Golf World October 2011

DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME

FITNESS SECRETS OF THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYERS OCTOBER 2011 ISSUE 11, VOL 52

PLU H OWS TO G O LFG E T FIT

See what else Dustin Johnson can do on page 70

3 KEYS TO

BETTER SCORES

ANATOMY OF THE YIPS

WHY THEY HAPPEN – & HOW TO STOP THEM

FIX A SLICE OR HOOK

BREAK 100/90/80

NEW IRONS REVEALED

+ HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT HYBRID

HIT CRISPER IRON SHOTS NICK PRICE SHOWS YOU HOW SHORT GAME ESSENTIALS HOW TO CHIP, PITCH & LOB BETTER PUTTS GUARANTEED WITH DAVE STOCKTON

£4.20

WITH RICKIE FOWLER

OCTOBER 2011

FITNESS SECRETS OF THE STARS n RICKIE FOWLER, NICK PRICE, DAVE STOCKTON n THE AMATEUR PROS n ANATOMY OF THE YIPS

TIPS FROM THE TOUR

PLUS

> INSIDE CLARKE’S FIRST COURSE > THE AMATEURS WHO ARE PROS

TOM LEWIS CHUBBY LANGER FOLEY PLAYER

T H E B I G I N T E RV I E W

‘ M Y S PORTI NG H E RO WA S BJOR N BJORG ; I N E V E R LI KE D M c E N ROE ’ MAJOR WINNER, RYDER CUP LEGEND AND NOW SENIOR TOUR STALWART. BERNHARD LANGER HAS DONE IT ALL... WITH A CERTAIN CALMNESS THAT HAS BEEN HIS HALLMARK. WORDS BY ROBIN BARWICK PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK NEWCOMBE, GETTY IMAGES

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oyal St George’s plays an important part in the career of Bernhard Langer. When the Open was held there in 1981, 1985 and 1993 he was never outside the top three, finishing 2nd, tied for 3rd and 3rd. So, we thought it was a good place to catch up with him after this year’s Open Championship.

Alas, he couldn’t replicate his success; in the second round, he shot a three-over-par 73 to miss the cut by five shots. Beforehand, we had arranged to meet for a late lunch in the Mercedes hospitality restaurant alongside the 18th fairway, along with a small group of Langer’s family and friends.

Langer’s second round had been a couple of

shots better than his first, but still, it would not have been the greatest shock to discover a Tour golfer had cancelled an appointment having just missed the cut.

But this is Bernhard Langer we are talking about, the maestro of emotional equilibrium. Not only did he arrive on time, but with his philosophical calm fully intact. In fact, Langer did not enter this year’s Open with high ambitions, as he had hardly swung a club in the four previous months; he was recovering from surgery on a torn ligament in his left thumb.

The German has had an extraordinary career, winning the Masters twice (1985 and 1993), and being a stalwart of the European Ryder Cup team with Faldo ➨

SHUT YOUR EYES

BY RICK IE TAKE YOUR EYES OUT OF THE SHOT AND YOU ENHANCE YOUR AWARENESS OF FEEL AND BALANCE; THAT WILL HELP INGRAIN THE SENSATIONS YOU ARE WORKING ON.

© GOLF DIGEST

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hen you can’t see the ball, you become highly aware of the movements in your swing. You get a strong sensation of your posture and balance, like how much your spine is tilted and how your weight transfers.

So at the end of a range session, I like to hit about 10 drivers with my eyes closed.

I’m still looking as I set up, but before I take the club back I shut my eyes and don’t open them until I’m holding my finish. It’s a good way of instilling everything I’ve worked on and want my body to remember the next time I practise or play.

A bonus to this is that you also swing in control because you’re nervous that you might miss the ball. I don’t do this with my irons, because taking divots blind doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do. But with the driver, which you hit on the upswing – and which has the largest clubface – it’s a fun drill to help retain the good things you’ve figured out.

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

F OW L E R

TO BUILD FEEL

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

VERY MODERN

OPEN HERO TOM LEWIS EPITOMISES A NEW BREED OF BRILLIANT YOUNGSTERS WHO ARE EFFECTIVELY PROS IN EVERYTHING BUT NAME. WORDS BY PETER MASTERS PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOWARD BOYLAN, GETTY

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hen Peter McEvoy was the best amateur in Britain he warmed up for the Masters Tournament at Augusta by playing in the March medal at his club. “I remember keeping my fingers crossed that we wouldn’t be playing on temporary greens,” he says. Amateur golf in the UK has come a long way since 1978.

Roll on to this summer and a fresh-faced boy of 20 sits in front of the world’s press at Royal St George’s. He’s just shot 65, he’s joint leader on day one of The Open and he’s an English amateur. His name is Tom Lewis.

Amateurs today are not like the amateurs of yesterday, a point that is not lost on Lewis’ playing partner that day, a certain Tom Watson. “The amateurs today are

Tom Lewis, photographed exclusively for Golf World at the driving range where he learned the game .

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

pros; they’re not amateurs,” remarked the five-time Open champion.

“They play a lot of competition. They have the trainers like the pros do, they have the coaches like the pros do, they have the video equipment like the pros do. They’re AmNOs – amateur in name only.”

One look at the R&A’s World Amateur Ranking and you start to see what Watson means. The list is headed by Patrick Cantlay, who has played in four events on the PGA Tour this season and would, if he had been professional, have banked just over $325,000.

Gary Wolstenholme was Britain’s best known amateur for a decade or so before turning pro at the age of 48 in order to prepare himself for the Seniors Tour. He says it all started to change when the

English Golf Union looked to make the England set up more ‘professional’ about nine years ago.

“Most of them are professionals and have been for some considerable time in everything but name,” he points out. “The standard of today’s amateur is that they’re shooting sub-par rounds all over the world on a regular basis. There’s no closed season anymore. This means that the top amateur players have to work out their schedules and adhere to the sort of dedication that used to be the preserve of the professionals. They have gym routines, proper coaching, all the equipment and the background teams that the leading pros have.

“They get as much gear as they want, whether that’s clothing, balls, clubs, you name it. If you’re in the England squad, ➨

AMATEUR

TOM’S ACHIEVEMENTS 2011 Open Championship............ T30 Silver Medal Winner British Amateur..................................... Quarter Finals St Andrews Links Trophy. . ................................... Won Lytham Trophy....................................................... 2nd Dubai Desert Classic................... Silver Medal Winner

2010 Australian Open.................... T12 Silver Medal Winner New South Wales Open......................................... 2nd

(beaten by Peter O’Malley in play-off) English Amateur.. ..................................... Semi finalist .(knocked out by eventual winner Tommy Fleetwood) British Amateur......................... Finished in the last 16

(knocked out by eventual winner Jin Jeong) Welsh Amateur Stroke Play.................................. 2nd Berkhamsted Trophy........................................... Won

2009 Telegraph Championships.................................... 2nd Faldo Series Final, Brazil ...................................... 2nd (Tom won his qualifying round at Walton Heath) British Boys. . ......................................................... Won Carris Trophy........................................................ Won Palmerston Trophy.............................................. Won Spanish Amateur.. ...................... Finished in the last 8 International Triangular Cup....... Won all 6 matches.

Selected to represent England in a four-man team for the World Boys in Japan.

2008 U20 Henriques Salver. . ........................................ Won Ernie Els Junior Invitation...................................... 7th

2007 Sir Henry Cooper U18. . ......................................... Won McGregor British U16............................................. 2nd North of England Boys.. ....................................... Won

2006 Weetabix U14....................................................... Won Hazard Trophy U16. . ............................................. Won

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

FIRMER, FASTER FAIRWAYS

HIT BETTER IRONS

BY N I C K PR I C E I’ve always been a huge believer in the browning out of golf courses. It’s better for the environment – less watering – and average golfers really benefit because they get 15, 20, 25 extra yards of run on the ball. As a

designer and lover of true links, I’m all for getting the turf firm and fast.

My only misgiving is that these conditions mean tighter lies. Most players want the ball sitting up on a tuft of grass, but golf doesn’t give you

TR AP TH E BALL

T A IM R IG H G IN W S AND N W DO FR O M THE E IN S ID

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

great lies all the time. More and more courses are being set up to play dry and fast, so if you want to score, you’ll have to learn how to hit iron shots from hard, thin lies. Here I’ll show you what you need to do.

FROM TIGHT LIES THE SWING

TRY MY ‘KNOCKDOWN DRAW’ FOR CONSISTENCY

TE A B B R E VRIA U O Y FIN IS H

When you have a tight lie, it’s hard to hit a medium or long iron high and get the ball to land softly without playing it way up in your stance and thereby risking a fat shot.

A higher-percentage play is my knockdown draw: a lower-trajectory, right-to-left shot that lets the ball release when it lands. Aim right of your target, make a three-quarter swing and try to trap the ball against the turf. This shot is more forgiving because to draw the ball, you have to swing down from inside the target line on a shallower path than normal. If you don’t quite catch the ball first, the club isn’t going to ricochet off the turf the way it would with a steeper approach into hard ground. Instead, your clubhead will skim along the turf, so you might turn a mediocre swing into a good shot.

‘THE BALL WILL LAND SHORTER AND ROLL OUT’ www.golf-world.co.uk // OCTOBER 2011

THIS IS WHERE

THE OPEN CHAMPION

LE A R NT TO PL AY TH E G A M E DUNGANNON IS AN UNPRETENTIOUS 18-HOLE TRACK IN ULSTER, MEASURING 6,155 YARDS OFF THE BACK TEES... AND WITH AN OPEN CHAMPION FOR A MEMBER. WORDS BY JOCK HOWARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOWARD BOYLAN

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t’s a beautiful sunny Wednesday morning at Dungannon Golf Club, and in this little corner of Ulster, all seems well with the world.

Down on the putting green, Chris Jelly, the professional, is teaching 20 young, wannabe-Open-Champions the basics of the putting stroke. Up in the club’s office, the honourable secretary, Sean T. Hughes, is showing anyone who wants to see it a picture he has just brought in from his house. It shows him standing with the Claret Jug and the new Open Champion.

Back outside the pro shop, 12 octogenarians are just beginning to congregate, beside the 1st tee, ready for their weekly bash. Recession? What recession?

Golf is booming at Dungannon Golf Club.

This isn’t surprising. A few weeks before, one Sunday night in the height of summer, this place found itself being written into the history books in indelible ink. When Darren Clarke came down the stretch in the lead at Royal St George’s in the 140th Open Championship, there were 250 people crammed into this little clubhouse, eyes fixed on at least one of the three flatscreen televisions.

Portrush may have Darren’s Golf Medal, but Dungannon is where it all started for Darren Clarke. Some 36 years earlier, Darren’s father, Godfrey – who was then the head greenkeeper – bought his eightyear-old boy to the golf club. The rest, as OCTOBER 2011 // www.golf-world.co.uk

they say, is history.

When Clarke’s ball disappeared into the hole on the 72nd hole at St George’s, the noise in the main dining room at Dungannon was deafening, as everyone seemed to punch the air simultaneously. A couple of teenagers (normally rock-hard and unemotional types) had to brush away the tears as they watched Darren lift the Claret Jug into the air. James McCann, the barman, was pulling pints like there was no

From mullet mugshot to Claret Jug shot.

Clarke, aged 17.

tomorrow. Come Monday morning, few in Dungannon had a clear head.

“I don’t think anyone who was here that night will ever forget it,” says Hughes.

“That night, everyone was Darren’s brother.

We were playing every shot with him, but still felt as he came down the stretch, something could go wrong, just as McIlroy had faltered at Augusta. From the 15th hole onwards I sort of thought he was going to do it; but you never know. Mickelson made a charge, but when he missed the short putt on the 11th, he seemed to fold. At the end, after it was all over, the place went absolutely berserk.

“On Thursday, I don’t think anyone here thought Darren was going to win the Open.

By Friday, members began to think he was in with a shot; and then the optimism just grew and grew. He was 150-1 at the beginning of the week; and lots of the members had money on him. My son had £5 each way, and won £972.”

Darren Clarke has always had a special affinity for this place. Some people know that when he won the Iberdrola Open in Majorca, 10 weeks before his St George’s triumph, the generous-natured Clarke bought everyone on the Easyjet flight back home, a drink. What few people outside Dungannon realize is that after his first European Tour victory, the 1993 Alfred Dunhill Open in Belgium, he rang Dungannon Golf Club almost immediately, ➨

The water hazard at the front of the 9th (left) and the pro shop (right).

The new 9th hole at Dungannon is named after the Open Champion.

WHO SAYS AREN’T

THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN GREAT AND THE COMING OF TIGER WOODS,

TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY? HARDLY. TOUR PRO DUSTIN JOHNSON CAN DO A SINGLE-LEG SQUAT ALL THE WAY TO THE GROUND AND BACK UP AGAIN

GOLFERS ATHLETES? ATHLETES WHO PLAYED THE GAME. BUT SINCE THE 1990s FITNESS AND FLEXIBILITY IN GOLF IS AT A NEW LEVEL. chose golf over several other sports at which he excelled, including basketball, PGA Tour star Dustin Johnson didn’t wait for the end of the question before answering.

“Best competition there is.” Johnson then points to a stocky amateur. “That guy over there?” he says. “He doesn’t have to be an athlete to play golf. But nowadays if you want to play at this level, you’d better get in the gym, or you’re gonna get lapped.”

Statistics certainly support the conclusion that an influx of elite athletes are choosing golf. In 2001, 13 players averaged 290 yards or more off the tee on the PGA Tour. Through June of this year – and let’s not forget to credit improved equipment for some of this – there were 77 players eclipsing that mark. On the Go Long Tour, otherwise known as the Nationwide Tour, there were 40 players averaging 300 yards or longer, and the

tour’s average driving distance was 295.

When PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem awarded tour cards to 25 Nationwide graduates for this year, he didn’t hand them out, he handed them up. Randy Myers, fitness coach to several top golfers, including Johnson, is another witness. “Dustin is 6ft 4in, 190 pounds.

That’s the kind of body you’re going to see more and more of out on tour: taller, stronger, more flexible,” Myers says.

“We’re only beginning to see what the sport will be like once it’s overrun with high-level athletes.”

How scary could things get? Maurice Allen, a 29-year-old former college sprinter who took up golf just last year, recently had his driver swing speed clocked at 162.7mph. That’s 50mph faster than the PGA Tour average. At a long-drive competition in Texas, Allen hit a ball 442 yards. We repeat: Golfers are athletes. n

TWEOASKED P 1660PROSAT HLETES ON TOUR TO TELL US WHO’S THE PGA TOUR’S BEST. 1 GARY WOODLAND

“Gary’s just an athletic freak.” [ 459 points ] *

2 DUSTIN JOHNSON

“Dustin makes everything look easy.” [ 442 ]

3 TIGER WOODS

“He defined athletics in golf.” [ 297 ]

4 RICKY BARNES

“That guy’s scary up close.” [ 265 ]

5 CAMILO VILLEGAS

“His six-pack has a six-pack.” [ 259 ]

6 JAMES DRISCOLL

“Could have played hockey instead.” [ 220 ]

7 WILL MACKENZIE

“Heli-boarding? Are you crazy? He can do anything.” [ 198 ]

8 SERGIO GARCIA

“I think he could hold his own in soccer.” [ 182 ]

9 JAMIE LOVEMARK

“I’ve seen him throw a football, and it’s very impressive.” [ 131 ]

10 ADAM SCOTT

“He can surf as well as he plays golf.” [ 118 ] * Tour pros gave fellow players 10 points for a first-place vote, 9 for a second, and so on. Survey conducted by Adam Schupak.

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

© GOLF DIGEST

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enerations from now, when golfers hit 350-yard drives and then utter in disgust that they “caught it on the toe,” think back to this moment. You can say you were there.

There will be no official proclamation, so this statement will have to do: Golfers are athletes.

For decades, any time players tried to make that claim, they got shot down faster than you can say “Tim Herron.” But the thing is, the best young tour pros and amateurs don’t look like Tim Herron.

Look around. Their frames are lean, their legs are long, and their muscles are sinewy.

As we will detail, they can do things like swing a driver north of 130mph, dunk a basketball and do single-leg squats until butts hit the ground.

When asked why he

1 ADDRESS Jim Furyk’s muscle activity is fairly quiet except for his lower leg muscles, which are balancing his body.

2 TAKEAWAY The trapezius and rhomboid muscles of his upper back along with his forearm muscles get the swing started.

MUSCLES IN MOTION A NEW HOW IT’S DONE: GENERAL ELECTRIC’S MOTION-DETECTION VIDEO AND INVISIBLE NEAR-INFRARED LIGHT. COMPUTER

5 HALFWAY DOWN Jim’s right pectoral muscle fires to bring the club down. The left latissimus dorsi and hip adductors are pulling his body through its rotation while his right glute is pushing it. His quadriceps are trying to stabilise his legs because of excessive knee motion.

6 IMPACT

© GOLF DIGEST

His forearm, chest and rotator-cuff muscles are really contracting to brace for the hit. His hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes and abdomen muscles all fire vigorously.

Commentary from Ralph Simpson, certified manual physical therapist and former fitness trainer on the PGA Tour.

3 HALFWAY BACK His right gluteal, quadriceps and hamstring muscles are loading.

His erector spinae and abdomen muscles also are engaged.

4 THE TOP Several muscles fire to stabilise his body in this torqued position, including scapular stabilisers, rotator cuffs, trunk extensors, and his right hamstrings.

LOOK AT JIM FURYK’S SWING

CAMERA GENERATES A 3D IMAGE OF FURYK’S SWING IN MOTION, CAPTURING SOFTWARE THEN TAKES THAT IMAGE AND BUILDS A MUSCULATURE AVATAR.

8 THE FINISH His rotator cuffs have to work hard to stabilise the torquing of his shoulder joints. Several leg muscles are working to keep his body in balance.

7 FOLLOWTHROUGH Jim’s trunk muscles are allowing his body to rotate left without too much side bend, while his quads and hamstrings work to stabilise his hips and knees.

TRY MY 4 STEPS TO B Y D AV E S T O C K T O N

TIMELESS ADVICE BY POSSIBLY THE MOST RESPECTED PUTTING COACH IN THE GAME TODAY, WHO WORKS WITH PHIL AND RORY.

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The first step is to visualise the path the ball needs to take to the hole and to prepare yourself to roll it down that path. To start, you need to know the predominant break, and the best place to get that information is behind the ball – not behind the hole. Crouch down, directly on a line to your target, and make a decision: Will it break to the left or to the right? Once you establish the direction of the break, you’ll start to form a mental picture of the correct line.

When you read a book, do you tilt it towards you or away from you? Looking from the high side of the break – where the putt swings out to its apex – is like reading a book with it tilted away from you: you can’t see very well. Go to the low side— opposite the apex – and you get a much better sense of the slope. Stop midway and mentally break the putt into thirds. The last third is where most of the break usually occurs, so focus on what the ball will do in that part.

S TA R T B E H I N D T H E B A L L

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

BREAK THE PUTT INTO THIRDS

BETTER PUTTING pressure, whether it’s over a £5 bet or a putt to win a Major championship: the routine gets slower and more complicated. Now the player has time to think about the consequences of failure – and a tentative miss almost always comes next. The truth

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is, you don’t have to change your stroke to become a better putter.

Use a quick, simple routine to help you picture the putt and set your focus.

Then trust it every time, and success will follow.

© GOLF DIGEST

I

t sounds simple. A pre-putt routine is a process you should repeat time after time, no matter the situation.

But for many players – even those on tour – that doesn’t happen. You can see it when a player starts feeling

SKIP THE PR ACTICE STROKE

F I N I S H YO U R S E T- U P A N D G O

Your next goal is to connect the line you see with the roll you’re going to put on the ball. I don’t like practice strokes, because they don’t happen on the line you’ve just picked for the putt – in other words, you lose that connection. Instead, walk up to the ball while looking down the line, holding the putter in your left hand and making small “feel” strokes with your right. Then, standing upright, step in with your right foot and continue to track your eyes down the line.

Many players waste their routine at the end. They stare down at the ball before making the stroke. You want to keep concentrating on your target. Set your left foot – I stand slightly open to see the line better. I also start with the putter in front of the ball; that helps me de-emphasise the ball during the stroke. Once you set the putter behind the ball, take one last look and go. I’m looking at a spot an inch or two in front of the ball, and trying to roll it over that spot.

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

THE

EQUIPMENT

THE MOST CONFUSING CLUB IN YOUR BAG WHICH KIND OF HYBRID IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

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hen you search golfsmith.com under “hybrids,” 72 entries appear. Each one varies by characteristics that are visible and, unfortunately, invisible.

Hybrids differ from one to the next as much as a club can while still being classified under the same category.

Originally, the hybrid was the one-sizefits-all Swiss Army Knife of golf clubs, revitalising that dead zone in your bag between the 3-wood and 5-iron. Today, hybrid styles can seem as different as a chipper is from a muscle-back 4-iron. So how do you choose the right one for you?

The easiest answer is to meet with a clubfitter to find how best to solve the trouble spots in your bag. But here are some clues to help you narrow your hybrid search.

SIZE Larger hybrids are designed to mitigate bad swings, and smaller hybrids are built to enhance skills. Typically, oversize hybrids are designed for players with slow swing speeds who need more backspin, says Tim Reed, vice president of research and development at Adams Golf. Clubs that are narrower front to back are better suited for players with fast swing speeds. (Not sure what “fast” means? If your driver swing speed is more than 100mph and you drive it 275 yards, that’s “fast.”

‘A HYBRID IS DESIGNED TO SATISFY A SPECIFIC DISTANCE NEED’

TECHNICAL

MIZUNO J PX- 8 0 0

£119 Internal weighting and a maraging-steel face are designed to improve mis-hits vertically and horizontally on the face.

(Lofts: 17, 19, 22, 25) mizunoeurope.com

ADAMS I D E A P R O A1 2

£159 The clubhead gets more compact as the lofts get higher. A thin, maraging-steel face is designed to increase ball speed.

(Lofts: 16, 18, 20, 23, 26) adamsgolf.com

TAY L O R M A D E BURNER S U P E R FA S T 2.0 RESCUE £129 A thin wall saves weight to lower the centre of gravity. The longer shaft and lighter weight is designed to enhance swing speed. (Lofts: 18, 21, 24, 27) taylormadegolf.eu

PING G20 £139 Weight is redistributed in the sole to increase forgiveness, and a flat lie angle helps the transition from irons to hybrid. (Lofts: 17, 20, 23, 27, 31) ping.com

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE 3-HYBRID

© GOLF DIGEST

Anything less than that, and you are a candidate for using larger hybrids.)

Choosing the right shape can be more complicated than knowing your swing speed.

“It’s a decision based on the type of swing you have,” says Marty Jertson, senior design engineer at Ping. “Even with players at the highest level there is a big difference in the trajectory of their ball flight and how much they spin the ball, so it’s definitely a combination of swing speed, launch condition, angle of attack and biomechanics.”

DRAW BIAS Another important factor is shot direction. If you miss your long irons to the right, large hybrids and their draw-bias design could be the best option regardless of your swing speed, says Tom Olsavsky, TaylorMade’s director of product creation for metalwoods. “It comes down to how you hit the ball,” he says. “If you hit the ball with a draw already, don’t pick a standard hybrid, pick one with a neutral bias. When you make these clubs bigger front to back, the ball tends to fly higher and more to the left.”

SHAFT A shaft that is longer (40½ inches for a 3-hybrid) and lighter (65 or fewer grams) can help slow swingers increase clubhead speed. This is important because these players often see a dramatic decrease in long-iron distance. (One caveat: Players with fast swing speeds who prefer traditionally weighted steel shafts in their irons might find that lighter and longer shafts create large distance gaps between the longest iron and the highest-lofted hybrid.)

LOFT There isn’t always a correlation between the loft of the hybrid and that of the corresponding iron. For example, lofts for hybrids designed to replace the 3-iron can range from 18 to 21 degrees. There are also plenty of fairway woods with lofts in that range. “A better player might get too much spin with higher-lofted fairway woods,” says one clubfitter. “But when the loft gets below 20 degrees, average golfers should go with a fairway wood.”

In the end, finding the right hybrid is about choosing a club that satisfies a specific distance need. Olsavsky says it’s more important that golfers understand how a hybrid fills a particular yardage range than knowing its loft, shaft length or centre of gravity. “Take your longest iron, and if you don’t hit it consistently in the air and consistently to a target, then you should be looking for a hybrid to replace it,” he says.

Olsavsky adds that tour players are replacing irons with hybrids more often than average golfers might think. “Some tour players are replacing all the way up to the 5-iron,” he says, “and if we started making tour hybrids for 6-irons, they’d replace those, too.” n

Not all 3-hybrids are created equal. Hybrids vary in shape and size to meet the needs of different players. In a test we conducted with slow and fast swingers using the Callaway RAZR X hybrid and the RAZR X Tour hybrid, we found shots with the RAZR X launched half a degree to a degree higher and produced more draw spin than the RAZR X Tour. Interestingly, overall distance remained about the same. But the differences go beyond launch conditions. You can see how differences might play out by looking at how manufacturers design their 3-hybrids here:

MODEL

LOFT SHAFT LENGTH SHAFT WEIGHT (DEG.) (INCHES) (GRAMS)

Adams Idea Pro a12 . . . . . . . 20. . . . . . . . . . . . 40. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85. . . . . . . .

Adams Idea Tech V3 . . . . . . 19.. . . . . . . . . . . 41.25. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60. . . . . . . .

Callaway RAZR X.. . . . . . . . . 21.. . . . . . . . . . . 40.25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65. . . . . . . .

Callaway RAZR X Tour . . . . 21.. . . . . . . . . . . 40.25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75. . . . . . . .

Cleveland Mashie . . . . . . . . 20.5. . . . . . . . . . 40.25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61. . . . . . . .

Mizuno JPX-800 . . . . . . . . . . 19.. . . . . . . . . . . 40.25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68. . . . . . . .

Nickent 6DX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.. . . . . . . . . . . 40.5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85. . . . . . . .

Nike VR Pro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.. . . . . . . . . . . 40.5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90. . . . . . . .

Ping G20.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . 40. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76. . . . . . . .

TaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0 Rescue. . . . . 18.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61. . . . . . . .

TaylorMade Rescue 11 . . . . . 18.. . . . . . . . . . . 40.5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55. . . . . . . .

Titleist 910H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.. . . . . . . . . . . 40.5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 . . . . . . . .

Tour Edge Exotics Trilogy.. 20. . . . . . . . . . . 40.25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64. . . . . . . .

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

I N CO R P O R AT I N G

THE

TOP 100

COU R SE S N E W S / R E V I E W S / D E S T I N AT I O N S

MONTHLY

T OP 10 0 W E E K E N D S

THE WEEKEND GUIDE TO:

LIVERPOOL WITH SOUTHPORT TO THE NORTH AND THE WIRRAL TO THE SOUTH, THE CITY IS THE PERFECT BASE FOR A GREAT GOLF BREAK. WORDS BY CHRIS BERTRAM PHOTOGRAPHY BY GETTY

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

LIVERPOOL

R

ecognised the world over as a city steeped in football, Liverpool is also home to a collection of links courses bursting with Champions League quality.

While fans make pilgrimages in their thousands from across the globe to Goodison Park and Anfield, on the outskirts of the city – but probably closer to the centre than many think – is an array of seaside courses which have hosted virtually every major event in golf.

It has two venues on the current Open rota – Royal Birkdale and Royal Liverpool – as well as courses that have hosted the Ryder Cup (more than once), the Walker Cup, the Amateur Championship and the Curtis Cup. The area is split into two – Southport and the Wirral – but the courses in each are incredibly close and both are just a few minutes’ drive from the city centre.

Alternatively use Merseyrail, which links both areas wonderfully well, calling at stations so convenient for the courses it frequently uses their names.

It is how golfers used to travel in a bygone era and is a delightful way of moving around – plus you can have a pint or two before hopping back on the train to the city centre.

Southport area

Royal Birkdale moved up to No.2 in our Great Britain & Ireland list last year, justified reward for a course which was a magnificent stage for The Open in 2008.

Birkdale doesn’t win any of the categories routinely used for assessing courses – but neither does it have weaknesses in any of them.

History, aesthetic appeal, a fair challenge, clever design and conditioning; Birkdale is at least an 8/10 in all.

It has its famous holes – the 12th is

one of Britain’s finest par 3s, one of a collection of fine short holes – but the strength of Birkdale is its unremitting quality; class and charisma, hole after hole. The first 14 are threaded between the dunes with the last four more open, yet still providing plenty of drama in the shape of the par-5 15th and now infamous 17th. Finally, the art deco clubhouse is a unique delight.

Next door, Hillside isn’t able to boast a Major on its CV – although it has hosted the Amateur Championship – but it has a stretch of holes as good as any on England’s west coast.

The start to Hillside is perfectly adequate (the railway line down the 1st and 2nd is a lovely throwback) but it’s when you move to the middle of the generally flat front nine that the pace really starts to pick up, with the 7th – its green framed by tall pines – a standout.

Then on the back nine it reaches ➨

Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington rate Birkdale’s tough and beautiful par-4 13th the finest 13th on the Open rota.

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