Tee to Green July 2013 by Nubian Bride Media

INSTRUCTION Learn the shot that gave Tiger control over his iron play

HOLES-IN-ONE Perfect shot or perfect fluke? We investigate

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EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Dennis Bruyns bruyns@icon.co.za teetogreen@ballyhoomedia.co.za PUBLISHER Eric Bornman eric@ballyhoomedia.co.za CREATIVE DIRECTOR Steven Macbeth FINANCIAL MANAGER Morgan Lufumpa CONTRIBUTORS Theo Bezuidenhout, Dave Edwards, Wayne Westner PHOTOGRAPHY Getty Images/ Gallo Images, Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images, Supplied Ballyhoo Media Company Reg No 2007/207595/23 14 6TH Street, Parkhurst, Johannesburg South Africa, 2193 PO Box 3125, Parklands, 2121 Tel: 086 111 4626 Fax: 086 6706429 Printed by Paarl Coldset Tee to Green is published monthly by Ballyhoo Media. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of either parties. No responsibility is accepted for errors as all information was believed to be correct at the time of print. Copyright subsists on all content within this publication. Any reproduction without consent is strictly prohibited and may constitute a criminal offence.

FOLLOW THROUGH Got something to get off your chest? Have something good (or bad) to say about the paper? Any feedback is welcome so go ahead and mail us on teetogreen@ ballyhoomedia.co.za. The winning letter will receive a pair of Tag Heuer sunglasses.

FORE WORD

A GOLF TRIANGULAR

outh Africa vs England vs Australia – that would be a match to see! Any regular reader of T2G will know that I have been following the fortunes of 12 South African players since the start of the year. Although I will only update their earnings in next month’s issue, the 12 had jointly earned approximately R90-million at last count and will, by now, probably have passed the R100-million mark. Reward indeed for their performances and skills. But I wondered what non-monetary reward would really mean something to these players, and in this regard there is nothing more honourable and rewarding than representing your country at your chosen sport. And, yes, I’m aware that most of our team played for South Africa in their amateur days. But for professionals there are almost no opportunities for this honour. Playing in the two-man World Cup doesn’t quite do it, I’m afraid. How many of us even remember who played in 2011? By the way, it was Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and they finished a very average 12th. And the ‘Rest of World’ game against the Americans is great, but obviously not national. Of course, our top players are soon going to get the highest of all team honours by being part of the SA Team at the Olympics in 2016. At this stage only three players would qualify for this honour: Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Ernie Els. The competition will, however, be based solely on individual performance and not have that team component. So how is this for a solution: an annual game between South Africa,

SA Louis Oosthuizen (10) Charl Schwartzel (14) Ernie Els (15) Branden Grace (33) Tim Clark (52) Richard Sterne (56) George Coetzee (62) Jaco van Zyl (95) Darren Fichardt (105) Thomas Aiken (108) Retief Goosen (164) Garth Mulroy (172)

England Justin Rose (3) Luke Donald (8) Lee Westwood (12) Ian Poulter (20) David Lynn (47) Chris Wood (67) Paul Casey (102) Danny Willett (110) Brian Davis (127) Ross Fisher (132) Robert Rock (148) Simon Khan (151)

Some real purist stuff. Now that’s a match I would travel and pay to see. England and Australia. Yes, the traditional old enemies. Twelve players on each team and the Ryder Cup format. Captains for the first match: Gary Player, Sir Nick Faldo and Greg Norman. Country against country, not any combined team such as the British Isles or Australasia or indeed Southern Africa. Some real purist stuff. Now that’s a match I would travel and pay to see.

Australia Adam Scott (4) Jason Day (18) Mark Leishman (64) John Senden (72) Geoff Ogilvy (78) Marcus Fraser (80) Brett Rumford (81) Brendan Jones (88) Greg Chalmers (104) Aaron Baddeley (149) Brad Kennedy (191) Scott Hend (198)

And how would the teams stack up? In doing the exercise, I have used the World Rankings and simply selected the top 12 players from each country and matched them up. Makes for an interesting list and confirms how the South African team is right up there with the best, if not an edge ahead at this stage. The chance of this happening is slim indeed. Just finding a week when 36 world players like this would be available is a near impossibility. And then the money required to put on a show like this is prohibitive. But let’s for the moment leave that aside and just dream about the sporting spectacle it would be.

Dennis Bruyns Editor-in-Chief

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news

els in the driving seat

Ernie edges out the opposition at the BMW International Open PG

us open review

Merion wins at Merion Going into the US Open, most pundits believed that Merion, even with an added 450 metres, would still be a pushover for today’s players armed with today’s equipment. It turned out to be anything but.

oncern over the lack of length on Merion’s scorecard had tournament executives fretting over low scores that would never materialise. Consider this: Charley Hoffman shot 79 (+9) in the final round at Merion. In his next competitive round just four days later he shot 61 (-9) at the TPC River Highlands at the Travelers Championship. That’s an improvement of 18 strokes. Sounds a little like my game or yours, not that of a seasoned Tour professional. I’ve read about the narrow fairways, the punishing rough, the challenging pin placements (some bordering on the unfair), but shouldn’t the top players in the world be able to adapt their games and put in a better showing? Well, one player did just that and now has added his name to the list of US Open Champions. When Justin Rose holed his outrageous pitch on the 72nd hole of

the 1998 Open Championship, he looked to the heavens as the crowd erupted into applause at the arrival of this talented teenager. Fifteen years later he again looked to the heavens, this time in memory of his late father Ken, as he completed his journey to Major Champion by winning the US Open at Merion. It’s been a long and winding road since he burst onto the world stage in that high summer of 1998, and he has had to endure much in that time, first with 21 missed cuts from the moment he turned professional on his 18th birthday, all under the full glare of the media spotlight, and then the early death of his father from cancer.

Born in Johannesburg in 1980 before his family returned to England, he grew up in the middle of a golf obsession. By the time he was 12 years old he knew he was good. Becoming the youngest winner in the history of the illustrious Hampshire Hog around his home course of North Hants Golf Club at the age of 14, beating a host of the country’s top amateurs at the time, underlined this burgeoning talent. By the time he was 17 he knew he wanted to play professionally. Then came the high of Royal Birkdale in 1998, only to be followed by the low of that run of missed cuts. That inevitably led to scars. but over time they have faded, and this US

FiFteen years later he again looked to the heavens, this time in memory oF his late Father ken, as he completed his journey to major champion

Open victory has healed them completely. “The scar tissue on the golf course, it just takes time to heal,” he admitted. “And it was a pretty traumatic start to my pro career. I’ve never really talked about it because you don’t want to admit to that being the case, but I think when you’ve got past something you can talk openly about it. I feel like I’ve come full circle confidence-wise and gamedevelopment wise.” Interesting to note is that the first Professional Golf Tour title Rose won was in South Africa; the Dunhill Championship at Houghton GC in 2002. This is the same tournament that Masters champion Adam Scott won to kick off his professional career one year earlier. Rose finished runner-up to Scott that year. Two Majors in 2013. Two winners who are graduates of the Sunshine Tour, underscoring the truth of the Sunshine Tour’s slogan, “it begins here”.

4 news us open review

MerioN By tHe NuMBers The 113th US Open told us a number of things. For starters, hitting fairways and greens is a must. Champion Justin Rose ranked inside the top-10 in driving accuracy and greens in regulation. Let’s take a look at the numbers:

Number of birdies at the 476m 18th hole in Rounds 3 and 4 at the US Open. The difficult 18th surrendered just 11 birdies all week, the fewest of any hole at Merion.

24.7

The almost surreal percentage of players to hit the 18th green in regulation for the entire week at Merion. That made the 18th green the most difficult to hit for the week, just beating out the fifth hole (25.2 percent).

4.7068 127 putts for tiger Tiger Woods probably would like to forget about his past two tournaments and move on. even though he said, following his tie for 32nd at the us open, that there is always something to be learned in defeat, perhaps washing his mind of the negatives and starting anew is best, with another Major championship looming. Any such discussion of the state of Woods’ game should always come with a lengthy disclaimer: nobody is scrutinized more. When things are going poorly, there seems to be a referendum on every tournament, every round, every swing for Woods. the truth is, golf happens, even to tiger – although maybe more often now. Just for some perspective, it should be noted that us open champion Justin rose had a missed cut and a tie for 50th in two of the three starts before his victory. phil Mickelson, who tied for second, also had a missed cut prior to the us open. Both rose and Mickelson missed the cut at the players Championship, which Woods won. that was Woods’ fourth victory of the year and it came at a venue where he’d typically struggled. the

firm, fast conditions and his ability to navigate a course that required more precision than length seemed to bode well for his chances at Merion, where he was looking to capture his first Major title in five years.

The TruTh is, golf happens, even To Tiger – alThough maybe more ofTen now instead, Woods, 37, raised more questions about his ability to win a Major. He had 21 holes at Merion over par, his worst in a Major championship as a pro. He was 10-over during the weekend at the us open after playing the Memorial in seven-over for the final 36 holes, meaning two of his six worst weekend performances have come in his past two events. All of this came after having won three of his previous four events, with a tie for fourth at the Masters the lone non-victory.

is this cause for concern or simply the ups and downs experienced by numerous tour pros? tournaments are won and lost on the greens. Woods took 100 putts in winning at Doral and 102 putts in winning at Bay Hill, career bests. so it was unlikely that would be sustained, but it’s a long way from there to 127 – the number he took at Merion. that was his second-worst performance in a Major, surpassed only by the 128 he took at pinehurst in 2005, when he finished second to Michael Campbell by two strokes in the us open. in retrospect, Woods should have won that tournament easily. so what are we to make of all of this? Will he consider a major change in style? imagine the reaction if he switched to a belly putter, even if it was for two years only. there are ten ‘Majors’ left before the ban on anchoring the putter becomes effective in 2016. Woods needs to win four to tie the record of the great Jack Nicklaus. Why not make the switch? it can’t do any harm.

Stroke average for the week for the 18th hole at Merion, making it the most difficult hole for the week. Not only does the hole rank as the most difficult of the season, it’s the most difficult hole since the 2008 British Open, when the 456m sixth hole at Royal Birkdale played to a stroke average of 4.764. There were 208 bogeys, 54 double bogeys and six ‘others’ for the week at No. 18.

Number of international players to win the US Open in the past 10 years. They are Retief Goosen (2004), Michael Campbell (2005), Geoff Ogilvy (2006), Angel Cabrera (2007), Graeme McDowell (2010) and Rory McIlroy (2011).

The number of players to win the past 19 Major championships. Only Rory McIlroy has doubled up during that time, winning the 2012 PGA Championship and 2011 US Open.

That’s the number of runner-up finishes for Phil Mickelson on the PGA Tour, highest among active players. Tiger Woods has 28.

5 on tour

Frittelli meets Challenge Dylan Frittelli closed out the Kärnten golf Open sponsored by mazda to secure a maiden Challenge tour victory and open the door to a new chapter in his young career. the 23-year-old south african cruised to a three-stroke victory at the Jacques lemans golf Club, resisting any attempt to catch him by the chasing pack with a mature and consistent final round performance, carding a level-par 71 to finish the week victorious. italy’s Filippo Bergamaschi and Dutchman Daan huizing, who started his day with a hole-in-one on the first hole, shared second place on 14-under, with scotland’s andrew mcarthur a further shot back in fourth place. “it wasn’t exactly what i planned today, but the conditions were the toughest we had all week so it was more a case of grinding and getting the job done, which i thankfully managed to do,” said Frattelli. “But i’m delighted to get the win. this changes a lot for me and really opens doors for me and my career. i can hopefully push on now and try and get my european tour card through the Challenge tour and really keep pushing it forward.”

DeBut tO FOrget assistant club Pro michael Bembenick had a rough start in a Web.com tour event, and then it got even worse. after making one last double-bogey Friday in the united leasing Championship, he signed for 103.

(BemBenick wanted to) show kids that no matter how Bad it gets, it’s important to finish Bembenick, who works at meridian hills Country Club in indianapolis, was named the assistant golf professional of the Year in indiana in 2012. this was his Web.com tour debut, and it was memorable for all the wrong reasons. he opened with an 89, and made 13 double-bogeys, three triple-bogeys and a quadruplebogey in 36 holes. But he never quit. the 27-year-old told golf Channel it was important to lead by example and show kids that no matter how bad it gets, it’s important to finish. Bembenick says none of the members at his club or students he teaches would want to see him quit.

els BY the numBers:

Els in control from start ernie els held off the challenges of thomas Björn and alexander levy to claim a wire-to-wire victory at the BmW international Open.

ls had taken control of the tournament with an opening 63 at Golfclub München Eichenried, but started the final round level with France’s Levy and Swede Alex Noren. The Open Champion was overtaken by both Björn and Levy during the final round, but remained composed to sign for a third consecutive 69 and 18-under total, one better than his Danish playing partner Björn.

Björn was able to birdie the 16th and 18th, but with Els finding the green in two at the par-5 last, the 44-year-old was able to secure his 28th European Tour title and first since claiming his fourth Major at last year’s Open Championship. “It’s been wonderful,” said Els. “I’ve had a great week in Germany. We’ve got to thank BMW obviously for their 25 years of support; I’ve tried a long time to try and win this golf tournament.”

• His 28th European Tour International Schedule victory in his 282nd European Tour event. • Moves to €951,200 in The Race to Dubai. • Moves back to inside the top-15 of the Official World Golf Ranking; from 20th. • His fourth consecutive European Tour season with a victory, dating back to the 2010 season. This equals the longest current streak for consecutive winning years, joining Ian Poulter, Louis Oosthuizen and Matteo Manassero. • Has now won his 28 European Tour victories in 11 different destinations. • Has a gap of 19 years and 144 days between his first European Tour victory, the 1994 Dubai Desert Classic and latest, the 2013 BMW International Open. This puts him seventh in the list of biggest gap between first and latest European Tour victories. • The 117th South African victory in European Tour history. • Becomes the seventh South African victory of the 2013 season. They are: Charl Schwartzel (Alfred Dunhill Championship), Louis Oosthuizen (Volvo Golf Champions), Richard Sterne (Joburg Open), Darren Fichardt (Africa Open), Dawie Van Der Walt (Tshwane Open), Thomas Aiken (Avantha Masters) and Ernie Els (BMW International Open). South Africa, interestingly, have more victories this season than any other country. • Has made more than €29 million in European Tour official career earnings. • His 68th win as a professional world-wide.

amateur ChampiOnship Garrick Porteous was crowned the 2013 amateur Champion at royal Cinque ports after he defeated Finland’s toni hakula 6 and 5 in the 36-hole final. the 23-year-old became the first english winner of the amateur Championship since gary Wolstenholme in 2003 and staked a very strong claim for a place in the great Britain & ireland Walker Cup team this september by winning one of the amateur game’s most prestigious championships. in triumphing, the Bamburgh Castle player has secured a place in the Open Championship at

muirfield next month as well as a place in next year’s us Open at pinehurst and a traditional invitation to the masters in april. south africa’s Zander lombard and Victor lange both crashed out of the 118th British amateur Championship after reaching the top-32 in the match play stage of the prestigious tournament. the two south africans were among 288 players from 29 countries that battled the gruelling weather conditions at the royal Cinque ports and prince’s links courses to make the exclusive 64-man field for the match play. lange enjoyed a comfortable 4

and 3 victory over england’s alexander Culverwell to make the top 32 at royal Cingue ports, but lost by the same margin to iceland’s haraldur Franklin magnus in round two. meanwhile, lombard had a battle for survival against thomas nemecz from austria to get through the first round. however, after battling to make the top-32, the country’s number two ranked player was eliminated in the second round by englishman ashley Chesters, who won 3 and 2. south africa’s third player, top ranked haydn porteous, failed to qualify for the match play.

Building Relationships

New era for Nedbank

news 7

a revitalised 30-man nedbank golf Challenge will form part of the sunshine tour’s order of Merit and the european tour’s Race to dubai.

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27 Cape Town Results

ith an increased prize fund of $6,5-million, the event will attract the very best players from the US PGA Tour as well as those from Europe, Asia, Japan and Australia. The Nedbank Golf Challenge has entered a new era with the change in format, the increase in prize money, and the addition of official ranking points that will attract one of the strongest and deepest fields in world golf to Sun City from 5 to 8 December. The most significant restructuring of ‘Africa’s Major’ in its 32-year history will feature an increased 30-man field competing for a total purse of $6,5-million at the Gary Player Country Club – an increase of $1,5-million on the 2012 prize money. The first place cheque will remain $1,25-million,

and last place will be worth $100,000. The eligibility criteria for a place in one of the most sought-after fields in world golf has been expanded to ensure the 2013 Nedbank Golf Challenge will be amongst the most globally-represented tournaments in the history of South African golf. As per tradition, the defending champion remains exempt for the following year’s tournament. The winner of the previous season’s Sunshine Tour Order of Merit is also still guaranteed a place in the field. The new selection criteria targets the best of the world’s leading tours, from the PGA Tour and European Tour to the Japan Golf Tour. There will also be an increase in the number of South Africans eligible for qualification in the field. The winner of the 2013 South African Open and Alfred Dunhill

Championship, played in the two weeks leading up to the Nedbank Golf Challenge, will gain exemption into the field. “With this new structure we have one of the most exciting fields in world golf,” said Alastair Roper, Tournament Director of the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Keith Waters, European Tour Chief Operating Officer and Director of International Policy, said: “The European Tour has long had an excellent relationship with South Africa and the Sunshine Tour, and this news will further strengthen that bond. The Nedbank Golf Challenge is an exciting addition to The European Tour International Schedule and to have such a lucrative purse on offer very early in the 2014 season gives a new dimension to The Race to Dubai.”

stRanahan, pReMieR aMateuR of eRa, dies at 90 frank sTranahan, the premier amateur of his era who contended for Majors and was the first notable player to make fitness a regimen in golf, has died. he was 90. stranahan was regarded as the best amateur since Bobby Jones. the son of a wealthy industrialist family in ohio (his father was the founder of Champion spark plug), stranahan combined a life of

privilege with his devotion to golf to win more than 50 amateur titles, including multiples wins in the British amateur, Western amateur and north and south amateur. the one title that eluded him was the us amateur. he lost in the championship match to arnold palmer in 1954, and then turned pro. stranahan, who packed barbells in his suitcase to work out on the road, won six times on the pga tour, twice as a pro. his biggest win was the 1958 los angeles open.

8 BLAST FROM THE PAST

Antique roadshow

Oh! The stories

robably the most interesting of all stories is the history of ‘Calamity Jane’, the putter of the legendary Bobby Jones, and possibly the most famous club the game has ever known. It seemed an ideal name for a putter, for what greater calamity can befall a golfer than a short putt missed and what greater averter of a calamity could there be than a long putt holed. A great many articles and stories have been printed on the origin of this club in any number of golf magazines and histories of golf. A study of these articles, plus corroboration of the stories, leads one to two possible origins of the legend of this club. The generally accepted one involves one Jim Kramer, who caddied for Bobby Jones on July 8, 1923, when he played a tune-up round with pro Jim Maiden on the eve of the US Open. Maiden had known Bobby from his days at East Lake in Atlanta where his brother, Stuart Maiden, was a professional. Jones often stopped at Nassau when in the New York area. It was the eve of the 1923 Open being played across the island at Inwood, and Bobby was complaining of being “off the stick.” He had become a national figure, but had not yet won any of the ‘big ones’ and now he lacked confidence, especially with the putter. After the round, Jim handed Bobby a putter he had taken from his shop and asked Bobby to try it. After a few strokes, he proceeded to roll in ‘six footers’ with ease. Bobby immediately wanted the putter. Jim explained that he had been using the club and had named it ‘Calamity Jane’. Long story short, Bobby went on to win the US Open at Inwood the following week. However, a photograph from the 1921 British Amateur at Royal Liverpool shows Jones putting with ‘Calamity Jane’, his stance fairly

“It’s just like an old friend now. The ball kept going up to the cup and acting as though it had eyes.” – Bobby Jones

THE PuTTER wide and his body crouched – much different from the winning Jones style (relaxed, upright posture and very narrow stance) he employed later in the decade. Jones biographer Sidney L Matthew attributed Jones’ transformation to a lesson he received in 1924 from Walter Travis, who recommended Jones get his feet

so close together the heels almost touched. “Then he must take the club back with his left hand in a longer sweeping stroke with what appears to be hinged wrists working in opposition to each other,” Matthew wrote in The Life & Times of Bobby Jones. What is not in dispute is that the original ‘Calamity Jane’ putter was

hand-forged in St Andrews by Robert Condie, a cleek-maker of high repute, probably around 1900. Condie had learned his trade from James Anderson of Anstruther and began producing hand-forged cleeks in 1890, stamped with his own ‘rose’ cleek mark. The Condie putter head was made for William M Winton of Acton in London, who then fitted it to the hickory shaft and finished the club with a suede grip from his own stock. As was usual in those days, Winton’s name stamp was included on the back of the head. Other marks included the words “Warranted Hand Forged” and “Special”, which indicated it was not a modern drop forged product (a new technique used by some American golf equipment manufacturers around the turn of the century). The putter was almost 20 years old and already had its famous nickname when it was given to Jones in the early 1920s. When Bobby Jones got the putter that would become the most famous golf club in the world, it didn’t look like much. “Well, that putter certainly wasn’t new,” Jones said, recalling his acquisition of ‘Calamity Jane’. “It was rusty and sort of beat-up, and no doubt had several owners before it ever got to me.” Jones replaced the original in 1926 with a duplicate known as Calamity Jane II (and made by Spalding). Jones won the last 10 of his Major championships with Calamity Jane II and later gave the putter to the USGA Museum. The original remains on display at Augusta National Golf Club. After winning the Grand Slam in 1930 and retiring, Jones began consulting for Spalding, at that time a clubmaking giant. From 1932 to 1973, Spalding produced a line of clubs under Bobby Jones’ name. Dozens of Calamity Jane models in both hickory and steel shafts were made in those 40 odd years, but none contained the magic of the original and none won a Major of their own. Six years after the Grand Slam, while tuning up for the 1936 Masters at Augusta National, Jones pulled ‘Calamity Jane’ out of his attic and shot 64 with only 25 putts, news that made The New York Times. “It’s just like an old friend now,” Jones said. “The ball kept going up to the cup and acting as though it had eyes.”

they could tell! “I probably could have sold it for $50,000 to $75,000,” – Bobby Farino

s a respected golf-club dealer, Bobby Farino has built a client list that reads like a roster from the World Golf Hall of Fame. Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw have turned to him for putters. Arnold Palmer sought his help in finding custom wedges, as did Lee Trevino, who insisted that his lofted clubs be ground just so. In the course of his career, Farino has swapped clubs with Jerry Pate and Michael Jordan and done deals with David Graham, Billy Casper and Greg Norman. Yet his most notable transaction took place with a customer whose name he never learned and whose face he never saw again. It was the winter of 1983, tournament week at the Players Championship, and Farino had traveled, as he did each year, from his home in Virginia to Ponte Vedra, Florida, where he set up shop in a temporary tent on the TPC Sawgrass practice range. The crowd that Monday morning was a familiar mix of players, fans and club collectors, and Farino was tending to his usual tasks when an elderly man dropped by, a weathered golf bag draped over his shoulder. In it was a quiver of used MacGregor clubs: four persimmon woods and a set of matching irons, which, the man said, ran from 2 through 9. His asking price: $150 for the lot. With a cursory glance, Farino agreed. “I knew the market,” recalls Farino, 64, who still lives in

The 1-irOn Virginia. “I was confident I was getting a pretty good deal.” Little did he know just how good it was. Later that day, on closer inspection of the bag and its contents, Farino found a club the old man hadn’t mentioned: a steelshafted 1-iron, its butt-end wrapped in a rough-textured cord grip. A

stamp on the clubhead caught Farino’s attention. “Hogan Personal Model,” it read. A glance at the clubface stirred his interest further. The grooves were largely unscathed, except for a dime-size wear mark at the sweet spot. It didn’t take an expert in Farino’s field to know the basic outline of the 1-iron’s tale. Its place in folklore was

secured at the 1950 US Open at Merion, where in the fourth round a hobbled Hogan had used it to whistle his approach on Merion’s fearsome par-4 18th. The shot, memorialised by a now-iconic photo that captured Hogan from behind in his distinctive finish, led to a two-putt par that landed Hogan in an 18-hole play-off, which he won the next day. Most golf fans are familiar with those plot points. What few know is that not long after Hogan’s fabled swing, the 1-iron vanished. Exactly how and when it happened is unclear. Depending on which account you give the most credence to, it was either stolen from Hogan’s bag after the fourth round, on its way from the 18th green to the clubhouse; lifted from his locker later that evening; or pilfered soon after the play-off. But no one disputes that for 33 years, the club was never reported seen again. Farino had heard the story of the missing 1-iron. And sitting in his white tent on the Sawgrass range in 1983, holding what he felt was the club itself, he knew what he should do. “I probably could have sold it for $50,000 to $75,000,” he says. “But a club like that had to get back into the proper hands.” Farino hauled his bounty to his Virginia shop, where, as he expected, the other irons and woods in the MacGregor set sold fast. Their buyer was Jack Murdock, a basketball star turned coach at Wake Forest and an avid club collector. When Farino told Murdock of the prize he’d come upon, and that he had no plans to try to profit from it, Murdock mentioned Lanny Wadkins, his friend and fellow Wake Forest alumnus, who happened to be cordial with Hogan. With Farino’s consent, Murdock rang Wadkins, a native Texan, who agreed to serve as a courier, delivering the 1-iron to Hogan himself on his next trip to the Lone Star State. By the 1980s, Hogan was occupied with his own equipment company in Fort Worth. When he got to see it, Hogan remarked, “I haven’t seen this in a long time.” Hogan’s matter-of-fact manner confirmed that the club seemed largely unchanged since he’d last used it, though the grip had been reworked. Hogan himself had no more need for it so, in 1983, the club was presented to the USGA Museum.

The open preview

The UlTimaTe TesT by Dennis Bruyns

12 the open preview

hen announcing the winner of the Open Championship at the prize giving ceremony, the Royal & Ancient chief executive will simply say: “The champion golfer for 2013 is…” Whoever the champion is, he will join a select group of great players to have won the Open at the historic golf links at Muirfield. The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, now based at Muirfield, holds the claim of being the oldest verifiable organised golf club in the world, although the game of golf is several centuries older. The club’s records date continuously back to 1744, when it produced thirteen ‘Rules of Golf ’ for its first competition, which was played at Leith Links for the ‘Silver Club’. The first competition was won by John Rattray, who signed the rules and became the first club captain. The club played on the five holes at Leith Links for nearly a century, but overcrowding forced a move in 1836 to Musselburgh Old Course’s nine hole Old Course. Musselburgh, like many prestigious Scottish courses, including St Andrews, is a public course, and this course also eventually became too crowded for the liking of the Edinburgh members. In 1891, the club built a new, private 18 hole course at Muirfield, taking the Open Championship with them. This situation caused some ill feeling at Musselburgh, which lost the right to hold the Open from that point forward. Old Tom Morris designed the new course, which met with wide approval from the start; it has been modified and updated several times since, in significant ways up to the late 1920s, after which it has remained more or less the same. The first Open held on the new course in 1892 was the first

tournament anywhere contested over four rounds, or 72 holes. When Jack Nicklaus built a course in his home town of Columbus, Ohio he wanted to acknowledge his respect for this great Scottish links that had had a profound effect on his career. He therefore got permission from the Honourable Company of Edinburgh golfers to name his new course Muirfield Village. For after all this was where he won his first Open Championship in 1966 and, in so doing, completed a first of three Grand Slams of Major victories. As Championship courses go, especially traditional links courses, none match the respect that Muirfield is held in. Donald Steel, a world-renowned golf course architect who helped establish South Africa’s finest links, Humewood, described Muirfield as follows: “Architecturally it is a gem. A clockwise outward half encases an anticlockwise inward nine, an arrangement that ensures players having to make incessant adjustment for wind direction. Jack Nicklaus liked what he saw so much that he named what he considers his home course after it.’’ Nicklaus, in an article for the Sunday Telegraph on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh golfers club, wrote this about the course: “But I have always felt at home at Muirfield and I solved the problem of the rough by so often using my 1-iron from the tee. Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen and Tommy Armour had all said the same thing – that you couldn’t call yourself a bona fide champion until you had won on both sides of the pond. Which, of course, is why Ben Hogan went to Carnoustie. “Muirfield I liked from the first day I played it. It is essentially a fair course – as far as golf is meant to be fair – and, as everyone knows, it has more definition than most of the links on which the Open is played. What you see is what you get. “The turf is lovely, just made for hitting iron shots with the spin you want, and the bunkers are so beautifully built as to be a work of art. “I have always said that the Old Course at St Andrews is my favourite place in Britain to be playing golf because of its unique atmosphere, that feeling of history all about you. But Muirfield is my favourite course, to me the best on the Open Championship rota.”

“Muirfield i liked froM the first day i played it... What you see is What you get.” – Jack Nicklaus

Nicklaus tees off at the 10th-hole during the 1966 Open

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the open preview If the esteem that a course is held in by the greatest golfer of all time is not enough, just take a look down the past champions winners list. Since 1892 Muirfield has hosted 42 national and international competitions, averaging about one every three years. Seven of 13 Open champions won their first Major over the course, but only James Braid and Sir Nick Faldo have won twice at Muirfield. Of those golfers who have won four or more Opens, only Harry Vardon and Tom Watson triumphed at Muirfield, where Watson also won his third Senior Open in 2007. Winning at Muirfield required a certain flamboyance as exhibited by Walter (“who’s gonna be second?”) Hagen or by amateur champion Cyril Tolley, who paid his caddie the sum agreed for winning before stepping up to hole the winning birdie putt on the 37th green against Robert A Gardner in 1920. The sportsmanship and quality of play between Tolley and Gardner so impressed the watching USGA President, George Herbert Walker, grandfather of American president George W Bush, that he conceived the Walker Cup contest between the top amateurs in America and Great Britain and Ireland. Then there was wise-cracking Lee Trevino, who ever-so-casually chipped in from behind the 71st green to save an unlikely par and go on to beat Tony Jacklin in the 1972 Open. There has been just reward for careful thought and course management by other winners at Muirfield. In 1966, when Jack Nicklaus won The Open, he drove throughout with his 1-iron in order to avoid the punishing rough. In 1987 Faldo played each hole of the final round in strict par to win. Only Braid and South Africa’s Gary Player won The Open by shooting progressively lower scores in each of their four rounds. Emotion and tears took over when a 6 at the 72nd hole convinced Player that he had lost the 1959 Open – of course he had not – and there were tears of relief from Faldo when he staged a dramatic rally over the last few holes to edge out American John Cook in 1992. In all Muirfield has hosted The Open Championship 15 times; the first in 1892 and the last when Ernie Els lifted the Claret Jug in 2002. Amateur Harold Hilton won the first Open at Muirfield in 1892. Muirfield, more than

The lasT six winners have won 18 opens beTween Them and 51 major championships; This says ThaT muirfield rewards greaT champions

Els tosses his hat in the air after victory in the 2002 Open Championship.

It Is now up to the weather

What the players can expect this year The 6,591m course has been lengthened by roughly 144m since the last Open. Architect Martin Hawtree added seven new back tees (at holes 2, 4, 9, 14, 15, 17 and 18). A land swap with The Renaissance Club next door stretched the ninth hole by 45m. The par-5 runs all along the stone wall that dictates out-of-bounds. Most holes at Muirfield chaotically amble in all directions, never simply playing downwind or into it. A cold spring has kept Muirfield’s nastiest rough from sprouting into its swing-wrecking, ball-snatching self, but that likely won’t be the case when Tiger, Rory, Phil and friends visit for the 2013 Open Championship from July 14-21. Rory McIlroy got things going recently when he (mis)quoted defending champion Ernie Els. According to the world number two, the big South African was calling the rough on the famous East Lothian links “waist high” and “ridiculous.” Trouble was, at the time McIlroy spoke out, Els was 24 hours from his tour of the course where he won the title back in 2002. When he did get the chance to clarify his position, the two-time Open champion said: “the set-up is very similar to 1992 and 2002. The rough is good, the fairways are good and some of the holes have been lengthened.” If Ernie is correct and the rough is good and not out of control, the famous comment made by Doug Sanders back in 1966 – “you can keep the prize money if I can have the hay concession” – isn’t quite appropriate. R&A officials say added length,

any other Open venue, seems to allow the cream of the crop to rise to the top. Not many of today’s golf fans would recognize the names of Ted Ray (1912 champion), Alf Perry (1935) and Henry Cotton (1948), but Muirfield’s other Open champions are a virtual snapshot of golf legends: Harry Vardon (1896), James Braid (1901, 1906), Walter Hagen (1929), Gary Player (1959), Jack Nicklaus (1966), Lee Trevino (1972), Tom Watson (1980), Nick Faldo (1987, 1992) and Ernie Els (2002). The last six winners have won 18 Opens between them and 51 Major championships; this says that Muirfield rewards great champions.

renovated bunkers repositioned into near fairway landing zones and greens, and the usual steady diet of rough, sod-wall bunkers and wind will once again prove this design deserves its place among the best – and fairest – of all the world’s leading championship venues. “It’s immensely popular (with the players). It is always in fantastic condition. I often say we could play an Open here any year with about three weeks’ notice as far as the course condition is concerned,” said Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the R&A. “We will be setting the course up to challenge these golfers. The rough has all been cut down over the winter. It will regenerate in the coming weeks, just how strongly depends on the sort of weather we get, how warm and wet it is, but you will see the rough up.” In addition, the ideal scenario of ‘firm and fast’ is still more than possible. So that’s where Muirfield stands right now. The greens and fairways are in close to perfect condition. The famous bunkers remain just as forbidding and punishing. The rough is penal but manageable. And the links is 144m longer than it was 11 years ago. Now all the South East corner of Scotland needs is a spell of halfdecent weather leading up to the Championship and some challenging wind during Championship week. And remember this: ‘easy’ and ‘Muirfield’ are two words that just don’t belong in the same sentence, especially on a day when a three-club wind comes calling. Muirfield, after all, remains the site of Tiger Woods’ worst round as a professional, a third-round 81 in tough conditions at the 2002 Open.

The course is fair and challenging. It is not surprising then that Muirfield remains the favourite Open course; not just of Nicklaus but also of countless other international golfers around the world. Well, so much for the course and who won when. What matters is who will win this year. And even though all form says it will be a first time Major winner, my selection is based both on form and the heart. Ernie Els for a ‘double’ double. Yes, Ernie to do the double of successfully defending his Open Championship crown and, in so doing, matching the feats of James Braid and Sir Nick Faldo by winning successive Opens at Muirfield.

16 rules

Play the ball as it lies

When in doubt, touch nothing and play it as it lies

ule 13 deals with this basic tenet of the game: play the ball as it lies. When the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith drafted the first rules of play in 1744, this was at the top of their list and has remained at the core of the game ever since. Today’s extended version of the rule also prohibits a player from improving his line of play, except as provided for in the Rules. Line of Play is defined as the direction that the player wishes his ball to take after a stroke, plus a reasonable distance on either side of the intended direction. What this basically means is that a player is allowed to remove any loose impediments or movable obstructions from his line of play. Beyond that he must play the ball as it lies and touch nothing. The penalty for breach of the Rule is loss of hole in Match Play or two strokes in Stroke Play.

The Royal & Ancient’s comprehensive publication, Decisions on the Rules of Golf, contains a number of decisions that clearly illustrate what is or isn’t allowed. Decision 13-2/34

Q: A pool of casual water was on the putting green between the player’s ball, which was lying short of the green and the hole. The player’s caddie mopped up the water. Was this permissible? A: No. When the player’s caddie improved the line of play by removing the water the player was in breach of Rule 13-2. Decision 13-2/36

Q: If a fellow competitor purposely improves the competitor’s line of putt by repairing spike damage, the fellow competitor is penalised under Rule 1-2. If the fellow

competitor’s action is sanctioned, tacitly or otherwise, by the competitor, is the competitor also subject to penalty? A: Yes, under Rule 13-2 for allowing his line of play to be improved. Decision 13-2/28

Q: There is a bunker between a player’s ball and the hole. before playing, the player smoothes footprints and other irregularities in the bunker on his line of play. Was the player in breach of Rule 13-2? A: Yes, such action would improve the line of play contrary to Rule 13-2. The application of the above decision cost Allan Henning victory in a Sunshine Tour event held in Swaziland in the mid-80s. Allan had driven his ball up close to the green on the short par-4 9th hole. He was

faced with a short pitch over a bunker onto the green. The bunker had not been properly raked, so Allan repaired the surface before playing his shot. He incurred a two-shot penalty, which eventually cost him the title, as he lost the tournament in a play-off. Another interesting application of Rule 13 came during the Asseng Challenge, a Sunshine Tour event played at Glendower in the mid-80s. Denis Watson’s approach shot to the first green pitched just short of the putting surface and hopped back. His pitch mark was between his ball and the hole, short of the green, on the fringe. Watson repaired the pitch mark and putted up to the hole, so incurring a two-stroke penalty for improving his line of play. If the pitch mark had been on the green he would have been entitled to fix it. Lucky for Watson the penalty did not affect the outcome of the event in that he still went on to win easily. NeITheR A beNdeR NoR A bReAkeR be In fact, when it comes to your stance, don’t be a builder either. Rule 13 clearly states that “a player is entitled to place his feet firmly in taking his stance, but he must not build a stance”. For Craig Stadler, playing in the San Diego Open in 1987, it was a case of ‘unlucky 13’ when he inadvertently placed a towel on the ground before kneeling on it to play a shot from under a tree. Conditions

rules were particularly wet and, although Stadler can never be regarded as a player noted for his sartorial elegance, his intention at the time was more to protect his light coloured trouser legs than to gain any advantage in his stance. Anyway, saving on the laundry bill cost him much more, as he was now in breach of Rule 13. The act of kneeling on the towel was deemed to be building a stance and Stadler was subject to a two-stroke penalty. The incident was far more costly for the luckless Stadler in that, by the time this came to light, he had already signed and handed in his card, which of course was now incorrect. Thus Stadler was disqualified from the event. As a result of this incident, Decision 13-3/2 now specifically penalises a player for playing a stroke while kneeling on a towel. It would have been permissible for Stadler to have put on his waterproof trousers. It all seem a bit petty and pedantic, but there is no doubt that the towel did improve his stance (even if this was off his knees). This rule is often broken by players trying to play out of a bunker. Once again a player may fairly and firmly take up his stance, but he is not allowed to knock down the side of the bunker with his foot, creating a ledge so that his feet are on the same level.

sergio garcia hit his drive into a tree at Bay hill. instead of taking a drop and moving on, he decided to climb the tree and play his ball as it laid.

Although this and other similar incidents have been well published, Rule 13, which prevents a player from improving his stance, the position or lie of his ball, the area of his intended swing or his line of play by building a stance, bending or breaking anything fixed, is violated more often than any other. I guess this is because players instinctively want to make the stroke a little easier. And this is compounded by the fact that the Rule often involves an interpretation or call of judgement. Decision13-2/1sets out what is and is not allowed. ExamplEs of actions that do constitutE fairly taking a stancE:

• Backing into a branch or sapling if that is the only way to take a stance,

even if this causes the branch to move out of the way or the sapling to bend or break. • Bending a branch of a tree in order to get under the tree to play a ball. ExamplEs of actions that do not constitutE fairly taking a stancE:

• Deliberately moving, bending or breaking branches with the hands, a leg or the body to get them out of the way of the backswing or stroke. • Standing on a branch to prevent it interfering with the backswing or stroke. • Hooking one branch on another or braiding two weeds together for the same purpose. • Bending with a hand a branch obscuring the ball after the stance has been taken.

• Bending an interfering branch with the hands, a leg or the body in taking a stance when the stance could have been taken without bending the branch. In addition to the above, any of the following would also be in breach of Rule 13: • Pressing down the grass behind the ball with your foot or a club so that the ball sits up better. • Brushing aside sand or loose soil on your line when the sand or soil is not on the putting surface. One can easily see that much of this is open to interpretation. Rule 13-4 prohibits a player from testing the surface of a bunker, yet the rules do allow a player to take up a firm stance in a bunker. This was recognised by the USGA when they issued this statement on the matter. “Obviously this is a grey area. The grey area is a necessary evil inasmuch as it would be unfair to prohibit a player from taking a firm stance when his ball lies in the sand. Whether the player infringes on this grey area to his own advantage is often a matter that can be controlled only by his own conscience.” In general therefore: • Play the course as you find it. • Play the ball as it lies. • And if you can’t do either, do what is fair. And what is fair? Well, that you will find in the Rules of Golf booklet.

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MAN’S MOST HUMBLING DIVERSION

WESTIE’S WAY By Wayne Westner

golf course: was it predominantly a draw course, fade course, low or high course? And he would prepare himself the week before by practicing the shots needed for that particular course, so that he was ready for it. Ben Hogan used to stand on the practice tee and play a golf course in his mind, he would hit the tee shot, and then the second and so on, so when he got to the course he had already played a number of mental practice rounds. In business, the object is to take the product to market. One has to be well prepared, understand your customer needs, sell to each customer in a different way and come up with solutions that add value to that particular business. Sure there will be hiccups, setbacks and let downs, but at the end of the day if you understand your market and believe in your product you will succeed.

olf today, as in the past, is still one of the best vehicles to facilitate business and relationships. But what many have not realised is that golf can teach strategy and teamwork that are crucial in business. TEAMWORK I tend to think of a golfer, caddy, 14 golf clubs and a ball as an organisation. Naturally, the golfer is the CEO, the caddy is COO and the clubs represent personnel in the organisation, each with different skills and abilities. And the golf ball represents the company’s product. In golf, much as in an organisation, the quiet little putter is considered as the least significant club, yet it is probably the most important. The big boisterous driver on the other hand is considered as the most important club, where it often isn’t. Some clubs are versatile and can be used for a variety of different shots, some are more specific and are only used for particular shots. In truth, no club is more important than another, each one has its place in the bag and when used together, create a winning team. I remember a specific incident in my first year as a pro in Europe, where my caddy was late arriving at the tee with my clubs. All I had in hand was a putter, so in front of 500 people, I had to drive off the tee with a putter! I managed to somehow shake it down the fairway to about 160m, hit a three wood on to the front edge of the green and two putted for par. In the tabloids the next day it read: “and on a lighter note, Wayne Westner from South Africa, three-putted the first for par”. Companies get faced with so many challenges in today’s world that there is no room for error. One cannot compete with just a putter. Although personalities play a role in how people interact within the organisation, there is little room for the proverbial golf clubs to play ego games and claim to be more important than each other. Rather everyone needs to know that they are all significantly important in the overall structure and intention of the company. The goal is to get the ball onto the fairway and into the hole, for the least number of shots, that’s it! This in turn means that the company, working as a team, must endeavour to create a product that is excellent in every aspect and serves its particular market at the right price. Could you imagine what would happen to Tiger Woods should he arrive at the golf course only to find that six of his golf clubs have not

arrived for work. Sure he will get around, but every time he called upon a club to hit a particular shot and it was not there or not performing, he would make a higher score. In the world of golf you would lose world ranking points, lose popularity, lose endorsements and therefore lose income. The same is true for business. Every club is needed to operate at maximum potential in order to shoot the lowest score on any particular day. In 1993 I did a small exercise. I subtracted one shot off each score per day in the tournaments that I had played in. If those had been my scores, I would have earned more than double what I actually earned in that year. In the old days players could perfect one aspect of the game and become superstars: Player perfected bunkers, Palmer perfected trouble shots, Littler perfected mid irons, Nicklaus perfected long irons. Nowadays, with the level of competition being so relentless, one has to perfect every aspect of the game otherwise the golf course, or market, will find your weakness. STRATEGY AND THE SKILLS REQUIRED Take the ball from the tee to the fairway, onto the green and hole the

putt. However, there is rough, hazards and out of bounds areas. Some of these obstacles can be seen in advance, but most can’t. This represents competition, market dynamics, financial downturns as well as new developments. Shots required are the different routes to market. Every time one squares up to the golf ball, the course asks for a particular kind of shot. If you have the shot you control the golf course, if you don’t have the shot, the course controls you. The secret of winning is that it is often not about the shot that is asked for, it’s about the highest percentage shot that you can play. You may be asked to hit a high draw but be given a lie that creates a low fade. One has to always first asses the shot asked for and then look at all the conditions. The lie, the slope the wind and the pending hazards attached to the lie. It is practically impossible to perfect every shot asked for, so most of the time one has to improvise and create new shots. This takes innovativeness, new ideas, risk assessment, and above all the courage to go ahead and hit the shot that you have chosen. I remember Nicky Price saying to me that he used to assess a particular

THE CREAM RISES TO THE TOP IN A MERITOCRACY There is nothing wrong with having dreams and hopes; aspirations of advancement within an organisation. But in order to achieve this you have to become the best at what you do. In golf, it’s the guy who shoots the lowest score who gets paid at the end of the week. It’s not the guy who finished 20th. The guy who wins deserves to win. Look at the winners, see how hard they practice and the sacrifices they make in order to be winners. They exercise harder, practice harder, are set in routine, they continuously appraise themselves and strive for excellence. There is no place for jealousy and lethargy in golf. They work hard and their results elevate them to the position they deserve. They are the ones that are prepared to work harder than anyone else. Gary Player approached Ben Hogan for advice one day and Ben said to him, “young man do you practice hard?” Player replied, “yes Mr Hogan, eight hours a day,” and Hogan said to him, “double it”. Which Player did. If you were looking for Gary you would find him on the practice tee or in a bunker. This does not mean total neglect of your family. The priorities are always God first, family second, and then your job. Life is fair, if you work hard and smart, you will receive the fruits of your labour. Consistency means doing things well, most of the time Never does one have all of the facets of the game working well on the same day. One sometimes hits well and putts poorly, one sometimes

19 putts well and hits poorly, one can even chip poorly or think poorly. This is the same in business, never are all facets of a company working perfectly all the time, but one learns to identify weaknesses and slowly improve them so that the ‘bad golf ’ is still very good. Getting proper information shows you what the real problem is. On the Tour, you can download your statistics weekly. Sometimes when you think that you were hitting the ball badly, it was actually your putting that was the problem. Some weeks you think you putted poorly and it was your driving that let you down. It is so important to get factual information, assess your real weaknesses (not perceived) and spend the next week practicing on the flaw in your game. The leading putters are averaging 1.8 putts per day. Every aspect of the top players games are averaging 70 percent and above. One week sales are up and production is down, the next week, production is up and sales are down and just when you are on top of it all, the economy takes a dip. Howard Buffett says there are two types of people: inventors and copiers. What an economic downturn does is it gets rid of the scavengers and increases the size of the strong and well-organised companies. Down turns mean consolidating,

creativeness, harder work than normal and making things happen. Find your weaknesses and strengthen them, that is what success is. It is not necessarily winning but still being good when you are having a bad day. What is interesting about the world number one, Tiger Woods, is that he is not hitting great, he is not chipping great, he is not putting great, but regardless of that he remains the leading golfer in the world and has won four times this year. Imagine how good his good must be! CommuniCation The key in golf is communication. Nothing transpires without communication. Communication starts with an idea, it travels a path and becomes an effect. In order to communicate in golf one must have ARC (affinity, reality then communication). Affinity is loving yourself, loving your equipment, loving the conditions and loving who you are playing with. You then have to accept everything that happens to you out there without it affecting you negatively. You have to be patient and love where the ball is as it is very seldom where you want it to be. Unless you can accept and love where it is you will not communicate it to the next place; this is reality. Communication is visualising what you want to do with the ball (and not

what you don’t want to do with it). Whatever image you have in your mind is what you will create. The mind does not lie. If I have hit more bad shots of a particular shot than good shots, it will show me a bad shot. That is why you so often hear a top CEO get on a particular tee and say, ‘I always hit it in the water here’. Guess what, he hits it in the water. This is particularly relevant to sales. You are not going to make every sale but if you have failed in three attempts you have to do real assessment of yourself and find out what is wrong. You’re sitting waiting to do a presentation; having failed a few times all you can see is yourself failing and, guess what? You will fail to make the sale. What am I doing wrong? Do I know my product? Do I love myself and my job? Am I being openminded and listening to what is needed? Am I fully aware of my competition and the needs of my potential client? Do I love my client even if he is a strange individual? Then, and only then, can you see yourself making the sale. In order to visualise success, you have to first have an idea, put it forward and through communication bring it into effect. Some companies weave success into their DNA; for instance, I just love the initiative of FNB offering anyone in the company

R1-million for the best new idea. Everyone in a company, at any level, can come up with new ideas to make someone else’s life easier and more pleasant. So why not take a chance, put an idea forward and see what happens. Try new ideas and new markets. What have you got to lose? I would rather hit it in the water while trying to hit it in the hole, than to hit it in the water while trying not to hit it in the water. Golf is a fantastic medium to build unity in your team, to learn strategic thinking, to network, to learn communication skills, to promote a culture of performance and to learn consistency. This transpires at any level from beginner to seasoned golfer. If taught the right way from the beginning, you don’t have to spend your life undoing all the bad habits, you will enjoy your golf more and you may even learn a trick or two that you can use in the office.

Profile: Wayne Westner is the winner of multiple tournaments worldwide, including two SA Open titles, the Dubai Desert Classic, the 1996 World Cup of Golf (partnering Ernie Els, they won by a world record margin) and the 1996 SA Order of Merit. He studied the golf swing for 25 years under all the top world teachers, including David Leadbetter, and now runs an advanced golf college at Selborne Golf Estate on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.

INSTRUCTION By Dennis Bruyns, Illustrations Dave Edwards

MISSING ON THE AMATEUR SIDE The most common putting mistake among the average golfer is missing putts on the amateur side.

The ‘amateur side’ is the low side of the hole on a breaking putt.

Rolling the ball just outside your ‘gate’ will keep you above the amateur side.

Intermediate target and ‘gate’.

he ‘amateur side’ refers to the low side of the hole on a breaking putt. It’s a cardinal sin; missing a putt low means it never had a chance to go in. It’s like leaving a putt short; as the saying goes: never up, never in. For the most part, however, missing on the amateur side has little to do with misreading the break. Most often it’s a mental mistake: you know how much the putt breaks but you just can’t bring yourself to hit the ball that far outside the hole. The following is a strategy to help you keep your ball away from the amateur side.

MAKE THE GATE A popular practice known as ‘spot-putting’ involves picking an intermediate target on the line between the ball and the hole and attempting to roll the putt over that spot. It effectively shortens the putt in terms of alignment. ‘Making the gate’ is a variation on this concept. As you line up a breaking putt, visualise the path the ball must travel to go in the hole. Now, pick a spot along that line that’s closer to the ball than the hole. To ensure that you stay away from the amateur side, roll the ball just outside that spot. Like a slalom skier, you want to get as close to the ‘gate’ as possible without going inside it. If you successfully roll that ball outside your chosen spot, your chances of missing the low side are slim.

DRILL: ALTERNATE GATES The key to playing breaking putts is understanding that the amount of break is ultimately determined by the speed of the putt. To see how speed affects break, try this drill. Find a sloping 3m putt on the practice green, read the break as you normally would and stick a tee in the ground to represent the ‘gate’. Then stick another tee 7cm inside the first one and another 7cm outside it. As you hit putts, alternate among the three gates, testing different speeds. You’ll notice the various combinations of speed and direction that are required to keep the ball above the amateur side.

21 PULL OUT AND KEEP

Wrists not fully cocked. Hands ahead of ball and weight favouring front foot.

Full turn, with left shoulder under chin.

THE KNOCK DOWN SHOT It’s the shot that changed Tiger’s game.

Weight centred at the top.

t the start of his professional career, Tiger Woods had a built-in flaw to his game. He had no control over his approach shots with his short irons. This is a common fault amongst many power hitters; the long, cranked-up swing they use to produce monster drives causes problems on approach shots. The shorter shafts of mid and short irons weren’t designed to be swung like a driver. The result is a lack of accuracy and distance control, which is essential on shorter shots. Standard advice tells us to ease up on the shorter clubs, but some folks don’t have one easy-swinging bone in their body. If that’s you, here’s how Tiger overcame the problem: don’t swing easier, swing shorter.

Making a three-quarter swing with your mid and short irons (7-iron and down) allows you to take a healthy rip at the ball while employing a more compact, controlled motion. Much of the difference between this and a regular swing occurs in the set-up: instead of having your weight evenly distributed, favour your front foot and set your hands slightly ahead of the ball. Then make a full turn, with the left shoulder under the chin at the top of the backswing, but don’t fully cock the wrists. And instead of shifting most of your weight to the back foot, as you would on a normal swing, try to stay centred over the ball at the top. The club will probably be a foot or so short of horizontal, although it might feel like it’s pointing straight up to the sky. Coming down, lean towards the target and pull the clubhead down into the hitting area. Work on pushing the palm of the right hand towards the target through impact to prevent the clubface from snapping shut. If you keep the clubface square, you’ll hit a low, boring shot and you can swing with as much force as you want.

22 Holing-in-one

t h e p e r f e c t f 1 u k e

Just a lucky shot! I think not, writes Dennis Bruyns. After all, that is where you were aiming, not so?

he thrill of that perfect shot – watching as it climbs into the air, lands on the green and finds its way to the target, a hole of approximately 10cm in the ground – there is nothing quite like it. But what are the odds? At the Wanderers Club, Johannesburg, in January 1951, 49 amateurs and professionals each played three balls at a hole with a distance of 133m. Of the 147 balls hit, the nearest was by Koos de Beer, a professional at Reading Country Club; it finished 25cm from the hole. Harry Bradshaw, the Irish professional who was touring with the British team in South Africa, touched the pin with his second shot, but the ball rolled and stopped 3 feet 2 inches (almost one metre in today’s terms) from the cup. A competition on similar lines was held in 1951 in New York when 1,409 players, who had done a hole-in-one, held a competition over several days at short holes on three New York courses. Each player was allowed a total of five shots, giving an aggregate of 7,045 shots. No player holed-in-one, and the nearest ball finished roughly seven centimetres from the hole. A further illustration of the element of luck in holing-in-one is derived from an effort by Harry Gonder, an American professional, who in 1940 stood for 16 hours 25 minutes and hit 1,817 balls trying to do a 146m hole-in-one. He had two official witnesses and caddies to tee and retrieve the balls and count the strokes. His 1,756th shot struck the hole but stopped two-and-a-half centimetres from the hole. This was his nearest effort. From this and other similar information an estimate of the odds against holing-in-one at any particular hole within the range of one shot was made at somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 to 1 by a proficient player. Subsequently, however, statistical analysis in America has come up with the following odds: a male professional or top amateur 3,708 to 1; a female professional or top amateur 4,648 to 1; an average golfer 42,952 to 1. I am not too sure that this is the case. Over the 30-plus years of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, featuring the best professional golfers in the world, the only winner in the hole-in-one stakes has been the insurance brokers covering the huge prizes on offer for a hole-in-one. That is right, no player has yet had a hole-in-one at the tournament. Yet I managed it at the Gary Player Country Club playing nine holes after play in a Sunshine Tour event. I hit my tee shot at the long par-3 12th past the pin by some 10m; in fact the ball came to rest over the green on the fringe. My playing partner played up finishing in the bunker. We walked to the green and as he attempted to blast out the bunker my caddie was heard to say “go ball, go”. We looked up and there was my ball starting to roll back onto the green, downhill towards the hole. It just kept on going as in slow motion all the way into the hole. Must have been a good 10 minutes after I had hit it.

The stories of holes-in-one are many and varied. The earliest recorded hole-in-one was in 1869 at The Open Championship when Tom Morris jnr completed the 132m 8th hole at Prestwick in one. This was the first ace in competition for The Open Championship Challenge Belt. Since the day of that first known hole-inone by Tom Morris Jr, holes-in-one, even in championships, have become too numerous for each to be recorded. What follows are some of the unusual or interesting instances. 1878 – Jamie Anderson, competing in The Open Championship at Prestwick, holed-in-one at the 11th. In these days The Open was played over three rounds of 12 holes so his ace, the first hole-in-one in competition for the Claret Jug, came at his penultimate hole in his third round. Although it seemed then that he was winning easily, it turned out afterwards that if he had not taken this hole in one stroke he would very likely have lost. Anderson

The laTe harry VarDon, who scoreD The greaTesT numBer of VicTories in The open championship, only once DiD a hole-in-one. ThaT was in 1903 aT munDesley, norfolk, where VarDon was conValescing from a long illness.

24 Holing-in-one

The record for The greaTesT number of holes-in-one in a calendar year is 14, claimed in 2007 by californian Jacqueline gagne, who hiT her 14Th ace aT mission hills in fronT of a Television crew who had been senT To check if her claims for The previous 13 were True. was just about to make his tee shot when Andy Stuart (winner of the first Irish Open Championship in 1892), who was acting as marker to Anderson, remarked he was standing outside the teeing ground, and that if he played the stroke from there he would be disqualified. Anderson picked up his ball and teed it in a proper place. Then he holed-in-one. He won the Championship by one stroke. 1973 – In the 1973 Open Championship at Troon, two holes-in-one were recorded, both at the 8th hole, known as the Postage Stamp, in the first round. They were achieved by Gene Sarazen and amateur David Russell, who were by coincidence respectively the oldest and youngest competitors.

gene sarazen kisses his ball after a hole-in-one at the 8th hole, known as the postage stamp, in the first round of the 1973 open Championship at Troon.

In less than two hours play in the second round of the 1989 US Open at Oak Hill Country Club, Rochester, New York, four

hole-in-one trivia Two holes-in-one in The same round What might be thought to be a very rare feat indeed – that of holing-inone twice in the same round - has in fact happened on many occasions as the following instances show. it is, nevertheless, compared to the number of golfers in the world, still something of an outstanding achievement. • The first known occasion was in 1907 when J ireland, playing in a three-ball match at Worlington, holed the 5th and 18th holes in one stroke. Two years later, in 1909, HC Josecelyne holed the 3rd (160m) and the 14th (105m) at acton. • The first mention of two holes-inone in a round by a woman was followed later by a similar feat by another lady at the same club. on 19 May 1942, Mrs W Driver, of Balgowlah Golf Club, New South Wales, holed out in one at the 3rd and 8th holes in the same round, while on 29 July 1948, Mrs F Burke at the same club holed out in one at the second and eighth holes. • In South Africa, Vivienne Player, wife of the great Gary Player, achieved this honour while playing at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. Vivienne was a very fine player herself and club champion at the club on a number of occasions.

• The Rev Harold Snider, aged 75, scored his first hole-in-one on 9 June 1976, at the 8th hole of the Ironwood course, near Phoenix. By the end of his round he had scored three holes-in-one, the other two being at the 13th (100m) and 14th (123m). ironwood is a par-3 course, giving more opportunity of scoring holes-in-one but, nevertheless, three holes-in-one in one round, on any type of course, is an outstanding achievement. Three holes-in-one aT The same hole in The same game During the october monthly medal at Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club on 18 october 2003, three holes-inone were achieved at the 139m 8th by Stuart Fawcett (5 handicap), Brian verinder (17 handicap) and junior member andrew Kent (12 handicap). the players were not playing in the same group. holing-in-one: youngesT and oldesT players • Elsie McLean (picture right), 102, from Chico, California, holed-in-one in april 2007. • In January 1985,0 Otto Bucher of Switzerland holed-in-one at the age of 99 on la Manga’s 118m 12th hole. • Bob Hope, the famous Hollywood actor and comedian, had a hole-in-

competitors – Doug Weaver, Mark Wiebe, Jerry Pate and Nick Price – each holed the 152m 6th in one. The odds against four professionals achieving such a record in a field of 156 are reckoned at 332,000 to 1. DavID toms took the lead in the 2001 USPGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club with a hole-in-one at the 15th hole in the third round and went on to win. Nick Faldo (4th hole) and Scott Hoch (17th hole) also had holes-inone during the event. In the 2006 ryDer Cup at the K Club, Ireland, Paul Casey holed his 4-iron shot at the 14th to score the fifth ace in the history of the competition. The following day, at the same hole, Scott Verplank became the first American to score a Ryder Cup hole-in-one. the honour of the first hole-in-one televised live in South Africa goes appropriately to Gary Player. It happened during the Sharp Skins at Country Club Johannesburg. I was standing at the tee when Gary hit a perfect 4-iron to the hole. At first he did not know what all the commotion was about as he did not see the ball go in. His fellow competitors, Mark McNulty, Bobby Cole and John Bland seemed as happy as he was – and rightly so in that the four had agreed to split the R100,000 prize. Purported to have had the most holes-in-one is American amateur Norman Manley of Long Beach. California. He achieved it 59 times in all. This is nine more than his nearest rival, Mancil Davis, the professional at Trophy Club in Fort Worth, Texas who has recorded 50. Manley is an interesting case as it would seem he holds a number of other unusual hole-in-one records. Successive holes-in-one are rare; successive par-4 holes-in-one may be classed as near miracles. But Manley performed this most incredible feat in September, 1964, at Del Valle Country Club, Saugus, California. The par-4 7th (300m) and 8th (270m) are both slightly downhill, dog-leg holes. Manley had aces at both, en route to a course record of 61 (par 71). The first recorded example in Britain of a player holing-in-one stroke at each of two successive holes was achieved on 6th February, 1964, at the Walmer and Kingsdown course, Kent. The young assistant professional at that club, Roger Game (aged 17) holed out with a 4-wood at the 223m 7th hole, and repeated the feat at the 234m 8th hole, using a 5-iron. The first occasion of holing-in-one at consecutive holes in a major professional event occurred when John Hudson, a 25-year-old professional at Hendon, holed-inone at the 11th and 12th holes at one at Palm Springs, California, at Norwich during the second round the age of 90. of the 1971 Martini tournament. • The youngest player ever to Hudson used a 4-iron at the 178m achieve a hole-in-one is now 11th and a drive at the 284m believed to be Matthew Draper, downhill 12th hole. who was only five when he aced If holes-in one at par-4s are the 111m fourth hole at Cherwell rare, what is the longest recorded Edge, Oxfordshire, in June 1997. hole-in-one? This honour goes to he a used a wood. Bob Mitera. As a 21-year-old • Six-year-old Tommy Moore aced American student, approximetaly the 132m 4th hole at Woodbrier, 1,72m tall and weighing roughly West virginia, in 1968. he had 76kg, he claimed the world record another at the same hole before playing the appropriately named his seventh birthday. Miracle Hill course at Omaha on 7 October 1965. Mitera holed his drive at the 408m 10th hole; the ground sloped sharply downhill. Two longer holes-in-one have been achieved, but because they were at dog-leg holes they are not generally accepted as being the longest holes-in-one. They were 453m (17th hole, Teign Valley) by Shaun Lynch in July 1995 and 438m (5th hole, Hope Country Club, Arkansas) by L Bruce on 15 November 1962. Longest, shortest, oldest, youngest – for most of us who cares, just as long as we get to experience the thrill of making a perfect contact and seeing the ball fly high and true into the hole! We invite readers to write in with their own special stories and experiences of holes-in-one.

SWING THOUGHTS By Theo Bezuidenhout Info www.theopen.com

rnie, Adam and Tiger will be there. Phil, Louis and Rory will also be making their way to Muirfield for the 142nd Open Championship. However, if I mentioned the names Ashun Wu, Steven Fox and Steven Jeffress I am sure I would get blank stares from even the most knowledgeable Swing Thoughts readers. The reason is that Wu, Fox and Jefress (pictured L-R), all real golfers by the way, have qualified for, and will each be playing in, their first Open. Wu, the second Chinese player to qualify for the Open after Liang Wen-Chon, qualified through the Asia leg of Open qualifying by making four birdies in his last nine holes to book his spot at Muirfield. Fox is a golfer on the rise, as can be seen from his US Amateur triumph in 2012. The victory helping the University of Tennessee student to not only qualify for the Open, but the Masters earlier in the year, where he missed the cut. In fact, at the tender age of 22 Fox is the veteran of our intrepid group as he is the only player of the three with Major experience. Lastly, Steven Jefress. After a technical change had gone wrong, the Australian turned to self-hypnosis to help him regain form in 2012. This led to him entering the Australasian regional qualifying, where he finished second to book his ticket for Muirfield. Romantic stories I hear you say; when there is so much else to focus on at the Open, why would these players be important? The reason is simple: As with many Swing Thoughts readers, these players will probably be paired on day one of a competition with players that are higher ranked and more admired than them. In turn this leads to a very important question: what mental steps should these players (and by implication you) take when they get paired with Ernie for the first round of their first Open?

WELCOME TO THE ‘BIG TIME’

DON’T CHANGE A THING! The biggest mistake players make when they are playing with ‘better’ players is to change something. The best thing one can do in a ‘big’ event is to underplay the importance of it by sticking to what you know. So instead of changing your pre-round routine just because it is the Open or your important yearly golf tour, try to stick to what works for you. If this entails a short warm-up then keep it short. If it means having an early cup of coffee before you play then so be it. There is no point in taking away the things that could help to calm your nerves the week of an event. This will only lead to

In playing club days, etc, this is the part that most high-handicappers miss out on. Now I understand that you don’t always have the time or capability to map the course the way the pros do, but just remember that a little bit of planning can go a long way in a pressure situation. If you have good course notes and a good game plan it alleviates you from the pressure to deal emotionally with how you are playing while at the same time trying to ‘make things up as you go along’. Thus, instead of playing countless rounds the weeks leading up to your club event, do what the likes of Fox and Wu would do and spend an

anxiety and a focus on ‘how big and different this week is’. A totally erroneous focus that is never good for the psyche of any player on any level. This is not to say that one cannot improve on processes such as mental warm-ups, diet or stretching – but not in the week of an event. Much less the week of the Open, or even your ‘Open’.

intense practice round checking different types of information. By doing this, instead of playing for score in your practice rounds, you increase your focus on solving the challenges of the course. Thereby not getting caught up in how well or badly you are playing the golf course at that moment in time, but rather what you should do when you find yourself in challenging positions on the course.

THE EVENT STARTS THE WEEK BEFORE Wu, Fox and Jefress will all be spending considerable time on the course beforehand to make sure that they get to know Muirfield intimately. This will include measuring tee-shots and approach shots as well as mapping greens and plotting lines of attack. All in an effort to get as comfortable with the surroundings as they can to make sure that they have to spend very little psychological energy on unforeseen course issues.

EXPECT THE WORST One would often hear the likes of Wu, Fox and Jefress complain that the worst thing about playing with someone like Tiger is that fact that galleries are different to what they are used to. The constant movement, noise and crowd crush has unhinged many a qualifier, not to mention more well-known players (as could be seen recently by Sergio Garcia’s reactions to it).

Now you may not face 10,000 people on the tee for the first time like our unheralded players might have to, but there will be situations that might affect you mentally. Take, for instance, the first time you need to tee off in front of a gallery of people or coming down the last in your club champs with a packed clubhouse. In this case, the best thing to do is work through as much of your planning of your reactions beforehand. Thus, if you think your opponent will be throwing tantrums to put you off, write it as a topic in your course notes and write down what you are going to do. Will you turn around and look the other way or will you walk ahead so that the negativity will not affect you? It sounds trivial to write this kind of psychological game plan down, but in the moment it can be a very efficient way of reminding yourself of how you want to act in the situation. Wu, Fox and Jefress have entered the ‘Big Time’ in qualifying for the 142nd Open this month and one can be sure that they will leave no stone unturned to be mentally ready for it. This leaves the question: how will you prepare for your own ‘Muirfield’? Please share your mental issues with us (teetogreen@ ballyhoomedia.co.za; we will pass it onto Theo). The WINNING LETTER will receive a Titleist glove and one dozen Titleist Pro V1s.

PROFILE: Theo Bezuidenhout is a sport psychologist in private practice and consults with golfers of all abilities and ages. His clients include top juniors, amateurs and Sunshine Tour professionals. Theo has been a columnist for Tee to Green for over seven years. He is also an ambassador for Titleist. He has a special interest in parental involvement in sport and has also been involved with the Glacier Junior Series for the last two years as a consultant. He refuses to divulge how often he gets to work on his own golf.

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HEALTHY GOLF

S.W.A.T. THE GERMS THIS WINTER!

By Anastasia Dobson-du Toit

very year the same thing happens. First one person arrives at the golf club with the sniffles and, in a very short space of time, the flu bugs are running riot, with you wishing you had remembered to take your immune boosters, hopefully to avoid joining your fallen comrades. Well, consider this to be your wakeup call. Here are a few simple steps to boost your immune system and increase your energy levels.

TRESS There is a direct link between the mind and body and too much stress may, in fact, have a negative impact on your immune system, making your body ground zero for infections. Actually, the word disease means a lack of ease (dis-ease). If you are stressed from work or personal issues, your body uses its natural stores of vitamins much faster, leaving you vulnerable to attack.

HAT, WHERE, WHEN AND WHY If you are not already taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement, look for one that contains the following: • B-Complex Vitamins keep your nervous system healthy (helping you to cope with stress) and supports immunity. • A deficiency of Vitamin B6 may contribute to a lack of white blood cells, further reducing your body’s ability to fight off illness. • Vitamin B12 is necessary for red blood cell production and nervous system health, and helps in the production of fats that protect nerve endings against damage from bacteria, viruses and toxins.

• Vitamin A, an anti-infective vitamin, plays a role in the normal functioning of your immune system and is concentrated in the skin and mucosal cells that line the airways, digestive tract and urinary tract. This is ground zero for the pathological organisms that enter your body and a Vitamin A deficiency may leave you unguarded against infectious diseases. • Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant that protects your body from infection and promotes healing. Vitamin C can help your body avoid being ambushed by viral, fungal and bacterial infections that can attack healthy cells. Vitamin C also promotes tissue repair and growth, and is necessary for the absorption and use of Folic Acid, which aids in the production of white blood cells. Vitamin C may additionally reduce organ, bone and muscle damage caused by free radical molecules, and is an anti-stress Vitamin. • Vitamin E is a potent anti-oxidant that helps to protect your cells and prevent infection, speeds the healing of bruises and wounds, and may aid in blood clotting. Vitamin E also enhances blood circulation, improving the delivery of the Vitamins and Nutrients needed for immune system function, muscle tone and brain health. • Selenium and Vitamin E are synergistic, each increasing the potency of the other. • Zinc stands watch over your immune system and can reduce the severity of colds. • Omega-3 fish oils have a wonderful immune enhancing effect by increasing the activity of your white blood cells that ‘eat’ bacteria.

However, the majority of us don’t consume enough fish, so we should consider a good quality Omega-3 fish oil supplement. • The DHA in Omega-3 fish oil directly alters the metabolism towards fat oxidation and the breakdown of fats to release fatty acids. Omega-3 lipids in the blood prompt the body to use more of its own fat stores for energy. DHA and EPA in the fish oil also improves the blood flow in your brain. Omega-3 has a natural anti-inflammatory effect and can directly treat muscle and joint pain (lowering the risk of arthritis), while promoting brain and cardiovascular function, thereby decreasing heart disease, blood pressure and the risk of death from heart attacks and strokes. • Omega-3 improves oxygen usage in the body. Oxygen is a limiting factor in aerobic respiration, muscle performance and energy production, so this can improve athletic performance and weight loss. • Amino Acids are the building blocks of our bodies. In order to boost your immune system, the most important Amino Acids are Arginine, Glutamine and Lysine. • Arginine elevates Nitric Oxide bioavailability, which reduces the oxygen requirements of exercise allowing you to exercise for longer.

CTION Be proactive in reducing your exposure to flu germs. Good to know: • Drink plenty of water; this flushes the germs from your throat, down into your stomach where they have less chance of surviving. A also stands for anti-oxidants

(such as Vitamin A/Beta-Carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium and Zinc listed above), which can help your immune system to perform the important task of defending your body against attack from diseasecausing micro-organisms.

EE OFF FOR A HEALTHY WINTER Staying healthy is the first step to guarding against illness and disease. It’s not just scuttlebutt but proven fact that we need to: • maintain an appropriate body weight. • reduce stress. • stop smoking. • drink plenty of liquids. • moderate our alcohol usage. • eat a healthy balanced diet. Most importantly though, get plenty of exercise (at least three times a week), which ought to include walking between the greens of a golf course, hitting a golf ball for miles, and carrying your clubs in the crisp winter air. All of which should help to keep you happy and healthy; just don’t get too stressed when you miss the putt on the last hole! For more queries, please contact our Friendly Pharmacists on +27 (0)11 251 6500.

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36 TRAVEL

Fearsome Fours

In our ongoing travel feature, looking at great holes in golf, we travel once again to Florida and the TPC at Sawgrass and then Ballybunion in Ireland, one of golf’s most dramatic and spectacular courses.

18TH AT TPC SAWGRASS TPC Sawgrass is a resort in Florida, 12 miles from Jacksonville, that offers 36 holes of golf on two open-to-the-public golf courses. One of those courses, the Players Stadium Course, is the site of the PGA Tour’s Players Championship every year. Because of that, and because of that course’s infamous 17th hole island green, TPC Sawgrass is one of the most famous golf courses in the United States. The ‘TPC’ in the facility’s name stands for Tournament Players Club, and TPC Sawgrass was the first course in the TPC Network. The TPC Network includes dozens of golf courses across the USA, and facilities with the TPC designation are owned by the PGA Tour. Play can be pretty slow at the Stadium Course; recreational golfers like to take photos; there are often many balls hit into water; and golfers enjoy hitting multiple balls at the 17th. So if you play on a busy day, bring your patience.

Part II The Players Championship is the marquee tournament owned and run by the PGA Tour itself. That event rotated courses in its early years, but then-PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman wanted to build a golf course (also owned by the PGA Tour) as a permanent home for The Players Championship. And he wanted that course to be dramatic and challenging for players, yet to offer prime viewing opportunities for fans. He wanted a ‘stadium course’, one that would offer good seating and prime viewing areas in the forms of gentle hillsides and berms. In 1978, the PGA Tour acquired 167 hectares of wetlands and swamp in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and Beman hired architect Pete Dye to transform it into the first ‘tournament players club’, or TPC course. Dye set about draining the swamp and designing to meet Beman’s demands, and in March 1980 TPC Sawgrass opened.

The resort’s website states that the course was designed to “favour no particular player or style of play.” That meant Dye’s instructions were to route a course that had “a selection of short, medium and long holes within the categories of par-3s, par-4s and par-5s. There had to be both right and left doglegs. The course routing was laid out so no two consecutive holes ever played in the same direction.” In addition to lots of sand and water, the Stadium Course has lots of trees,

“Depending on the wind, I’ve had anywhere from a fairway wood to an 8-iron in.” – Fred Funk

38 TRAVEL plus man-made mounding around certain tees and greens to create the ‘stadium’ effect. Those fan-friendly berms are most prominent around the No 1 and 10 tees, plus the greens at No 9, 16, 17 and 18. The island green at the 17th at the TPC Sawgrass stadium course will hog the screen time while you’re watching the Players Championship this month, but it’s not the hole that Tour players are really sweating. The 408m 18th is actually the toughest hole during the tournament. You have to avoid the lake twice, on the tee shot and again on the approach. Fred Funk , a winner here in the 2005 Players Championship, gives this advice: “From the tee, you don’t see a lot of fairway – what you see is water, and the second shot isn’t easy because the green is so severe. It’s an especially great finishing hole.” On the approach, Fred says: 11TH AT BALLYBUNION Ballybunion Golf Course has a spectacular location off the west coast of Ireland. Located on the north west coast of County Kerry, on a beautiful stretch of sand dunes overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, you’ll find two wonderfully challenging and unique links golf courses at Ballybunion: the Old Course and the Cashen Course. And even though the ‘home’ of golf is across the Irish Sea, its soul surely lies at Ballybunion Golf Club. No other course in the British

PHOTO: BALLYBUNION GOLF CLUB/STEVE CARR

“Depending on the wind, I’ve had anywhere from a fairway wood to an 8-iron in. Once, I hit a 6-iron, and with all the wind, that’s as good a drive as I’ve ever hit. I aimed out over the scoreboards and let the wind bring it in. If you played away from the water last year you were going to end up in the right rough, where you’re dead. While you’re sizing up the approach, forget the pin. When you try to force a long shot into a tight area, that’s when you get in trouble. Just try to get your ball in a general area.” From the tee, Fred says: “You really want to commit to this shot and let it go. If you try to guide it, you’re going to end up somewhere you don’t want to be. My play is to aim toward the tree that hangs over the fairway. I take that as my line and try to draw it off that.” Basically, the main aim here is to keep the ball dry. Isles combines such spectacular golf with holes that are still fun and playable for the average golfer as does the incomparable and famous Old Course at Ballybunion. Challenge the corner of the cemetery on the first, and give new meaning to ‘do or die’. Work your way out to the sea and the rollercoaster 11th, tumbling three tiers

TPC SAWGRASS TRIVIA • When the PGA Tour in 1978 bought the land where TPC Sawgrass now is, they got a sweet deal from its previous owners. Those owners were golfers and golf fans, and, also, the land was basically a swamp. How much did the PGA Tour pay? $1 (yes, one dollar)! • The Players Championship was first played at TPC Sawgrass in 1982, and the course met with criticism from many players who thought it was too difficult, verging on unfair (changes were later made to address some of the criticisms). Jerry Pate was the first winner, and after he won he playfully pushed the course’s creators, Deane Beman and Pete

Dye, into the lake at No 18, before jumping in himself. • The Stadium Course regularly appears on Golf Digest’s ‘America’s 20 Toughest Courses’ list, and usually in the Top 10. It has been included in the magazine’s ‘100 Best’ list since the 1983/84 rankings.

along the cliffs… in the opinion of the great Tom Watson, this is one of the best par-4s you’ll play anywhere. The tee box sits exposed right on the edge of the coastline, then the fairway of this long, snaking par-4 tumbles down along the coast into the dunes, gently downhill, with a drop-off (Ballybunion has several steep drop-offs in the fairways) to a

green site slightly elevated and fitting snugly between more dunes. Played downwind, this 411-plus metres hole requires only a 7- or 8-iron for your approach, but into the wind it is another story altogether. The Old Course is simply sensational and has a majestic feel that simply cannot be compared to any other course on earth. With beautifully contoured fairways that tumble down through a blanket of grassy dunes, it’s no wonder it is consistently rated among the top courses in the world.

In the opinion of the great Tom Watson, this is one of the best par-4s you’ll play anywhere

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HUMOUR Illustration Dave Edwards

“IT TOOK ME 17 YEARS TO GET THREE THOUSAND HITS IN BASEBALL. IT TOOK ONE AFTERNOON ON THE GOLF COURSE.” –

WORST PLAYING PARTNERS The Stroke Play guy Thinks he is honouring spirit of the game by never picking up. Not in the spirit of the game as he drags his foursome through a three-and-a-half hour front nine. And after 10- plus strokes he says, “Put me down for a 5, with a ring.”

Hank Aaron

Advice guy Has read every instruction manual published and it would seem some not. Knows exactly how to fix your swing even though you didn’t ask, employing a vast array of swing jargon that only confuses you further. And when it doesn’t work says, “Wait, try this!”

IF YOU DRINK, DON’T DRIVE. DON’T EVEN PUTT – Dean Martin

“GOLF... IS THE INFALLIBLE TEST. THE MAN WHO CAN GO INTO A PATCH OF ROUGH ALONE, WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THAT ONLY GOD IS WATCHING HIM, AND PLAY HIS BALL WHERE IT LIES, IS THE MAN WHO WILL SERVE YOU FAITHFULLY AND WELL.” – P.G. Wodehouse

Cellphone guy Considers golf course an extension of his office, home, therapist’s couch, etc. He has perfected the balancing-phone-onthe-shoulder wedge shot. And is oft heard to say, “You guys hit. I gotta take this.”

“TO FIND A MAN’S TRUE CHARACTER, PLAY GOLF WITH HIM. ”

– P.G. Wodehouse

The ringer The 15 handicap who is somehow playing “much better” than he has in years and feigns apology when he drops bunker shot within inches of cup, then kicks sand off his shoes like a tour pro. “I guess it’s just one of those days,” he says. The vanity handicapper The 12 handicapper who has trouble breaking 100. His favourite expression: “I don’t know what’s going on with my swing today!” VOICE FROM ABOVE Guy gets to a long par-3 over water. A voice from above says, “Hit the new Titleist Pro V.” The guy tees up the Titleist and takes a practice swing. The voice comes back, “Never mind, rather hit a range ball.”

NEW GOLF TERMS

MISTAKES ARE PART OF THE GAME. IT’S HOW WELL YOU RECOVER FROM THEM, THAT’S THE MARK OF A GREAT PLAYER.” – Alice Cooper

“James Joyce” – a putt that’s an impossible read. “Rock Hudson” – it looked straight, but wasn’t. “Saddam Hussein” – from one bunker into another. “OJ Simpson” – got away with it. “Princess Grace” – should have used a driver. “Princess Di” – shouldn’t have used a driver. “condom” – safe, but didn’t feel very good. “Barbra Streisand” – ugly but still working. “Teddy Kennedy” – goes in the water, but jumps out.

CHRISTMAS GOLF Four old-timers were playing their weekly game of golf, and one remarked how nice it would be to wake up on Christmas morning, roll out of bed and, without an argument, go directly to the golf course, meet his buddies and play a round. His buddies all chimed in and said, “Let’s do it! We’ll make it a priority, figure out a way and meet here early Christmas morning.” Months later, that special morning arrives, and there they are on the golf course. The first guy says, “Boy this game cost me a fortune! I bought my wife such a diamond ring that she can’t take her eyes off it.” Guy number two says, “I spent a ton, too. My wife is at home planning the cruise I gave her. She was up to her eyeballs in brochures.” The third guy says, “Well, my wife is at home admiring her new car, reading the manual.” They all turned to the last guy in the group who is staring at them like they have lost their minds. “I can’t believe you all went to such expense for this golf game. I woke up, slapped my wife on the butt and said, ‘Well babe, Merry Christmas! It’s a great morning for either sex or golf.’ She said, “Remember to take a sweater, its cold out.” HEART ATTACK “Bad day at the course,” a guy tells his wife. “Charlie had a heart attack on the third hole.” “That’s terrible!” she says. “You’re telling me,” the husband replies. “All day long, it was hit the ball, drag Charlie, hit the ball, drag Charlie…” MULLIGAN An American is vacationing in Ireland. He decides to play a round of golf and is paired with three local gents. He takes a few practice swings, steps up to the first tee, and proceeds to hook the ball out of bounds. He shakes his head, reaches in his pocket, and re-tees another ball. He tells his playing partners that he is taking a ‘Mulligan’. He pounds one down the centre of the fairway to about 250 metres. With a big smile, he asks the others: “In the US, we call that a Mulligan; was wondering what you called it here in Ireland?” After a moment of silence, one of the locals replies, “three off the tee”.

WINS

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* win info at print date 02 July 2013