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N E W-L O OK G OL F WOR L D H A S MOR E T I P S , GE A R , C OU R SE S & I N T E RV I E WS MAY 2011 ISSUE 5, VOL 52 EQUIPMENT SECRETS OF THE PROS n TIGER'S SWING THROUGH THE DECADES n MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ n PETER DAWSON n JOHNNY MILLER

TIGER SPECIAL

HIS FIVE LIFETIME COACHES REVEAL WHY HE KEEPS CHANGING EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

www.golf-world.co.uk

WESTWOOD, G-MAC & 53 PLAYERS REVEAL THE...

EQUIPMENT

MIGUEL JIMENEZ PETER DAWSON JOHNNY MILLER NICK FALDO

SECRETS

OF THE

PROS

+

> TRICKS OF THE TRADE TO GET MORE FROM YOUR 14 CLUBS PLUS CUSTOM FITTING GUIDE, NEW DRIVERS, 2011 WEDGES TESTED

HANDICAP CHEATS How to spot one

HIT MORE GREENS

MAY 2011 £4.20

Suzann Pettersen’s 10 ironplay rules

35 PAGES OF TIPS

FOOLPROOF CHIPPING

BY DARREN CLARKE

HIT MORE FAIRWAYS

BY EDOARDO MOLINARI

FIVE SIMPLE SWING FIXES PLUS: NO MORE THREE-PUTTS

THE BIG I N T E RV I E W

CUSTODIAN OF THE GAME THE BALL IS NOT OFF-LIMITS... ONE SET OF RULES FOR ALL IS THE RIGHT THING...

I GET PRETTY HACKED OFF WITH THE MEDIA...

AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL WILL BE ONE OF GOLF’S MOST COVETED AWARDS... THERE IS NO POINT IN PLAYING THE GAME IF YOU DON’T PLAY BY THE RULES...

THE R&A’S PETER DAWSON TALKS TO JOHN HUGGAN.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GETTY IMAGES

‘I’VE ALWAYS TAKEN RISKS TO TRY TO BECOME A BETTER GOLFER, AND THAT’S ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HAS GOTTEN ME THIS FAR’ T I G E R WO OD S

MAY 2011 // www.golf-world.co.uk

THE EVOLUTION OF

TIGER’S

SWING

WHY HE CHANGED (AGAIN AND AGAIN), FROM TWEAKS TO MAJOR OVERHAULS WITH FIVE TEACHERS.

I

WORDS BY JAIME DIAZ PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEPEHN SZURLEJ, JD CUBAN, DOM FURORE

t has been very hard to know Tiger Woods. It has been easier – but not that easy – to know Tiger Woods’ swing. For a long time, it has been the object of study, speculation, envy, criticism and mystery. Even Woods has been transfixed.

To this point, it’s not unreasonable to surmise that he has devoted more time and attention to his swing than to anything or anyone else in his life. By his early teens, Woods had spent enough time grinding on it to fulfil the “10,000-Hour Rule” that author Malcolm Gladwell cites for any high achievement. The readings on Woods’ time clock might have tripled in the two decades since, making him the leading exemplar of what students of genius call “the infinite capacity for taking pains.”

Though the process might seem painful to others, the golf swing is Woods’ comfort zone. He talks about it more readily than other subjects, although his answers can be cryptic when he senses too much scrutiny.

For as good as it is, time has taught us that the golf swing is actually Woods’ weak spot.

It’s the part of the game in which he has the most room to get better.

Under Woods’ self-narrative of constant improvement, he has kept rebuilding and risking, never settling. For so long, the results supported that Woods had an unerring sense for what was best for his swing, that given extraordinary talent, his decisions were wellcalculated. Butch Harmon and Hank Haney, when they were his instructors, maintained no player they had ever worked with knew more about the swing. As Woods achieved things no one had ever done, he did something else no champion golfer has ever done: from the top of the game, he committed to an overhaul of his swing. Not once, but twice, and each time after a historic feat: first after winning the Masters by 12 strokes in 1997, and then soon after winning seven of 11 majors in a run that ended in 2002. (Nick Faldo’s changes under David Leadbetter took place well before Faldo’s climb to the top.) Woods would say he wanted to own his swing like Ben Hogan and Lee Trevino, players who were so in touch with their technique they could fix any flaw during competition. Great swingers and shotmakers of the past had settled on a style that grooved idiosyncratic imperfections over years, but Woods dared to start over with

radical changes aimed at a technically flawless form. And though others had relied on long-term repetition to ingrain their actions, Woods believed extraordinary will could act as quick-drying glue. “No one has ever conquered the game of golf,” Michael Jordan said a few years after his friend had completed one of his worst seasons, in 2004.

“He thinks he can conquer it.”

Even during that frustrating time, Woods never expressed doubt. “People thought it was asinine for me to change my swing after I won the Masters by 12 shots, like, ‘Why would you want to change that?’ ” he said.

“Well, I thought I could become better. I’ve always taken risks to try to become a better golfer, and that’s one of the things that has gotten me this far.”

The goal was to build a swing that transcended the compromise between distance and control that is the reality for any style of play. Woods strove for a technique that could blend precision and power, theoretically allowing him to hit the ideal shot in any situation. In 2000, Woods led or was second in nearly every key ballstriking statistic. He also finished a careerbest 54th in driving accuracy but only half- ➨ www.golf-world.co.uk // MAY 2011

E XC LU S I V E I N T E RV I E W

TH E FA S T S H OW

MIGUEL ÁNGEL JIMÉNEZ MAY HAVE JUST CELEBRATED HIS 47th BIRTHDAY, BUT THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF HIM SLOWING DOWN, AS WE FOUND OUT WHEN WE SPENT THE DAY WITH HIM IN SPAIN. WORDS BY ISABEL LÓPEZ PASTOR PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAVIER ALBINANA, KIRAN BALANI, GETTY IMAGES

2011 NEW PRODUCTS

STRIKE PURE CHIP SHOTS

BY DA R R E N C L A R K E

LEARN TO USE YOUR SHOULDERS CORRECTLY AND YOU WILL ADD QUALITY AND CONSISTENCY TO YOUR LONGER CHIP SHOTS. PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOWARD BOYLAN

Before the groove rule change at the start of 2010, you would often see us pros playing the so-called hop-and-stop from 30 or 40 yards; the ball would take one big bounce before settling rapidly on the second – in theory, by the pin. But with the new, V-shaped grooves, this shot is slightly different.

The ball still checks on the second bounce, but then releases a little and runs out. This is actually no bad thing.

Like most pros, I only spin the ball when I have to; most of the time it’s actually easier to get the ball consistently close when it is rolling out.

The new grooves allow us to play a longer chip shot where the ball settles quickly, but still gets back to the pin – and this is the shot I’m going to show you now.

MAY 2011 // www.golf-world.co.uk

ROTATE I see so many amateurs rock their shoulders on chip shots, which leads to inconsistency. Learn to rotate them instead.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

www.taylormadegolf.eu

SET UP TO HIT DOWN The tour pro plays all pitch shots from high to low. That’s because a slight downward angle of attack allows us to get as much contact between the ball and the grooves as we can; if you can get the ball right into the grooves of the clubface, you will create better contact and more control.

I play the ball a little bit further back in my stance, just behind the shirt buttons.

This naturally creates a slight forward shaft lean, which promotes that downward strike. Note that this address position relationship between hands, club and ball presets that descending angle of attack; all you have to do during the swing is preserve it.

SHOULDER ACTION; TURN, DON’T DIP! The key difference between how a pro and amateur chips is in the way they use their shoulders.

A M AT EU R

PRESS IT A little shaft lean in your set-up naturally promotes a downward strike.

This is how the amateur chips. The shoulders move vertically up and down, the left shoulder dropping on the way back and rising on the way through. It creates an erratic shot pattern, the clubhead falling and rising sharply and rarely making any kind of decent contact with the ball. It’s close to impossible to get the grooves into the ball and generate control with this action.

PRO In contrast, the tour pro’s shoulders work around and around. It’s a turn-turn feeling, almost a mini-version of the full swing. The best way to develop the correct feeling is by placing a clubshaft across your shoulders, as shown above. Feel your left shoulder turn in front of you on the way back, and rotate behind you on the way through. This more rotational action preserves those angles you created at set-up, allowing you to apply consistent downward pressure on the ball.

www.golf-world.co.uk // MAY 2011

REAL LIFE

‘ WA LK I N G U P TH E 1 8 t h , I B EC A M E Q U ITE E M OTI O N A L . I R E A LI S E D TH I S WA S TH E L A S T RO U N D I ’ D E V E R PL AY W ITH T WO K I D N E YS’ TOUR PLAYER BENN BARHAM WAS STRUCK DOWN WITH A CANCEROUS KIDNEY 12 WEEKS AGO. AFTER A SUCCESSFUL OPERATION TO REMOVE IT, WE WENT TO PAY HIM A VISIT, AS HE STARTS PRACTISING FOR HIS COMEBACK. WORDS BY KEVIN RUDSULL PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARTIN APPS

T OU R I N S I G H T

EQUIPMENT

SECRETS OF THE

PROS

TRICKS OF THE TRADE TO HELP YOU GET MORE FROM THE 14 CLUBS IN YOUR BAG. WORDS BY PETER MASTERS & DUNCAN LENNARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOWARD BOYLAN, GETTY

T

oday’s players on Tour are almost always open to anything that can help them play better. Why wouldn’t you be when you’re playing for millions of pounds and Major titles?

Yet many amateurs – who need more help than anyone – seem reluctant to try new things that could help improve their game.

So to get your mind thinking about performance advantages through equipment, we’ve compiled this insightful guide to some of the equipment secrets of the Tours. We’ve spent the last few months talking to players and manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic. We’ve talked drivers with Lee Westwood, wedges with Martin Kaymer, grips with Luke Donald, putters with Phil Mickelson, trying to find out what players do that you can replicate, and that may save you shots.

One of the overriding conclusions to come out of this exercise is that no two bags on tour are the same. Each player has their clubs optimised for their swing and their personal preferences.

So we’ve also compiled the definitive guide to the benefits of custom fitting (from page 96), complete with how and where the major manufacturers can help you optimise your equipment.

MAY 2011 // www.golf-world.co.uk

GRAEME M c DOWELL

GEAR SECRETS

BALLS

HOW TO CHOOSE I’ve only played the new Srixon Z Star since the start of this year, but already I’m noticing a difference. I’d say that it’s giving me a few more yards, while being easier to control around the greens.

Changing your ball can be quite a major upheaval for a player because, in the worst case scenario, it can alter so many things about your game. It’s conceivable that if you change your ball you must also change your driver to match up with the launch and spin characteristics. I’ve been lucky with the Srixon, though, because I’ve managed to maintain a similar set-up as last year.

I look for a couple of things in a ball, the first being distance. I’m about midway in the long driving stakes, so I don’t want to give up any yards. I’m looking for ball speed off the driver and the Z Star improved my speed. It also spins a little more than the ball I used last year and that has given me a better hang time and slightly more carry.

The second factor I like to see is stability in the wind. Balls bore through the wind a lot more these days and there is an argument to say that shaping the ball in the wind is not as necessary as it was in the old days. I remember playing with Ross Fisher when he won the European Open at the London Club and that Sunday was horrendous with the wind. And yet he never changed his ball flight at all and it held its line very well.

But I still like to vary my trajectory a little bit, moving it left or right or high and low.

Balls today are nothing like the old balata balls we used years ago. If you gave a top player from the ’90s one of the modern balls then he would have laughed at you. But the game has changed completely.

THE ART OF OPTIMISATION WORDS BY E MICHAEL JOHNSON ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHRISTOPHER PHILPOT

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‘OPTIMISATION’ OF YOUR CLUBS IS MORE THAN A BUZZ WORD. IT CAN YIELD YARDS, BETTER SCORES AND, ABOVE ALL, CONSISTENCY.

O

ptimising your equipment doesn’t mean you’ll rip every drive 300 yards or drop every 10-footer you look at.

Nor does it promise to turn your weekly opponent into your personal cash machine. But there are advantages, very real ones. Optimisation means giving yourself the best opportunity through your

equipment to play your best golf. How much can you optimise your equipment?

That depends on the time and financial commitment you’re willing to make. For some it means shelling out big bucks for the full treatment; for others it can be as simple as changing the ball. The goal, however, remains the same whether you are a scratch golfer or the type who

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wipes it all over the club face: play better golf on a more consistent basis. You have 14 clubs in your bag plus a ball. Each piece of that equipment provides an opportunity to improve your score. We’ve identified five areas every player should focus on. Paying attention to any of them will bring improvement. Work on all five, and you’re well on your way to being optimised.

CUS TOM FIT TING THE L AUNCH MONITOR THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE To play good golf, players need everything to work together. The clubhead, the shaft, the ball and the swing all must mesh. Arguably no piece of technology in the last decade has played a larger role in helping golfers achieve that than the launch monitor.

Most early launch monitors took a picture of the ball at impact and then again shortly after. From the photos, data was fed into a computer and calculations done in a matter of seconds to determine ball speed, launch angle, spin rate and clubhead speed. These monitors told you what was happening at impact, but couldn’t produce data as to what was happening to the ball at the end of the flight.

Today that technology has expanded to the point where radar-based devices such as TrackMan can determine a shot’s optimal trajectory and its angle of descent. The carry numbers might still be the same as on an old monitor, but TrackMan helps players figure out how to get more yards via roll, too. There’s more data, and that leads to a better fit. The advent of adjustable clubs has made launch-monitor fittings more efficient in recent years. While early adjustable clubs were somewhat pedestrian, engineers have now found useful means of adjustability that allow fitters to better match clubs to swings.

“Adjustability has helped give fitters a lot of the same capabilities found in a tour van,” says Chris McGinley, VP of golf club marketing for Titleist, whose 910 series of woods allows for loft and lie adjustments to be done independently, something not previously accomplished in an adjustable club. “Now you can alter loft, lie, weight and shaft choice in a very short period of time.”

Tour pros have been taking advantage of launch monitors and adjustability for years.

Everyday players are another matter. Most of their strikes are off-centre. So while those who play for pay fit to their best shots, everyday players need to resist that temptation.

“Launch monitors are excellent tools so long as [the process] doesn’t turn into a carnival show of trying simply to get the most distance,” says Tom Stites, director of product creation for Nike. “There is a danger of fitting players to their Sunday punch.” In other words, when you catch one on the screws, the numbers on the monitor may jump off the screen and dazzle you, but be realistic. Hit shots that are representative of your game, using several different loft and shaft combinations (if you have them

available) and see which combination brings the best results.

Those results, however, are only legitimate if you are fit using a ball that is reasonably close to what you are playing. If you play a tour-level ball and get fit with a one-piece range ball, well, that’s not a very good comparison. Most range balls produce very high spin and a lot of fitters work to get spin down. As such, a player may find once they are back on the course that they now have too little spin because their normal ball spins so much less than the range ball they used during their fitting. Ping, which does not make golf balls, has nonetheless made strides in this area with its nFlight fitting software.

“We have a tool in nFlight where we get the numbers from the launch monitor and convert one ball type to another,” says Dr Paul Wood, research project engineer for Ping. “It’s not realistic to think most outdoor fitting centres will have regular golf balls to hit. This software can help make a fit using range balls far more accurate.”

B A L L- F I T T I N G IMPORTANT – AND UNDERUSED Launch monitors, shaft-fitting systems and adjustability help turn around clubs to a player’s exact specs in a matter of minutes.

But despite huge differences between tour-

‘ADJUSTABILITY HAS HELPED GIVE FITTERS A LOT OF THE SAME CAPABILITIES FOUND IN A TOUR VAN’

calibre balls and the kind you buy at Tesco, ball-fitting continues to be an underappreciated method of improvement.

“It amazes me that so many golfers play a ball without giving much thought to it,” says Brandon Sowell, golf ball marketing manager for Bridgestone. “Every player has a ball that will optimise his launch characteristics. It’s just a matter of finding it.

We’re coming up on our 100,000th ballfitting, and we’ve seen the great improvement that can be made by someone changing from the wrong ball to the right ball. It’s a drastic improvement at times. Plus, it’s probably the least-expensive change in equipment a player can make.”

Though it may be the least expensive, Bill Morgan, senior VP of golf ball R&D for Titleist, says it should be the most time-consuming. “A lot of players incorrectly use driver distance as the key determinant in selecting a golf ball,” says Morgan. “But it is the spin into and around the green where you see more significant differences, not off the tee.

“Golf isn’t played on a driving range or by hitting balls into nets. It’s played on the course, and the best way to see which ball best fits your game is to go to a hole on your home course with several types of balls and work your way from the green back, hitting lots of chips, pitches and approach shots. It’s really no more difficult than that, but few players put the time in to do it. If they did they would see their scores drop.”

SET MAKE-UP MAKE MORE OF YOUR 14 CLUBS Unlike tour pros most everyday players tend to use the same 14 clubs round after round.

Tour pros approach set make-up like a fishing tackle box, picking the right lures for the task at hand.

It’s why a player such as Jim Furyk rarely carries a 4-iron and Bernhard Langer brings as many as eight wedges with him to a tour event (“You never know what conditions you’re going to encounter”). The failure of everyday players to approach set make-up in a similar à la carte manner is nothing short of giving strokes away.

“There is room for massive improvement in this area,” says Wood. “Even if you play the same course all the time, odds are your set has yardage gaps in it. Now we have the tools to show players where those gaps are – especially in wedges.”

Most amateurs don’t have the skill to hit shots at less than full throttle. They’re also likely playing stronger-lofted pitching wedges than the pros so the space between ➨ www.golf-world.co.uk // MAY 2011

THE

EQUIPMENT NEW CLU BS / T ECHNOLOGY / TOU R I NSIGH T / T E STS

INSIDE THIS S E C T I ON

NEWS & 124 GEAR TOUR INSIGHT

GETTING 126 NEW: TECHNICAL

2011 128 NEW: WEDGES TEST Both standard and Tour versions have a cast titanium cup face that is chemically milled to be slightly thicker in the centre and thinner near the edges to maintain a higher ball speed on off-centre strikes.

131

NEW: THE FITTING ROOM

MAY 2011 // www.golf-world.co.uk

Forged Composite was used in the crown of the Diablo Octane, but it’s used to make the crown and body of the RAZR Hawk drivers.

THE BIG LAUNCH

F I R S T L O OK

CALLAWAY’S RAZR HAWK

NEW DRIVER BECAME A QUICK WINNER ON TOUR. Just two weeks before Callaway unveiled its new RAZR Hawk driver, it had back-to-back wins on the European Tour in the hands of Thomas Bjorn and Alvaro Quiros.

Like the Diablo Octane, the RAZR Hawk and RAZR Hawk Tour are made with Forged Composite, a new lightweight material developed with Lamborghini. To create it, millions of tiny carbon fibres are heated and pressed.

The fibres melt and flow into the exact shape Callaway desires. The final product is lighter, stronger and, according to Callaway, more precise than titanium. Some of the saved weight has been redistributed to a weight at the back, to lower the centre of gravity for higher-flying drives.

Couple that with improved aerodynamics (Callaway

says it has cut drag by 43% compared to the old FT-9), and a longer 46-inch shaft, and the company claims this model is six yards longer than an FT-9.

Bjorn used one for the first time and won in Qatar (see below), while Quiros used one the following week to win in Dubai. The Spaniard told Golf World: “I love the new shape of the head. It’s certainly a lower spin driver and it’s giving me a very flat and penetrating ball flight. I was long with my FT-5, but I’ve picked up at least 10 yards and I’m also hitting it straighter than ever.”

The RAZR Hawk will be available in 9.5°, 10.5°, 11.5° and 13° versions while the RAZR Hawk Tour will be available in 8.5°, 9.5° and 10.5°. Both will cost £329. www.callawaygolf.com

A BOOM ON TOUR Thomas Bjorn and Alvaro Quiros won within two weeks of putting a RAZR Hawk driver in the bag.

Bjorn claimed his 11th Tour title in Qatar and said: “It’s been great for me. I’ve picked up a good 10 yards and I feel more confident than ever standing on the tee.” Quiros led that field in driving distance with an average of 323 yards – 19 longer than his nearest rival – before winning the following week in Dubai.

In the Draw version, the weight is slightly more to the toe side of the head.

Along the bottom of both drivers, Callaway has also placed an aluminium skid plate for added durability.

Like the FT-9 Tour, the RAZR Hawk Tour has a slightly smaller head (445cc), a slightly higher CG and will come standard with a shorter 45.5-inch shaft.

www.golf-world.co.uk // MAY 2011

THE

COURSES

“I THINK OVER HALF THE FIELD AT THIS YEAR’S BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP WILL TAKE THE NEW 18 th GREEN ON IN TWO…” ERNIE ELS ON THE NEW WENTWORTH

I

WORDS BY BRIAN HENDERSON PHOTOGRAPH BY KEVIN MURRAY

t was a surprising piece of television. Faced with fierce criticism from some players about the new 18th hole at last year’s BMW PGA Championship, Wentworth owner Richard Caring put his hand up, and took the blame.

In a world where, when things go wrong, scapegoats are usually put to the sword, it was a brave piece of honesty.

MAY 2011 // www.golf-world.co.uk

“Ernie and I have had a few punch-ups,” he said, “but the 18th you’ve got to put down to me. That was my dream. I wanted to give the spectators some drama and some theatre. We might have gone too far, as it’s proving quite difficult for the players. The green could be set lower, which is what Ernie wanted to do in the first place, but I was slightly more theatrical. The green could also be a bit bigger, to tempt more

pros to go for the green in two. At the end of the day, Ernie was right, I was wrong.”

And so, ever since that day in May, and over the coldest winter since records began more than 350 years ago, Chris Kennedy and his team of greenkeepers have been busy tweaking the West course once more, ensuring it is in better shape than ever, when the BMW PGA Championship returns this May. ➨

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www.golf-world.co.uk // MAY 2011