IS IT TIME TO DROP DRESS CODES? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN COURSES RELAX THE RULES... AND WHEN THEY DON’T
JULY 2012, ISSUE 7 VOL 53 BUTCH'S 7 KEY DRILLS ■ HIT FAIRWAYS WITH HANSON ■ GET BUBBA INSTINCT ■ TRUMP SCOTLAND PLAYED ■ US OPEN PREVIEW ■ DROP DRESS CODES? ■ PUTTERS TESTED
HOW TO PLAY BY INSTINCT
GS 7ALLTHINGS GREAT
PLAYERS DO BY BUTCH HARMON
FOCUS ON FEEL... JUST LIKE BUBBA
FIRST PLAY OF TRUMP SCOTLAND
DOES IT LIVE UP TO THE HYPE?
US OPEN PREVIEW
THE COURSE, RORY & WHO WILL WIN IT
PLUS
DRIVING CONTROL
JULY 2012
£4.20
HIT FAIRWAYS WITH PETER HANSON
BUNKER DRILLS
MASTER LONG SHOTS FROM SAND
FIND YOUR NEW PUTTER 18 OF THE LATEST MODELS TESTED
GOLF’S GREAT RIVALRIES + HARRINGTON INTERVIEW
the tinkerman ‘All I know is what is normal for me, and what is normal for me is changing. That’s what I do’
After his best Major finish in almost three years, Padraig Harrington gives a candid account of his constant search for improvement – and why he feels his best golf isn’t behind him. Words by Lawrence Donegan Photography by Jeff Newton, Getty
Padraig harrington
www.golf-world.co.uk // JULY 2012
When Greatness
Calls With a skill set reminiscent of Sam Snead (and very few others), the Bubba Watson who emerged from the Masters has the potential to be really special. This is why. Words BY Jaime DIAZ PHOTOGRAPHy by GETTY IMAGES
BU BBA WATSON
JULY 2012 // www.golf-world.co.uk
TRUMP I N T E R N AT I O N A L
THE FIRST VERDICT
Donald Trump’s Scottish links has been created to a backdrop of drama and intrigue – and we were the first golfers in the world to play it. WORDS BY CHRIS BERTRAM PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOWARD BOYLAN
www.golf-world.co.uk // JULY 2012
From Sarazen and Hagen to Watson and Nicklaus, golf has enjoyed some epic WORDS BY JIM MORIARTY ILLUSTRATION BY WILLIAM DUKE JULY 2012 // www.golf-world.co.uk
GREAT RIVALRIES
B
battles. Are we on the cusp of another?
efore the first Major of the year, the media made it look as though it was hardly worth the other 93 players turning up. It was, apparently, so obvious that Tiger and Rory would be in contention come Sunday that “there are no certainties in Major championships but this one can be deposited in the local building society”! Mmmm. Bubba and his extraordinary swing made sure that if anyone was stupid enough to listen to the hype, they were – well – stupid. In the end Tiger and Rory did go headto-head; but in a quest for 40th place, where they eventually tied, not even visible in Bubba’s rear-view mirror. And yet, as we come close to the second Major of the year, the story is the same. It is not going away. The High Noon encounter between Rory and Tiger is yearned for by all neutral observers of the game; and so people think about it, hope for it, and write about it. There are two things that must happen for McIlroy versus Woods to mature into the next big thing. McIlroy must become more than just a passing occupant of the No.1 spot on the world ranking. He has to continue to grow into the force majeure everyone has believed he would be since he was a boy pitching golf balls into a washing machine. And Woods, of course, must become a reasonable facsimile of himself. Neither is a mortal lock, in spite of encouraging early-season form. It is precisely because golf’s truly historic rivalries are so rare, and so compellingly beautiful when they come into full bloom, that we mine for them in every piece of promising clay. The starker reality is, Tiger Woods could no more afford to overlook Bob May or Rocco Mediate than Jack Nicklaus could Doug Sanders or Isao Aoki. There are plenty of players who earned the right to occupy the lines on golf’s most famous pieces of silver between The Others. Jones and Hagen and Sarazen. Snead and Hogan and Nelson. Palmer and Player and Nicklaus. Among those great rivals, the head-to-head duels were relatively few in number but enduring in memory. It was never about beating just one guy. “We talk too much about potential rather than performance. Results, they are what matter,” says Tom Watson. “The more you win, the more you get notched up on that perch. This guy’s good. This guy’s really good. This guy’s great,” he says, walking you up the ladder with slashing hand gestures. “It takes a while to get up to that great notch. There have been a lot of near-greats and been a lot of could-be greats, but the people who got to be great are very few and far between.” ➨ www.golf-world.co.uk // JULY 2012
Tight, tree-lined and in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge; San Francisco’s Olympic Club is a stunning venue.
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THE ULTIMATE TEST
The 112th US Open throws up some fascinating questions... so we’ve tried to answer them. WORDS BY STUART HOOD PHOTOGRAPHY BY GETTY, THE USGA
Golf in india
Life on the other side of the wall A booming economy, a billion people and a long history of golf; yet few Indians play the game.
Words BY JoHN BArToN PHoToGrAPHY BY dom furore
golf in india
day dreamING His roots were humble, his adolescence, at times, wayward. But Jason Day long ago set an ambitious goal – to be the best golfer in the world. Words BY dave shedloski PhoToGraPhY BY hoWard BoYlan, GeTTY
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henever he ran low on golf balls, the boy with talent much deeper than his pockets would hop on his beat-up mountain bike and pedal the 30 minutes from his home to Capricorn CC, a 12-hole municipal course skirting the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, Australia. He would strip down to his underwear, wade into a small, shallow pond off the first fairway and dredge the mud with his bare feet. Often he emerged with more leeches on his body than golf balls in his hands. “Yeah, that was gross. I mean, the things I did to play golf,” Jason Day says, recalling his pre-teen days growing up a golf nerd in Queensland. “Most of the balls were crap, but I could use them for practice. If I found a good one, like a balata, I’d save that for a tournament. It was hard to imagine that someday I could get all the balls I want for free.” There are plenty of things hard to imagine when your rags-to-riches story has yet to progress beyond the rags. But one of the things Day could imagine was becoming the No.1 player in the world. That only required sweat equity, the kind of investment he could afford. And he was all in. Day has yet to attain his declared goal, but he’s gaining on it. He has already reached a high of 7th position on the World Ranking, largely on the strength of his runner-up finishes in the first two Majors of 2011. At 24, he is still on track to fulfil the potential he first put on display in 2004 when he won nearly every major amateur tournament in Australia and the Callaway World Junior Championship in San Diego. Of course, he has company in his age bracket, most notably recent No.1 Rory McIlroy, who is two years younger – and finished eight shots better than Day at last year’s US Open at Congressional. Still, Day is a man ahead of his time, which he has been his whole life, though not necessarily in the most productive manner. There was, after all, that brief episode when he quit golf and attempted to become the best 12-year-old beer-drinking brawler Down Under. Day recounts his typical day: “Go to school. Sometimes not. Finish school. Get in a fight. Finish the fight. Go home. Go hang out with friends, see what they have in the refrigerator ➨ www.golf-world.co.uk // JULY 2012
2012 new products
Peter haNsoN
L au nch cOnTROL Follow the Swede’s advice for a distance-boosting driver set-up. PhotograPhy by Mark NewcoMbe
One of the chief contributions launch monitors have made to golf is in helping us understand the DNA of a long drive. We now know that, with the driver, high launch and low backspin is the magic combination. Some have likened the ball flight this blend produces to a rainbow; others compare it to the arc you’d use to gain maximum reach with the garden hose. Whichever way you see it, this insight means that instead of feeling we have to kill the ball to hit it further, we can achieve it simply it through adjusting ball flight – and that’s great news for retaining control. Modern drivers like my TaylorMade R11S are built to promote this high launch, low spin flight; all we need to do is create a handful of techniques to help us make use of the technology. Starting with set-up, I’ll show you how.
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
www.taylormadegolf.eu
SeT-up: Three sTeps To greaT launch Alignment and ball position are both fundamental to a strong, high launch. Here are my tips to building the perfect address position around them.
Set up a T-shaped hitting station. Place a cane or clubshaft parallel left of your target, to represent your feet and body aim. Then place a second one at right angles across the cane. This helps set and regulate ball position. Tee the ball up high, opposite the end of this second club. Bring your toes up to the parallel-left cane, with your left or front foot
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turned out slightly to help your hips clear coming down; but make sure its heel nudges the ball-position shaft. This sets the ball just after the low point of the swing for a sweeping ‘attack’. Place your driver across your shoulders so your shoulder aim mimics that of your feet and drop your right shoulder a touch to give the shaft this slight upward look.
Now address the ball. Check that:
n The knuckles of your higher hand are just behind the ball,
giving the shaft this slight leaning-away look. n There is an element of ‘reverse K’ about your set-up shape, set by that dropping of the back shoulder. Look for a strong left side and a slight kink in the right side.
BackSwing: load aggressively inTo The righT side 1
For me, getting set behind the ball is an important component of being able to sweep the ball forward with power. I make a strong backswing turn, loading powerfully over my right hip. The set-up I have shown you will promote this, as I will explain; but for me the key aspect of a strong turn is the shoulders. Over the page I’ll show you a drill to ensure they work properly.
www.golf-world.co.uk // JULY 2012
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equipmeNt blAde puTTers GOLD
GOLD
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putters for 2012
it’s the club that will make or break a score – so choose wisely. the test process
There are 10 blades and eight mallet putters. Our testers evaluated all 18 in four, weighted criteria: perfOrmance (45%) What happens to the ball when it’s hit by the club. innOvatiOn (30%) How the club’s technology advances the category. LOOk/sOunD/feeL (20%) What the golfer experiences before, during and after impact. DemanD (5%) The relative interest in a product and its reputation.
All judging is bAsed On A 100-pOinT scAle: gold produc ts earned a score of 93 to 100. si lve r produc ts earned a score of 88 to 92.99. In each club section, the product voted as the c at e g o ry l e a d e r ( r e d) in each of the four areas of evaluation (Performance, Innovation, Look/Sound/Feel, Demand) is assigned 100 points.
JULY 2012 // www.golf-world.co.uk
97-100 88-96 70-87 51-69 <50
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Nike
odyssey
detai l s £99.95; four styles (MC-3i shown) tech talk The face insert, which features alternating polymer and aluminium grooves, is designed to serve two purposes: reduce skid by producing faster roll and dampen vibration while emitting a steel sound at impact. pl aye r com m e Nts “It sits nice and square, which makes it easy to align. The roll is outstanding.” . . . “This one is all about the roll. The ball is just glued to the surface.”. . . “They’re on to something with the face insert. It’s like Baby Bear’s porridge: not too hot, not too cold, but just right.” . . . “It has an unusually soft, buttery feel.” hot Grooved putterfaces impart topspin on the ball faster than a plain face – as long as you strike the ball on the upstroke. Nike’s face does this without sacrificing feel. Not Where are the long/belly models?
detai l s from £109; four styles (#1 shown) tech talk This is the first Odyssey putter with a fully textured face. A urethane dampening layer backs an aluminium face plate that is covered with oval dimples. The dimples are designed to create friction between the ball and face, lowering the ball’s launch angle and creating faster forward roll. pl aye r com m e Nts “A simple design. It has great pop to the ball and a smoothness of roll unlike anything else. The balance is flawless.” . . . “The insert offers feedback but isn’t too hard.” hot Although not technically a grooved face, the dimples provide the same undeniable, positive effect on roll a grooved face does. Rather than saying “What took you so long?” we’ll go with “Nicely done” and “Well executed.” Not It’s 2012; time to get on board with putter fitting.
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detai l s £239; seven models (Anser shown) tech talk Milled from forged 303 stainless steel and covered in nonglare satin-nickel chrome, the Anser Milled comes in seven hosel configurations to suit three types of strokes. Not sure what kind of stroke you use? The iPing app (available for anyone to download and for use as a fitting device at many retailers) analyses your technique after five putts. Custom options include nine lie angles and 29 shaft lengths. pl aye r com m e Nts “Consistent in every way: sound, feel, touch.” . . . “I love the flat finish. It might be the bestlooking putter I’ve ever used.” . . . “Corners have just the right bevel.” hot The iPing app is a great invention, and the depth of fitting options for this putter is unmatched in the business. Not For the cash, it had better make some bombs.
detai l s From £110; five models (Tomcat S shown) tech talk This stainless-steel wand has a thermoplastic-elastomer face insert designed to mix the performance of steel with a softer feel. The club’s stark colours aren’t just a fashion statement but an effort to offer highcontrast alignment. Like all Ping putters in 2012, each model comes with a shaft band indicating the stroke type it suits. pl aye r com m e Nts “As square as it gets. If you can’t align this putter, change your grip.” . . . “It’s the richest black I’ve seen. The contrast with the white insert is striking and very useful.” . . . “Ping’s best insert yet. Seems to grab the ball and correct any skidding.” hot Outstanding fitting options – including the iPing app – are available across the company’s putter line-up. Not Some Pingophiles find the insert mushy.
detai l s £278; four models (Monterey 1.5 shown) tech talk The 303 stainless-steel head has a deep milling pattern on the face that is meant to create a soft feel and sound. A new “Pistolero” grip, which features an exaggerated protrusion to the back of its top, adds bulk in the fingers of the top hand. pl aye r com m e Nts “My weakness is left-to-right putts, and this grip cures me of that problem.” . . . “Weighting is right. Shaft is right. Grip is right. Everything is balanced and in concert.” . . . “Silky soft on short putts.” hot This is more than a new paint job on last year’s California: Designer Scotty Cameron made 30 subtle upgrades to the shaping and blending of the head’s edges and surfaces. Not Others offer innovative ways to provide putter fitting to their customers. It’s time Cameron did the same.
detai l s £278; five models (Newport 2 shown) tech talk This year’s Select line offers five takes on the Newport head, all milled from 303 stainless steel with the Tour Black Mist finish. Like the California, this putter has a deep face mill to soften the response at impact, and it comes with a stepless shaft for a clean look. pl aye r com m e Nts “It’s almost like the putter swings itself. The grip shape is good; it really puts the putter in the palm of the top hand.” . . . “Scotty Cameron nails sound and feel better than anyone else.” . . . “This putter looks very nice, though wish it had a white or silver alignment aid.” hot The Pistolero grip is a cool update, nice to see from a putter designer who has been accused of lacking originality. Not A black sightline on a black head? Why even bother?
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CaMeron California
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www.golf-world.co.uk // JULY 2012