Golf Digest - March 2022

THE #1 GOLF PUBLICATION

S AU D I L A D I E S I N T E R N AT I O N A L

LY D I A T H E KO M U S T G O O N

+ GOOD TO GROW THE ASIAN TOUR’S NEW INTERNATIONAL SERIES EXPLAINED ARAB TRAILBLAZER SHERGO AL KURDI IS A GOLF SAUDI AMBASSADOR

MARCH • 2022 A MOTIVATE PUBLICATION AED20 KD1.7 OR2.1 SR20 BD2.1

Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority

GOLFDIGESTME.COM

TIPS FROM THE TOP TEE TO GREEN GEMS FROM THE VERY BEST

MARCH / 2022

hot list - irons Embrace the latest technology to become a ‘greens in reg’ machine.

4 Editor’s Letter Will Lefty’s lament prove a circuit breaker for the Saudis?

10 Foundation Course Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up. by euan bowden

by kent gray

The Starter 6 Centurion Club The Asian Tour is headed to a former DP World Tour venue.

18 The Ko Must Go On A recent realisation will help Lydia Ko’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International defence. by kent gray

16 The Fringe How golf helped CC Sabathia overcome his alcohol addiction.

23 How to Cheat at Putting Make these “adjustments” on the greens, and you’ll get away with it.

by alex myers

by terry rowles

8 Undercover Caddie Why Jim Mackay is the best of our era.

66 The Loop Office golf insults worthy of a trip to HR.

28 Game On The world is suddenly the Asian Tour’s oyster.

with joel beall

by coleman bentley

by kent gray

by kent gray

Mind / Body j.d. cuban

14 Arab Trailblazer Meet Shergo Al Kurdi, Golf Saudi’s latest global ambassador.

Features

cover photograph by douglas p. defelice / getty images

32 Tips from the Top Who’s the best driver, iron player and putter?

We identified the elite. Here they share their secrets.

Hot List

Part 2

48 Players Distance Irons These irons do it all—power, finesse, forgiveness and feel—in a classiclooking package.

41 Iron Age Whether your swing is the envy of everyone on the range or in need of help, we’ve found your next set.

55 Game Improvement Irons You want your mis-hits to fly straighter, farther and higher. Every entry here offers instant corrections.

42 Players Irons If you’re going to stay competitive, the newest in this category will make your best shots. even better.

62 Super Game Improvement Irons The game is hard. These irons, with wider soles and hotter faces, are your new best friends.

march 2022

golfdigestme.com

3

E

EDITOR’S LE TTER

Circuit breaker?

Phil Mickelson tried to walk back his “reckless” comments but has irreversible damage been done to Saudi ambitions?

By Kent Gray

T

HEY SAY A WEEK IS A LONG time in politics. They obviously haven’t played golf.

When the game truly turns against you, even a single hole can test ones willingness to keep calm and carry on as your next shot outdoes the last one on a sliding scale of pure and unadulterated misery.

Imagine, then, how awful Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman must have felt as February lurched to a painful close for the rumoured Saudi golf league. We’re not prepared to write an obituary just yet but it did feel like death by a thousand cuts, the deepest of them self-inflicted.

During the week of the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera, the PGA Tour launched a carefully-choreographed PR counterattack against the breakaway league Norman was seemingly set to front in his role as CEO of LIV Golf Investments. The U.S. tour needn’t have bothered. Thanks to Phil, who was set to be a trusty playing sidekick to Norman and a series stakeholder, the concept went from probable to increasingly toxic in a series of astonishing PR gaffes.

It was an extraordinary week as headliner after headliner came out in support of the status quo just when it seemed LIV Golf were gaining big-name traction. At the Saudi International, Dustin Johnson said he “liked the concept” and offered “let’s see” to questions about his future. Lee

“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously but…”

4

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

Westwood admitted to having signed an DNA while Henrik Stenson’s silence seemed equally telling. Ian Poulter and Bryson DeChambeau were linked to huge sign-on deals, the latter an eye-popping $135 million which the American quickly refuted on social media. Norman even told CNN Living Golf that LIV Golf had signed more than 17 players, roughly at the same time Adam Scott was joking that he’d been “sworn to secrecy” even if he did find the league’s schedule “appealing”.

When the PGA Tour’s overdue counter-narrative came it was decisive, high profile human dominos falling towards the U.S. circuit one after another, day after day at Riviera.

shark bites (back) LIV Golf Investments CEO Greg Norman insists the Saudi concept isn’t sunk yet

Mickelson hadn’t helped the LIV Golf cause when he spoke of the PGA Tour’s “obnoxious greed” during the Saudi International but the likely circuit breaker came with the release of snippets from an interview he gave back in November for an upcoming biography. Quite how the reigning U.S. PGA champion thought that accusing the Kingdom of being “scary… to deal with” would not return to haunt him beggars belief. The bit where he openly admitted to using the Saudi initiative as leverage, a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates”, spoke to an equally staggering sense of entitlement.

Lefty’s repeated foot-in-mouth moments, which may or may not have prompted Johnson and DeChambeau to do swift 180-degree turns back to-

wards the PGA Tour, looked to have stymied LIV Golf’s long-term plans at the time of print.

“It’s dead in the water,” Rory McIlroy said on Sunday at the Genesis before turning his crosshairs on Mickelson’s reported comments. “I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously but I thought they were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant. A lot of words to describe that interaction he had with [journalist Alan] Shipnuck. It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad.

I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”

It also begged the question as to where LIV Golf turned next. True to form, Norman left no-one in any doubt a few days later when he wrote an open letter to Jay Monahan, insisting “Surely you jest” in response to reports that the PGA Tour commissioner had floated lifetime bans to anyone aligning with LIV Golf.

“Commissioner,” Norman concluded, “This is just the beginning. It is certainly not the end.”

Whatever happens, Mickelson’s position is seemingly untenable, especially after a written apology for his “reckless” comments was roundly criticised as conceited.

If the Saudi league is to rise off the canvas, it’s going to take more than announcements of front office executives, as impressive as LIV Golf’s line-up appears. It won’t come out swinging if the player announcements are ageing stars either. But as McIlroy said, it is hard to see where exactly any names, much less narrative shifting young guns, are coming from.

“Who’s left? Who’s left to go? I mean, there’s no one. It’s dead in the water in my opinion,” the Northern Irishman said. “I just can’t see any reason why anyone would go … I mean, Greg Norman would have to tee it up to fill the field. Like, I mean seriously? I mean, who else is going to do it? I don’t think they could get 48 guys.”

kent.gray@motivate.ae @kentgraygolf / @golfdigestme

lefty’s lament In his apology, Mickelson said: “I desperately need some time away...” editor-in- chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer managing partner & group editor Ian Fairservice editor Kent Gray art director Clarkwin Cruz editorial assistant Londresa Flores instruction editors Luke Tidmarsh, Euan Bowden, Tom Ogilvie, Matthew Brookes, Lea Pouillard, Alex Riggs chief commercial officer Anthony Milne publisher David Burke gener al manager - production S. Sunil Kumar assistant production manager Binu Purandaran t h e g o l f d i g e s t p u b l i c at i o n s editor-in- chief Jerry Tarde director, business development & partnerships Greg Chatzinoff international editor Ju Kuang Tan golf digest usa editor-in- chief Jerry Tarde gener al manager Chris Reynolds editorial director Max Adler executive editor Peter Morrice art director Chloe Galkin managing editors Alan P. Pittman, Ryan Herrington (News) chief pl aying editor Tiger Woods pl aying editors Phil Mickelson, Francesco Molinari, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Tom Watson

head office: Media One Tower, PO Box 2331, Dubai, UAE Tel +971 4 427 3000; Fax +971 4 428 2270 dubai media cit y: SD 2-94, 2nd Floor, Building 2, Dubai, UAE Tel +971 4 390 3550; Fax +971 4 390 4845 abu dhabi: PO Box 43072, UAE Tel +971 2 657 3490; Fax +971 2 657 3489

london: Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER, UK, E-mail: motivateuk@motivate.ae

GOLF DIGEST and HOW TO PLAY, WHAT TO PLAY, WHERE TO PLAY are registered trademarks of Discovery Golf, Inc. Copyright © 2021 Discovery Golf, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Volume 72, Issue 2. GOLF DIGEST (ISSN 0017-176X) is published eight times a year by Discovery Golf, Inc. Principal office: Golf Digest, 1180 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y., 10036. Discovery Golf, Inc.: Alex Kaplan, President & GM; Gunnar Wiedenfels, Chief Financial Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and at additional mailing offices.

golfdigestme.com /GolfDigestME photographs by oisin keniry/getty images

The Starter

Centurion Club

The Asian Tour’s new marquee International Series is headed to England

T

he International Series’ first foray to England promises a spectacular test of golf for the Asian Tour’s finest. After the launch of the tour’s premier 10event schedule at Black Mountain in Thailand from March 3-6, the private members’ Centurion Club in Hertfordshire will take centre stage from June 9-12. With a $2 million purse on the line, the elite field will be tested by a unique 7,100 yard layout that is a hybrid of pine woodland (including the 1st pictured here) and links-like holes, the later “carefully but dramatically shaped” and framed with indigenous fescue grasses. Opened in 2013 and named to reflect the historical association the area had with the Roman era, the course presents elevated tees, 80 bunkers and four major water features. In 2018, it hosted a then European Tour event, the GolfSixes won by Irishman Paul Dunne. –kent gray

6

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

photograph courtesy centurion club

M

MIND / ON TO UR

Undercover Caddie Why Jim Mackay is the best of our era

I

t starts with the nickname: Bones. Even by the lofty standards of caddie handles, that is pretty darn strong. Rest assured, though, we are talking about a man—Jim (Bones) Mackay, who has returned from broadcasting to team with Justin Thomas—who is way more than a moniker.

Any caddie under 45 has been influenced by Bones. He changed the landscape of the profession simply by the conversations he had with Phil Mickelson. Those two were on television all the time, and caddies heard their exchanges even more intently than fans. It was a master class in communication skills. What we heard was not a caddie who was subservient but someone who was on equal footing with his player when talking over a shot while keeping his ego out of the way to ensure his player’s confidence never wavered. That’s a lot jammed into one sentence, but that’s how delicate and deep the dynamic of a player-caddie relationship is, and Bones was one of the first guys to understand it. When you hear a caddie-player conversation on TV now, we caddies, in a way, are trying our best Bones impersonations.

The respect for those communication skills grew when Bones would pick up temporary bags after transitioning into on-course reporting. He helped Thomas grab a win in the WGC in Memphis in 2020. A few weeks before that Bones guided Matt Fitzpatrick to a third-place finish at the Memorial.

Fitzpatrick has played, what, 90-something events on tour? And he has only one better finish in those other starts than he did with Bones. If that’s a coincidence, well, that’s a hell of a coincidence.

Mickelson, Thomas, Fitzpatrick: not much overlap in personality and playing profile. That’s part of the beauty of Bones. He’s part chameleon. You have to adjust your personality to your bag. Caddies are coaches, in a way, and you need to figure out which guys need to be brought along and which need to be pushed—or when they need to be pushed. Players have their own language for firing themselves up, and you need to figure out what those trigger words are. But you also have to be yourself. Players aren’t dumb; they know when you’re being real and when you’re trying to play a part, and if they sense you’re acting, everything falls apart. Bones? He’s able to maneuver while staying true to who he is as a person.

Then there’s Bones the person. A lot of caddies will help younger caddies out when asked. Bones goes out of his way to make sure the new guys feel welcome. He’s honest and open. He can build you 8

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

up when you’re down. He has encouraged younger caddies to come follow him during a practice round to pick up on what he does and to ask him questions about it afterward. He also doesn’t mind setting guys straight when they need it. That included me, once upon a time.

Early on I could sense I wasn’t fitting in with the other caddies. However, I didn’t know how to make it better. Luckily one night after a practice round, I got a chance to speak to Bones, and before I could bring the subject up he sort of let me have it. “You know, I think you’re a good guy,” he told me. “But you don’t spend any time with the other caddies. If you want relationships with them, you have to put the work in. They shouldn’t have to get to know you; the onus is on you to get to know us.” You know what? He was right. Caddieing can be long days at the course, and after those days I wanted to go back to the hotel. But I started coming to the course earlier and hanging out later strictly to socialise, and by the end of the year I felt like one of the gang.

Bones and his wife open their house to caddies every year in Phoenix. That kindness extends to players, too. About a decade ago, my player was really good, but he was relatively new to the scene. One round we were paired with Phil, and let me tell you, no matter how good a tour player is, he gets nervous around two players: Tiger and Phil. My guy was visibly ruffled and started off rough. But then he played the final 14 holes in six under. Afterward, Bones came up to my guy. “I just want to let you know, I’ve seen a lot of people fold in that situation,” Bones said. “You showed a lot of moxie and character. You should be proud.” That player has gone on to some really big things in his career, but that moment with Bones still means the world to him.

Only so many caddies become household names, and the rank-and-file like me are often asked about those famous guys. Truth is, a majority of them aren’t the most well-liked. Part of that is jealousy, absolutely. If you’re a known caddie, it means you’re with a known player and that means you are making bank. But part of that disfavour is because some of those guys have let their standing get to their head. They think they’re better than the rest of us now that they have a little celebrity. Frankly, some of them are just jerks.

But Bones? Bones is beloved because he is the real deal.

—with joel beall illustration by gluekit

B

BODY / P UTTING 101

1

2 ▶ Scan the QR Code to watch Euan bring this lesson to life.

FOUNDATION COURSE

A consistent putting stroke starts with a solid foundation

By Euan Bowden

YOU DON’T PUTT WITH a driver, fairway wood or a long iron so why would you set up on the green like you’re about to let rip on the 1st tee?

We see this curse to consistent putting frequently here at the Peter Cowan Golf Academy at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, with new ama-

teurs in particular guilty of setting up for putts like they’re about to take a full swing.

The problem is this does not give a suitable foundation to make a repeatable putting stroke. That in turn can lead to frustrating problems, notably challenges controlling your distance and starting the ball on your intended line.

A great place to start when building the basis of a strong putting set up is with the alignment of the arms. An easy way to achieve this is by holding the putter grip with your palms level and facing each other (1). When doing this you want to feel as though your upper arms are connected to your ribcage (2) which will allow your arms to be well connected to the body throughout the stroke. By aligning the hands together you will also be able to align your forearms and shoulders straight away. This connection

unlock your hidden potential with

between your arms and body will encourage better control of your stroke length and distance when putting and, with improved shoulder and forearm alignment, you will be able to move the putter on a better plane throughout the stroke.

In practice, hit putts with your palms facing each other as well just to get used to the feeling. It will also allow you to make a smooth stroke without too much of a ‘hitting’ action.

The key when taking this new feeling into your regular putting set up is to maintain the same structure of the arms and shoulders as when the palms were facing each other. Take your normal grip but make sure that the forearms and shoulders maintain the aformentioned alignment.

Try this putting set up the next time you are on the practice green to ensure you are well connected and correctly aligned. euan bowden is a PGA teaching professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

Are you making the most of your potential? With the use of our new 3D motion plate technology from Swing Catalyst, combined with TPI and Bio Swing screenings, we can tell you if you are!

Find out more by calling 04 205 4666 or email golf.academy@hyatt.com.

joachim guay

WATCH THE VIDEO

B

BODY / TO UR TECHNIQ UE

GET ON A ROLL WITH YOUR IRONS Use these simple strategies to hit more greens

At lAst November’s Cme Group Tour Championship, I had no idea I set the record for consecutive greens hit in regulation on any major U.S. pro tour. All I was trying to do was avoid having to chip a lot from the difficult Bermuda grass around the greens at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples. But after missing my approach shot on the ninth hole in the first round on Thursday, I didn’t miss another green the rest of the week. I hit 63 in a row.

It’s not unusual for me to hit 14 or 15 greens a round, and I think it’s because I don’t pay much attention to the hole’s location. On long approach shots, I aim for the largest area of the green. For shorter approaches, I try to leave myself with an uphill putt.

I also work hard on having a consistent strike. I spent a month after the Olympic Games practicing from 8 a.m. until dinner getting my swing ready for the Tour Championship. I know that much practice is not an option for most of you, so I’d say the best thing you can do for solid contact is always take one more club and swing at about three-quarters of your maximum speed. Your balance is going to be better and your swing more consistent, which should improve the quality of your strike. I know it can be hard not to aim at pins, but remember, if you’re anywhere on the green in regulation, it means you have a chance at birdie. —WItH KeelY levINs jin young ko is the only Korean player to win the LPGA Tour’s Rolex Player of the Year award twice (2019, 2021).

12

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

REC ORD S E TTERS : LO N G E ST G I R ST R E AKS lp g a to ur

63

jin young ko 2021

pga to ur

korn ferry tour

p g a to ur c h am p i o ns

bob lohr 1993

boo weekley 2006

hugh baiocchi 1999

51

51

48

Michael Reaves/Getty iMaGes

By Jin Young Ko

NATIVE MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE ON EMIRATES Attractions Activities Dining Health & Wellness Study in the UAE Entertainment Properties in the UAE The ‘Enjoy Dubai & UAE’ channels on Emirates’ awardwinning ice platform provide affordable access to one of the largest, captivated and affluent audiences in the world, creating a unique opportunity to showcase your business.

FOR ENQUIRIES: +971 4 427 3000 | sales@motivate.ae

motivatemedia.com

M

MIND / GOLFERS WE ADMIRE

Arab trailblazer

Fledgling England-born, Jordan-attached professional Shergo Al Kurdi has joined some big names support Golf Saudi’s ambition in growing and promoting the sport in the Kingdom and around the globe

P

ioneering Jordanian professional Shergo Al Kurdi has joined World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player, fellow major champion Anna Nordqvist and PGA Tour winner Jason Kokrak as an international ambassador for Golf Saudi.

Al Kurdi’s ambassadorship was announced on the eve of the PIF Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers where the 18-yearold carded rounds of 75-76 at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club to miss the cut by seven strokes.

After being given his break on the regional developmental MENA Tour in recent years, the English born but Jordanian raised Al Kurdi turned professional before Christmas. He missed the cut at both the Asian Tour’s two Phuket events but is considered one of the region’s best hopes and showed why by becoming the first Arab player to make a cut on the DP World Tour at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic earlier this month. He eventually finished T-33 at Al Hamra Golf Club, signing for rounds of 68-68-74-68 to finish -10, 12 strokes behind winner Ryan Fox of New Zealand.

Kurdi, who won €12,250 in RAK, has been charged with bringing golf to new audiences, by inspiring young Arab boys and girls regionally. He wants to let his golf to do the talking and believes his association with Golf Saudi will help him to achieve that.

DP World Tour professionals Pablo Larrazabal and Adri Arnaus and Ladies European Tour players Camilla Lennarth, Amy Boulden and Anne van Dam are also listed on the Golf Saudi website as global ambassadors for the governing body.

I would like to thank Majed Al Sorour and Golf Saudi for the amount of support they have given me 14

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

shergo al kurdi asian tour age 18 lives england

photograph issue by andrew x . 2021 redington/getty images x | golf digest

M

MIND / THE FRINGE

Swing Away

Former MLB pitcher CC Sabathia has found health and happiness in golf

By Alex Myers

F

16

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

field day Now six years sober, Sabathia has gone all in on golf since retiring from baseball.

announced he was entering alcohol rehab. How bad had things gotten? Before heading home to pack, Sabathia stopped at a liquor store to buy two bottles of Hennessy for the drive back from Baltimore. His season had come to a sudden and stunning close, but it was the start of what would be a happier chapter of his life. Now six years sober, Sabathia hopes being open about his struggles, which he has detailed in a recent memoir, can assist others in need.

“It’s important for me being a black man to share it just because we don’t talk about those things in our community,” Sabathia says. “Whether it’s alcohol dependency or anxiety or depression, we’re always taught to be tough and to not show our emotions and deal with these things internally.

Those things can break you. They almost broke me in 2015.”

Once he cut alcohol from his life, Sabathia says he had to find ways to fill the time—especially on road trips—during the final four years of his career. Eventually, he began playing a lot of golf, a sport in which he got off to an inauspicious start years before when he broke

Cleveland teammate David Riske’s driver on his first-ever swing. But the contact has gotten better in retirement, and the game has provided a healthy outlet in addition to his PitCCh In Foundation, his regular R2C2 podcast on The Ringer and getting to spend more time with his wife, Amber, and their four kids.

“For sure, golf has helped me,” Sabathia says of his alcohol addiction.

“Being able to detach from my phone, hang out with some buddies and enjoy being where my feet are. That’s one thing I always try to tell myself. Just be where your feet are.”

Those days are more frequent for Sabathia in golf. “I’m setting up golf trips; I’ve got a simulator in the house,” Sabathia says. “Whether it’s golf, baseball, working out, if I’m in, I’m in.”

Just keep swinging, CC. Just keep swinging.

Alex Myers found a (big) shoulder to cry on after another disappointing Yankees postseason exit. photograph by steve boyle

Joel Kimmel

or nearly two decades, CC Sabathia was one of the most imposing players in Major League Baseball, a 6-foot-6, 300-plus-pound southpaw who looked more like an NFL offensive lineman on the mound. But opposing batters would have undoubtedly felt more at ease if they only knew what was going through the burly hurler’s mind when he had the ball.

“You ever seen ‘Finding Nemo’ where Dory is saying ‘Just keep swimming, just keep swimming’?” Sabathia asks.

“I’d always tell myself, ‘Just keep pitching, just keep pitching.’ A lot of times I’d be singing that song in my head.”

Sabathia’s golf mantra might as well be, “Just keep swinging, just keep swinging.” The former pitcher is spending more time than ever on the course— he just doesn’t spend much time when it’s his turn to hit. “Somebody told me, if you’re going to play bad, you gotta play fast,” says Sabathia, a six-time MLB AllStar who won a Cy Young Award with Cleveland in 2007 and a World Series ring with the Yankees in 2009.

A frequent visitor to Alpine Country Club near his New Jersey home, Sabathia has lowered his Handicap Index to 17.5 thanks to lessons with director of golf John Mascari. More noticeable than the saved strokes, Sabathia has shed 40 pounds through weightlifting and golf. The 41-year-old is in the best shape of his life now that he has dropped the “mass equals gas” philosophy for his fastball. Unlike most retired athletes who turn to golf because they miss competing, Sabathia does it to fill a different kind of void.

On Oct. 5, 2015, four days after pitching the Yankees into the playoffs for the first time in three years, Sabathia

Experience the very best of

with all the latest news, reviews and activites to help you discover what the Kingdom has to offer

WhatsOnSaudiArabia.com whatsonksa

KO THE

MUS T GO ON

SINCE WINNING HER SIXTH LET TITLE AT ROYAL GREENS GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB LAST NOVEMBER,

LYDIA KO HAS ADDED A 17TH LPGA TOUR TITLE TO

HER GLITTERING RÉSUMÉ. BUT IT IS A RECENT REALISATION, RATHER THAN PAST GLORIES, THAT WILL HAVE PRETENDERS TO THE KIWI’S ARAMCO SAUDI LADES INTERNATIONAL CROWN WORRIED.

ben hogan’s missive is the most famous and perhaps the most pertinent summation of the brilliantly maddening pursuit that is golf. “This is a game of misses. The guy who misses the best is going to win.” ▶ For a contemporary deep dive on the subject, the best-selling book by the world renowned sports psychologist Dr. Rob Rotella has been a go-to guide to high golf performance since it was first published in 1995. ▶ Given Lydia Ko wasn’t born until 1997, perhaps it is no surprise the now 24-year-old Korean-born Kiwi is only just learning the secret found within the pages of Golf is not a Game of Perfect, albeit by more modern communication tools.

18

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

gutter credit tk

BY KENT GRAY

3RD ARAMCO SAUDI LADIES INTERNATIONAL

gutter credit tk

“I THINK SOMETIMES I TRY AND BECOME TOO MUCH OF A PERFECTIONIST”

photograph by andrew redington/getty images

20

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

KO PLAYS AN APPROACH INTO ROYAL GREENS’ FINAL HOLE DURING THE 2ND ARMCO SAUDI LADIES INTERNATIONAL LAST NOVEMBER BEFORE ( RIGHT ) ENJOYING THE SPOILS OF SUCCESS.

Ko, who won 14 times in her teens, later admitted her recent work with Sean Foley was only part of her recent return to form after ending a three-year title drought at the LPGA Tour’s Lotte Championship last April. The real key has been the realisation she doesn’t need to be perfect on the course to be competitive.

“I think sometimes I try and become too much of a perfectionist,” Ko said. “And to kind of hear that [from Rahm] I was like, Yeah, you’re right. I’m just trying to play golf and not control everything out there.”

Ko seemed in total control at Royal Greens last November, winning in a canter on the course before knocking it out of the park in the media centre. The two-time Olympic Games medallist turned a four-stroke overnight lead into a five-shot victory with a Sunday 65 before praising Golf Saudi efforts to grown female participation.

In its inaugural year, the Kingdom boasted fewer than 20 female players but women’s tournaments in Saudi Arabia have inspired thousands, all through Golf Saudi’s world-first free golf initiative, the Ladies First Club powered by Aramco.

(2) tristan jones/let

Ko, who will be back to defend her $1 million Aramco Saudi Lades International presented by PIF title from March 17-20, admitted as much after claiming the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio in late January. The world No.3 credited a quote from men’s No.1 Jon Rahm, found as she was scrolling Instagram, for her ability to edge Danielle Kang by a stroke, including a seemingly nerveless up and down for par from a greenside bunker on the 72nd hole.

“He said, ‘It’s not about how many times you hit the fairway. Golf, at the end you have to try and play [and score] the best you can in the circumstances,’” Ko said. “I think his quote really helped me to realise that you know what? It’s golf. Sometimes I’m going to hit great shots; sometimes I’m going to hit not-so-pretty ones. I have to manage my way around and try and shoot the best score I can. Today, I don’t feel like I had my A game, but I was able to make up and down when I was out of position and then not get too down when did I make mistakes.”

That realisation will be sobering for Ko’s rivals heading to Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City. The win in Florida was, incredibly, her 17th LPGA title and earned the New Zealander a 21st World Golf Hall of Fame point; she needs 27 to be inducted. The $300,000 payday edged her past Se Ri Pak to ninth on the all-time LPGA career money list with a cool $12,668,796, while also lifting the bubbly Kiwi into a tie for 32nd on the all-time wins list.

“Hopefully, with the tournament being on here for the last couple of years, more and more women have the courage to take up golf and want to, in the future, come and play this event,” said Ko. “It was really cool meeting a few of the Ladies First Club members over these past few days and to them, I’d just say keep working hard and show the power of women.”

Ko won’t have it all her own way at Royal Greens, of course, with major winners Anna Nordqvist and Georgia Hall also KAEC-bound, as are Solheim Cup stars Carlota Ciganda and Bronte Law, past-LET winners Marianne Skarpnord, Olivia Cowan, Pauline Roussin

Bouchard, Steph Kyriacou and Anne van Dam, and the tournament’s debut 2020 champion, Emily Kristine Pedersen of Denmark.

The event’s new March date means the Aramco Saudi Lades International presented by PIF now occupies a far earlier spot on the Ladies European Tour calendar, taking place eight months sooner than usual in a season shake-up that will now see the circuit visit the Kingdom twice, latterly for the Aramco Team Series – Jeddah event, which returns in November.

With the Aramco Saudi Lades International presented by PIF and the Aramco Team Series expanding to five individual $1million events in 2022, this year will mark a record season for the LET, where its biggest ever pool of prize-money will be up for grabs.

“There’s no question that every event we’ve had to date at Royal Greens has been a huge success,” said LET CEO Alexandra Armas.

“The Saudi Ladies International is a week all our players look forward to enormously, with the quality of field and prizemoney adding an extra edge to what is a stunning course and venue for elite tournament golf.

“We also feel the impact of our members playing in Saudi Arabia and the good that’s doing for women’s golf.

We all have fond memories of our landmark first event in 2020 which inspired more than 1,000 Saudi women and girls to sign-up to learn the game for the first time over the tournament weekend. We are very proud and encouraged about what has been achieved so far and are motivated to continue inspiring more women and young girls into the game.”

The lasting message to all those newbies from defending champion Ko? Remember, golf is not a game of perfect. march 2022

golfdigestme.com

21

The platform for branded content that delivers big results Marketing Partner

Marketing Partner

Creative Partner

Media Partner

+971 4 427 3000 vamp-brands.com

How to

C H E A T at Putting MAKE THESE ‘ADJUSTMENTS’ ON THE GREEN, AND YOU’LL GET AWAY WITH IT

BY TERRY ROWLES WITH MATTHEW RUDY

Ben Hogan was famously irritated by fellow players who survived on tour thanks to their putting. Why should such a specialised skill count so much toward the final outcome?

In a way, players who can really roll the ball are cheating—or at least hacking the system. A good putting stroke works like an eraser for sketchier parts of your game. Miss a green with a bad iron shot and leave your chip 12 feet short? A good putt turns a bogey into a par. It’s like the bad shots never happened.

But what if you don’t look like Ben Crenshaw or Inbee Park as you stand over your putts? What if you consider yourself a bad putter? It doesn’t have to be that way. There are some things I can show you to turn your putting around pretty fast—simple things, in fact. With these technical adjustments, visualisation tricks and a possible equipment change, you can find the cheat code you need to change putting from a weakness to a strength.

The first task is to open your mind. You hear a lot of talk about fundamentals in golf, but the reality in putting is, there’s no one grip style or stroke style that is ideal. You can—and should— try some different things to find a style that matches your body and what you see.

Why does bad putting happen? At the fundamental level, it’s because the face is moving too unpredictably, and you can’t make the ball go where you intend it to go. If that’s happening to you, I bet it starts with using the wrong grip.

GRIP STYLES: SHOULD YOU CHANGE IT UP?

24

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

gutter credit tk

If your full-swing grip is weak, try the “saw” grip, with the shaft across the fingers of your dominant hand (top photo, left), for better clubface control.

Is your grip strong? Eliminate erratic strokes with the “claw,” holding the putter more like a pencil (top photo, right), or cross-handed (bottom photo, left).

The arm-lock method (bottom photo, right) is great for golfers with shaky hands.

photographs by james farrell

putting-green illustration: justin metz

IT’S LEGAL: WHY ARMLOCKING IS LIKE STEALING Anchoring a custom-made putter to the lead forearm—which is allowed by rules-makers— takes the hands completely out of the stroke.

You use the shoulders and rib cage to move the putter (above), which greatly increases the ability to control the clubface through impact.

There’s been an epidemic of players tucking their elbows into their sides as they putt—mostly to keep extra movement out of the stroke. But how your body is constructed might not jibe with that style. If you make your full swing with a weaker grip, your trail elbow works more off your body.

Pinching your elbows tight to your sides works against the way your body wants to operate. For you, changing to a “saw” grip (see “Grip Styles,” opposite page), with the trail hand turned and working along the target line, would be my recommendation. One PGA Tour player I worked with this past year grudgingly switched to a saw grip in our first putting session. After the first ball, he stood up and said, “This is like cheating.” He had found a match between his body and a putting style.

If you’re a strong-grip player, and you haven’t been able to control the face, holding the putter with the “claw”style or cross-handed are great options. You’ll be able to keep your elbows closer to your body in a way that prevents your spine from tilting too much. When you’re more level, the club can swing more neutrally. That’s a trick players such as Bernhard Langer, Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington have turned to.

Of course, the dirty little secret in all of this is

the yips. What happens if you have a shaky lower hand? That’s been the main reason players have switched to cross-handed—because it changes the emphasis to the other hand. Now you have another option. Matt Kuchar popularised the arm-lock style of putting, where you brace a longer shaft and handle against your forearm (above). The most famous arm-locker on tour is Bryson DeChambeau. Assuming you get fit to your putter properly, the technique is simple.

You use your shoulders and rib cage to move the putter, not your hands. Watch DeChambeau do it, and you can see all the muscles in his forearms flexing because he’s so locked down. If you’re an artist who likes to have feel in your fingers, armlocking is probably not a good choice. But if you want a mechanical advantage and a stroke that reduces variables, there’s no question it works. It’s as close as you can get to anchoring the putter to a fixed point on any part of your body other than the hand or forearm—which really is cheating, according to the Rules of Golf.

Putters built for the arm-lock technique are longer and heavier, and they have more loft than standard putters. That means, in addition to a good clubfitting, you need a setup position that gets your hands and shaft leaning forward. For march 2022

golfdigestme.com

25

most players, that means a more forward ball position. When you make the stroke, you just preserve the structure you set with your arms and club at address.

Once you’ve found the right grip and made some progress improving your stroke, now it’s time to hack the aiming process. There has been a lot of well-meaning advice about lining everything—hips, feet, shoulders—square to the target line. But that doesn’t account for the way the vast majority of us see things. Try this test and you’ll get what I mean: Aim an alignment stick so it’s EYE TEST: PERCEPTION IS YOUR REALITY Select a 15-foot putt, then put an alignment stick on the ground so it’s between you and the hole and pointing at the cup (right).

Now address the putt so that your shoulders, hips, knees and feet are matching the alignment stick.

There’s a good chance when you do this, the stick will no longer appear to be pointing at the hole.

You need to adjust (see “Setup,” opposite page).

26

golfdigestme.com

straight at the hole on a 15-footer (below). Now set up so your feet, knees, hips and shoulder are square to that alignment stick. From your golf posture, does that stick look like it’s going straight at the hole? If so, great. You’re in a good setup position. Unfortunately, two-thirds of the players I coach don’t see the stick pointing at the hole from there. If that’s the case for you, the answer isn’t to shove your stroke around to try to make it work.

You need to adjust your stance open, closed, closer to or farther away from the ball until the line appears straight.

SETUP: CUSTOMISE HOW YOU STAND TO WHAT YOU SEE Using the eye test from the previous page, I now have shifted my stance to a closed position (left) to make the alignment stick appear to be pointing at the hole. This is the stance I should putt from.

For you, it could mean opening your stance or standing closer to or farther away from the ball than what is deemed an orthodox address posture.

Point is, it doesn’t matter how you stand as long as what you see matches up with the alignment rod pointing at the hole. Customise your setup just like you customise your putter or your grip.

How you see the line affects the shape of your swing. When you see the line accurately, you’ll realise how you stand to it isn’t relevant. Your hack for success is one that stabilises the face and lets you roll the ball where you want it to go.

The art of green-reading could be its own article, but I’ll leave you with a tip in thought process that should help you. If you struggle with reading greens, you probably constantly ask yourself, What’s the right line? That puts a tremendous amount of pressure on you.

Instead, ask yourself, If I hit a straight putt from here, where will it miss? If the answer is left, ask yourself, By how much? Then adjust accordingly.

You’re asking yourself questions that have simple, affirmative answers, and you’ll be in a more positive head space.

Now go take all your friends’ money. terry rowles, one of Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America, is located at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, N.J. march 2022

golfdigestme.com

27

good to grow Asian Tour chief Cho Minn Thant and the circuit’s No.1 ranked player, Joohyung Kim, flank Greg Norman at the International Series launch.

28

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

Asian Tour CEO and Commissioner CHO MIN THANT is a man with a global growth plan courtesy of LIV Golf Investments now

$300 MILLION, 10-YEAR BACKING

by KENT GRAY

with england locked and loaded and the United States firmly on the drawing board, the message is crystal clear: the Asian Tour suddenly sees all and every corner of the golf world as its oyster.

That much became blatantly obvious at the unveiling of the tour’s new marquee brand on the not so subtle side-lines of the PIF Saudi International last month – even if Greg Norman was at pains to insists “we’re not in this for a fight”.

The LIV Golf CEO joined Asian Tour supremo Cho Minn Thant and the circuit’s freshly minted Order-of-Merit champion Joohyung Kim to herald the arrival of ‘The International Series’, 10 marquee events being bankrolled by LIV Golf to the tune of $300 million over the next decade.

In attendance at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club were a small travelling press corp, a larger international media audience logged in virtually and a palpable sense of intrigue surrounding LIV Golf’s next move beyond its investment in the OWGR-sanctioned Asian Tour.

By announcing that its shiny new series will visit The Centurion Club on the northern outskirts of London and the Middle East twice – i.e. traditional DP World Tour territory – the Asian Tour’s intentions are clear at the very least. photographs by james farrell

INTERNATIONAL SERIES EXPLAINED The International Series is the Asian Tour’s new blue-riband brand, a sequence of 10 elite, $1.5 million plus prize purse events set to be woven into a season long schedule of 25-tournaments built around a “backbone” of traditional tour stops. The series is being bankrolled

by LIV Golf Investments which has pledged $300 million over 10-years via Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. The series will launch at The International Series Thailand at Black Mountain from March 3-6 and will culminate in Hong Kong. The only other confirmed venue is the Centurion Club on the northern outskirts of London (June 9-12) with date and venue details for the seven other countries – the Middle East is set to host two stops – to be released in “due course”.

2

3 8 6

10

7 4

1 9

5

1. Thailand (March 3-6) Black Mountain Golf Club 2. England (June 9-12) The Centurion Club 3. South Korea 4. Vietnam 5. Indonesia 6. Middle East 7. Middle East 8. China 9. Singapore 10. Hong Kong

30

golfdigestme.com

Fiscally emboldened by its new Saudi-backed strategic partner, the Asian Tour has shed all historical insecurities and any fear of straying beyond golf’s long-since blurred continental boundaries.

The olive branch to the DP World Tour and PGA Tour remains extended but knowing it is likely striking out on its own, the Asian Tour delivered its first “Game on” mission statement.

“Obviously there’s no boundaries anymore in the world of golf,” Thant, the Asian Tour’s dual CEO and Commissioner, said before focusing specifically on the June 9-12 event in England. “…And yes, it comes as a surprise to many of us in this room, but it’s basically part of our strategy to make the Asian Tour more of a global tour. We have members from all over the world, 25 different nationalities playing on the Asian Tour. It’s not just for Asians. It’s not just in Asia, and we will be playing in other destinations outside such as the Middle East.” march 2022

As Lee Westwood mentioned in a media conference the following day, the Asian Tour’s competitors surely can’t have been broadsided by the Centurion surprise.

“Now that the Asian Tour has this backing, it appears to me like they’re just doing what the PGA Tour and the European Tour have been doing the last 25 years,” said the Englishman, an eight time winner in Asia.

Thant went on to defend the Asian Tour’s expansionist strategy and a new-found voice triggered by one of the biggest investment deals in golf history.

“We’ve been vilified as bad boys in the press over the last few months, and I really think it’s unjustified,” Thant said. “Any tour…has a responsibility to its membership to look at sponsorship and partnership opportunities to improve the tour. Likewise the European Tour worked with DP World to title sponsor that tour. I don’t see us

working with LIV Golf Investments or any other promoter, any other sponsor throughout the course of the season as a bad thing.

“I’m out here to increase the number of playing opportunities for our members. I’m here to increase the amount of prize money that’s on offer.

I’m here to improve the awareness and the experience for the fans of golf in Asia, and I think this is exactly what we’re doing.”

With the 10 International Series events to be broadcast live, the Asian Tour hopes to drive deeper engagement with fans, attract new commercial interest and to “help stabilise professional golf following a sustained period of worldwide disruption and uncertainty.”

“We are on the threshold of a new era for Asian golf,” Thant continued.“The International Series is a new upper-tier of elite events, the likes of which the region has not seen before, that will mark the start of a phenomenal period of growth for the Asian Tour.”

That growth, according to Norman, is long overdue.

“Healthy competition is a great thing, right?” the former world No.1 said.

“So as long as we do that in a respectful, healthy way, everybody is going to be a benefactor. Every bit of the ecosystem for the game of golf will be the benefactor. Every institution should be embracing this new opportunity of unlocking the lost opportunity that’s been left sitting there for decades and decades and decades.”

Those assurances predictably continue to fall on deaf ears as the U.S. and UK media go into bat for golf’s traditional superpower tours in the face of what many see as a hostile competitor. Norman, believes the ire directed towards LIV Golf, which itself is bankrolled by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, is misplaced.

“Well, we’re not in this for a fight. We’re in this for the good of the game,” Norman said.

“It’s disappointing to be honest, personally disappointing to see some of the attacks that have been taking place unwarrantedly. Any time you go into -- if you pre-judge anybody without knowing the facts, then shame on you, to be honest with you.”

Shark Bites

Greg Norman on LIV Golf Investment in the Asian Tour’s new International Series “We are setting the Asian Tour up as a powerful new force on the world golf stage.”

“It’s for the betterment of the game.

It’s not for the betterment of the administrations.”

“When you put it into perspective, between the Middle East and the Asia Pacific Rim, that’s 45 per cent of the golfing market. That’s four and a half billion people sitting there with an opportunity for the game of golf to grow.”

“Yeah, the International Series is not going to be geofenced.”

“Everyone benefits – professional players, amateurs, grassroots golf, fans, economies, communities, stakeholders.

I’ve never been so optimistic about the future of the sport.”

We are on the threshold of a new era for Asian golf.

CHO MINN THANT

“That’s why it’s so encouraging that we can go to London. It’ll be so encouraging when we go to the United States. Remember what I said, this is just the beginning.”

“This is just the infancy of this journey, and it’s really going to be an exciting journey.”

Norman was asked what return LIV Golf hoped for out of its $300 million investment, a thinly veiled attempt by an interviewer to extract more info on the rumoured LIV league.

“In a nutshell, what have we really done? We’ve identified a new opportunity out of a lost opportunity, and I mean that in all sincerity. We identify virgin space for lost opportunities or people overlooked for decades and decades and decades.

The lost opportunity people should be embracing, other institutions should be embracing.

“We are very, very respectful and will always be open, and I’m always going to be a healthy, friendly competitor, and that’s important to know, because the market is huge and it’s open for everybody, and we’re going to have these open pathways.

“From LIV Golf Investments, this is just the start for us. The 10-event series we’ll be starting off is just the beginning. It’s the beginning of an exciting new journey.”

Another reporter jumped on Norman’s repeated attempts to position LIV Golf, and by association the Asian Tour, as friendly competitors, even if the PGADP World Tour alliance clearly don’t see it that way.

“What is LIV Golf Investments doing that you are scared of? Why do you have to have these attacks to the level they do?” Norman posed in response.

“Understand the fact that we have always and continued to be very collaborative and cooperative with any of the institutions right across the board. We want to work together side by side.

“I would encourage them [The PGA and DP World Tour alliance] to sit back and say, maybe it’s a good time to sit down and understand if we can work side by side.” march 2022

golfdigestme.com

31

WHO’S THE BEST DRIVER, IRON PLAYER, PUTTER? WE IDENTIFIED THE BEST PROS IN SEVERAL FACETS OF THE GAME. HERE THEY SHARE THEIR SECRETS ILLUSTRATIONS BY SAM HADLEY

T

hanks to PGA Tour’s ShotLink technology, it’s easier than ever for players to keep detailed statistics of their game. The tour tracks every single shot during competition, and therefore is able to collect hundreds of different stats in multiple categories from tee to green. ▶ That made our job of identifying the very best in the most vital aspects of golf a little easier.

However, it wasn’t as simple as looking at who was No. 1 on tour in the strokes gained/putting statistic and anointing that player as the top putter. There were other factors to consider such as the average number of putts per green in regulation, who avoids three-putts the most, who is the best from inside 10 feet and beyond 20 feet, etc. (The tour tracks 98 putting statistics.) ▶ After hours and hours of analysing all the tour data from 2021, we’ve singled out the best pros in six key categories: driving, iron play, chipping, scrambling, bunker play and putting. Some of the names that follow might come as a surprise—and some might not. Turn the page to see who Golf Digest ranks as the best in class, and then learn from the player and his coach how to better various parts of your game. —THE EDITORS

BEST DRIVER

JON RAHM



LOAD THE TRAIL LEG FOR LONGER DRIVES

By Jon Rahm

A

big reason why I’m so consistent with the driver is because my swing is very simple. Because there’s not much going on, there’s not much that can go wrong. I think of my swing as short and efficient. It’s mostly the result of having limited mobility in my right ankle and a right leg that’s shorter than my left.

I was born with a club foot and had to have the bones in that leg broken and re-cast, so I can’t control the club very well if I swing it back any

farther. But that also makes it easy to repeat.

As far as technique, I prefer to fade the ball, and I usually hit it pretty high, but I can draw it and hit it lower, whatever the hole calls for.

I might change my stance, ball position or tee height to produce the shot I want, but the one thing that doesn’t change is the mental part.

I forget about my surroundings and just find something to aim at. When I do that, especially under pressure, it’s as if I’m back on the range mentally and can just swing without fear.

I don’t hit a lot of drivers when I practice, but when I do need to straighten things out, I usually focus on two things. The first is making sure the clubhead stays in front of me on the takeaway.

If I suck it too far inside the target line and it gets behind my hands, I lose control. One other thing: I make sure I load into my right hip on the backswing. I don’t sway off the ball. I want to feel really stable and loaded so I can push off my back foot on the downswing and hit the ball hard.

—with ron kaspriske jon rahm was second on the PGA Tour in strokes gained/off the tee in 2021 and first in total driving, a stat that combines distance and accuracy. He also was first in strokes gained/tee to green.

honorable mention: rory mcilroy ✶ bryson dechambeau ✶ sergio garcia ✶ sungjae im

34

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

“Jon’s swing proves you don’t have to move off the ball to generate power. That feeling he has of being loaded into the trail leg is a good one for amateurs to copy. Another thing we watch is that he’s not standing too far from the ball.

You want to see the butt end of the club over the top of your shoelaces. This will help you to turn better going back and clear out swinging through, allowing the driver to come into the ball on the proper inside path.”

—dave phillips

Stuart Franklin/Getty imaGeS

COACH’S TAKE

BEST IRON PLAYER

COLLIN MORIKAWA



COACH’S TAKE

SWING YOUR IRONS LIKE YOU’RE IN NO RUSH

By Collin Morikawa

DaviD Cannon/R&a/R&a via Getty imaGes

I

’ve always felt that iron play is the strength of my game. It’s the reason I’m OK giving up 10 or 20 yards to the bigger hitters—I’m confident I can hit my 6-iron just as close, if not closer, than they hit their 8-irons.

My first tip to being good on approach shots is sticking with the swing you trust the most. For me, it’s a mid-high cut (see my thoughts on how I play that shot, page 24). Whatever shot you like to play, remember that you don’t have to hit it to six feet to be a great iron player. There’s nothing wrong with putting it somewhere on the green and relying more on your putter. Only go flag hunting when the situation matches your go-to shot.

As far as Xs and Os, my coach, Rick Sessing-

haus, and I like to keep it pretty simple. One aspect we focus on is rhythm. I have a pretty deliberate tempo, and sometimes I get quick in transition trying to manufacture speed. I’ve found that if I focus on finishing the swing in perfect balance—the trophy pose—I subconsciously make a smooth transition and maintain good rhythm from start to finish.

One drill I keep coming back to is a simple one I’ve done since childhood. I’ll put a glove under my left armpit and try to keep it pinned there for as long as I can during the swing. This helps my arms stay more connected to my body on the backswing. I have a tendency to pick the club up rather than turn with it, which results in a wipey fade that always comes up short and right of the target.

I also hit a ton of half-swing punch shots, which is a great way to identify any issues you might be having through impact because it’s a smooth, controllable motion.

—WITH DAN RAPAPORT collin morikawa led the PGA Tour in strokes gained/approach the green in 2021, and was No. 1 in approaches (average distance from hole) from 125 to 150 yards, 150 to 175 and 175 to 200.

“Every golfer can benefit by implementing some keys to Collin’s iron play. The first is Collin’s patient, deliberate takeaway, which helps keep the club and arms in front of his body all the way to the top of the swing. Next is how he keeps the clubface square through the impact area while maintaining the extension in his arms.

Finally, Collin swings at about 80 percent. With less than max effort, you’ll find it easier to stay in control.”

—rick sessinghaus

honorable mention: jon rahm ✶ paul casey ✶ daniel berger ✶ cameron percy march 2022

golfdigestme.com

35

BEST CHIPPER

KEVIN NA



COACH’S TAKE

By Kevin Na

F

rom a closely mowed lie, such as a collection area, I believe I’m one of the best chippers in the world. Because I scoop my chips, my ball comes off softer than most everyone else’s and lands with almost no roll.

During the third round of last year’s Northern Trust at Liberty National Golf Club, the ball mark of my playing partner, Xander Schauffele, was on a spot on the green where I wanted a chip to land, so I asked him to move it. Then I chipped

the ball right over that spot and into the hole. I’ll never forget the look on Xander’s face! He said he’s never seen a player ask to move a ball mark for a chip and then have the ball go in. It was the fourth time I chipped in that week!

What’s nice about my scooping technique is it’s roughly the same method I use from the rough or a greenside bunker. I chip with my 60-degree wedge, setting the handle neutral—not pressed forward—and the shaft perpendicular to my target line. The goal is to return both into the same positions at impact. The clubhead passes the handle, and my right hand works underneath, sliding the clubface under the ball. What I’m doing is dumping the clubhead and releasing it at the bottom, trying to ground the back perfectly to the turf so it doesn’t dig. There’s not a lot of speed. As a result, there’s less compression to the ball at impact, and it comes off the face dead, with no threat of racing past the hole.

—with dave allen kevin na led the PGA Tour in the strokes gained/ around-the-green stat in 2021 (.702 strokes per round), becoming the first player to lead this category three times (2011, ’15 and ’21). Na also ranked fourth in scrambling and 12th in sand-save percentage.

honorable mention: patrick cantlay ✶ patrick reed ✶ brian harman ✶ seamus power

36

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

“The great thing about Kevin’s short game is, it’s very effective on all types of grass. He has the ability to keep moving forward and rotating with no fear of the leading edge digging into the turf, which is a common mistake for amateurs.

He also has very little tension throughout his motion. It’s a free-flowing acceleration allowing him to be aggressive.”

—drew steckel

Stacy ReveRe/Getty ImaGeS

CHIP IT CLOSE WITH MY ‘DEAD SOFT’ TECHNIQUE

BEST SCRAMBLER

PATRICK CANTLAY



COACH’S TAKE

SHAKE OFF THE MISS, THEN GET AGGRESSIVE

By Patrick Cantlay

Ben Jared/PGa TOUr via GeTTy imaGes

S

crambling starts with forgetting what put you there in the first place, locking in on the present, and feeling the urgency to hit a quality shot. It’s a mentality almost as much as it is a technique.

Around the green, I focus on producing the right energy to get the ball to my target. In the rough, you have to hinge your wrists early on the backswing, accelerate the club into the ball and keep the clubface from closing as it goes through the thicker grass. You also have to read the slopes on the green accurately to leave the ball in a spot where you know you can make a positive putting stroke. Above all else, you have to leave the previous shot behind. Confidence starts with staying in the present, knowing your strengths and playing to them.

When playing approach shots from the rough, don’t take more risk than necessary. In general, birdies aren’t made from the rough, so take your medicine and play a smart shot. Gauging how shots are going to come out of the rough mostly comes from experience, but I don’t think it makes much sense to hit any club out of the rough that you have a tough time hitting from a clean lie. In other words, no fairway woods and no long irons.

Make a steeper backswing than normal and accelerate the club through the turf without trying to help the ball into the air. The more you flip your hands through impact, the more likely the grass will close the clubface and send the ball well short and left. It’s also likely that even a good shot from the rough will roll out a fair distance after it lands, so factor that into your plan.

—WITH MIKE STACHURA

“Patrick’s really good at knowing when to hold them and knowing when to fold them. He knows if he hits it in the rough and has eight feet of green right of the flag and 60 feet to the left, it’s best to aim away from the hole on the left side, and then roll one down there to make an easy par save.”

—jamie mulligan

patrick cantlay ranked first on the PGA Tour in scrambling (67.3 percent), sixth in scrambling from the rough (65.1 percent) and 12th in approaches greater than 100 yards from the rough (43’4”) in 2021.

honorable mention: charles howell iii ✶ cameron tringale ✶ abraham ancer ✶ louis oosthuizen march 2022

golfdigestme.com

37

BEST BUNKER PLAYER

XANDER SCHAUFFELE



‘BREAK THE TEE’ IN THE SAND

By Xander Schauffele

W

hen I was a kid, I routinely did this drill where I would bury a tee under my ball in a greenside bunker and try to break the tee with my swing. My dad had me do it so I would learn how to make an aggressive swing through the sand, which would carry the ball out every time. It’s a great way to learn how to hit bunker shots when you’re just starting out.

Over time, I’ve learned how to hit a number of shots in greenside bunkers. I can change my weight distribution, ball position, height of my hands at address, angle of attack, length of swing, clubhead speed—even how much bounce I use to hit the right shot for that particular lie. For example, with a fried-egg lie, I use less bounce and feel like the club is entering the sand closer to the hosel. If I want to create more spin and less roll, I add a little more speed and enter the sand closer to the ball than normal.

I realise you don’t practice in the bunker enough to be able to execute a variety of shots, so I would recommend getting good at this one: Open the face of your wedge before taking your grip and dig your feet into the sand. Your weight should favour your front leg, and the ball should be roughly in line with your shirt buttons. Then hit two inches behind the ball, keeping your

speed up as you swing through the sand and into a full finish position.

Remember, be aggressive but don’t lose your posture as a result of swinging too hard. You might miss the entry point in the sand and dump it or blade the shot. With a smooth swing, you’re not going to get the ball to stop as quickly, so allow for some rollout. —with ron kaspriske xander schauffele was second on the PGA Tour in sand-save percentage (64.7) in 2021, and his average proximity to the hole from the sand was 8’1”.

honorable mention: brooks koepka ✶ cameron smith ✶ webb simpson ✶ wyndham clark

38

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

“One of the main reasons Xander is very good out of the sand is the fact that he turns the ball both ways in nearly all parts of his game. Xander plays golf with a variety of hand and clubface positions. In other words, an open clubface with a weak grip—the standard way taught to set up in the bunker— doesn’t look outlandish to him. Where others might lose confidence holding the club that way, he certainly doesn’t.”

—stefan schauffele

Alex Goodlett/Getty ImAGes

COACH’S TAKE

BEST PUTTER

PATRICK REED



COACH’S TAKE

LEVEL OFF FOR A BETTER ROLL

BY Patrick Reed

Cliff Hawkins/Getty imaGes

I

’d love to talk about the intricacies of my putting stroke and give you some analysis of how I approach things on the green, but I just don’t think about it that way. For me, it’s much more of a feel thing. To be clear, I have a few practice drills, and I’m constantly checking my alignment. But when I’m on the course, all I’m thinking about is break and speed and seeing the ball go in the hole. Even on long putts, I’m not trying to cozy it up there; I’m seeing it go in.

Besides my alignment, if there’s one other thing I’m checking from time to time, it’s making sure my shoulders are level over the ball. I’m not sure if it’s a product of setting up over every other shot with my trail shoulder lower than my lead shoulder, but I have to be careful that doesn’t creep into my putting posture. If your trail shoulder (right for righties) is lower than your lead shoulder, the tendency is to make a stroke that is too low to high, and the ball comes off the face a little hoppy. That can really impact your accuracy.

A great thing you can do to make sure your shoulders are level is to first set up with a crosshanded grip (lead-hand low). This keeps you from tilting away from the hole. Then, before you make your stroke, go back to your normal grip.

Now you’re in position to strike the ball on a more level path and get a better roll.

My other advice for putting is to develop a preshot routine that you use every time you putt.

That means doing the same things in the same amount of time on every putt. (If your routine takes 10 seconds, it should always take 10 seconds). A repetitive approach will get you in the mind-set of treating every putt the same, which takes the pressure off. —with ron kaspriske

“Patrick is very non-analytical with putting and probably wouldn’t putt well if he thought about that stuff. Aside from having great vision and feel on the greens, a key ingredient to Patrick’s success comes from the roll he puts on the ball. To copy that aspect of his game, try to get your putterhead to stay low to the ground after you strike the ball.”

—david leadbetter

patrick reed was fourth on the PGA Tour in strokes gained/putting and first in one-putt percentage (45.1) and three-putt avoidance (1.57 percent) in 2021.

honorable mention: louis oosthuizen ✶ cameron smith ✶ sam burns ✶ jordan spieth march 2022

golfdigestme.com

39

in association with

whether your swing is the envy of everyone on the range or in need of help, your next iron set is in one of these four categories gdme hot list

41

p l ay e r s i r o n s

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Consistent. Predictable.

No shots you can’t explain.

A higher trajectory than I expected. Soft landing on the pitching wedge.

This is a weapon club.”

c a l l away

RRP AED 6,475

APEX PRO

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“These are deadly accurate and consistent. The feel across the face is the same on every hit. Some clubs get jumpy on good hits but not these.”

c a l l away APEX TCB

RRP AED 6,475

what it does: This could be the clubhouse leader in forgiveness for this category. The Apex Pro works for a wider range of players than most. The “flash face” architecture in each clubhead, designed with the aid of artificial intelligence, offers an individual face design for each iron and brings fast ball speeds and improved spin consistency.

This helps better players attack the flag stick with more confidence. why we like it: Apex Pro is a combination of all the things good players want in an iron, such as a forging from 1025 carbon steel.

Urethane microspheres also damp out any vibration from the cupface—essentially, the face wraps around the topline and sole— which provides plenty of distance. The hollow-body construction boasts faces designed via artificial intelligence that have different variable-thickness patterns for each club. This makes sense when you consider a 4-iron shot impacts the ball much differently than a ball-club collision with a 9-iron. The use of tungsten (up to 90 grams) lowers the centre of gravity to provide the right amount of lift, especially in the long irons—an important consideration for a target audience that actually still hits long irons.

what it does: At first glance, this replacement for Callaway’s X Forged CB appears strikingly similar to its predecessor. However, the Apex TCB has distinct differences. Chief among them is a decidedly classic look, with a relatively straight leading edge, thin topline and a hosel transition that would appear to come straight from the tour. (It actually did. The feedback provided by the company’s tour staff played an important role in the shaping of this iron.) The result is a more compact shape and less offset than the X Forged CB. What hasn’t changed is the 1025 carbon-steel body and a face plate that uses varying thicknesses to promote consistent performance over a larger area of the hitting surface. why we like it: When targeting players who can discern small differences, doing so subtly instead of explicitly makes a difference.

Callaway has done that here. Although the club has a visible external weight, the internal metal-injection-molded tungsten weight, invisible to the eye, helps locate the centre of gravity in each iron with pinpoint precision to achieve the proper ball flight for each club. The lofts also are a degree weaker to help with distance control.

7-iron loft 33 degrees pw loft 45 degrees

7-iron loft 34 degrees pw loft 46 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

42

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Definitely juiced.

I was getting significantly longer numbers. The face cradled the ball nicely. The damping of vibrations was almost like a cushion.”

cobra

KING TOUR

RRP AED 4,775

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“A home-run look.

It has some offset, but you don’t see it. A compact head, without looking tiny. They’re true. At contact, I could predict the ball flight.”

mizuno

RRP AED 5,075

JPX921 TOUR

what it does: Doing extremely cool technological things in an iron for better players is no easy accomplishment. After all, lowhandicappers tend to want irons that have a minimalistic look.

That’s why the use of a metal-injection-molding process in these irons is noteworthy. The head is made from a mix of 17-4 stainless steel (80 percent) and a softer 304 stainless steel (20 percent) that goes through an extremely hot sintering process to deliver a tighter grain structure than conventional forging. This also nearly eliminates the need for hand polishing, reducing the chance for human error. The result is greater consistency from iron to iron. why we like it: Cobra has a tendency to make irons that look futuristic but not here. They’ve toned down the pioneering looks and classed it up a bit. The use of tungsten to position the centre of gravity more in line with the centre of the clubhead rather than toward the heel is valuable for an audience segment that finds the sweet spot more often than most. As a neat bonus, the Lamkin grips with Arccos sensors can keep track of your shots and offer data that can improve your strategy on the course.

what it does: When designing a smaller clubhead, figuring out where weight is needed and how to move it there is a big part of the puzzle. This iron features less weight in the toe than the JPX900 Tour and JPX919 Tour. The saved weight is then moved to the perimeter of the clubhead to increase forgiveness on off-centre hits and to make centre strikes feel pure by lowering the sound pressure. Mizuno has given considerable thought to the details here, like progressive sole shaping in which the longer irons have wider, weightier soles to help get the ball airborne and like how the scoring clubs have narrower soles to shape shots more easily. why we like it: The company is legendary for its jewel-like and tour-proven forged irons, and the JPX921 Tour only enhances that reputation. A compact, muscle-cavity blade forged from 1025E carbon steel, it’s sure to attract attention from those at the top of the skill pyramid. However, suggesting this iron is just another solid exercise in metallurgy would be a tad unfair. Mizuno also studied vibration patterns to develop a thicker cavity pad that lets players feel impact for a fraction longer.

7-iron loft 33 degrees pw loft 45 degrees

7-iron loft 34 degrees pw loft 46 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

43

p l ay e r s i r o n s

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The performance was spot on. It does everything really well. Good swingweight and strong flight. The sound and feel are above reproach.

Really good stuff.”

mizuno

RRP AED 6,825

MIZUNO PRO 223

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Easy to turn the ball over or to fade it. Super accurate— like throwing darts and hitting the bull’s-eye.

Better players can take full advantage of this club.”

ping i59

RRP AED 10,185

what it does: Even in the players-iron category, golfers are clamoring for more ball speed. The Mizuno Pro 223, the replacement for its MP-20 MMC, uses hidden slots in the soles of the 4- through 7-irons to add giddyup but does so in a precise way. For example, the slot in the 4-iron is five millimeters wide to help produce a lower centre of gravity for a higher ball flight, and the slot on the 5- and 6-irons is five millimeters wide in the centre but narrows to three millimeters in the heel and toe. (Mizuno believes forgiveness is more beneficial in clubs that are harder to get airborne.) Then the slot on the 7-iron is narrower to make for a seamless transition to the 8-iron. why we like it: This iron should challenge the notion that Mizuno’s MP line is only for traditionalists. The compact clubheads might be classic in appearance, but the technology is progressive.

In addition to the slots, the face thickness is just 2.4 millimeters to help create enough speed for those who need it after hitting their drives from the back tees. The beveled trailing edge also reduces turf drag. Call this a nostalgic look with more than enough technology for today’s better player.

what it does: The design goal of this iron was straightforward: Create a club that could serve tour players with a slightly lower launch, better feel and tighter dispersion. Distance was not the objective.

Delivering consistency for a player willing to sacrifice a couple of yards for repeatability was the goal. The key to achieving this is the aerospace-grade aluminum insert that allows roughly 30 grams of material from the centre of the club to be redistributed to the perimeter in the form of toe- and shaft-tip weights. This raises the forgiveness level to nearly that of the company’s i210 irons. Every iron in the set has a specific insert that reinforces the face while minimising face deflection to produce consistent distance and trajectory. why we like it: An elegant club with a lot of technology, Ping’s latest players iron is perfect for the golfer who wants no surprises. The desire for consistency doesn’t stop with the insert. A 100-percent inspection on nine processes guarantees reliability. A new groove design tightens the spacing to reduce flyers in short irons and maintain spin on the long irons. The grooves are a tad shorter heel to toe—something Ping says makes players focus better on the shot.

7-iron loft 32 degrees pw loft 46 degrees

7-iron loft 34 degrees pw loft 46 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

44

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“There’s so much stability.

The ball goes straighter because the club doesn’t jiggle through the hit. Every shot felt cushioned, too.”

demand

0311 T GEN4

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★

pxg

performance

★★½

RRP AED 10,850

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“A classy, understated look.

They figured out how to have it feel soft off the face yet leave you with feel in your hands. If you step on it, you get the extra distance.”

s r i xo n

RRP AED 5,195

ZX7

what it does: Injecting polymer inside irons has been a PXG tradition since the company’s inception. Finding a formula that produces the sweet feel the PXG promises coupled with enough spring-like effect to boost distance, however, had proved elusive—until now.

The company uses a material it calls XCOR, a proprietary polymer that is more compressible than what the company previously used.

This allows the polymer to work in conjunction with the thin steel face to produce more ball speed. The company’s weighting system also underwent a transformation. Because fitting is not one-sizefits-all, every Gen4 iron has a weight in the low-centre portion of the clubhead that can be adjusted during the fitting process to be heavier or lighter to dial in swingweight. why we like it: It’s perhaps a tad unfortunate that PXG’s founder and CEO Bob Parsons is such an enthusiastic pitchman for his company. Sometimes Parsons’ cries of “the science of sexy” and many of the other superlatives he touts overshadow the engineering strength housed in his company’s clubs and the steadfast commitment PXG makes to fitting—both of which are highly beneficial to golfers.

what it does: The ZX7 is a single-piece clubhead made from 1020 carbon steel with tungsten weights in the 3- through 7-irons to mitigate a loss of ball speed on mis-hits. Srixon engineers shifted weight to the perimeter and behind the sweet spot to improve forgiveness and to enhance the feeling that comes from a well-struck shot with a forged club. The sole has a higher bounce angle toward the leading edge that tapers on the trailing edge for better turf interaction. why we like it: These irons are part of the reason Brooks Koepka signed an endorsement deal with the company. The ZX7 balances the right amount of help with the right amount of leave-me-on-my-own.

Although this kind of tech talk might not get golfers’ pulses racing, better players will appreciate the attention paid to the sole geometry and groove design. The sole widths of the ZX7 increase as they increase in loft. Why? The wider soles are advantageous for better players who tend to get steeper in their angle of attack when hitting short irons. On the face, two groove geometries (wider on the 3- through 7-irons and deep and closer together on the 8-iron through pitching wedge) are used to create more consistent launch and spin.

7-iron loft 32 degrees pw loft 46 degrees

7-iron loft 32 degrees pw loft 46 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

45

in association with

p l ay e r s i r o n s

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Mis-hits hung in there with the yardage. Such a high launch, I could hit moon shots with the long irons, which was surprising from such a blade-like look.”

tay l o r m a d e

RRP AED 5,795

P•7MC

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Consistency is key, and the launch monitor proved over and over these have that. The classic yet new-age design screams that you have arrived as a player.”

titleist T100

RRP AED 7,175

what it does: TaylorMade has perhaps the most high-powered tour staff in golf, with players such as Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy and a host of others, so it stands to reason that the company would produce a forged iron worthy of such talent.

The forging process uses a 2,000-ton press to decrease the grain size in the 1025 carbon steel used for the clubhead. Why is that important? It leads to fewer inconsistencies that need to be addressed by hand polishing, thus creating a repeatable clubhead shape for a player type that appreciates such things. why we like it: Although muscle-back blades are primarily for golfers with mad skills, the P•7MC (muscle cavity) offers a playersiron look with just the right amount of forgiveness. Based off the company’s P•750 irons, enhancements include moving mass behind the face to support the point of impact. This coupled with a forged carbon-steel face and hosel provide a syrupy feel. For those who care about such things, the compact head, thin topline and progressive offset offer the kind of tour-level look that makes you feel as if you have the game of DJ, Collin or Rory.

what it does: The loyal Titleist customer (not to mention its tour staff ) have a repetitive desire when it comes to the company’s players irons: Make them better, but don’t mess up what you have. This creates a design tightrope Titleist deftly navigates here. The T100’s distinctive back bar is now thicker. To offset that, a higher-density tungsten (up to 70 grams) is brazed to the body rather than welded (brazing reduces weight by not creating weld beads) to optimise launch conditions and to foster forgiveness so that mis-hits more closely resemble centre hits. why we like it: The thicker back bar allows performance enhancements to take shape in a form and feel that better players recognise and appreciate. However, this club’s technological unsung hero is the sole design courtesy of in-house knowledge gleaned from the company’s Vokey Design wedges. Using information Titleist learned in the creation of lower-lofted wedges, the T100’s sole now features less relief in the heel and more in the toe for better transition through the turf. That allows players to maintain clubhead speed through the hitting area.

7-iron loft 34 degrees pw loft 47 degrees

7-iron loft 34 degrees pw loft 46 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

46

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

golfdigestme.com

GolfDigestME

p l ay e r s - d i s ta n c e i r o n s

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Easy to hit and extra hot: The ball jumps off the face.

I can control shot shape and trajectory. Mis-hits still go straight and don’t lose much distance.”

c a l l away

RRP AED 6,475

APEX (2021)

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Distance is one of the best in this category. Gets through the turf and into the air. Feels like I’m hitting the sweet spot every time. Forgiving for such a thin clubhead.”

c a l l away

ROGUE ST PRO

RRP AED 5,775

what it does: Ever since Callaway re-introduced the Apex irons in 2014, golfers have enjoyed the benefits of extra distance via its cupface technology. Wrapping around part of the sole and topline, the cupface serves as a mini-trampoline. Forgiveness wasn’t forgotten, either. A tungsten core (up to 64 grams in some irons) is enclosed in urethane with “microspheres”—tiny air bubbles encased in glass.

The added weight helps not just shots struck on the heel and toe, but those hit low on the face as well. A redesigned sole helps golfers who tend to take too much turf on approach shots—a meaningful improvement over the company’s previous model. why we like it: A big part of having a successful club in this category is getting the shaping and feel just right, and the Apex achieves that. The topline offers just enough confidence without being too thick, and the soft 1025 carbon-steel clubhead delivers a pleasing sensation at impact, all while neatly hiding the horsepower that resides inside, including individual face designs (up to the 9-iron) conceived by artificial intelligence that provide the kind of pop that will have you pulling one club less.

what it does: This is a reimagining of a players-distance iron.

Callaway designers, believing they had gone as far as they could with stainless steel, switched the cupface material to a stronger 450 steel that can be made thinner to produce extra spring-like effect.

But ball speed doesn’t do a golfer much good if it can’t be controlled.

Assisting with this is a better casting process for the intricate faces that yield speed and proper spin (300 revolutions per minute more), launch (half a degree higher) and descent angle. The result is a 13-percent tighter dispersion than the Mavrik Pro iron. why we like it: Hollow-body irons with thin, fast faces are as common in this category as tour players with company logos plastered on their staff bags. However, what’s unique about the Rogue ST Pro is that Callaway fits all this technology into a package that’s so slim it might appeal to a tour player. Callaway also deserves credit for reconfiguring the use of the internal urethane microspheres.

The material is distributed higher up in the iron—from low in the clubhead to the sixth scoring line. This allows for vibration damping over an area where close to 90 percent of ball impacts occur.

7-iron loft 30.5 degrees pw loft 43 degrees

7-iron loft 30.5 degrees pw loft 43 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

48

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Enough offset to help you without being off-putting.

The distance is consistent, and you feel like you didn’t have to swing very hard to get good results.”

cobra

KING FORGED TEC

RRP AED 6,295

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Easy on the eyes at address.

Clean head with a midsize topline. The sound and feel resemble the cracking of a whip, with the ball popping off the face.”

mizuno

RRP AED 5,075

JPX921 FORGED

what it does: It’s not often that baking is a topic of discussion when describing iron technology, but judging the time and temperature variables when heating the foam used inside this clubhead was a key factor. That’s because doing so allowed microspheres inside the foam to expand, helping to create a solid foam that reinforces the hollow head. This not only reduces vibration from the use of a thin face, but because the foam is lightweight, Cobra designers could move more weight low to drop the centre of gravity in the long irons—a desirable trait regardless of your ability level. why we like it: There’s a lot to love in this iron but what grabbed our attention was the improvement to the company’s venerable face design. Three grams were removed from the upper pocket and placed lower in the head to increase launch angle. The entire face is thinner by 0.2 millimeters to enhance ball speed and save weight.

The look is decidedly on the player-ish side with reduced offset, thinner toplines and shorter blade lengths. Cobra says its target audience for this iron is 5- to 15-handicappers. The shaping will surely appeal to the lower end of that segment.

what it does: The JPX921 Forged represents a change to how Mizuno approaches the players-distance iron category. Using a very resilient chromium-molybdenum-infused steel in a forged form required a more intense forging process with extra manufacturing steps. Furthermore, Mizuno used a milling technique to thin out a wider section behind the face for more potential distance. The result of all this is a pleasingly shaped clubhead with a face that is 16-percent thinner. But this extra heat at impact is just part of the benefit. Going thinner on the face allowed Mizuno’s designers to shift the centre of gravity lower and deeper to help golfers get the ball up in the air, particularly in the long irons. why we like it: The distance benefit is noticeable, but it’s the unmistakable pleasant sound and feel at impact that makes this a complete iron. Also impressive is that the moment of inertia— stability on off-centre hits—wasn’t sacrificed despite the clubhead being slightly more compact than the previous JPX919 Forged.

The thinner topline and narrower, beveled sole (which greatly enhances turf interaction) are designed to appeal to better players.

7-iron loft 29.5 degrees pw loft 44 degrees

7-iron loft 31 degrees pw loft 45 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

49

p l ay e r s - d i s ta n c e i r o n s

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Consistency and precision in ball flight no matter where you hit it on the face. The dispersion pattern is one of my best.”

demand

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★★

★★★★

mizuno

RRP AED 7,665

MIZUNO PRO 225

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Impressive rise to its apex height, then a nice drop that will stop on any green. More forgiving than it looks.

I didn’t feel like there was a wild miss in the cards.”

ping i525

RRP AED 7,350

what it does: Knowing what you want is easy. Figuring out how to achieve it is a different matter—like deciphering how to increase ball speed while making the clubhead smaller, or untangling the mystery of how to strengthen lofts by 2 degrees without sacrificing launch and peak trajectory. This successor to the MP-20 HMB (Hot Metal Blade) solved these issues by shifting 28.5 grams of tungsten low and back to achieve a lower, deeper centre of gravity. This increases shot height through the 7-iron. Furthermore, a new face design is just 1.8 millimeters in the thinnest area, and the low part of the face was reinforced to improve feel and performance on shots hit a touch thin. Positioning the sweet spot slightly higher was a smart method of gaining launch without adding spin. why we like it: Mizuno always seems to get the details right when it comes to its irons. The thin copper underlay, a process that dates back to a set of Mizuno irons made for Tommy Nakajima in the 1980s, is a nice enhancement to the club’s feel. But what we really dig is a sole design that helps the clubhead move effortlessly through the turf like it has ski wax on it.

what it does: Distance is wonderful to have in an iron. Precise distance is even better. Ping achieves the latter by using a multitude of methods that, combined, achieve the objective. The multimaterial construction starts with a 17-4 stainless-steel body and a high-strength, variable-thickness, maraging-steel face. To realise more rebound, the face is very thin on the perimeter, and an internal sole undercut increases flex to launch shots faster and higher.

The stress caused by impact, in effect, moves deeper into the sole, producing a more uniform bending in the centre of the face. why we like it: We were big fans of Ping’s i500 iron, and this successor is every bit as good or better. The i525’s shorter heel-to-toe length helps frame the ball nicely, and the tungsten toe and shafttip weighting increases the forgiveness. Sound, always a concern in a thin-face iron, is addressed by using hot melt (a thin polymer) on the back of the face to eliminate unwanted noise and vibration.

On the other side of the face, milled grooves result in tighter spacing and an average of four more grooves on each club, helping to reduce those nagging flyers in the short irons.

7-iron loft 30 degrees pw loft 44 degrees

7-iron loft 30.5 degrees pw loft 45 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

50

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Make a swing and watch the ball go dead centre. Longer than average distance. I kept punching them down the range over and over again in a perfect window.”

pxg

0311 P GEN4

RRP AED 10,850

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“I love that shots go up and out instead of up and spin.

They also really help the good player’s traditional miss—thin. My thin ones only lost a few yards.”

tay l o r m a d e

RRP AED 5,995

P•790 (2021)

what it does: Designing a better-players iron that offers gamechanging distance requires a balancing act: How do you boost ball speed while maintaining an acceptable feel? The speed in this iron comes from a HT1770 maraging-steel face that is razor thin at just 1.5 millimeters. The feel comes from a concept that had its beginnings in working with an outside thermal-plastics R&D firm that resulted in a proprietary polymer that is both more compressible and easier to inject inside the clubhead. The new material provides a tour-like sound even when you’re not hitting it like a tour player— all without compromising the ball-speed gains of the thinner face. why we like it: Companies that make an effort to get players in the right fit get an enthusiastic thumbs up from us, and PXG has made an alteration to its weighting system that furthers that endeavor.

Instead of the nine weights on the Gen3 (including two on the toe area in back), the Gen4 features a pair of small weights on the back in the toe and heel area with one larger weight in the lower centre of the milled back. That weight can be adjusted during the fitting process in two-gram increments to optimise performance.

what it does: This year’s P•790 has undergone several key changes.

Chief among them is a new version of the internal urethane foam— 69 percent less dense than the original—that saves about 3.5 grams.

The foam supports an even thinner face this year—1.5 millimeters at its thinnest points in the perimeter. The variable-thickness face, which features TaylorMade’s longtime inverted-cone-shape pattern, wraps around the sole in an L-shape. A cut-through slot in the sole right behind the face provides optimal face deflection, especially on impacts below the centre line. Finally, more heavy tungsten is used to optimise the centre of gravity and forgiveness. why we like it: Everyday golfers need as much forgiveness and ball speed across as much of the clubface as they can possibly get.

This iron provides that assist by effectively growing the size of the sweet spot by using weight saved from elsewhere in the club to place a 31-gram tungsten slug lower and more toward the toe than in past iterations. That lines up the face’s most flexible area with the CG for better energy transfer, putting more speed in an area from low heel to high toe where most shots are hit.

7-iron loft 30 degrees pw loft 44 degrees

7-iron loft 30.5 degrees pw loft 45 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

51

p l ay e r s - d i s ta n c e i r o n s

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“These look like what a golf club would be if it wore a tuxedo. Fantastic distance.

The substance inside the clubhead produces an awesome sound.”

titleist

RRP AED 7,175

T200

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Straight as a string.

The shape of the head had a consistency throughout the set. The thicker topline promotes confidence at address.”

mizuno

JPX921 HOT METAL PRO

RRP AED 4,865

what it does: The original T200 was a great club, but some believed it looked too much like a game-improvement iron. Titleist addressed that concern by slimming down the size and shape of the topline and sole and having less offset. Also, the impact screw on the back of the iron in the original is now gone. In its place is a hollow design that supports the thin face with an internal-polymer core centreed behind the face with a lightweight back plate made of a unique polymer used widely in auto parts, pipe fittings and electronic housings to absorb and redistribute energy. This saves weight over steel, allowing internal ribbing to be added to improve sound. why we like it: Calling an audible on an iron design that was successful is a risk, but it paid off in this case. Titleist even needed 10 patents to do it (standard is two or three). Players, however, could care less about the legal maneuvering. What they will care about is nearly 100 grams of tungsten spread between heel and toe sections (more than any iron in the T-series family) and the aggressively thin, high-strength SUP10 steel in the L-shaped face (where the lower portion wraps partially around the sole) for faster ball speeds.

what it does: The shape says better player, but the power and forgiveness will be appreciated by even the average golfer. Achieving this began with the creation of an extremely thin face—2.2 millimeters in the centre and as thin as 1.9 millimeters in other spots.

Another design highlight is a variable sole geometry that spreads the stress distribution at impact. Although that might sound wonky, the thin area at the leading edge serves as a hinge to transfer some of that stress to the sole and allow the face to flex even more. why we like it: The use of an ultra-strong chromoly steel allowed for a more complex face geometry. This delivers the extra yards necessary to compete in this category. Mis-hits also were addressed through toe-bias weighting to assist with shots struck in that area.

One of Mizuno’s true strengths, however, is a steadfast desire to make sure the sound and feel are sublime, especially in a cast club.

In this iron that meant a revision to the perimeter undercut cavity in which three extra ribs were added to support the frame for better sound and feel. A variety of shaft options are an important bonus for players seeking to further dial in their iron game.

7-iron loft 31 degrees pw loft 43 degrees

7-iron loft 29 degrees pw loft 44 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

52

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“They tell you when you miss but don’t penalise you in distance. The sole is amazing. It corrects for you right in the turf. You can glide or gouge effortlessly.”

s r i xo n ZX5

RRP AED 5,195

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The ball has energy coming off the face. Trajectory is high but not too high, always in the window. I hit my yardage numbers on every single shot.”

tay l o r m a d e

RRP AED 5,795

P•770

what it does: The guts of Srixon’s irons for better players haven’t changed much over time. A SUP10 high-strength steel face insert is surrounded by a forged carbon-steel body and hosel for a softer feel, and the sole design, though modified over time, boasts the same basic design principles. What has changed is the approach to design, namely using artificial intelligence to speed up the process and create far more potential design iterations than humans possibly could. The upshot is a more intricate clubface in which the back side of each hitting surface is milled in a variable-thickness pattern that comprises grooves, channels and cavities to provide extra ball speed. To bolster forgiveness, tungsten is placed in the toe of the long and middle irons (up to the 7-iron). why we like it: The SUP10 thin face insert shouts distance, but we also admire the more subtle attributes that are no less significant.

One example is the revamped Tour VT sole that features a higher bounce angle toward the leading edge that progressively tapers to less bounce on the trailing edge. This reduces turf resistance as the club approaches the ball from a variety of angles.

what it does: The relatively shorter blade-length, thin topline and reduced offset disguise the fact this iron plays bigger than its size.

As much as 46 grams of tungsten are loaded inside the forged 8620 carbon-steel hollow-body clubhead to bolster forgiveness. To create more face flex, a through-slot speed pocket is used on the sole.

A lightweight material (that the company refers to as “speedfoam”) is also injected inside the clubhead. The foam’s properties allow the face to flex while not adding a significant amount of weight. The softness of the material helps maintain an acceptable sound, too. why we like it: Although forgiveness is somewhat subjective, there is no denying everyone can benefit from it. Even players that might not think they need it can see the usefulness of it during every single round. The trade-off, of course, is that to achieve stability, ball speed is usually compromised to some degree. Not here.

Along with the sole slot and internal foam, the ultra-thin face features the company’s inverted-cone-variable-thickness pattern on the back of the face—positioned specifically in each iron to protect ball speed across a wide portion of the hitting surface.

7-iron loft 31 degrees pw loft 44 degrees

7-iron loft 33 degrees pw loft 46 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

53

p l ay e r s - d i s ta n c e i r o n s

summit snapshot: one ball for all To eliminate a variable, we use the same tour-level ball

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Gosh—so good.

A compact players look with power to spare. Plowed through the ground with speed. No resistance.”

▶ for a number of years, players at the Hot List Summit hit a variety of models of golf balls. All were tour-caliber, multilayer golf balls with urethane covers, but our mind-set on having variety was straightforward: We did not want a player staring down at a Titleist all day—or a Callaway or TaylorMade or Srixon or Bridgestone. So we used a combination of all of them to avoid the possibility of instilling any perceived brand bias in our testers. However, though each ball was similarly constructed, it’s a fact that every ball—even those of similar construction—is somewhat different from another. In our testing, eliminating as many variables as possible is a desirable

goal. After consultation with manufacturers on our testing process, it was determined that using a single ball would be best. But which one (see earlier dilemma)? The solution came in the form of having a multilayer urethane ball produced by one of the major manufacturers but with only a Golf Digest logo on the cover. Golf Digest purchased 500 dozen—we’ll do the math for you: That’s 6,000 balls—but that’s not enough to get us through the process when approximately 10,000 shots are collectively struck on any given day. As such, we have a dedicated staffer from our Summit site picking, washing and replenishing the supply on a regular basis throughout the day. —emj

demand

★★★½

titleist

RRP AED 7,175

T100S

what it does: Already boasting the T200 model in the playersdistance category, Titleist knew that although the extra distance was welcomed by many, a segment of players wanted that yardage gain in a slightly more player-ish package—and not just by loftjacking. The forged dual-cavity design T100S is a reimagining of the T100. Yes, the lofts are stronger by 2 degrees, but each iron in the set was redesigned with a thinner face. A hefty amount of tungsten (an average of 66 grams) is located in the heel and toe areas of the long and middle irons to improve forgiveness and foster a higher launch.

Also, an enhanced sole camber improves turf interaction. why we like it: This is a T200 in a T100 shape with progressive blade lengths, sole widths and hosel lengths delivering the optimal centre of gravity for each club. Although this iron might not appeal to all who shop in this category, younger golfers in particular have played stronger-lofted clubs most of their lives and are loathe to give up those yards. Much of Titleist’s iron business results in custom specs, but the stock shaft—True Temper’s Project X LZ—is geared to the target player with its mid launch, mid-spin characteristics.

7-iron loft 32 degrees pw loft 44 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

54

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

game-improvement irons

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“I love the firecracker sound these make at impact.

It feels like you’re getting something done. You know where the club is at all times during the swing.”

c a l l away APEX DCB

RRP AED 6,475

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“A perfect little click at impact. The ball certainly launches. They doubled the height of my average iron shot without sacrificing much distance.”

c a l l away

RRP AED 4,725

ROGUE ST MAX

what it does: The use of a cupface to wrap around part of the topline and sole (through the 9-iron) is one of two technological highlights of note. The other is 50 grams of tungsten encased in urethane with microspheres (tiny bubbles of air within the urethane) to foster trajectory control while allowing the face to flex more at impact. The use of artificial intelligence also allowed engineers to more rapidly figure things out, in this instance, designing faces for each individual iron in the set to optimise performance. why we like it: The player who needs a little more help had been shut out of the Apex line until this forged, game-improvement iron came along. The cupface and tungsten don’t just improve centre shots, they broaden the area of the face that can flex. Having the highstrength material for the cupface design allows golfers to recover spin rate and have ball-speed consistency in ways you can’t get with a face plate, especially on shots hit low on the face where many middlehandicappers make impact. Don’t overlook the stock steel shaft.

True Temper’s Elevate ETS 85 is about a third lighter than a standard Dynamic Gold shaft and can help boost swing speed.

what it does: When designing clubs for golfers who aren’t even qualifying for their club championship, let alone a tour event, every detail matters. For example: The centre of gravity is 50 percent lower than its predecessor to boost launch angle. A progressive hosel is longer in the long irons and shorter in the short irons. Why? More weight in the hosel helps the face rotate more easily, which less-skilled players need in their long irons, but not scoring clubs. why we like it: The Rogue ST Max is unabashedly about creating distance. Sure, the 41-degree pitching wedge leaves you shaking your head and saying, Really? But this is not just a case of chasing distance through loft jacking. The real boost comes from a springy 450 steel wraparound cupface designed with the use of artificial intelligence. A large wedge of tungsten is set low inside the clubhead and surrounded by a urethane compound. That compound is then impregnated with millions of microscopic spheres of air encased in small glass bubbles. The material is positioned in the iron up to the sixth scoreline on the face, in line with where most impacts occur, providing a cushy feel and still allowing the face to flex.

7-iron loft 30.5 degrees pw loft 43 degrees

7-iron loft 27.5 degrees pw loft 41 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

55

game-improvement irons

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The softness is sweet. The head isn’t as offset as some others, but it provided a good launch. Not sure what they did with the sole, but the turf interaction is exceptional.”

clevel and

RRP AED 3,850

LAUNCHER XL

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“They have a click to them that is reassuring. The middle and long irons give you some float on shots, which is a big help for a lot of golfers.”

cobra

LTDx/LTDx ONE

RRP AED 4,495

what it does: The set uses two constructions: a hollow-body-iron design in the long irons (4- through 7-iron) and a more traditional cavity-back construction in the 8-iron through gap wedge. The irons also borrow the “mainframe” technology first used by affiliated brand Srixon in which the backside of each iron face is milled in a variable-thickness pattern made up of various indentations to provide extra ball speed and remove mass. The V-shaped sole has an elevated leading edge, producing less drag than a typical flat sole, allowing shots hit fat to still go a respectable distance. why we like it: For several years Cleveland has approached its design of clubs with the everyman in mind. That’s because golfers who fall into the game-improvement-iron category approach golf and their choice of equipment from a pair of standpoints. Yes, they want to maximise the results from their good shots, but they also want help reducing the effect of less-than-perfect swings. To help with the latter, the Launcher XL irons use an eight-gram weight in the butt end of each grip that counterbalances the iron and helps promote a smoother swing that better squares the club at impact.

what it does: When golfers are asked what they want in an iron, many say “accuracy” or “feel.” Cobra knows those golfers are fibbing, especially the game-improvement crowd. That group mostly wants as many yards as they can get. Cobra addressed this desire in a meaningful way by using a weighting system that has a steel-core bar suspended within a polymer-injected casing. The bar is tethered to the heel and toe but not behind the hitting area, promoting maximum flex of the body, face and sole at impact. This creates a rebound effect that delivers high ball speed as the polymer layer around the core bar damps vibration and enhances feel. why we like it: Let’s start with the look. Gone are the carbon strips that sat atop Cobra irons of the recent past, and the angular shape has been replaced by a more rounded toe. Both are sure to be popular with golfers who desire a more conventional look. The forged cupface geometry was inspired by focusing on hit-pattern data the company gathered to identify the most common mis-hit locations and then ramping up speed in those areas. Cobra offers the iron in a single-length option as well.

7-iron loft 29 degrees pw loft 43 degrees

7-iron loft 26.5 degrees pw loft 41.5 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

56

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“A chrome finish that lulls you into thinking this club is standard issue. It’s not.

The highlight is the metal they’re using. The feel is unparalleled.”

mizuno

JPX921 HOT METAL

RRP AED 4,375

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“You can feel the help.

Easy to make crisp contact.

Has a responsive sensation in which the ball and face meet with an understated sound and robust feel.”

ping

RRP AED 5,250

G425

what it does: Mizuno uses a steel alloy called chromoly in a single-piece casting to create the thinnest, fastest face in company history—2.2 millimeters at centre and as thin as 1.9 millimeters at the extremes. The result is an iron that can produce ball speeds normally only seen in irons with cupfaces, sole slots or face-insert designs. As with virtually every Mizuno iron, the sensation at impact is impressive. The Hot Metal has a perimeter undercut cavity with updated ribs designed to support the frame for improved sound and feel. A degree stronger loft (29 degrees in the 7-iron) helps with distance. why we like it: There are not many companies, if any, that can introduce four sets of irons with the same basic nomenclature and have you believe each has an audience. But that’s what Mizuno has done with its JPX921 lineup. In this instance, the Hot Metal model has a slightly expanded footprint compared with its affiliated Tour and Forged models. It’s also on the compact side of the gameimprovement category. A strong proponent of fitting, Mizuno continues to enhance its Shaft Optimiser, first introduced in 2010 to allow golfers to narrow their shaft choices in just a few swings.

what it does: How do you make the ball fly faster off the face of an iron? One way is to make the face thinner. But to do that, you need a material strong enough to hold up at impact. For Ping’s G425 iron that meant using a new heat-treatment process to create what the company calls Hyper 17-4 stainless steel. The material is 10 percent stronger than typical 17-4 and was used to create a thin variablethickness face with plenty of deflection at impact. The face, however, is just one part of the speed equation. An undercut along the top rail and a sole that functions like a hinge create a trampoline effect to further increase ball speed and launch. why we like it: Ping is a company that always has the needs of everyday golfers in mind. Despite this iron having a shorter blade length than the G410, it’s actually more forgiving thanks to a tungsten toe weight. Also, the G425’s stock steel shaft is the company’s AWT 2.0 (for “ascending weight technology”): The shafts for the longer irons are lighter to improve swing speed and face closure, and the shafts for the short irons are slightly heavier for more control on shots near the green.

7-iron loft 29 degrees pw loft 44 degrees

7-iron loft 30 degrees pw loft 44.5 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

57

game-improvement irons

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“These are brilliant.

Ideal combination of trajectory control and distance, which isn’t always easy in a category where there’s so much help.”

pxg

RRP AED 10,850

0311 XP GEN4

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Even for someone who fades the ball, this is easy to draw. The piercing flight is great to play in the wind, yet it still climbs enough to land softly on greens.”

s r i xo n ZX4

RRP AED 5,495

what it does: On the surface, this iron would appear to be a logical successor to the 0311 XP Gen3 because it’s somewhat similar in appearance. It’s beneath the surface, however, where the biggest difference lies. The material inside the clubhead came from years of research and was designed for application in a golf club. The key: It’s more compressible than previous materials, giving the ultra-thin 1.55-millimeter face plenty of room to flex and rebound for increased ball speed and providing the kind of cushion at impact the company’s irons have become known for. why we like it: The clubhead is larger and has more offset than the 0311 P and T models. That’s comforting to middle- and high-handicappers. The forging process is intricate, with five steps requiring five sets of tools to produce just the right shape. Even then, a milling process also is used to remove material from the back of the club, making it thinner than what is possible through forging. For those preferring a black clubhead, an Xtreme Dark version is available.

The finish uses a diamond-like carbon coating that increases the surface hardness of the finish, so it stays intact longer.

what it does: This iron is sure to fool your opponents into thinking perhaps you don’t have enough forgiveness in the bag. Little do they know that within the sleek exterior is plenty of club. It starts with a high-strength HT1770 steel face insert that provides superior sizzle off the hitting area and a 431 stainless-steel body that enhances feel. The quiet hero, however, is the sole design in which a little more material was removed from the trailing edge, helping to increase the effective bounce without having to widen the sole.

That helps players maintain distance on shots hit fat, especially for those who come into the ball at a steep angle of attack. why we like it: The goal of game-improvement irons is straightforward: They help you hit shots that are hotter, higher and farther.

In other words, they make you feel like a better player than you are without having you notice. This iron does all of that. Of course, to achieve that, you need to know what the player needs. For Srixon, that meant creating an impact-probability chart determined from a database of more than 50,000 impacts from a player-test group that helped guide the artificial-intelligence design process.

7-iron loft 28 degrees pw loft 42 degrees

7-iron loft 28.5 degrees pw loft 43 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

58

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Just stupid long.

That speed comes without losing shots left and right.

A forgiving super-ball producer, all without making a clunky clubhead.”

tay l o r m a d e SIM2 MAX

RRP AED 4,095

what it does: Making the face springy at impact has been a part of the company’s irons for a decade. To boost ball speed in this iron, TaylorMade uses a “cap-back” design. The design offers the distance benefit of a hollow-body design but replaces the steel back with a polymer “cap” or badge. This has advantages a cavityback construction does not because it seals the head and allows for hollow areas inside, saving weight to use elsewhere. The lightweight polymer cap is 7.5 times lighter than steel, resulting in a low centre of gravity for high launch and low spin. The vibration-damping adhesive is used to bond the cap to the back for optimal feel. why we like it: In recent years, TaylorMade has burnished its brand as one for better golfers. Although TaylorMade features plenty of cool irons aimed at single-digit players, its new SIM2 Max irons are intended for golfers who need some help and welcome an iron that can supply more distance. As such, these irons continue the company’s heritage of using a flexible, cut-through slot or “speed pocket” in the soles of the 4- through 8-irons. This technology helps the face flex, which yields more ball speed and distance.

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“It has everything you want in a club regardless of handicap level. It’s not big. Sleek looking. Super energetic at impact with a soft feel off the face.”

tay l o r m a d e

RRP AED 4,695

STEALTH

what it does: This iron borrows the multimaterial “cap-back” design (which is 7.5 times lighter than steel) from the SIM2 Max that allows the face to move more freely but does so in an updated fashion. The cap-back now wraps around the high-toe area to reduce weight, making the club easier to square at impact. A slightly wider sole drives the mass—and therefore the centre of gravity—low, but the topline and blade length remain relatively compact. The speedy 450 stainless-steel face gets as thin as 1.6 millimeters, or the same as the SIM2 Max, for the distance boost every golfer craves. why we like it: The Stealth driver is likely to be the most-talkedabout club of the year. Look for this iron to draft off that success with good reason. The Stealth doesn’t feature the carbon-composite technology of the driver, but it nonetheless has a sleek, futuristic styling with a satin finish that is sure to appeal to the lower-handicap segment of the game-improvement category. A cut-through “speed pocket” helps mitigate the loss of ball speed on strikes hit low on the face, and a rib on the toe is used to support the upper portion of the topline to prevent any sound issues.

7-iron loft 28.5 degrees pw loft 43.5 degrees

7-iron loft 28 degrees pw loft 43 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

59

game-improvement irons

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Well-struck shots bring the click you expect. You get the ultimate reward on direct hits with mis-hits providing similar distance and trajectory as solid strikes.”

titleist

RRP AED 5,595

T300

performance

★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Looks like a players iron with the forgiveness of a game-improvement club.

Face is very lively on solid strikes. A high launch leads to a soft landing.”

cobra

KING FORGED TEC-X/ONE

RRP AED 6,295

what it does: The power comes from a combination of a new variable-thickness face with a polymer core that enhances feel and face resilience. The polymer core is now on the lower portion of the sole behind the face, compared with being on the back side of the iron in the previous T300. That not only looks better, it helps the face work more efficiently, especially on low impacts. Another upgrade is the investment in dense tungsten. The new T300 features 40 percent more tungsten than the previous model, or an average of 70 grams per head in the 4- through 7-iron. That mass is added to the toe and heel through the same brazing technique used in the other T-series irons for more stability on off-centre hits. why we like it: The goal here was to create an iron that’s not too big yet brings more distance and more height so that shots come into the green at a steeper angle and tend to hold. This is not easy to accomplish with irons featuring relatively strong lofts. Another cool thing Titleist has done here: Designers have carefully thinned the heel of the face to improve face flex in an area where there’s little room to get the face to bend.

what it does: Cobra’s E9 face is one of the company’s most venerable technologies, and it’s featured here—with a twist. The ST118 stainless steel goes through a multi-step forging and machining process. The result is a super-thin face (as slim as 1.6 millimeters in the upper area) that promotes rebound at impact. The slimming down also resulted in a weight savings of three grams that were moved low to boost launch angle. The irons have a new shape aimed to appeal to a higher-handicap player compared to the Forged Tec model. These have a thicker topline, a shallower blade height, increased offset, wider sole widths and stronger lofts. why we like it: The slightly beefier clubhead gives off the vibe that a powerful strike is achievable. In some ways it’s like a good IPA— not for everyone, but thoroughly enjoyable by those who appreciate it. The hollow-body 4- through 7-irons have a lot of tungsten welded into the sole (65 grams, which is 45 grams more than the Forged Tec) that helps with launching the ball high without having to rely on a super-wide sole to do so. The irons also use the same soft-foam core as the Tec model to enhance sound and feel.

7-iron loft 29 degrees pw loft 43 degrees

7-iron loft 27 degrees pw loft 42 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

60

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

summit snapshot: before the show starts A lot of prep goes into preparing for a day at the Hot List

performance

★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The slimmer profile and sturdy feel are a nice marriage. Doesn’t feel whippy or weak. A uniform feeling with consistent feedback across the face.”

x xio X

▶ this photo was taken after the sun came up, but prep for a day of testing at the Hot List Summit begins before dawn. It takes about two hours to set up each day.

This includes taking the clubs from their secure location to the range, organising hitting stations with clubs, setting out golf balls, tees and towels to clean clubs, as well placing launch monitors and hooking them up to power cords. Then editors do a double-check to make sure we have the full complement of clubs with no models or shaft flexes misplaced.

After players arrive, we have a member of our editorial team, this year Gabby Herzig, lead them in stretching before they begin their warm-up

routine. Before releasing players and editors to their starting stations, all huddle in a big circle for some final instructions. Everyone is informed of their assignments for the day, and they are reminded that there are fitters available and to stay hydrated. We urge them to stay fresh and take a break if they need to and, by all means, take advantage of the chair massage available during the lunch break, all in the name of making certain their last ball of the day is as good as their first.

Being a Hot List tester is a special skill set. Of the 28 million golfers in the United States, fewer than two dozen get to do this—or longer odds than winning “The Voice.” —emj

RRP AED 6,650

what it does: This forged iron is constructed with a newly developed low-carbon, high-vanadium steel for a flexible face with highdensity tungsten weighting in the lower-lofted irons to enhance stability on not-so-stellar strikes. The body uses a combination of stiff and flexible regions in the clubhead to increase energy transfer at impact. An undercut geometry further assists ball speed, particularly on shots struck low on the face. To guard against heavy shots, the V-shaped sole has more bounce near the leading edge to reduce resistance. A dual-groove system is used where the geometry changes from shallower grooves in the long irons to ones with more depth and sharper edges on the short irons for optimal grab. why we like it: XXIO is starting to grab hold of golfers’ attention in the United States. That’s because of all the technological goodies such as a springy face with a milled slot and a classy look that says you got what you paid for. The strong lofts continue throughout the set, culminating in a 43-degree pitching wedge. However, thanks to the deep undercut cavity that leaves plenty of weight down low, achieving height is not an issue.

7-iron loft 29 degrees pw loft 43 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

61

super- game-improvement irons

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The technology is packaged in a clean way. Really rewarding: On slightly heavy shots, the club feels like it cuts through the ground effortlessly.”

c a l l away

RRP AED 5,425

ROGUE ST MAX OS/LITE

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Straight as a string.

The shape of the head has a consistency throughout the set. The thicker topline promotes confidence at address.”

clevel and

LAUNCHER XL HALO

RRP AED 3,850

what it does: Callaway has a penchant for making irons that are easy to hit, and this one ranks with the best of them. To achieve this, the company took tech improvements from its other Rogue models and put them in a package designed to eliminate as much user error as possible. With the aid of artificial intelligence, the face has varying thicknesses for each iron. A durable 450 stainless-steel wraparound cupface brings rebound at impact. Because players in this category often need an assist getting the ball airborne, up to 60 grams of tungsten are placed low inside the clubhead for a lower centre of gravity that ups launch angle by half a degree. why we like it: The company’s previous offering in this category, the Big Bertha, was a super-game-improvement iron in a relatively palatable shape. With the Rogue ST Max OS no such subtlety was attempted. The clubheads are suitably large and provide plenty of launch assistance, distance and forgiveness for those needing help in all three of those areas. Because not all players in this category have the same swing speed, we particularly like the addition of the Lite model designed for those with deliberate swings.

what it does: Cleveland’s Launcher line of irons has long focused on helping golfers who need a boost of forgiveness and assistance getting the ball airborne. The company’s latest version, the hollowbody Launcher XL Halo, really excels at both. The clubhead is driven by artificial-intelligent design, a process that produces far more potential clubhead designs than humans are capable of in any time period. The backside of each iron face is milled in a variablethickness pattern made up of various indentations to provide extra ball speed and remove mass. For the 4- through 7-irons, wider, flatter grooves minimise distance-robbing spin. In the 8-iron through sand wedge, deeper grooves are more closely spaced to enhance spin. why we like it: This technology can benefit almost anyone. Key to that is a head design that increases the moment of inertia to help mitigate the effect of mis-hits. According to Cleveland, the increase in MOI is 17 percent compared to the previous iteration to provide extra forgiveness for a player type that needs it. For those seeking even more control, the company is offering what it calls an “accuracy build” that is half an inch shorter than standard.

7-iron loft 28.5 degrees pw loft 41 degrees

7-iron loft 30 degrees pw loft 44 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

62

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“I like the rounded edges.

Incredibly quiet but powerful impact. Seems to reward smoother swings.

When I let the club do the work, it is optimal.”

cobra AIR-X

AED TBC

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“All shots have similar ball flights with good forgiveness. Even when I hit it fat, the ball goes the same distance. These are super trustworthy clubs.”

cobra

AED TBC

T-RAIL

what it does: Last year’s F-Max Airspeed was the lightest club in Cobra history. This one is even more feathery—eight grams less to be precise. By taking two grams out of the clubhead and six grams from the grip, more speed can be generated in the swing, thus leading to more yards. A variable-thickness face is thinner in the heel and toe areas to keep ball-speed loss to a minimum on off-centre hits. Because getting shots up in the air and fighting the slice are a pair of frequent issues for players in this category, the irons feature generous offset to keep shots on target and more traditional lofts that offer a higher trajectory. why we like it: Cobra has two models in this category, including this all-iron set for those seeking a cleaner look. When designing clubs for those who need help, light and easy to hit are two key design elements. Both are addressed here. Going completely undetected by golfers but offering a nice assist is the fact that the irons have a more upright lie angle in the longer irons. This helps the club square at impact. Those choosing the graphite stock shafts get a nice bonus: two hybrids that replace the corresponding long irons.

what it does: OK, we know that sets with large-headed, hollow bodies aren’t that easy on the eyes for some golfers, but what really matters is how they perform, and these do just that. The hollow design incorporates a wide sole with rails that make turf interaction easier and help shift weight low to foster higher ball flights.

A durable 455 steel is used for the company’s forged E9 face design in which material has been removed from the heel and toe to increase ball speed on shots struck in those areas. why we like it: In recent years Cobra has broadened its reach by making irons that appeal to better players, but the company hasn’t done this at the expense of producing helpful equipment for golfers who need it. The T-Rail set builds on that heritage in a meaningful way by using one of the company’s most proven design features—the Baffler soles. In addition, a true, larger hybrid is used in place of the 4-iron instead of an iron with a hollow-body construction. In short, there are no complaints about the feel of this club or its ability to produce good golf shots. Want even more help? A 5- and 6-hybrid are available through custom order.

7-iron loft 31.5 degrees pw loft 45 degrees

7-iron loft 29 degrees pw loft 44 degrees

Coming soon to eGolf Megastore

Coming soon to eGolf Megastore

march 2022

gdme hot list

63

super- game-improvement irons

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The bulk instills confidence. The ball jumps off the face. If someone wants a club you can launch with ease, this is it. Plus, a cushioned feel at impact.”

pxg

AED TBC

0211 Z

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“A sharp-looking club.

The feel off the face is flush even on off-centre hits.

It goes through the turf easily without digging. The long irons go incredibly far.”

titleist T400

RRP AED 8,365

what it does: PXG’s first foray into truly oversize, hybrid-style irons makes its intentions perfectly clear: Let less-skilled and beginners experience the thrill that comes from shots that launch high while reducing the aggravation that comes from the inevitable bad shots and chunks. That’s why the irons in the 0211 Z set are lowprofile and feature the widest sole of any PXG iron ever, significantly wider than previous PXG super-game-improvement irons.

The wider back section features a dark PVD coating in an attempt to slim the look compared to the more iron-like front of the club. why we like it: Designing a set that makes the beginning golfer seem competent might be a taller task than helping the average weekend warrior play a little bit better. That’s because every swing is pretty much a random event, so where to begin? For PXG’s designers, the starting line was working on making it easier to get the ball in the air. A stepped-down back section produces an extremely low, rearward centre of gravity for more spin and lift.

Fitting is not prevalent in these types of irons, but PXG’s website asks a series of questions to help guide the golfer into proper specs.

what it does: Titleist revamped its T-Series but left this model intact. Aimed at creating as much speed as possible, the company leaned into its experience creating utility irons. That led to a hollow construction in the long irons instead of a cavity-back design and the use of a high-strength-steel L-face (where the bottom part of the insert wraps around the sole of the club) in the 5- through 7-irons.

This allows the face—particularly the bottom part of the club—to flex more at impact. True Temper’s AMT Red is not only lightweight, but each shaft gets progressively heavier by three grams to make long irons easier to launch and short irons more controllable. why we like it: There’s a stigma attached to super-gameimprovement irons that only 25-handicappers should use them. But what about those who play the game a little better and could still use some help? This iron should be a consideration. The lofts are obscenely strong (a 38-degree pitching wedge), but the appropriate launch is achieved by using a remarkable amount of tungsten (up to 100 grams in some irons) that gets the centre of gravity low enough to produce powerful shots that get up in the air.

7-iron loft 31 degrees pw loft 45 degrees

7-iron loft 26 degrees pw loft 38 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

64

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Sleek for this category.

A lot of offset, but that helps square the club. Feels like the ball is launching off a trampoline but with enough height to hold a green.”

x xio 12

RRP AED 7,700

performance

★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Swinging it is easy, with distance on the longer side.

You don’t have to hit in a certain area on the club to get it where it needs to go.

Effortless height.”

x xio

RRP AED 10,775

PRIME

what it does: The four-piece clubhead is intricate. The dual 630 stainless-steel split body is a carryover from the previous model.

What’s new is the proximity of the deep undercut to the face. By moving the weld away from the bottom of the titanium face plate, that area can be thinned to the point where the steel is actually thinner than the face. That reduces the stiffness low on the face leading to ball-speed increases on low impacts. The face is not only fast, but light. The weight was reduced by 7 percent with the savings used elsewhere to promote stability for better results on mis-hits. why we like it: Talking about weight in a golf club is about as exciting as watching someone put on socks. Using weight smartly, however, is just as functional as a good pair of hosiery for your feet. In this club that means adding a 20-gram weight low in the 5- through 7-irons to produce a higher trajectory and extra forgiveness. Perhaps more meaningful is the removal of weight from the shaft, which is now in the butt end of the club. This brings the balance point closer to the hands to promote better positioning at the top of the swing (more cocked and closer to the body).

what it does: How do you make an iron behave like a driver? You begin by using the same face material. XXIO’s Prime features an incredibly strong and lightweight alloy the company calls Super-TIX Plus titanium. Behind the springy face is a structure with two interior slots to provide extra speed, particularly on impacts below the centre of the face. Because reducing weight is a primary design goal for XXIO, a new proprietary graphite shaft using a nanoalloy resin is just 44.5 grams. This encourages faster clubhead speed while a soft tip section makes it easier to rotate the clubhead for solid contact. why we like it: XXIO doesn’t pretend these irons are for everyone. They are, in fact, designed for golfers with slow to moderate swing speeds. That’s OK, though, because the lightweight technology and fast titanium face go a long way to helping those golfers feel like they have muscles they didn’t know they had. These luxurious-looking sticks are not inexpensive, but making the price more palatable is that XXIO isn’t trying to sell you clubs you don’t need.

Knowing that a well-struck 3- or 4-iron is a long shot for this player type, the set intelligently starts at the 5-iron.

7-iron loft 28 degrees pw loft 42 degrees

7-iron loft 28 degrees pw loft 42 degrees

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

march 2022

gdme hot list

65

L

THE LO OP

Office Golf Insults Worthy of HR When you work in a golf-mad environment like ours, some jokes cross the line

By Coleman Bentley

“YOU READ MARKET PROJECTIONS WORSE THAN YOU READ PUTTS.”

“Your swing has more hitches than a bad Zoom connection.”

“You fudge your handicap so often you should work in accounting.”

“Cool standing desk—it matches your iron covers perfectly.”

“YOUR STOCK OPTIONS ARE THE ONLY THING SEEING RED NUMBERS TODAY.”

“YOU CAN’T EVEN BREAK 80 IN YOUR INBOX.”

“Your pre-shot routine is slower than the Wi-Fi.”

66

golfdigestme.com

march 2022

“EVEN THE INTERN IS TOO OLD FOR THOSE JOGGERS.” illustrations by michael weldon

Exclusive paintings, sculptures, photography and timepieces from award-winning international artists.

Painting by Mai Majdy

Photograph by Lord Patrick Lichfield

The United Arab Emirates 50th Anniversary Navigator Clock – Limited Edition by David Galbraith