2) (2)

-7 -7 -9 -8 -8 -8 -9 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -9

Firestone Southern Hills Shoal Creek Inverness Riviera Riviera Valhalla Atlanta Athletic Baltusrol Southern Hills Atlanta Athletic Oak Hill Whistling Straits

2 (lost to Nicklaus by two) won by three T-2 (lost to Lee Trevino by four) 4 (lost to Paul Azinger by two) T-54 (lost to Steve Elkington by 16) 5 (lost to Elkington by four) T-4 (lost to Tiger Woods by six) T-22 (lost to David Toms by 13) T-2 (lost to Phil Mickelson by one) won by two T-12 (lost to Keegan Bradley by seven) won by two T-21 (lost to Jason Day by 13)

us open Johnny Miller Jack Nicklaus Tom Weiskopf Vijay Singh

(4) (1) (1) (2)

open championship Mark Hayes Isao Aoki Greg Norman Paul Broadhurst Jodie Mudd Nick Faldo Payne Stewart Rory McIlroy

1977 1980 1986 1990 1991 1993 1993 2010

pga championship Bruce Crampton Raymond Floyd Gary Player Vijay Singh Michael Bradley Brad Faxon Jose M Olazabal Mark O’Meara Thomas Bjorn Tiger Woods Steve Stricker Jason Dufner Hiroshi Iwata

1975 1982 1984 1993 1995 1995 2000 2001 2005 2007 2011 2013 2015

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USGA ARCHIVE

‘IT WASN’T LIKE I WAS UNCONSCIOUS ON THE GREENS OR CHIPPING IN. . . . IT WASN’T LIKE I STARTED HITTING WEIRD SHOTS AND SCRAMBLED TO MAKE PAR. I JUST KEPT HITTING IT AT THE FLAG.’ research for their 2010 book Chasing Greatness: Johnny Miller, Arnold Palmer, and the Miracle at Oakmont.The authors point out that Oakmont, which lies in a valley near the Allegheny River, is often damp but because of superb drainage and conditioning rarely stays soggy for long. The only appreciable rain occurred on Saturday morning, causing the third round to be delayed by two hours. A malfunction did cause a new sprinkler system to go on accidentally, but it was sometime in the pre-dawn hours of Friday. Frantic USGA officials directed workers to use every towel available to try to blot the moisture. By Friday and Saturday afternoons, Oakmont was back to playing close to normal, and the scores reflected as much. Bottom line, Miller played a full-blooded US Open setup on which only three other players broke 70 in the final round: Lanny Wadkins with a 65, and Nicklaus and Ralph Johnston with 68s. The second charge is that Miller was so far back starting the fourth round he could freewheel without pressure. That might have been true at the start, but when he walked off the fifth tee after birdies on the first four holes, Miller knew he was only two strokes behind the leaders as they prepared to tee off. The television analyst who introduced the word “choke” to golf commentary

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concedes that as a player, “pressure was my weakness,” and he began putting tentatively on the next four greens, leaving four birdie putts short, the final one leading to the three-putt at the eighth. “That was good, in a way,” he says, “because it got me mad and changed me from nervous to determined.” The rest of the round, Miller remained a ball-striking machine who putted assertively, starting with a two-putt birdie on the ninth. “I’m proud of the way I finished,” says Miller, who birdied the 11th, 12th, 13th and 15th holes – the last three with 4-iron approaches – to shoot 31 on the more difficult nine. His totals for the day: nine birdies, eight pars and the lone bogey. “It wasn’t like I was unconscious on the greens or chipping in,” he says. “I admit I choked a lot on the greens, but I never choked tee to green. Down the stretch, it wasn’t like I started hitting weird shots and scrambled to make par. I just kept hitting it at the flag. And on 18, which is a great driving hole, I wasn’t trying to milk it down the fairway. That was my best drive of the day, over 275 metres, my most aggressive swing, 195 kilometres per hour with a D-9 driver.” ALMOST NINE STROKES G AINED TEE TO G REEN

n 2014, David Bar rett of Golf World determined that, by applying ShotLink’s “strokes gained tee to green” metric retroactively, Miller’s round is the standard for ball-striking over 18 holes. Based on the distances his approaches finished from the hole, Miller gained 8.90 strokes on the field tee to green, better than the 8.71 Jim Furyk achieved in his 59 at the 2013 BMW Championship. “That was nice to hear,” says Miller, letting the finality of empirical data speak for itself. Among the other 63s in majors that have been rated, Norman’s opening round at the 1996 Masters is the nextbest in strokes gained tee to green (6.71). In golf history, Norman has the most impressive collection of low rounds in majors, his two 63s joined by three 64s (two of them in the last round, both of them in the British Open). “I was an extremely good driver of the golf ball, so I’d hit that club where others wouldn’t and put myself in positions where I could be really aggressive,” Norman says. “At the same time, my short game gave me a cushion when I shot at pins. All that was more

pronounced in majors.” Norman prefers his second round at Turnberry in 1986, when he won his first of two Open Championships. On a grey and blustery day in which the average score was over 74, Norman missed only one green and hit both par 5s in two to shoot 63. He has no regrets about charging his first putt on the 18th. “I thought I was going to make the putt, which was the thinking that got me so far under par,” he says. “I didn’t think about my score on the second putt, I just missed it.” Still, the failure to properly finish off such an otherwise supreme effort could be considered a microcosm of Norman’s career. All non-winning 63s are unsung, but the most consequential and dramatic among them belongs to Faxon in the final round of the 1995 PGA at Riviera. Faxon began the day focused on the low number he would need to finish in at least a tie for sixth, which would give him enough points to make the US Ryder Cup team in the final qualifying round. With an inspired attitude and using a confident sensation of connection at the top of his swing that he’d worked on with David Leadbetter, Faxon played the front nine in 28, tying the all-time nine-hole score for a major, set by Denis Durnian at the 1983 Open at Royal Birkdale. Faxon hit the first 17 greens and putted even more brilliantly than normal despite the three misses from short range. After a mediocre chip on the 18th hole, he faced a curling 12-footer he figured he had to have. “I think the Ryder Cup definitely took away any pressure from shooting 63,” says Faxon, who finished fifth to make the American team. “The ball and the sweet spot on my putter just sort of melted together, and I poured it in.” C OMPARING A 62 TO A 63

o one interviewed for this story expressed any doubt that 62 (or lower) will be shot in a major relatively soon. But Faldo, for one, says he hopes the score lasts through his lifetime. “I’m very proud that I finished off my 63 with one of the best 2-irons of my life, from 192 metres,” he said of his final shot in the second round at St George’s in 1993. “Today that’s a 5- or 6-iron for these guys. I feel like I played in an era when the challenge was greater, and that will be easier to forget if the number goes lower.”

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At the same time, all acknowledged that the main reason the scoring barrier has existed so long is because majorchampionship setups have continued to get more difficult, ostensibly to keep up with the progress of modern golf, marked by increased distance, improved technique, more aggressive playing style and deeper fields. Golf has the ability to change the playing field more than any other sport. As statistician Lucius Riccio, a professor of analytics at Columbia University, says, “In baseball, the fences have stayed the same or been moved in. In golf, we move the fences back.” The USGA’s Mike Davis and Kerry Haigh, who is in charge of the setup for the PGA Championship, acknowledge there is an ever-smaller margin of error in finding the balance between sufficiently challenging the players and making the course unfair. Both say they would applaud the first 62 in a major, but Davis adds that although he isn’t trying to prevent scores of 63 or lower, he doesn’t want a US Open setup to invite them, either. “Many years after Johnny shot his 63 at Oakmont, I asked P J Boatwright (longtime USGA executive director of rules and competitions) if the very difficult setup the next year at Winged Foot was a direct reaction to that round,” Davis says. “P J smiled and said, ‘Well, I can tell you this: After that, we weren’t trying to make the golf courses easier.’ ” Riccio identified some conditions that would make a 62 in a major more probable:

2016 us open oakmont

miller’s clubs and the ball from h i s h i s t o r i c 6 3 at o a k m o n t, w h i c h t h e n p l ay e d a s a par 71.

▶ A wet day at the PGA Championship, which has given up the most 63s (13). ▶ A windless round at an Open Championship links. ▶ A first-time major venue (like Erin Hills at next year’s US Open), where difficulty could be overestimated. ▶ The first or second round rather than the more pressurised weekend (or, if on the weekend, by someone toward the back of the pack). ▶ A par 70. Of course, none of these conditions existed for Miller.Which is why as the years

go by, his satisfaction with the round grows. “I knew I had something special, but I hadn’t quite gotten it out,” he says. “When you finally manage to play golf the way you know you can under great pressure, that’s what feels the best, that’s what changes you as a player, that’s what stays with you. That was the best round I ever played, and, I gotta say it, the best round I ever saw.” No brag, just fact. Miller’s stands as the finest round of golf ever played. When the first 62 in a major is finally shot, may it be as good as the first 63.

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Spare yet spectacular, Sand Hills’ 502-metre par-5 first hole is a classic.

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SAND HILLS GOLF CLUB LIES ALMOST IN THE GEOGRAPHICAL CENTRE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND IT WASN’T SO MUCH DESIGNED AS DISCOVERED. B Y B A R R Y H AV E N G A

P H OTOS B Y N A M E

PRAIRIE PERFECTI P H OTOS B Y N A M E

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FOUR TIME ZONES, 5 545 KILOMETRES, 13 STATES, 12 DAYS. That was my drive across the United States, coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The highlight was a two-day stop in central Nebraska to play a golf course built in 1995 in one of the most sparsely populated areas of America. Sand Hills is so special that it has been ranked in the top 10 of Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Courses. In a state renowned for featureless flat terrain and endless fields of corn, the Sandhills region comprises prairie grasslands and thousands of sand dunes, home to half a million beef cattle. The area, 50 000 square kilometres, is a geological anomaly, believed to have been formed at the end of the last ice age when sand was blown into large dunes during a drought.

Sand Hills Golf Club is a private members club situated 21 kilometres from the nearest town, Mullen, which has a population of 554. The course wasn’t so much designed as discovered. Renowned architects Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore spent almost two years investigating how to route the 18 holes, set within an expansive valley surrounded by dune structures similar in height to those found at the great links of the United Kingdom and Ireland. They initially had a routing map of 136 holes, eventually whittling them down to 18. Darius Oliver, author of Planet Golf, was so mesmerised by Sand Hills he called it “Arguably the most important American golf course since Augusta National,” and since opening, “single-

handedly lead to a rebirth of classic golf architecture in this country.” The story of how I got to play Sand Hills began in July 2013 while sitting in a Manhattan hotel lobby reading the New York Times. As part of the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln Highway – the first transcontinental roadway in the world – a travel writer had made the journey, which resonated with me. I had previously travelled the West Coast of the US, through Florida and large parts of the East Coast, but was yet to see Middle America. In 2014 I had the opportunity to take a mini-sabbatical from Golf Digest, missing my first monthly deadline in 10 years to drive across America with an Australian friend. Drew and I spent three days in New York before taking

Sand Hills’ par 4 18th exemplifies why it has been ranked Sand Hills co-designer Ben Crenshaw in thecalled top 10 the of short Golf Digest’s 17th a ‘neat 100 Greatest little hole’. Courses.

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delivery of a BMW X4 to begin our cross-country journey. The Lincoln Highway was conceived in 1912 by Carl Fisher, an Indiana entrepreneur, and it was America’s first national memorial to President Abraham Lincoln and the first automobile road across the vast nation. It affectionately became known as ‘The Main Street Across America,’ bringing prosperity to hundreds of towns and villages along the way. This wasn’t a golf trip, but while planning the journey I traced the route on a map and discovered that Sand Hills was just 112km away from North Platte, a town along the Lincoln Highway on Interstate 80. It would be the greatest detour a golfer could ever take. I contacted the club, who in turn contacted Golf Digest architecture editor Ron Whitten to

Clockwise from top left: Opened in 1995, Sand Hills is a modern classic; Dan Daly grills burgers on Ben’s Porch; It’s easy to miss the Sand Hills turnoff; Heading west towards San Francisco; Flags are changed to scarlet and cream in support of the University of Nebraska; The ANC is prominent in Mullen; Prime Nebraskan beef paired with Australia’s finest wine.

‘vouch for me.’ Sand Hills is strictly private with very little outside play allowed. Membership quickly topped at 170 – three-quarters of them from outside Nebraska – who can bring up to seven guests at a time and can sponsor a fourball for a one-time visit. There are only 8 000 rounds a year, over a five-month season which usually ends in October.

▶ FIELD OF DREAMS In the 1989 fantasy movie Field of Dreams, an Iowa corn farmer played by Kevin Costner hears voices telling him: “If you build it, they will come” – which he did, a baseball diamond cut out

P H OTO S B Y B A R R Y H AV E N G A

of his corn field, whereupon the 1919 Chicago White Sox team magically appear to play. Although I never met the Nebraskan visionary and developer Dick Youngscap, who approved my visit, I suspect he might have had a similar epiphany when 3 200 hectares of prairieland became available to buy in the early ’90s, and he was the only person who imagined it would suit a golf course. Car travel was a dusty, muddy affair when Fisher hatched his idea for the Lincoln Highway over a century ago. Although the thought of driving more than 5 000km sounds daunting, it never felt like a slog. Interstate 80 is a two-lane dual-highway so, unlike our national highways,

you never face oncoming traffic. Shared driving in our comfortable and spacious X4 with SatNav and satellite radio stations saw time pass quickly. We had overnight stops in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), South Bend (Indiana), Chicago (Illinois) and Omaha (Warren Buffet-country in Nebraska) before arriving at Sand Hills. We didn’t see another car on the last 50km on Route 97 from North Platte. Nor a single house, shop, petrol station or another human being as we sliced through farmland to a golf course that I was beginning to doubt even existed.You have to look carefully for a small wooden sign south of Mullen – which we initially missed – turn left

and then drive a few kilometres further, arriving at an understated clubhouse with a full parking lot of golf carts. But there was still no sign of a golf course. We checked in, booked a table for dinner, and drove a cart with our bags to the modest cabins on top of a hill overlooking the Dismal River. There were no keys for the cabin and a notice tells you not to be alarmed if you hear strange noises at night. Deer often bed down under the structure and wild turkeys roost on the balcony railings. There is no cell phone coverage and only limited WiFi in the clubhouse lobby. A kilometre from the clubhouse, over a ridge and through a private farm,

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we arrived at Ben’s Porch, an outdoor halfway house adjacent to a large, undulating practice putting green – finally signs of golf! I rarely ride in a golf cart unless it’s compulsory, and usually always travel with my own clubs. But the nature of our journey meant we hired clubs, and the heavy bags required a cart – there were no caddies at this remote destination. From the starter’s cabin your northerly view of the vast landscape sees a few mown strips running in different directions, interrupted with massive rugged bunkers, referred to as ‘blowouts’ (shaped by the wind) as very little earth movement took

The BMW X4 resembled Nebraskan Cornhuskers Scarlet for Game Day.

“IF WE WORRIED ABOUT SCORES ON A WINDY DAY AT SAND HILLS, THE EXPERIENCE WOULD BE TAINTED.” place during construction. Simple and inexpensive was Crenshaw and Coore’s Sand Hills mantra; holes were designed to accommodate the Nebraskan Plains winds with spacious fairways and target areas to encourage ‘chase-in’ approach shots. The exquisite greens, however, are incredibly quick and diverse in their structure.

▶ 2 700KM FOR THIS? The par 5 first is the finest opening hole I have ever played. From an elevated tee box – without ball washers, signs or any other objects detracting from the natural beauty of the environment – you face a fairway below that angles away from you, flanked by bunkers and glorious tall native grasses and sunflowers. We both found the small platform green in regulation, elevated with a

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wicked false front, nestled in a natural amphitheatre. Drew, a low-handicap who learnt the game on Western Australia’s finest championship courses, had a downhill 20-footer which wasn’t moving very quickly at all when it passed the hole. But it didn’t stop and rolled off the front of the green, coming to rest 30 metres down the fairway. I didn’t say a word, but I imagined a giant text bubble above his head as he strode down the green and then out of sight with a wedge in his hand. ‘We drove 2 700 kilometres for this?!’ We are both competitive golfers but quickly realised that if we worried about score on a windy day at Sand Hills, the experience would be tainted. This was not a cliché – it really was a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity. I could compare it to playing Fancourt Links for the first time in a two-club wind.You

need a couple of rounds to know where you are going, and most importantly, where to miss it, particularly on approach shots. On the fourth you get the impression you are the only group on the course. From the raised tee box you can see in every direction but only a single fairway is visible, which tumbles 450 metres to a green perched on a shelf protected by a massive blowout on the left and sharp fall off on the right. The seventh and eighth are short par fours with clever greens complexes. The closer you drive it to the green, the tougher it is to hold your pitch shot. At halfway we met Dan Daly, a leather-faced MidWesterner who grills your hamburger or hot dog on Ben’s Porch. He’s from Mullen and works at the club in the summer. I had four of his cheese burgers during our 24

hours at Sand Hills. The back nine made for dramatic photography as thunderstorm clouds began to build, contrasting beautifully with lush fairways framed by the golden dunes. Crenshaw called the short 17th a “neat little hole” – only 135 metres, but requiring a precise short iron to a tiny postage-stamp green, guarded by a whale-mouth bunker on the left and deep grass beyond. I took a photo from the tee which was posted to Instagram when we reached the clubhouse. Golf Digest USA saw the image and re-posted it, which quickly went viral – our location was now known, and proven!

▶ RIB EYE AND RED WINE Dinner was an extravagant indulgence, knowing we were unlikely to pass this way again. A 600-gram, bone-in, Nebraskan rib eye, complimented with a 1999 Penfolds Grange, Australia’s most celebrated wine. The dining room was packed, big tables of ‘old money’ sharing tales

Sand Hills’ par-4 18th exemplifies why it has been ranked in the top 10 of Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Courses.

of their day on the links, and probably discussing hedge fund options and private equity deals. Our waitress, also from Mullen, suggested we save some steak for the morning; the kitchen would slice it up for breakfast with eggs and coffee. But we headed straight for the tee the next morning, second off at 07h15. I did call the kitchen from the cabin asking to keep my beef, which would make for delicious ‘padkos’ later. There wasn’t a sound on the first, the wind had dropped overnight and the September light was sharp as the end of summer approached. There are no professional sports teams in Nebraska, making college football (gridiron) the number one religion in the state. It was opening day of the season and The University of Nebraska Cornhuskers were playing 450km away in the state capital of Lincoln. Overnight, the black-and-white pin flags had been changed to ‘Huskers’ scarlet and cream, as was the main flagpole at the clubhouse. This only happens on Game Day.

P H OTOS B Y N A M E

2 700km from New York, Sand Hills is right in the centre of the United States.

The second round was an even better experience. Dead calm with only dew-prints from the group ahead a sign of other life. There are no weak holes at Sand Hills, and no strokes or course rating printed on the simple scorecard, just boxes for four scores – with a note on the back stating: ‘Due to varying wind conditions and direction, handicap rating is intentionally omitted.’ “We just want people to come out and have fun, not worry about score and handicap,” Director of Golf Cameron Werner told us afterwards.

A quick stop was made at the pro shop for souvenirs before we hit the road for Cheyenne, Wyoming. Drew quickly nodded off and I kept thinking of the ‘Constellation Map’ hanging in the clubhouse – the original plan of 136 holes. Oh yes, the clubhouse, where I forgot my steak! My expletive woke Drew, but we were already 45 minutes down the road and on to the next adventure. The New Jersey number plates on our red X4 looked more impressive the further west we travelled; through Wyoming, Utah and Nevada

before reaching California. The only other golf course we stopped at was Lincoln Park GC, a public layout with views of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This is where the concrete marker for the western terminus of the Lincoln Highway lies, in a parking lot overlooking the undulating layout framed by cypress trees. We asked a passer-by to capture the moment, and he joked that we could only pose for a photo if we had a similar one taken in Times Square. I replied with a smile, “We do, from 12 days ago.”

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 6 5

Play Your Best | SWING SEQUENCE asters champion Danny Willett doesn’t always go out of his way to make you feel comfortable, and that might be why he’s such a tough competitor. As his European Tour teacher and fellow Englishman, Mike Walker, says, “Having been the No 1 amateur in the world in 2008, he has always expected a lot of himself. He’s not unfriendly. He’s single-minded.”

Danny Willett Masters champion had to learn to be patient

6 6 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

Willett, a 2007 Walker Cup standout, had to learn patience as a pro. It wasn’t until 2012 that he captured the BMW International, the first of five European Tour titles, the others being the Nedbank Challenge (2014), European Masters (2015), Dubai Desert Classic (2016), and now the Masters. In the Open at St Andrews last year he was one shot out of the 36-hole lead, and finished T-6, his previous best showing

in a major. As Willett refines his swing, mainly working to eliminate the miss to the left, look for more great things. “He’s become a much better putter this year,” according to Walker, who says he gave Willett drills that would help the average golfer, including hitting balls with only the right or left arm. “They magnify the problem so we know what to work on,”Walker says. – roger schiffman

RIGHT HIP DOWN

HOLD OFF THE HINGE

QUIET LOWER BODY

At address, Danny Willett likes to have the ball under his left shoulder, pre-setting a slightly upward strike. “When he struggles, his right hip gets too high, causing his hips to point left,” says his swing coach, Mike Walker. “Getting the right hip lower is a good thought for most players with the driver.”

Willett hinges his wrists earlier on the backswing than most tour players do. “We’ve inherited that,” Walker says. “We’re working on making him longer with his right arm and keeping his wrists quieter on the takeaway.” That added extension will help Willett load the club correctly and unload it more efficiently.

Getting to the top, Willett elevates his left arm for more extension. “If you looked at Danny’s swing from down the line, you’d see his left arm is on his shoulder line or slightly above it at the top. It used to be under the shoulders,” Walker says. “Also, notice how stable his lower body is. That gives him tremendous torque.”

▶ DRIVING DISTANCE

▶ GREENS IN REGULATION

▶ SCORING AVERAGE

289.1 YDS

324 YDS

72.6%

80.6%

69.92

69.63

Danny Willett (105th)

Dean Burmester (1st)

Danny Willett (28th)

Rory McIlroy (1st)

Danny Willett (6th)

Rory McIlroy (1st) S O U RC E : E U RO P E A N TO U R

SUPER LAG ACTION

CLAMP THE ARMS

A FREE FINISH

Starting down, Willett creates a lot of lag (the angle between his left arm and the clubshaft). On the move into impact, Walker says, “He swings the handle down and to the left at the same time. He used to throw the javelin in school, and that’s a similar move with the right hand.” It helps deliver the club squarely to the ball.

The shaft is leaning forward at impact, but the sweet spot is in line with the left shoulder. “He feels like his arms are clamped under his shoulders so there’s no extra movement,” Walker says. “His left wrist is in perfect position given his strong left-hand grip, and his right wrist is bent, discouraging a hook.”

Willett looks as if he’s freewheeling the club through the strike, holding nothing back. Note his arm extension when the clubshaft is parallel with the ground. “This full release and his perfectly balanced finish are symptoms of a good delivery position at impact,” Walker says. “Danny could hold his finish for a long time.”

P H OTOS B Y D O M F U RO R E

PRO-FILE danny willett 28 / 5-11 / 77kg Sheffield, England driver Callaway XR16 9 degrees ball Callaway SR3

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A /

J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 67

Play Your Best | WHAT’S IN MY BAG

Stars and stripes I really want to rep the USA in the Ryder Cup this year like I did in 2007 at the Walker Cup. Rickie Fowler and I won our foursomes matches, and I’d like to do it again.

age 29 lives Jacksonville Beach, Florida. story A three-time winner and 2014 FedEx Cup champion what’s pxg? Parsons Xtreme Golf was started by GoDaddy.com founder, Bob Parsons. There are six of us playing PXG on the PGA Tour. why make a switch? I tested these clubs for the first time last year at Sea Island with my coach, Todd Anderson, and fitter, Craig Allan. We looked at the TrackMan data, and I was impressed. When Zach Johnson called me, I told him: I’m making the switch. I know he made his own decision, but I was happy to give him my input. —with stephen hennessey CLUB

Filling the paint Everyone knows how big of a Florida Gators fan I am. Before every round, I mark UF’s team colours on each Titleist Pro V1x. IRONS specs PXG 0311T, 3- and 5-iron through pitching wedge, True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts, Golf Pride V55 FC 58 grips The feel is what stands out in the irons. It’s a combo of a firm yet soft feel off the face.

DRIVER

specs PXG 0341 (14˚, 17˚) Project X Hzrdus shafts, 75 grams, X-flex, D-3 swingweight

specs PXG 0811, 10˚, Project X Hzrdus, 65 grams, X-flex, 45.25 inches, D-4

Any pro will tell you: Woods are tough to change. But these are easy to flight. I can hit a high, soft shot into greens on par 5s or hit a flat cut if I need to.

Initially I put the weights forward to control my spin. But after practising in more tournament-like situations, I moved the weight back and towards the heel to get more draw from my ball flight. Flower power You should want to look good on the course. Go for bold over bland. It gives me confidence. I love RLX Golf’s line of clothes. Don’t shy away from different!

Long-term fix I’m not superstitious. But I stick with what works. I’ve used this divot-repair tool since the mini-tours.

PUTTER specs PXG Brandon 2, 35 inches, 4˚ loft, 71˚ lie, 338gram putterhead

YARDS*

driver

290

3-wood

260

5-wood

240

3-iron

220

5-iron

205

6-iron

190

7-iron

175

8-iron

163

9-iron

150

135

123

108

*carry distance

What life is about This is a huge year for me. Playing in a Ryder Cup in the States would be a dream. Also, to represent USA in the Olympics is a goal. But at the end of the day, most important are my wife, Brittany, and baby girl, Skylar.

Check out my coin When I got this 1936 silver quarter from a Checkers Drive-In in college, I knew it was cool. I had just lost a 1986 one, the year I was born, so it was perfect timing.

6 8 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

My putter has always been a money club. I thought I’d ask PXG’s designers to build me a putter, but the looks in this stock putter were sharp. The clean sightlines help me repeat my setup. WEDGES specs PXG 0311: 52˚, 56˚ and 60˚, True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts On my 60-degree, I worked with the people at PXG to design it, and they milled the head to my specs. So I can get a duplicate any time.

JD CUBAN

WA L K E R C U P : D AV I D C A N N O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S • FA M I LY : H O R S C H E L • A C T I O N : S E A N H A F F E Y/ G E T T Y I M A G E S

BILLY HORSCHEL

FAIRWAY WOODS

EQUIPMENT

Hot List: Golf Balls You get what you pay for BY MIKE STACHURA

& E.

ometimes what is obvious needs to be proved. We’ve been player-testing golf balls for more than a decade as part of our annual Hot List evaluations. Although our testing is blind (all the balls’ logos are blacked out), every year there is one remarkable consistency to the results: price matters. ▶ Our testers are asked to rate balls on a 1-5 scale across a series of criteria, and without fail, the scores are higher the more a ball costs. ▶ Why might that be? Well, the simple truth is, the more a ball costs, the more technology it has.The most expensive balls have been engineered to achieve maxi-

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y H A R R Y C A M P B E L L

MICHAEL JOHNSON

mum performance on tee shots and wedge shots around the green. Conversely, less-expensive balls with more simple constructions always come with compromises. ▶ But given the results of our player-testing and our many conversations with people who work in golf-ball R&D, we see no need for golfers to compromise performance. That’s why the balls in our most expensive category (Over R50) receive our highest recommendation.We also believe balls in the middle-price category (R26 to R50), regardless of whether they’re designated Gold or Silver, perform better than the balls in the least expensive category (Under R26).

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 6 9

EQUIPMENT

The best golf balls feature complex constructions. in n ovation ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ f eel ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

to fly higher off the longer clubs. p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

nike rzn tour R54.99 Nike focused

on the little things, like the light polymer RZN core for better flight, the grooved internal layers for extra energy and 13 558 microscopic dimples for less drag. Note: The Platinum is for control, the Black is for low-spin distance. p e r fo r m a n c e ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ in n ovat i on ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ fe e l ★ ★ ★ ★

taylormade tour preferred/x

R35-R50

per for man c e ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ in n ovation ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ f eel ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

R54.99 These two balls are similar on the outside but differ on the inside. Similar: A cover coating increases friction and softness for maximum spin on short shots. Different: The XV’s dual core helps high swing speeds max out distance on driver hits. p e r fo r m a n c e ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

titleist nxt tour bridgestone b330 series R39.99 There are

two options for fast swingers (B330/S) and two softcompression models for average swings (RX/RXS). The S and RXS offer the most spin, but all four use a coating that adds friction, so short shots spin more and tee shots spin less.

p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

srixon z-star/xv

through a compression that’s a third lower than last year.

i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

R59.99/R54.99 The

layers make the differences here. There’s a low-compression core and flexible inner mantle on the fourpiece TP for softness. The thicker cover on the firmer TPX creates more spin on greenside shots. But a thinner, flexible mantle controls driver spin.

three-piece design changed how soft tour balls could go. Now, it’s four pieces with a firmer outer core and a softer inner core for better energy transfer and more spin on irons.

feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

srixon ad333 tour R39.99 Upgraded 3-piece model for 2016 that follows one of the best-selling balls in South Africa. Tour performance for those who don’t possess a tour swing.

R39.99 Soft isn’t just about feel. The larger, softer inner core here also means less spin on full shots for longer distance on full swings. The cover compound adds short-game control. p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

titleist pro v1/x

wilson duo urethane

R59.99 The most recent changes to golf’s most popular ball focus on softening the urethane-cover recipe and improving feel on shots around the green. Of the two models, the Pro V1 is the softest, and the Pro V1x tends

R42.99 If soft is your No. 1 golf-ball preference, Wilson believes it has the answer with a superlow core compression of 25 and an overall compression that’s 30 or more points lower than many balls in this category.

BALLS 7 0 / JLISTED U N E 2 0ALPHABETICALLY 1 6 / G O L F D I G E SIN T.PRICE C O . Z ACATEGORIES

callaway chrome soft R39.99 With its low

compression and grabby urethane cover, last year’s

taylormade project (a) R39.99 This multilayer entry promises the greenside spin of a urethane cover but adds a soft feel

● gold ● silver

P H OTOS B Y N A M E

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN WALTON

R50+

pe r for m a n c e ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

R26-R35

in n ovat i on ★ ★ ★ ★ feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

srixon ulti soft

nike rzn speed white R39.99 Nike’s soft, higher-flying option at this price boasts a lower compression and a softer cover. Extra speed comes from the polymer RZN core and its internal grooves.

R25.99 Brand new release with ultra-low compression, recommended for lower club speeds who prefer a soft feel with wedge and putter.

in n ovat i on ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

titleist nxt tour s R39.99 Softened inside and out from before, the result is better feel through the bag. Compared to the NXT Tour, you’ll see a more penetrating trajectory.

taylormade aeroburner pro R32.99 Designed as an upgrade over typical ionomer covers, this soft-cover formula still enhances short-shot spin, and the inner mantle and soft core reduce spin on tee shots.

callaway supersoft R24.99 Callaway measures this core compression at zero and the overall compression in the 30s. This provides better feel, and it lets the ball compress easily for less spin off the tee.

feel ★ ★ ★ ★

titleist velocity R29.99 Still designed

with a focus on dis-

wilson duo R19.99 The ultra-low ball compression (less than 30, Wilson says) provides soft feel, but it also produces high launch and less spin on tee shots for extra distance.

srixon q-star R29.99 Generally, two-piece balls lack greenside spin, but this ball’s cover coating adds friction to increase grab. It has been upgraded so the ball stays on the clubface longer for more control.

i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

soft need not be incompatible. This new entry has the company’s lowestcompression core ever. That means better feel and less spin on tee shots for enhanced distance.

feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

R24.99 Wilson measures this lowcompression core at a negative number (-55). That and a flexible mantle help produce a soft feel and less spin off the long clubs.

titleist dt trusoft R24.99 The core

pinnacle soft

i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

wilson duo spin

feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

p erformanc e ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

R19.99 Pinnacle and

in n ovat i on ★ ★ ★ ★

P H OTOS B Y N A M E

Under R26

in n ovation ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

pe r fo r m a n c e ★ ★ ★ ★

feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

feel ★ ★ ★ ★

per for man c e ★ ★ ★ ★

f eel ★ ★ ★ ★

i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★

in n ovation ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ f eel ★ ★ ★ ★

p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★

per for man c e ★ ★ ★ ★

p e r for m a n c e ★ ★ ★ ★

fe e l ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

tance and higher iron shots, this updated two-piece model now features a larger core and a thinner cover to create more ball speed.

compression is very low (the softest core and cover combo of any Titleist ball ever), but it’s the balance of the soft core and cover that provides ideal feel, height and spin for approach shots.

p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ feel ★ ★ ½

p erformance ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ i nnovati on ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ feel ★ ★ ★ ★

G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 7 1

The Gallery JUNIOR GOLFERS SHINE AT ERINVALE WINNING LETTER

LUKE PIENAAR.

JAMIE BOUSTEAD.

Junior golf is flourishing at Erinvale golf estate in Somerset West. Our club champion this year was a 14-year-old, Luke Pienaar, already a scratch golfer who won the title by four shots, while the winner of our Masters Green Jacket was 12-year-old Jamie Boustead. And 15-year-old Michael Raggett shot 78 in the club champs off an 11 to finish second in the B division. Michael also won the A division of the Sanlam Cancer Challenge event at the club. A growing number of young families are living at the estate, and it is no longer just a retreat for retirees. Many South African clubs have Green Jacket events to coincide with the annual playing of the Masters at Augusta, and our inaugural event was played back in 2004. It was the brainchild of then golf

director Johan Piek, who sponsored the jacket. Entry is for all club members, and over the years it has been won by both men and women, making it a truly inclusive club competition. It is an individual Stableford, and Jamie Boustead had the best round of his life to win it this year, shooting 78 off a 15-handicap for 45 points. His previous best score had been an 86, so he was certainly inspired by the occasion! During the school holidays he had taken some coaching to improve his game, and clearly it worked. This year, for the first time, Erinvale had a 9-hole Par 3 challenge on the Friday afternoon before the Masters Green Jacket competition, and it was a huge success. Dean Milbank, captain, Erinvale Golf Club

THE FIRST CONCERN and probably the biggest disappoint- probably they should have sat out for the next round when the ment of your Top 100 course rankings (March) is the omission of course will have settled down some, and then prove itself. There the actual score each club achieved.Whilst the actual score is a sub- are many examples of new courses emerging on the scene but not jective assessment by a number of people rating courses, once that holding on to the initial hype. Pinnacle Point down to 23 and The score is set one can then extract some measurable and comparative Els Club down to 36. I look forward to Steyn City’s entry next time around. As regards recent upgrades of courses I wonder if the value between clubs. In this regard a club may show a dip in ranking, but on the other committees and members of Country Club Johannesburg (Woodhand the score may indicate a very small variance. For example mead course up 5 places to 20) and Randpark (Firethorn course Glendower improved eight places whilst Blair Athol declined 10. It up 9 places to 30) are happy that their large investments have been would have been interesting to see the changes in the actual scores. suitably recognised. The second concern is that one gets the impression that the South John Collier, Gauteng African panel members are either far too generous or have an in- While many of Golf Digest’s course raters have never been to Augusta National, and thus cannot compare it with our best flated view of the quality of our golf courses. First place went to Fancourt Links, no published score for 2016, courses, they are not inclined to believe that our courses are better than anything in the United States. but in 2014 the club scored 79.74 While Golf Digest USA and GDSA points. In comparison, America’s 100 use mainly the same criteria in which Greatest Courses 2015-2016 do disclose to rate courses, in 2014 we changed the scores. First place went to Augusta our points system. Augusta’s score of National with 72.15 points. Does this 72.15 is calculated out of a total mark mean that your panel members believe of 80. Fancourt’s score of 79.74 in the top course in South Africa is better 2014 was out of 100. In 2012, when than Augusta? Golf Digest’s World 100 Leopard Creek was the No 1 course, Greatest Golf Courses puts it all into its mark was 64 out of 80. That score perspective. First place went to Royal would have been good for No 31 County Down and second place Auin the USA Top 100. This year we gusta National. Fancourt Links came omitted the average scores of each 43rd (down from 34), Leopard Creek course, for various reasons, but these 88th (down from 84) and Gary Player are still available to clubs if they want CC 99th. It is suggested that Highland Gate’s entry at 21st is a little early and WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SCORES? them.

TOP 100

7 2 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

6 / 16

MAJOR FLAW IN NEW HANDICAP ASSESSMENTS

WE write as concerned members of Durbanville GC regarding the latest edict from HNA on the subject of handicap assessment. Following the introduction of ‘overnight’ handicap adjustments, and the reintroduction of a so-called ‘buffer zone,’ one of us played well on a Saturday and his handicap was cut by one. The next day he played a social round and explained to his friends that he would not be trying hard as he wanted to see if he could get the stroke back overnight. Call it, if you like, a deliberate manipulation, but within the rules of the game here. He awoke the next morning with his original handicap restored. A yo-yoing that would not have occurred previously. The first score was arrived at in a competition, the second in a social round, and here is the fundamental flaw in our handicap system, particularly when we review the R&A handicap rider: Throughout the world, a golf handicap is recognised as representing the number of strokes that need to be deducted from the player’s actual (gross) score so that, when he plays to his average ability, his nett score equals a “Standard Score.” The amount deducted (i.e. the player’s “handicap”) is calculated so as to be representative of the player’s current ability and potential at the point in time that they play in a competition. However, our handicap system relies almost entirely on ‘form,’ not ‘ability and potential,’ to arrive at a player’s handicap; ‘form’ based on the spurious need to enter every score – competitive, social or just

plain rigged. Nowhere is the word ‘form’ used in the R&A rule, where a handicap is supposed to represent ‘ability and potential.’ With this in mind the SA handicapping philosophy and therefore the basis for its handicapping system seems flawed from the outset. Only scores achieved in ‘open’ competition should be used to assess any change in handicap. One could go further and limit scores for handicapping purposes to individual competition rounds only, as happens in the UK. HNA talk of the intended adoption of a worldwide handicapping system by 2018. With our social golf and better ball and alliance competitions an anathema when it comes to handicapping, how will this be achieved when the UK and SA systems currently run not on parallel lines, but on divergent ones. Our second point relates to the plan to reintroduce a Daily Course Rating. HNA talk of a buffer zone, but neither define nor explain what that will mean. We don’t think the average golfer knows what

a buffer zone is (the range of two strokes above the Daily Course Rating whereby your handicap remains unaffected). Under a system where all scores count, no score can be unaffected so we are struggling to see where and how a buffer zone can be accommodated. The problem we see here is that HNA is trying to adapt to a system which works in the UK and elsewhere only in individual competitions. The main question raised by this latest HNA initiative is surely whether this calculation – or something close to it – can be genuinely established by assessing every score, from every player, every day of the week, playing from different tees and playing a different format (alliance, betterball, friendly etc). And when you then add the potential for several scores missing from the calculation because players are allowed 72 hours grace, the already rocky edifice will surely crumble even more. John Freter (president) & Bob Rees, Durbanville GC, Cape Town

YOUNG AND THE OLD

There was a 75-year age difference between two competitors in the first round of the Metropolitan club championships in Cape Town. Kimon Botoulas, 11, was paired with Cyril Kern (86). Botoulas won the C Division with 79 (37-42) Stableford points.

WINNING LETTER PRIZE Golf Digest and Titleist South Africa have teamed up to offer the sender of the best letter for the month a box of Titleist Pro V1 golf balls and a Titleist cap. Write to the Gallery: stuart.mclean@newmediapub.co.za. Please include your full name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity and may be published or otherwise reused in any medium.

Hear us Tweet! Follow us on @GolfDigestSA

J U A N E S P I / PA U L S I M M O N S

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G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / 7 3

Amateur Scene The triumphant Central Gauteng team with manager Jaco du Plessis (far right).

HOME TOWN WIN FOR CENTRAL Central Gauteng regain their hands on the Senior IPT title at the Wanderers. entral Gauteng have only lost two out of 28 matches in the Senior IPT since it became a purely matchplay tournament in 2013, but overall victory at the Wanderers in April was only the second time they had claimed the new IPT title. Playing at home with a strong team, Central were keen to stop Western Province’s bid for a hat-trick of titles, and they came through narrowly on the final day to regain the title they last won at Euphoria in 2013. The title race has annually been a close duel between evenly matched provinces. Central got the better of WP in 2013 with a 100 percent record, but the tables were turned at Erinvale in 2014 when WP were unbeaten. Last year at Ebotse, Central edged WP in their final-day clash, but lost the title to their rivals by half-a-point on a games countout. The two teams were unbeaten through

7 4 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

the first three days at the Wanderers, although WP had a 2-point games advantage. It was another tense clash. The foursomes were halved 2-2, and WP got three points from the first five singles to be decided. It was all down to the top three, and here the two new stars in the Central team, SA Senior Open champion Steve Williams and Stephen Johnston, delivered. Williams edged Francois le Roux one up, and Johnston beat Brian Mampies 2/1. Veteran Jock Wellington, 65, halved with WP’s Craig Poulton to give Central a 6½-5½ victory. However, even had WP managed a 6-6 half, they would still have lost the title, as at the same time they were surprisingly being thrashed 9-3 by KwaZuluNatal, the other team in the triangular battle that day. Natal won seven of the eight singles matches in what was the only highlight of a disappointing week for them. Gauteng North finished third in the A division, but were out of contention

by day two, having lost to both Central (8-4) and WP. Their No 1, Mellette Hendrikse, was the A division MVP, his only singles loss being against Steve Williams. Central’s other team members were older campaigners Schalk Naude, Richard Bruyns and Gavin van Aswegen, all three of whom were in the winning 2013 team, plus new boys Johan Swart and Greg Gleeson. Naude’s exceptional run in the Senior IPT continued, having earned 34½ points out of 42 the last three years. Central had three exceptional foursomes pairings – Wellington and Naude won six of their seven games, and it was five wins for Johnston/Williams, and Bruyns/Van Aswegen. Johnston was unbeaten in the singles, winning six and halving one; Williams and Bruyns each had six wins, and Van Aswegen five. Super Senior Herman September, Brian Mampies and Andrew Cleophas were WP’s best players. – Stuart McLean P H OTOS B Y E R N E ST B L I G N AU T

SENIOR NEWS

SIX IN A ROW onsolation for WP came with their Super Senior (60+) team of Ivan Palframan, Anton Bezuidenhout, Mark Hair and Tim Hewan winning the A division title for the sixth successive year. They narrowly edged Central Gauteng to remain unbeaten, and have only lost once in the last four years. Palframan and Bezuidenhout headed the MVP list with 8 points each out of 10, being unbeaten in singles. The Super Senior B division champions were the North West team of Pierre Lotter, Basil King, Shadrack Molefe and Lucas Lebeko. The wide gulf between teams in the A and B divisions at the Senior IPT was again evident, and the time has come to reduce the A division to seven teams, which would mean a better balance between the divisions. Last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s B division winners Eastern Province failed to win a match in the top echelon and

The winning WP Super Seniors.

were once again relegated, as they were in 2014. Mpumalanga, relegated from the A division in 2015, won all their matches in the B division, so go straight back up. The Mpumalanga team comprised Steve Smit, Brian Naidoo, Kobus Clarence, Sarel van Heerden, Steve Cullen, Gavin Light, Andre Basson and Sakkie de Lange.

INDWE SENIOR INTERPROVINCIAL WANDERERS / KILLARNEY, APRIL 12-15

A DIVISION AT WANDERERS Seniors Central Gauteng Western Province Gauteng North Ekurhuleni KwaZulu-Natal Southern Cape North West Eastern Province

P 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

W 7 5 4 3 2 2 2 0

H 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 2

L 0 2 2 4 4 4 4 5

F 52.5 49 47 38 43.5 37 33.5 35.5

A 31.5 35 37 46 40.5 47 50.5 48.5

PTS 14 10 9 6 5 5 5 2

Super Seniors Western Province Central Gauteng Ekurhuleni KwaZulu-Natal Southern Cape Gauteng North

P 5 5 5 5 5 5

W 5 2 2 1 2 0

H 0 1 1 2 0 2

L 0 2 2 2 3 3

F 21.5 17 16 13.5 13 9

A 8.5 13 14 16.5 17 21

PTS 10 5 5 4 4 2

Seniors Mpumalanga Northern Cape Boland Free State Limpopo

P 4 4 4 4 4

W 4 3 2 1 0

H 0 0 0 0 0

L 0 1 2 3 4

F 33 29 25.5 20.5 12

A 15 19 22.5 27.5 36

PTS 8 6 4 2 0

Super Seniors North West Free State Eastern Province Limpopo Northern Cape

P 4 4 4 4 4

W 4 3 1 1 0

H 0 0 1 1 0

L 0 1 2 2 4

F 20.5 15.5 10.5 7.5 6

A 3.5 8.5 13.5 16.5 18

PTS 8 6 3 3 0

B DIVISION AT KILLARNEY

Amateur Scene

GOLF DIGEST SURVEY HANNES BOTHA, 1950-2016

FORBES GETS NO 6 Six national titles in eight years. That’s the impressive record of Alistair Forbes, who at the age of 68 again won the Senior Golfers Championship in Port Elizabeth. It was the third time the Durban CC member had clinched the title on an age countout from a younger man, having tied with Denis Jones (East London) on a 36hole total of 149 at the PEGC and Humewood courses. Jones (73-76) was runner-up for the third time in four years, having also lost out on age to Forbes in 2013. Forbes shot 73 in his second round at Humewood, where in 2009 he had won his first title with a round of 64. Third on 154 was Terry Knight (CCJ), ahead of Kevin McKenzie on 157.

DREYER MOVES UP IN RANKINGS Former SA Amateur champion Ryan Dreyer (Killarney) shot 72-67 to win the Highveld MidAmateur at Middelburg. Dreyer, 44, had seven birdies in the second round to edge Gerlou Roux (Bellville 72-68), and move to No 2 on the national rankings. Gary Daniel (Ermelo 75-69) was third. Shaun Stapleton (Wanderers), 40, won the Free State Mid-Amateur with 70-69 at Parys, three birdies in the last five holes edging Christo Peens (Potch 73-67), with Josef Fourie (Hoopstad) and Gustav Venter (Irene) T-3 on 143.

Indwe Senior IPT.

A stalwart of North West Golf for many years, Hannes Botha has died at 65, just two days after managing the North West Super Senior team to victory in the B division“We of the Senior He had been re-on need to IPT. increase tourism elected to serve a second year as president of SAof the (KZN) South Coast. Not the a lot Senior Amateur Golf Association. Botha was the curgolf tourists come here due to poor rent club captain at Potchefstroom CC, where he had marketing. The (Durban) airport move been a member for 22 years. He had served 10 years has not helped usand either as it is the now with the North West Golf Union, represented further province in their senior teams.to travel to get here.” – SCHALK OOSTHUIZEN, SAN LAMEER

MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS

A SECTION (MAX 14 POINTS) 12 – Mellette Hendrikse (GN) 11½ – Stephen Johnston (CG), Fanus Pauw (SC) 11 – Richard Bruyns, Steve Williams (CG), Bertus Smit (SC) 10½ – Schalk Naude (CG) 10 – Herman September, Brian Mampies (WP), Gavin van Aswegen (CG) 9½ – Christo Reyneke (NW), William Skinner (GN), Jock Wellington (CG), Andrew Cleophas (WP) 9 – Ramon Rahme (EK), Zolile Nqana (EP) B SECTION (MAX 8 POINTS) 7 – Andre van Dyk, Jaco Visagie (Boland), Steve Smit, Brian Naidoo (MP) 6 – Johan Groenewald (FS), Kobus Clarence, Sarel van Heerden (MP), Stanley de Beer (NC)

DQ FOR NON CONFORMING PUTTER EP No 1 Mzuyanda Zingela suffered an unusual DQ on the first day of the Senior IPT because of his long putter, and it had nothing to do with anchoring. Zingela forfeited both his singles matches after Mark O’Brien (Ekurhuleni) noticed that his putter did not conform to the Rules of Golf. If a putter has two grips, each grip must be circular in cross-section, and they must be separated by at least 38.1mm. The most famous victim of an illegal putter grip was PGA Tour player Taylor Smith, who in the 1996 Walt Disney World Classic was disqualified after tieing with Tiger Woods after 72 holes. His putter, like Zingela’s, had two grips, one flat and one round. Smith lost his PGA Tour card, became a caddie, and died at the age of 40 in 2007.

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AUGUST 2011 • golfdigest.co.za 65 website: www.golfcarassociates.co.za

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TELFER TAKES TOP PRIZE 17-year-old Kaleigh Telfer from Bryanston Country Club confirmed her status as the country’s top-ranked woman amateur by winning her first national title in commanding fashion at the Sanlam SA Women’s Strokeplay. Telfer lead from start to finish at Westlake GC in Cape Town, cruising to a six-shot victory over Gauteng teammate Eleonora Galletti and Switzerland’s Azelia Meichtry. “I’ve been working towards this for a very long time, so it’s very rewarding,” said Telfer, who also added the Gauteng Championship by 11 shots a week later at Ruimsig CC.

TOURNAMENT WINNERS ◀ JOVAN REBULA EP/Border Strokeplay, East London GC Scores: 73-68-68 (209) Runner-up: Kyle McClatchie (211) WP Amateur, Clovelly CC Runner-up: Luca Filippi (2/1) ◀ ALBERT VENTER WP Strokeplay, Clovelly CC Scores: 63-69-70-74 (276) Runner-up: Danie van Niekerk (276) KYLE McCLATCHIE ▶ Boland Open, Robertson GC Scores: 72-63-74 (209) Runner-up: Angus Ellis-Cole (211)

SANLAM WOMEN’S SA STROKEPLAY WESTLAKE GC, APRIL 24-26 1. Kaleigh Telfer 74 74 2. Eleonora Galletti 76 75 Azelia Meichtry 75 75 4. Kajal Mistry 75 76 5. Casandra Hall 79 77 Brittney-Fay Berger 78 72

69 72 73 74 71 77

217 223 223 225 227 227

GOLF DIGEST AMATEUR RANKINGS AFTER THE BOLAND OPEN (AT MAY 2) PLAYER

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Albert Venter Aubrey Beckley

CLUB

Centurion Potchefstroom James Hart du Preez Pretoria CC Herman Loubser Theewaterskloof Andre Nel Kingswood Jason Smith Irene Kyle McClatchie Serengeti Jovan Rebula George Darin de Smidt Krugersdorp Angus Ellis-Cole Glendower Tristen Strydom Serengeti Marco Steyn Modderfontein Sean Bradley Royal Cape Cameron Moralee Dainfern Phillip Kruse Woodhill Dylan Naidoo Modderfontein David Meyers Dainfern Carlo O’Reilly Atlantic Beach Luke Trocado Atlantic Beach Dylan Mostert State Mines Jade Buitendag Kingswood Andrew van der Knaap Centurion Matt Saulez Durban CC David McIntyre Eagle Canyon Louis Erasmus Albertse Dundee Garrick Higgo De Zalze Danie van Niekerk Lichtenburg Kyle Barker Randpark Paul Boshoff Serengeti Altin van der Merwe Bellville Luke Jerling PE Golf Club Brandon Cloete Pezula Gerlou Roux Bellville Ruan Conradie Wingate Park Luca Filippi Milnerton Jason Rossiter Krugersdorp Siyanda Mwandla Mt Edgecombe Ross Sinclair Centurion Dylan Kok Woodhill Andre van Heerden Walker Park Keegan de Lange Pretoria CC Rupert Kaminski Parkview Quinton Wilsnach Middelburg Reinhardt Blaauw Centurion Malcolm Mitchell Howick Clayton Mansfield Durban CC Neil du Preez Aliwal North Fezekile Kana PE Golf Club Chris van Tonder Ebotse Sentanio Minnie Glendower

POINTS

1758 1561 1536 1287 1281 1225 1171 1124 1106 1010 989 979 838 808 745 730 701 698 652 600 599 588 534 513 459 455 413 402 398 389 365 354 353 347 324 317 306 305 304 297 294 294 293 284 278 266 265 256 245 237

For updated rankings of the top 100 positions on the Golf Digest Rankings, visit Facebook.com/GolfDigestSA.

Inside the Ropes TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY, IN RIO? WITH FOUR MEN’S MAJOR CHAMPIONS announcing in short succession they would not be competing in the Olympics this August, International Golf Federation officials were left to answer a simple question: Is this the end of tour pros sending their regrets for Rio, or just the beginning? The exit of Fiji’s Vijay Singh, who at 53 had a slim chance for a medal, didn’t cause much angst. An expected but still bigger blow was the withdrawal of Australia’s Adam Scott, who had made plain he considers the Olympics more an exhibition than a true championship. Still, it’s the case of South Africans Louis Oosthuizen (left) and Charl Schwartzel that should have the IGF most worried. Neither had indicated they might skip playing in Rio, but Oosthuizen pulled out for family considerations and the prospect of playing three majors along with the Olympics within a two-month

R&A FINDS TIME FOR

IT WAS ABOUT TIME – in more ways than one – when the R&A announced it will hold its first nine-hole championship for amateurs the Saturday prior to this year’s Open at Royal Troon (shown). R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers, who considers his primary challenge reversing declining participation, cited data

7 8 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

period. “I have always represented South Africa with pride, so I didn’t make my decision without a great deal of thought,” said Oosthuizen. SA Olympic golf team captain Gary Player expressed his disappointment. “I would have given anything to play in the Olympics. Players withdrawing hurt the game of golf.” And that’s the rub. If other tour pros earnestly decide that participating will not be worth the time or energy, the marquee value of golf ’s return to the Summer Games after more than a century will be seriously diminished. Following the announcements, IGF president Peter Dawson tried to counter, saying “Real history will be made at this year’s Olympic competitions, and it is our belief that the unique experience of competing will live forever with athletes that take part.” Perhaps that premise is still up for debate.

from the governing body showing 60 percent of golfers would enjoy the sport more if it took less time. More specifically, 21 percent of golfers age 25-44 who are unhappy with the pace of play would like to see the time for an 18-hole round reduced by as much as 90 minutes. The easy alternative, of course, is to encourage more golfers to play ninehole rounds. Yet for all the public-service announcements and “Play 9” events created by the R&A (and the USGA in the United States) endeavouring to show how less can be more, one of the game’s primary stakeholders needed to establish a premier event to truly legitimise nine-hole golf as an acceptable format of play and competition. The R&A’s efforts will start small: 30 competitors in the first year qualifying from events held at the 13 Regional Qualifying venues throughout Great Britain and Ireland. We’ll give them extra credit for shrewdly deciding to use the same venue as the Open to give the initiative more buzz. It will help in the collective consideration of nine holes as more than just a “half round.”

WHO SAYS PROS CAN’T PLAY FAST?

How do you speed up the pace of play in pro golf? Simple. Just change the object of the game. Officials on the European Tour – maintaining the clear advantage over their PGA Tour peers in the “let’s have some fun” department – conducted an entertaining experiment before the Open de España to see just how fast their players could play when motivated. Three fourballs representing different countries attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the fastest hole in golf while playing Valderrama’s par-5 fourth. (Guinness required the hole be 500 yards or longer). Team France (Raphael Jacquelin, Gregory Havret, Romain Wattel and Alex Levy) shattered the mark, halving the previous record of 68 seconds with their birdie that took just 34.8 seconds to complete. Team Denmark finished second, thanks to a long birdie putt from Thorbjørn Olesen, in 49 seconds. Team Spain, despite a pep talk from Sergio Garcia, finished a distant third at 1:18 after Garcia found the water hazard. Didn’t really matter. This worthy exercise was more about how than how many.

6/ 16

Steve Stricker and Nick Price.

BRANDEN GRACE’S BAG Even before winning the RBC Heritage title on the PGA Tour, Branden Grace felt he was benefitting from a recent driver change. He put Callaway’s then-prototype XR16 Sub Zero driver in the bag at the WGC-Dell Match Play and has kept it in play ever since. According to Callaway, Grace was drawn to the club’s shape, finish and, noticibly, its sound. Grace also felt like he could shape the ball flight off the tee better and manipulate his trajectory – all helpful traits at a short, narrow course like Harbour Town. Grace typically prefers low-spin drivers, and prior to the Sub Zero had been playing the Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond, which he won with at the Qatar Masters.

NICK PRICE RETAINS THE CAPTAINCY HE MAN WHO MAY HAVE SAVED the Presidents Cup, Nick Price, will be back as the International team captain for a third time in 2017, where he’ll find Steve Stricker, long one of the most popular players among his peers, leading the American squad. Before the 2015 matches in South Korea, Price fought for and won a reduction in the number of matches from 34 to 30, adopting something closer to the scoring formula that has worked well at the Ryder Cup. Price based his argument on a relative lack of International team depth and the fact that the US had an 8-1-1 advantage in the prior 10 Presidents Cups. The US won again, but this time the matches were close, 15½-14½, and the International team left Incheon City looking forward to the next competition at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey. As for Stricker, the 49-year-old may appear mild-mannered, but he’s known as a fierce competitor. Both men have played in five Presidents Cups. The 59-year-old Price’s experience as captain should serve him well, although Stricker has gained experience as an assistant to Tom Watson at the 2014 Ryder Cup and to Jay Haas at the last Presidents Cup. 16_SX_UltiSoft_GD 2016-04-26T14:32:24+02:00 In the top 20 of the current world ranking, there are nine Americans and six prospective International team members, including World No 1 Jason Day.

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SU N SHIN E TOUR

CAYEUX MAKES EMOTIONAL RETURN Left to right: Lyle Rowe; Christofer Blomstrand.

ROWE AND BLOMSTRAND WIN NORTH OF THE BORDER bogey-free 67 saw Lyle Rowe come from six shots back in the final round to win the Golden Pilsener Zimbabwe Open at Royal Harare. It’s the second tour victory for the 29-year-old from Port Elizabeth (see Think Young, Play Hard on page 28), following his 2014 Zambia Sugar Open triumph. Rounds of 69-69-72-67 saw Rowe scoop the R285 300 winner’s cheque, two ahead of Dylan Frittelli, followed by Bryce Easton

and Louis de Jager on 280. In only his fourth start on the Sunshine Tour, Sweden’s Christofer Blomstrand scored his first win after closing with a sensational 10-under 63 at Lusaka GC in the Zambia Sugar Open. Making an eagle two at the par-4 eighth, nine birdies and one bogey, the 24-year-old rookie finished an hour before the final group on 276 (73-71-69-63), eventually winning by three from C J du Plessis. James Kamte and J P Strydom were next on 280.

After six years of operations, 27 in total, and endless hours of physical therapy after a horrific car accident in 2010, Zimbabwean Marc Cayeux returned to the Sunshine Tour to compete in his national open. The nine-time tour winner was involved in a head-on collision with a police truck on the Masvingo-Chivhu road between the Beit Bridge border post and Harare. Cayeux had rounds of 70-7579-72 at Royal Harare in the Zimbabwe Open to finish T-57, and was overcome with emotion after his opening round. “I’ve got a lot more hard work ahead of me both in the gym and on the course, but I’m just happy to be here,” said the 38-year-old.

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SuperSportDiary 116TH US OPEN / OAKMONT CC / JUNE 16-19 ta l e o f t h e ta p e 2016 us open oakmont

SUPERSPORT TV TIMES

Thurs/Fri: 19h00-02h00 on SS5 Sat: 18h00-01h00 on SS5 Sun: 18h00-01h30 on SS5 THE TOURS

PGA TOUR

JUNE

EUROPEAN TOUR

June 2-5 Memorial Tournament, June 2-5 Nordea Masters, Muirfield Village GC, Dublin, Ohio. Bro Hof Slott GC, Stockholm, David Lingmerth. Sweden. Alex Noren. June 9-12 St Jude Classic, June 9-12 Lyoness Open, Diamond TPC Southwind, Memphis, CC, Atzenbrugg, Austria. Chris Wood. Tennessee. Fabian Gomez. June 23-26 BMW International, June 16-19 116th US Open, Gut Laerchenhof GC, Cologne, Oakmont CC, Oakmont, Germany. Pablo Larrazabal. Pennsylvania. Jordan Spieth. June 23-26 Quicken Loans CHAMPIONS TOUR National, Congressional CC, June 3-5 Principal Charity Classic, Bethesda, Maryland. Wakonda Club, Des Moines, Iowa. 225SX_AD333T_GD_Apr 2016-02-29T15:40:21+02:00 Troy Merritt. Mark Calcavecchia.

June 9-12 Senior Players Championship, Philadelphia Cricket Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bernhard Langer. June 24-26 American Family Insurance Championship, University Ridge GC, Madison, Wisconsin. New event.

hole

metres

par

441

311

390

557

349

177

438

263 (230)

436

out

3 362

422 (402)

347

578 (610)

167

327

457

211

286

443

3 239

total

6 601

SUNSHINE TOUR

June 2-5 Zambia Open, Nchanga GC, Chingola, Zambia. Vaughn Groenewald.

Close Out

Two guards hold my dad in a small room, cellphone jail, and I have to go get him.

Undercover Tour Pro Even the players run afoul of Augusta National ’ve played in three Masters. I’m comfortable there, but the first time I was definitely on edge. Augusta National is a beautiful place, but, boy, there are some different rules. And you really don’t want to get caught breaking one. If you can keep your name out of the conversation until Sunday, then go out with a bang of birdies and somehow wind up with a green jacket, well, that’s a good way to do it. Not that I spend that much time considering my decorum. We’re all professionals. We play golf for a living and know how to conduct our-

8 2 / J U N E 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A

selves in and around a clubhouse. It’s not like we’re out drinking and smoking all year and then clean it up for a week. Still, there are ways we mess up. My first Masters, I went to Augusta a couple of weeks early to see the course. My regular caddie was allowed to walk along as a local caddie took us around. After, we played the Par-3 Course. It was near dusk, and at one of the far tees I said to my caddie, my longtime friend and fellow golf lunatic, “Here, hit one.” The local caddie took the wedge from my hand: “If he hits that ball, I lose my job.”

Whoa, I thought, that’s excessive. But I believed him. Obviously, the big thing is the phone. You use it only in the locker room. Every week on the PGA Tour, I conduct full-length phone conversations on the range, so that’s different. Even if you’re waiting on a tee during a practice round, don’t sneak the phone out for a quick text. I’ve seen guys do this, but it’s not worth the potential aggravation. My coach was once thrown out when he took video of my swing with his BlackBerry. We were at the seventh tee box. A security guard removed him from the golf course. He spent the rest of the day checking out the town. When my parents came, we had trouble. They flew in when I was playing a practice round, and so my wife and daughter go to pick them up. Because they had the cour-

tesy car, they could drive right down Magnolia Lane, which was a thrill for my folks. As soon as they park, my dad goes straight to the merchandise centre. He wanted to be sure he got the best stuff before it sold out. He gets $400 worth of souvenirs. As he’s going through checkout, his card gets declined because he’s travelling out of state. He steps away from the register and takes out his phone – going through the player entrance, he hadn’t faced security – and begins dialling the number on the back of the card. Before he can press “send,” two guards grab him by the shoulders and usher him out. They don’t even tell him to put the phone away.They hold him in this small room, cellphone jail, and I have to go get him. My dad’s shaken up and feels terrible. When his captors see I’m a player, there’s no sense of sorry for any misunderstanding. It wasn’t like my dad was out on the course taking photos or calling in to a radio show. The vibe was definitely the other way: We should feel bad, and I could expect to hear more about this incident. (I didn’t.) The whole thing took about an hour. Because our child is in daycare, the club always gives my wife a beeper. She has never had a problem. Another system that works great is the little card they give players. It’s like your member card. You can eat anywhere, and whatever your family spends, they just send you a bill a few weeks later. It’s fantastic. All in, just about every minute you spend at Augusta National is a life highlight. But you will have a few “learning” experiences. Tons of players have stories just like mine, I’m sure. Nobody talks about them because life’s easier when those stories don’t get out. – WITH MAX ADLER

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y S A M I S L A N D

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