GOLF DIGEST AUGUST 2021

THE #1 GOLF PUBLICATION

WHAT WOULD

BUBBA

SHOOT AT YOUR COURSE? WE TOOK WATSON TO A 6,100-YARD PUBLIC TRACK PLUS STATE OF THE NATION WHAT NEX T FOR UAE GOLF? CREEK COUP ASIA-PACIFIC AMATEUR BREAKING 100, 90, 80

august • 2021 A MOTIVATE PUBLICATION AED20 KD1.7 OR2.1 SR20 BD2.1

Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority

GOLFDIGESTME.COM

T H E W E E K D AY G O L F S U M M E R PA S S

Enjoy luxury golf on weekdays this summer June 1st, 2021 – September 30th, 2021 Stay active this summer with a weekday golf summer pass that offers you all-day play on the Gil Hanse designed 18-hole championship course and weekend access to the unrivaled floodlit, 9-hole PAR 3 course, perfect for night golf.

ENJOY WORLD-CLASS FEATURES Dubai’s Only Floodlit TrackMan Driving Range | Expansive Infinity Pool | Delectable Cuisine 10 Day Booking Window | Exclusive Dining and Retail Discounts

AED 4,200 per person Limited Spaces Available.

Prices are inclusive of VAT. Flexible payment options available. Terms and Conditions apply.

Terms and Conditions are subject to change based on UAE Government directives.

To learn more, please email dubaimembership@trumpgolfdubai.com or call 04-2453939.

@TRUMPGOLFDUBAI

Tee Sheet 08/21 how to play. what to play. where to play.

Features 18 State of the Nation What the UAE must do to cash-in on golf’s unexpected, pandemic driven participation spike. by kent gray

34

p.

What Would a Tour Pro Shoot at Your Course?

We took Bubba Watson to a 6,100-yard public track. The results might surprise you.

by joel beall

watson: jesse rieser • illustrations by nigel buchanan

4 Editor’s Letter A curious new band of golfers are stepping out from the plush bays at Topgolf Dubai.

The Starter 6 Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club The European Masters has been held at this majestic resort in the Swiss Alps since 1939. by kent gray

Play 8 Undercover Caddie How to become a looper on the PGA Tour. with joel beall

by kent gray

47 Going for Gold Five golfers chase Olympic glory for their underdog nations. by matthew rudy

58 Breaking 100, 90, 80 What new data says you should work on to beat your scoring goal. by kyle morris with analysis from mark broadie

10 Random Practice Belting driver after driver is a waste of your range time. by matthew brookes

12 Tour Technique Flush your fairway woods. by henrik stenson

16 Hello World Dubai Golf has scored another prestigious amateur championship. by kent gray

26 Golf Digest Schools Putting myths debunked. by preston combs

66 The Loop As fans return, it’s time to update golf’s tired phrases. by coleman bentley

Cover photograph by Jesse Rieser

30 Richly Rewarding The Aramco Team Series is a fiscal game changer for the Ladies European Tour.

47 august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

3

Editor’s Letter

“It’s not [traditional] golf, but it is a start…”

editor-in- chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer managing partner & group editor Ian Fairservice

Game Changer KENT GRAY kent.gray@motivate.ae • Twitter: @KentGrayGolf / @GolfDigestME CURIOUS BAND of newbies has begun showing up at driving ranges across the UAE. They mostly arrive club-less but not clueless to the benefit of lessons from a qualified PGA coach. The lush green courses just beyond the practice grounds are not an immediate target, rather the desire for knowledge is caged.

These new players are Topgolf converts and they are loving this maddeningly brilliant new pastime they’ve just discovered.

“I’ve spoken to many people over the last couple of months at all the golf clubs in Dubai who have said they have seen people coming to their golf clubs asking for lessons because they want to be better at Topgolf,” said Chris May, CEO of Golf Dubai which manages Topgolf Dubai at Emirates Golf Club.

“It’s not [traditional] golf, but it is a start and it is our jobs in all the golf clubs to try and build that transition from a Topgolf bay into a green grass fairway, whether it’s a par 3 course, whether it’s more lessons and ultimately in the future to become members of our clubs.”

May was speaking at the Emirates Amateur Golf League’s ‘Future of Golf ’ forum which shone an overdue light on the state of the UAE golf industry.

“Those of you that are old enough to know,” May continued, “[will remember] Dubai was very lucky in the early days to have the Nad Al Sheba club which provided an easy and affordable, accessible point of entry into golf. Topgolf I think has been doing that in Dubai for the last six months since we opened on January 3rd. “ With an average of 10,000 players a week since then, and a record of 12,000 participants in one seven day stretch, the arrival of Topgolf in the Middle East has been an unequivocal success.

Ironically, COVID-19 has also helped drive growth on the region’s more traditional fairways.

A

4 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

The forum reported “approximately” 80,000 rounds played across the UAE’s 18 courses in April, up from 12,000 a year earlier at the height of the pandemic but more pertinently 26,000 more rounds than were recorded in April 2019.

It’s part of a global trend with even epidemiologists agreeing golf is about as safe a sporting pursuit as you could hope to find in this weird new world in which we inhabit.

What has most pleased May is the diverse makeup of the chock-a-block bays at Topgolf Dubai.

“The diversity of nationalities, the diversity of age-groups, the number of UAE nationals and GCC nationals who are picking up a golf club for the first time and playing and having fun, it’s really something I don’t think we’ve seen in this region before,” May said. “I think we’ll see several more Topgolf facilities in the region because it really is a way of getting new people into the game which will help the entire golf industry and certainly all of the golf clubs in the region.”

Our ‘State of the Nation’ feature (from p20) has more on that exciting prospect, as well as the views of other key stakeholders tasked with ensuring the unexpected momentum provided

by COVID-19 isn’t wasted.

Be sure to check out our Tokyo 2020 (it’s a weird time, remember) preview as well. It features the inspiring stories of five players chasing Olympic glory for their underdog nations, including Arabic pioneer Maha Haddioui from Morocco and Indian star Aditi Ashok who are so well known in this part of the world.

At a Summer Olympiad yonder, how wonderful it would be if a new star’s inspirational story includes how they were introduced to the game by thwacking balls towards the Dubai Marina skyline or some other iconic Middle East backdrop. Much stranger things have happened, especially in the past 18 months.

editor Kent Gray art director Clarkwin Cruz editorial assistant Londresa Flores instruction editors Luke Tidmarsh, Euan Bowden, Tom Ogilvie, Matthew Brookes, 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, Tom Watson

Scan the QR Code to read, download and share the latest, and back issues, of Golf Digest Middle East.

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

6 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club The European Masters has been held at this majestic resort in the Swiss Alps since 1939

BY KENT GRAY culpted under the shadow of the imposing Matterhorn and Mont Blanc by the late, great Spaniard Severiano Ballesteros, Crans-surSierre Golf Club is one of continent’s most recognisable courses. Home to the Swiss Open since 1923 and from 1983 rebranded as the OMEGA European Masters, the majestic venue 1500 metres above the Rhone Valley will make a welcomed return to the European Tour schedule from August 26-29 after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Swiss Masters enjoys a rich roll call of champions including Bobby Locke, Dai Rees, Bob Charles, Ballesteros, Nick Price, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Craig Stadler, José María Olazábal, Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and Danny Willett. It was also the scene of the first round of 60 shot on the European circuit, by Italian Baldovino Dassù in 1971, and created global headlines in 2006 when invited LPGA Tour star Michelle Wie (now Wie-West) carded rounds of 78-79 to finish last of the 156 players.

Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg won the last edition in 2019 after a five-way playoff featuring Rory McIlroy.

S

Photograph by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Play On Tour

Illustration by Ink Bad Company

If your player is a low-energy guy, you can’t be all fired up.

Undercover Caddie How to become a looper on the PGA Tour by joel beall

hen people hear what i do, they ask how I got started. I happily reply, but I can tell they are waiting for me to stop talking so they can ask what they really want to know: How do I get your job? ▶ It’s easier than you think—and much harder. ▶ We’re well beyond the era of caddies showing up to PGA Tour parking lots hoping someone needs a loop. Professional caddieing never had an organisational growth chart, but there used to be a loose system of working your way from the minors to here. However, during the past decade the trend has been for players to choose guys they played with on the mini-tours who have no caddieing experience. That’s fine; even if they’re not purebred caddies, they know the game and figure out the job quickly.

Mistakes are made, but they’re typically minor ones.

W

More problematic are the players, especially the young guys, who hire their college buddies or family members. You’d be surprised how poor the golf acumen is. The mind-set of these players is, I don’t need help; I just need someone who I enjoy hanging with to carry the bag. I get it. But often these inexperienced caddies become such a hassle that they cause additional stress to the player and hurt his game.

Worse, they can affect the rest of the group. For example, at an event two years ago, a player’s friend/caddie was so busy talking to a group of buddies following them that a TV cameraman had to tell him to shut up. These are not isolated incidents and they are becoming prevalent.

Me? I’ll admit I got a bit lucky, but I also put in the work. A caddie-master at a course I grew up at was working a then-Nationwide Tour event. I had stopped trying to play professionally

the year before and was doing odd jobs while applying to graduate schools.

The caddiemaster called me and said to come to the event because several players were looking for a caddie. The guy I looped for ended up with his best finish as a pro. This was early in the season, and we lasted only two months together, but I ended up filling in for someone else who had a good end to his season. He brought me back the next year, and that year we earned a promotion to the PGA Tour. We had a good run before splitting up a few seasons ago, but I’ve been on tour ever since. Sometimes it’s that simple.

If you want to be a tour caddie and have no connections, you still have a good chance if you put in the time. It starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. There’s not much security and no credential requirements at these events. Often you can set up in the parking lot and ask players, “Hey, do you know of anyone

who needs help this week?” You’re going to be told “no” a lot. Sometimes it’s awkward; the player’s caddie could be right there. You might have to travel for a few weeks, even a month, before someone says “yes.” But if you have half a personality and show you know the sport, I promise you will get an opportunity.

Another good route is the Symetra Tour. More than half the women don’t have caddies. Instead, they use a pushcart or carry their bag. They want a caddie, but the money is so tight that few caddies bother with it. However, if you look at the year as an investment, even if your player doesn’t make the next level, your name will be out there, and you could be on the LPGA Tour by the next season, and you can earn a living there.

Because there aren’t many regular caddies at these levels, it’s a good way to introduce yourself to player agents.

Relationships with players continue to be the best and most dependable way to get a gig. But it doesn’t hurt to have the cell number of a gatekeeper or two. You must be great at networking and present yourself as someone who is easy to be around. That sounds easy, but think of all the personality types. You also must read the player. If he’s a low-energy guy, you can’t be all fired up, and feel players won’t be impressed with the data you’ve collected. You’re essentially applying for 20 different jobs at once.

“Out of sight, out of mind” really applies to the tour and not just to caddies. I’ve seen tour players ask other tour players how it’s going, not realising that player has missed the past year with injury. If you catch on as a caddie, odds are you’re going to lose that bag eventually. When that happens, don’t take time off. Even caddies with the best reputations must put themselves back out there. It could be as simple as a couple of texts; it might be pleading with other caddies to keep you in mind if they hear of openings. If you’re sitting at home waiting for a call to come, it’s not happening. Because the truth is, it might be harder to stay on than it is to break in. august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

9

Play Range Time with Matthew Brookes

“You need to incorporate more random practice into your range time.”

WATCH THE VIDEO ▶ Scan the QR Code to watch Matt bring this lesson to life.

Practice like you play

HEN WAS THE last time you hit 10 drivers in succession during a round? Unless you have a serious swing fault and this nightmare scenario collided with a hole featuring OB stakes tightly snugging each side of the fairway, I’m guessing never. Which makes you wonder why we stand on the range and belt drive after drive.

My own short game was sharpest when I was a junior and played chipping comps around the green with my mates 1for hours ai162738799194_dubai creek.pdf 7/27/21 on end. The winner of the hole would pick

W

the next target and without knowing it we were learning and honing our games by putting ourselves in different situations every shot. Better still, practicing was fun.

When learning a new move or at the start of the range session, “block practice” is understandable. If you’re really committed to improving though, you need to incorporate more random practice into your routine.

It’s something I rarely see. Fortunately, the awesome new Toptracer Range technology at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club 4:13 PM is perfect for measurable random practice.

Being able to play some of the world’s most famous courses virtually adds excitement and you can up the ante further with a points scoring system that allows you compare yourself to others at the club or even worldwide. It’s a nice bonus to give your practice sessions a little more competitive edge. Stick at it and your scorecard will quickly thank you. –WITH KENT GRAY Matthew Brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

joachim guay

Bashing shot after shot on the range is no way to improve

UAE 5O YEARS

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

If you’re an avid photographer and love the UAE, submit your photograph of the nation for the opportunity to be featured in an exclusive, coffee-table book celebrating the 50th National Day. Find out how to enter by visiting: booksarabia.com/competition Submissions close August 14 th 2021

OFFICIAL RADIO PARTNER

OFFICIAL IMAGING PARTNERS

Play Tour Technique

Go Long Put more faith in your fairway woods by henrik stenson

t’s no secret that the 3-wood is my go-to club.

When I won the Players Championship in 2009, I think I hit driver five times all week. At the 2015 Tour Championship, I went 3-wood, 3-wood to hit the green in two on a 600-yard par 5. I use 3-woods so often, I’ve caved in the face on more than one over the years.

The reason I love this club is that it’s so damn dependable. It puts the ball in play when I need it most, it produces high shots from long range that hold par-5 greens, and it gives me a chance to get some yardage back when I get out of position. It’s for those reasons that I’ve often wondered why most of the amateurs I play with shy away from the 3-wood— and fairway woods in general. These clubs can really help you score better.

If you lack confidence in your woods, let me help you with that.

I’m going to start by sharing a drill that I still use to build trust in my 3-woods. (There’s a reason why I named my old Callaway Diablo model “Old Faithful.”) Next time you’re on the range, try hitting some drivers off the deck. I’m serious—if you can stripe a few with the driver this way, you’ll have no problem getting a fairway wood airborne, even from the tightest lies.

That’s my first tip, but on the following pages, I’ll share some more practical advice for learning how to smoke it with these clubs.

I

—with dave allen

12 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

“Want to smoke a 3-wood? Practice by hitting your driver off the deck.”

issue x . 2021 | golf digest

x

Play Tour Technique

SACRIFICE DISTANCE OFF THE TEE, JUST NOT THAT MUCH second-shot golf ▶ I realise you probably don’t hit your 3-wood 300 yards dead straight, so using it off the tee instead of a driver might leave you farther back on a hole than you’d like.

But you don’t have to sacrifice that much driving distance with a fairway wood if you make a confident swing. More important, you’ll likely play your next shot from short grass, because they are easier to control— that’s how you avoid big numbers.

14 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

my rules for a 3-wood tee shot • Tee the ball so its equator lines up with the middle of the clubface—no higher.

• Play the ball off your front instep, which marks the low point of the swing.

• Tilt your spine away from the target to help sweep it off the tee.

• Make a full body turn back and through.

a drill to get more body turn ▶ You must get your body in a strong, coiled position at the top of the backswing to maximise distance. Practice getting fully wound from an address position by starting with the clubhead a few feet in front of where you’d normally play the ball (above, left).

From there, make a backswing from the ground up, letting the momentum from this starting position rotate your chest and swing your arms to the top.

Copy this feeling when you return to hitting shots, and you’ll be in the proper spot at the top to deliver the clubhead into the back of the ball powerfully.

“The biggest mistake is not staying down through impact.”

TAKE THE FEAR OUT OF GETTING IT AIRBORNE longer shots save strokes ▶ It’s OK to admit it—you usually stand over a fairway-wood shot from short grass afraid you might top it or fat it. This fear makes you do some bad things, like trying to steer the clubhead into impact or trying to scoop the ball off the ground. Neither is going to work. To hit these shots flush, you need to make sure you’re in the right posture, one that lets you swing through the ball on a shallow path fueled by good body rotation.

Don’t get armsy, or you’re dead.

my rules for woods off the turf • Play the ball an inch or two farther back than from the teed position.

• At address, hinge your upper body toward the ball, bending from the hip joints.

• Keep turning your body to shallow the club’s path as it meets the ball, and let the club’s loft, not your hands, get it airborne.

a drill to send the ball higher ▶ To get your fairway woods soaring, practice with this drill: Address a ball, but place your fairway wood flat across your thighs, just below the belt line.

Apply pressure with the shaft into your thighs as you bend forward with your upper body. (Stop bending before your weight shifts too much into your toes.

You should feel in balance from the front to the back of your feet.)

Once you’re in this forward posture (above), set your club down and hit a shot, trying to maintain the same inclination to the ground throughout the swing. This drill will help remind you to stay down with your upper body until the ball is gone, which is crucial to hitting it high and far. Say goodbye to laying up.

• Nip the ball off the turf. No divots.

try my knuckler when you want to keep it down ▶ Although I recommend you use a real tee to help make sure you put your fairway woods in play, I have to admit that I don’t. Instead, I use a “turf tee,” meaning I kick up a little tuft of grass with my club and place the ball on top of it (left). What this does is create a knuckleball effect on the shot—the ball flies lower with less backspin, which is great when playing into the wind or when you can run it down the fairway. Hall of Famer Laura Davies does this with her driver, too, although you should probably stick to a 3-wood if you’re going to try it. The only thing to remember is to play it like a fairway wood off the turf instead of the technique you would use for a teed ball.

Photographs by Carlos Amoedo

Play Amateur Bonanza

Hello Asia, Hello World Two of golf’s most prestigious amateur events are coming to the UAE by kent gray

ubai has suddenly become the epicentre of world amateur golf and has no intention of wasting the golden opportunity. ▶ Just nine months after being awarded hosting rights to the 2023 World Amateur Teams Championship (WATC), Dubai Golf and the Emirates Golf Federation have pulled off second massive coup by securing the 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships (AAC).

D

With first Royal Melbourne (Oct 2020) and then Sentosa Golf Club (Oct 2021) unable to take up hosting rights to the 12th edition of the AAC due to COVID-19 restrictions in Australia and Singapore respectively, the UAE has proudly stepped into the breach at the 11th hour.

Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club will now stage the AAC from November

16 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

3-6 and, given the delays, the 72-hole strokeplay event now holds more significance than ever. Not only will the champion earn a start at next year’s Masters and Open Championship as ever, the 13-month adjournment means the next Open, being the 150th edition at St. Andrews, is extra special. The champion will not only get to tee it up at fabled Augusta National but also in

the oldest major at golf’s birthplace, The Old Course. As a result, global eyeballs will focus on The Creek and Dubai Inc, a boon as the world slowly begins opening up to golf tourism again.

It is no coincidence another of Dubai Golf ’s properties, Jumeirah Golf Estates, will host the International Golf Federation-sanctioned WATC in 2023 with the 32nd Eisenhower Trophy

“This is an amazing opportunity for young golfers from the UAE...”

dubai creek, jge: courtesy of the club • matsuyama: getty images

▶ Clockwise from left: 10th green at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club; Fire Course at JGE; Hideki Matsuyama with the winner’s trophy along with the flags of The Open and Masters following the 2010 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

(men) and 31st Espirito Santo Trophy (women) to be played on JGE’s Fire course.

“It’s great news for Dubai and the UAE,” Dubai Golf CEO Chris May said of the AAC announcement, made jointly by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), the Masters Tournament and The R&A late last month.

“It is a tournament we have been

working for some time to bring to the region so to finally have the opportunity to host the event in Dubai, it’s fantastic for the country and gives all UAE National team players along with all the other GCC golf teams the opportunity to test themselves ‘at home’ against the best amateur golfers in the Asia Pacific region.”

May described as “significant” the

trust Augusta National, the R&A and ultimately the APGC had shown in “Dubai and the UAE to host major sports events at this time.” That faith would be repaid, he promised.

“Following a visit from members of the tournament committee from Augusta National we received very positive feedback and hope to make the UAE part of the [AAC] tournament’s rotation plans in future years,” May said.

“We are working hard on the golf course over the summer months to ensure it is in great condition for the tournament and post-event member and guest play.”

The AAC was established in 2009 to further develop amateur golf in the Asia-Pacific region. The event has rightly been lauded as a launchpad for freshly-minted Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama with the Japanese superstar the only back-to-back champion after triumphing at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe, Japan, and Singapore Island Country Club in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Lin Yuxin, who won in 2017 and 2019 and went on to make the cut at last month’s 149th Open at Royal St George’s as a result, is the only other two-time champion. The Chinese player is set to defend his title in November while the announcement will serve as great motivation for Emirati players such as Ahmad Skaik and Khalid Yousuf.

Dubai-based Indian teen Arjun Gupta will be another hoping to cash-in on his intimate knowledge of The Creek.

May praised the EGF for their “integral…support and assistance” in ensuring Dubai Golf was selected at relatively short notice.

“This is an amazing opportunity for young golfers from the UAE who now have the two most significant amateur golf events to look forward to over the coming two years.” august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

17

eagl - future of golf

State of the Nation THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HAS PROVED AN UNEXPECTED BOON FOR GOLF ACROSS THE GLOBE BUT WHAT IS THE GAME HERE DOING TO ENSURE THE SPORT CASHES IN LONG TERM? 18 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

hen the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11 last year, experts were swift with cataclysmic predictions for the global economy. Governments were already scrambling, with varying degrees of success, to ensure their hospital systems were not completely over-run by this new invisible enemy and scientists sped to formulate vaccines. ▶ Lockdowns, physical distancing, mandatory mask wearing, hand sanitising and Netflix binges became our norm. Employees were furloughed, already struggling businesses went to the wall and we all fretted for the future in this scary, uncertain time. Unless of course you worked in a non-essential service industry like golf where it seemed likely the inevitable global downturn would only serve to hasten the game’s already well-documented participation rate nose dive. With people dying at alarming rates around the world, golf seemed so insignificant. The outlook for the royal and ancient game was bleak.

Top Outcome

W

hat few saw coming was the almost complete reverse of that doomsday forecast. With the beauty of hindsight, that golf has boomed as we slowly emerge from COVID-19 (or at least learn to live with the deadly virus) is not all that surprising. Even the most pessimistic of epidemiologists agree that a more socially distant and safe outdoor pastime you will struggle to find.

With that, the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) set about ensuring the game was the first in the UAE to open up post lockdown, initially in ‘bubbles’ complete with partially filled-in holes, flagsticks you dear not touch and rake-free bunkers. Clubs who had seen round numbers plummet from 54,000 in April 2019 to 12,000 the following April (the EGF officially recorded just 2964 rounds) at least had hope after months of empty tee sheets.

Fast-forward 12 months and the latest statistics are astonishing with 80,000 rounds recorded across the UAE’s 18 courses this past April.

That “approximate” figure was released at the Emirates Amateur Golf League (EAGL)’s recent ‘Future of Golf’ forum which shone a light on the state of the UAE golf industry.

So how did we get here and how does the industry ensure the unforeseen spike in participation is not wasted? The answer to the former, in the UAE anyway, is two-fold. It’s clear established golfers who suddenly found themselves out of the office took advantage by hitting the links and playing and playing and playing some more. Former players, with equal amounts of time to fill, dusted off their old sticks and it seems in many cases, rediscovered their love for the game.

We are putting golf clubs into the hands of people that have never had a golf club in their hands before and they are having fun.

– chris may, ceo of dubai golf which operates topgolf dubai

Perhaps the most significant development, which just happened to coincide with the height of the pandemic, was the opening on January 3 of Topgolf Dubai. Since then, the impressive entertainment facility on the old Faldo driving range at Emirates Golf Club has seen an average of 10,000 players a week whack microchipped balls into the floodlit night skies while supping on refreshments and grooving to beats.

It's golf, just not as the UAE has known it before, according to Chris May, the CEO of Golf Dubai who critically own the Topgolf licence for the Middle East.

“Why did we decide to bring Topgolf to the UAE?” May said in response to a question from moderator Joy Chakravarty. “Two main reasons.

Firstly, we felt the business model was a good model and it would work in Dubai. That’s proven to be true and correct. But secondly and probably more importantly was to grow the game of golf and that has been proven to be definitely correct.

“The one thing that we’ve seen that has been really pleasing has been that Topgolf in Dubai, 75 percent of the people that play are non-golfers.

So we are putting golf clubs into the hands of people that have never had a golf club in their hands before and they are having fun.”

Drilling deeper into the makeup of the 75 percentile encourages May even more. “The diversity of nationalities, the diversity of age-groups, the number of UAE nationals and GCC nationals who are picking up a golf club for the first time and playing and having fun, it’s really something I don’t think we’ve seen in this region before.”

May doffed his cap to the EGF for getting golf back on its feet before turning the heat up on the region’s clubs to keep the momentum going. All with an exciting, Topgolf carrot. august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

19

eagl - future of golf

“I think golf has a great opportunity because of COVID. We’ve been very fortunate thanks to the hard work of the Emirates Golf Federation… [vice-chairman] Adel Zarouni in particular made us very fortunate to be the first sport that was open post the lockdown and I think that gave us a great advantage in seeing a huge uplift in the number of rounds played in the region.

“Now it is all of our responsibility to take that [participation spike] to the next stage and make sure people are playing Topgolf and then converting to green grass golf.”

The exciting bit? That non-golfers outside Dubai won’t always have to travel to the emirate to discover the joys of the game.

There’s nothing concrete planned yet, May insisted, but “based on the success of Dubai you’ll see other Topgolfs.

“The first one is likely to be in Abu Dhabi but I think you’ll see it around the GCC, other Topgolfs coming up. Perhaps not as big as the one in Dubai but smaller, making sure it is successful in that city, wherever it goes, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see four, five, six in the region within the next two, three years.”

Fresh Ideas

W

hen Nick Tarratt arrived in Dubai 31 years ago with “short trousers and long hair” to serve as secretary and golf manager at Emirates Golf Club, the game in the emirate was a very exclusive affair.

“The only way you could play Emirates

20 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

Above: (L to R) Moderator Joy Chakravarty, Ismail Sharif, Chris May, Simon Corkill, Mark Chapleski, Nick Tarratt and Roger Duthie at the EAGL forum

Dubai has traditionally done this, pushed the boundaries, adapted and that’s why we’ve got a really good place in global golf.

– falcon and associates executive tournament director simon corkill

Golf Club was as a member, member’s guest, corporate golf day or an international guest through a hotel. There was no local pay and play so we’ve gone from there to here.”

There’s still a way to go to entice non-golfers to a sport that is still perceived to be stuffy and ruleridden by uninitiated outsiders. Even Tarratt struggles letting go of tradition but knows the time has come.

“Let’s not forget I’m a jacket and tie, blazer man who likes the traditional 18 holes, the majors, the monthly medals, I still love that. But to encourage new golfers, the people Chris [May] at Topgolf and all of us here at the forum are trying to encourage, I think it will engage with the youth of today and not just old blazer and tie guys like me.”

The ‘it’ Tarratt was referring to is the Emirates Amateur Golf League (EAGL], amateur golf’s answer to IPL cricket complete with franchisestyle teams and live broadcasts of 9-hole matches designed to give average Joes (and Janes) the chance to experience what touring pros encounter every week. The EAGL Mini-Series played before the forum, a dress rehearsal to an annual threemonth league scheduled to start in November, was greeted with widespread approval.

Tarratt, as tournament director, clearly has a vested interest but sees ventures like the EAGL as part of the ongoing solution to grow golf’s appeal.

“Is this the short-form of golf [going forward]?

Golf has tried Sixes, it’s tried Shot Clock Masters, maybe it was invested in those rather than engaged,” said Tarratt, best remembered as the former chief of the European Tour’s Dubai office.

The unrivalled authority on golf in the Middle East, backed by the biggest names in the sport.

Visit GolfDigestME.com today!

Global Profile

We’ve done a great job so far but [the] only mistake that we’ve done, we’re always focusing on the fivestar [experience].

– ismail sharif

Facilities Rethink

A

nother veteran of the UAE game is Ismail Sharif, a seven-time national champion who currently serves as Managing Director of Dubai Golf-managed Jumeirah Golf Estates and is passionate about getting the nation’s youth off their screens and out onto the course.

The problem he sees is facilities to meet the newbie end of the market.

“We’ve done a great job so far but [the] only mistake that we’ve done, we’re always focusing on the five-star [experience],” said Sharif.

“If we look at the hotel business, you will see the pyramid is five-star first, then two is fourstar, and then come down. Golf needs to be the same if we want to grow the game. But our pyramid is upside down, we are all having fivestar golf courses, we don’t have nothing at the bottom to support the [new people] who like to come and play golf.

“Now, with the help of Topgolf and some programmes like here at JGE - we have started a programme called ‘Get into Golf’, it’s for one month, coaching in group lessons for 495 dirhams…normally you would [only] get one lesson for 495 dirhams. This is the things we need to do, work with all the golf courses if we want to bring this business to sustainable [levels] and have more golfers. We need to start somewhere.”

There are indeed new courses in the wings – the new Tiger Woods layout in Dubai will be a top dirham experience but perhaps Yas Acres in Abu Dhabi and the 9-hole Peter Harradine design on ice at Al Barari in Dubai could serve as more affordable entry points to the game.

Time will tell.

22 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

Below: OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic

A

fascinating aspect of the game’s overall health in the Middle East centres around the region’s high-profile European Tour and Ladies European Tour events. Two key players in that space are Simon Corkill and Roger Duthie and both shared interesting, even slightly contentious, thoughts at the forum.

Corkill, Executive Tournament Director for Falcon and Associates which run and promote the men’s OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic and LET’s OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic, said the region had made an “exceptional statement” by safely running pro events at the height of the pandemic.

“It [COVID-19] continues to cause us all challenges in everyday life but for example, when the Desert Classic was on, the [case] numbers were up to 5000 people a day and it was a really tense time but Dubai came through and demonstrated we could run safe events.

“This is not going away but I see the events at the end of the year, the DP World [Tour Championship] and the events for 2022, we will have events, the players will come, we can run hospitality safely and we can host spectators safely. Dubai and the UAE are right up there as world leaders.”

forum: eagl • moonlight cl assic: tristan jones/let

“And Shiv [EAGL ambassador and four-time Asia Tour winner Shiv Kapur] told me, ‘I think 9 holes is the future of corporate golf’. It’s great for the clubs to work in at quieter times rather than a big shotgun at 12.30pm, peak time; it helps the sponsor, it’s a little cheaper, you’re playing with perhaps more different people. What was great today [the EAGL Mini-Series] was that it was a genuine networking opportunity. It wasn’t you playing with three mates and having fun and just winning the same glass trophy and the same buffets so I must applaud [EAGL founder and CEO] Sudesh [Aggrawal] and all the team. Going forward, I think short-form golf is the future, Topgolf is a great example.

“I think engaging with the youth, short form, having more fun, music on the 1st tee, not on the golf cart...”

Tarratt’s answer tailed off, perhaps because he realises the old blazer brigade are in a losing battle when it comes to what the next-gen needs to be attracted to golf and what they want to stay invested.

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

eagl - future of golf

Corkill also wondered out loud if the tournaments he oversees at Emirates Golf Club might also become trailblazers in terms of media engagement.

“The other big change I’ve seen has been the whole clamber for content is becoming really, really strong and we need to adapt. As tournaments, we need to create content that is snackable, it’s engaging and we’re doing it.”

No one in golf does social media better than the European Tour and Corkill believes events need to adapt likewise. In the case of the OMEGA Classics, they might even go a step further.

“One thing that we’re looking at, and this has come around very recently, [is our] policy on press interviews having seen what has happened to Naomi Osaka in the tennis world. We’ve got to assess that situation. Is a press conference right if people don’t have direct consent? We’re looking at these things, we looking at, okay, if players don’t have direct consent on post round interviews, do we encourage all the players to

Golf is still getting older. We don’t have that Tiger factor anymore… we need to look for creative, new ways to find and attract new audiences.

– roger duthie

24 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

speak on the social media channels pre, during and post the event? I think we might get a really good result out of it. We’re considering it for a trial at our ladies event in October. We’re not sure yet but it’s certainly something we have to look at. We have to work with the times.

“Dubai has traditionally done this, pushed the boundaries, adapted and that’s why we’ve got a really good place in global golf. The events here are going from strength to strength but we adapt quickly and we will continue to.”

Global golf and boundary-pushing. A timely segue to introduce Duthie to the conversation.

The former Emirates Airlines sponsorship guru is now Chief Sponsorship Officer for golf marketing and consultancy agency Performance 54 which enjoys strong links to the global game’s most ambitious new market, Saudi Arabia. Duthie is also an Independent Sports Sponsorship Adviser and while he wasn’t asked to comment on the “exciting project” he’s currently engaged in, the room read it as a challenge to the game’s current status quo.

Time will tell if the mooted Super League (formerly the Premier Golf League) will make it from concept to big money reality, but Duthie is adamant the game needs to kick on now the “Tiger factor” is wearing off. “…over the last 10 years the average age of the TV viewing audience in America, say, is 63 years old. Golf is still getting older. We don’t have that Tiger factor anymore so how do you capture a young audience? Topgolf is one way, right, this forum, today’s tournament [the EAGL MiniSeries] is another way but we have to look at

Tourism Rebound

AggrAwAl: EAgl • topgolf: MichAEl BAxtEr • osAkA: tiM cl Ayton/gEtty iMAgEs

▶ Mark Chapleski was asked for his thoughts

other ways at attracting that younger audience because, sadly, we’re all getting older, decision makers are getting older as well, so we need to look for creative, new ways to find and attract new audiences.

“On a similar vein, it’s interesting to note, from a sponsors point of view, you want the top players to play and I was involved in the European Tour, and I love that partnership, and the Asian Tour.

But right now there is about 40 percent of the time when the world’s top 48 golfers play in an event, so you’re not guaranteed Tiger, Phil, Rory etc, etc.

Those are the people the fans want to see and the sponsors want to see and the broadcasters and that’s what makes this wonderful ecosystem work.

“We’re not having that right now so wouldn’t it be wonderful from a fans point of view, from a sponsor’s point of view if you could guarantee once a month, maybe every five weeks, that you could guarantee the top 48 players in the world or so playing in a tournament? How good would that be for the world of golf? Then you could create narratives throughout the season, you could generate new fans, new interest, you could highlight different players if you did a different type of format, there are so many ways to grow the game now. We're looking at it through my business right now and hopefully we’ll be successful.”

Watch this space. And welcome all those newbies emerging from Topgolf bays to green grass tees with open arms. The game, in this strange period of history, will endure and prosper if we become more inclusive, less exclusive.

Maybe even turn up the stereo. – kent gray

Clockwise from above: Topgolf Dubai; Naomi Osaka; EAGL founder Sudesh Aggrawal

I wouldn’t be surprised to see four, five, six in the region within the next two, three years.

– may again on the likelihood of topgolf’s gcc wide expansion

on sustainability, golf latest’s “buzz word” as he put it, at the EAGL’s Future of Golf Forum. He reported that the region was “ahead of the curve” globally after making “great strides” over the past 30 years with agronomy practices and more recently with the phasing out of single use plastics.

But first, the Dubai-based, Troon International President waxed lyrical on the region’s participation numbers announced by moderator Joy Chakravarty.

“You talked about 80,000 rounds in April and that is an incredible number. I don’t think any of us sitting here would have ever had of thought it was possible with the local market to do those kind of numbers, so it’s phenomenal, it’s been incredible what golf has gone through.

“But what’s even more incredible is that [number] was with less than one percent of tourists which we would...typically in the peak season we would get at least 10 percent and that’s something we are working towards getting more of those.”

Troon’s Abu Dhabi cluster of clubs – Yas Links, Abu Dhabi and Saadiyat Beach – are indeed working towards opening up the emirate to Green List countries including the U.S., Germany, Italy and Spain.

With more than 93% of those eligible now reportedly vaccinated in Abu Dhabi, Troon Abu Dhabi now has the ability to function as a tour operator, creating a “one-stop hub” for all international golf tour operators to package all required services including additional services such as hotel rooms and restaurant bookings with preferred rates.

A sharp increase in demand for autumn and winter golf breaks is expected as a result.

Said HE Ali Hassan Al Shaiba, Executive Director of Tourism and Marketing at the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi): “Golf is an important part of the sporting ecosystem in Abu Dhabi. The three championship golf courses managed by Troon complement Abu Dhabi’s golf offering and attracts professional and amateur players from all over the world. It is exciting to welcome back international golfers to challenge themselves on these beautiful courses in a safe and worry-free environment. The stringent safety measures Abu Dhabi has put in place to protect residents and non-residents alike will reassure our future golfing visitors.” august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

25

Play GD Schools

Putting Myths Debunked Five common tips you should never use again by preston combs

hether you’re on the practice green or on the course, there's a good chance someone has given you putting advice that might sound useful but is actually rooted in myth and will do more harm than good.

Alarm bells should go off in your head any time you get a

W

putting tip that disregards the three priorities: read, speed and direction. Here are five examples of things you often hear that aren’t helpful. Ignore them going forward and go with what I'm showing you here (yes, I’m a lefty), and you’ll start rolling it better than ever. — with gabrielle herzig

myth #1

“Swing a triangle” ▶ It’s likely that you’ve been told to create a triangular shape with your shoulders and arms when you hold a putter, and rock that shape back and through as one unit when you make your stroke.

This well-intended advice, often given to improve consistency by making the stroke more repeatable, can feel unnatural and thus hinder speed control. It's also misleading, because the forearm and upper arm are two segments, not one. Along with the shoulder girdle, these five body parts should create more of a pentagon look instead of a triangle.

A way to remember this is to visualise the look of baseball's home plate between your shoulders and arms when you address and stroke a putt (left). This is a more structurally sound setup that allows the arms to move more naturally. You'll be able to manage speed much better.

26 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

N myth #2

“Get your eyes over the ball” ▶ Setting up with your eyes directly above the ball is one tip many golfers think is a putting fundamental. Truth is, less than 20 percent of the tour players I’ve watched do it, so it’s far from essential. In fact, this setup can make your putting worse. When your sight line is over the ball, the tendency is to lean onto your toes (above). With pressure too far forward at address, it’s easy to drift back onto your heels during the stroke to compensate, which increases the potential for a poor strike or to get the putt started on the wrong line—or both.

Instead of worrying about eye position, focus on balance—maintain pressure underneath the laces of your shoes (left). To find this balance point, rock back and forth between your heels and toes until you feel centreed. The goal is to find a comfortable, balanced stance that prevents excess movement, allowing you to strike every putt solid and get the ball rolling on your intended line.

Y myth #3

“Hit it harder” ▶ You’re leaving a lot of putts short, so your match-play partner, Captain Obvious, says to “just hit them harder!” Is that good advice? Think about your car merging onto a highway. With a short on-ramp, you must accelerate very quickly, making it more challenging to move into a lane at the cruising speed of the cars around you.

You'll probably have to adjust your speed to avoid a collision. On a longer ramp, your car can smoothly accelerate up to the speed of traffic and just blend in.

Managing putterhead speed is similar. Too much acceleration in a shorter stroke—taking the advice to hit it harder—will lead to inconsistent speed control.

Instead, hit every putt at the same pace, simply making the stroke longer on both sides to regulate distance. Here I've got a putting station with three tees in the ground (left). I use them as visual reminders to make a stroke the same length back and through each time at the same moderate tempo. Adjusting the distance between the outer tees when doing this drill will help you get a feel for how far the ball rolls when you lengthen or shorten the stroke.

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

Play GD Schools

“Take the break out on a putt, and you make the hole a lot smaller.“

myth #5

“Low and slow is the way to go”

myth #4

“Take the break out” ▶ There’s a rampant myth that it’s better to ignore the break on a short putt and hit the ball hard enough that it goes straight in. When you take the break out by increasing how fast the ball is traveling as it approaches the cup, known as the capture speed, you also effectively shrink the size of the cup. Think about it—if you hit the putt dead centre, it will probably fall in. But if it reaches the cup left or right of centre, the chance of a lip-out increases significantly. Playing the break (above) and hitting your putts at the same moderate tempo will allow you to maximise the size of the cup.

28 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

▶ If a player takes the putterhead back too slowly, it’s difficult to build the energy needed to get the ball to the hole without accelerating abruptly—the short highway-on-ramp analogy. If you try to keep the putterhead low to the ground for too long, you can’t maintain the home-plate structure of the arms and shoulder girdle I recommended instead of a triangular shape. The arms eventually have to straighten if the putterhead stays down, and if you don’t get some bend back in them before impact—which is tough to do consistently— you’ll likely mis-hit the putt.

To develop a better stroke, one that lets you maintain the home-plate structure of your arms and shoulders and make a smooth swing that contacts the ball solidly, push four tees into the ground surrounding a ball like I did here (above). Practice making sure not to hit the tees with your putter in the backstroke or forward stroke. It should pass just above them. (Bonus points if you roll the ball between the forward tees.) Get the start line right, and you’ll hole your putts a lot more often. preston combs is one of Golf Digest's Best Young Teachers.

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

Painting by Faisal Abdulqader

Painting by Liz Ramos

Photograph by Joachim Guay

The 50th Anniversary Arabian Falcon Navigator

By David Galbraith

ARAMCO TEAM SERIES

RICHLY REWARDING GOLF SAUDI’S INNOVATIVE NEW ARAMCO TEAM SERIES, A FISCAL GAME CHANGER FOR THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR, PROVED AN INSTANT HIT IN LONDON

f dame laura davies deserves anything from her World Golf Hall of Fame career it is to be heard and especially so when the subject is the very future of the women’s game. ▶ The 57-year-old Englishwoman might be a prolific champion with 85 wins worldwide but is not prone to hyperbole.

All of which made her effusive praise of the Aramco Team Series worthy of repeating after the innovative concept’s debut in London last month.

“The more forward-thinking sponsors we get like this the better,” the four-time major champion said of the Kingdom’s petroleum and natural gas company which is backing the series’ four tournaments in London, Sotogrande (Aug 5-7), New York (Oct 14-16) and King Abdullah Economic City (near Jeddah, Nov 10-12) to the tune of US$4 million.

“They are doing an absolutely cracking job for us. And what they’ll hopefully do is make all the other sponsors move the bar up and realise that 108 pros cannot exist on a €200,000 tournament. I know times are hard and everything, but there’s Photographs by Tristan Jones

not much to go round with that kind of prize fund.

“We are not asking every sponsor obviously to put a million euros in – or million dollars as it is this time – but it is just encouraging other sponsors who are doing such a great job.”

“Everything has to be viable – they [sponsors] have to have a tournament that works for them as well as the players. Maybe other sponsors will want to get a bit closer to the Aramcos of this world.”

Owned by Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation and sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET), the Aramco Team Series sees the LET’s

best players and invited LPGA Tour stars team up with an amateur golfers to compete for a $1m prize fund at each venue.

The series employs a NBA-style draft system where selected team captains pick one pro teammate before being allocated a third via a random draw as well as amateur golfer who could end up putting for a major payday for their three professional team-mates. As well as competing for the team trophy, the professionals also vie for an individual title which carries Rolex (World) Rankings and Solheim Cup points, as well as being an integral part of the LET’s season-long Race to Costa del Sol money race.

“MAYBE OTHER SPONSORS WILL WANT TO GET A BIT CLOSER TO THE ARAMCOS OF THIS WORLD.” – dame laura davies

august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

31

Davies’ comments didn’t go unnoticed by Majed Al Sorour at the Centurion Club. The Golf Saudi CEO is adamant the Aramco Team Series is an important moment for not only golf but women’s sport.

“It’s encouraging to hear these kinds of comments from Laura,” said Al Sorour. “Golf Saudi is a champion of women’s sport and we hope our support of the Aramco Team Series events will make a big difference to the sustainability of women’s golf; something which is aligned to the ongoing women’s sporting movement in Saudi as part of Vision 2030.

“As is the case across global sport, women’s golf really does lag behind the men’s game in terms of prize money and exposure. Aramco’s continued commitment in golf across the next few years can hopefully provide the catalyst for other international backers to invest in the game and change this.

“We truly feel this could be one of the most exciting and innovative event formats in women’s sport today.

We’re attracting the biggest names in women’s golf and shaking things up globally with the US sport style ‘draft’ and walk-on music. We’re always trying to innovate and make the game more appealing.”

Enhanced global broadcast coverage is part of Aramco commitment, now

the most significant sponsor on the LET. “The more broadcast exposure we can give women’s sport the better – we’re excited to see the Aramco Team Series being shown in 60 countries over the coming months,” Al Sorour continued.

TRAILBLAZERS For the record, German Olivia Cowan captained her foursome to victory in the teams event in London while Norwegian Marianne Skarpnord captured the individual title in a playoff.

JA the Resort Ambassador Cowan led Sarina Schmidt, Diksha Dagar and amateur Andrew Kelsey to victory by three strokes from Team Skarpnord.

It was a maiden LET title for Cowan who produced the pivotal shot of the final round, holing out for eagle from 72 metres with her 56 degree wedge to send her team back to the summit of the leaderboard.

“I can’t put it in words how amazing it is. To share it with one of my best friends is just incredible as well,” Cowan said after selecting Schmidt. “I got really lucky with my team. I knew I wanted to pick Sarina two weeks ago and then to have Diksha on the team as well – I knew she was a great player and that she could hole some putts – so, I knew we had a good chance.

“I LOVE THE FORMAT. IT’S SO MUCH FUN WHEN YOU’RE A TEAM AND YOU HAVE TO DO WELL FOR SOMEONE ELSE AS WELL – NOT JUST YOURSELF.” – aramco team series london individual winner marianne skarpnord

marianne skarpnord amateur andy kelsey, captain olivia cowan, sarina schmidt, and diksha dagar

32 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

charley hull is eyeing sotogrande

“We all just complemented each other. We were all so great out there – we are a proper team. We weren’t looking out to win the individual, we were going out there as a team to win the team event and that’s paid off.”

Skarpnord’s consolation was victory in the individual event although she was made to work for it after carding a superb closing round of 68 – fiveunder – to tie Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul on 13-under-par.

A drained 12ft birdie putt on the Centurion Club’s 18th hole saw the Norwegian clinch her fifth LET title at the first time of calling in sudden death.

“It was won with a lot of nerves,” Skarpnord said afterwards. “On the short putts, my hands were nearly shaking. To win this event is very special. I think this concept is so, so good and we’ve had so much fun this week. I love the format. It’s so much fun when you’re a team and you have to do well for someone else as well, not just yourself.”

ON TO SPAIN The series moves to the La Reserva Club, near Marbella, with a host of European Solheim Cup heroes set to up the ante. In for the three-day event in Sotogrande come Georgia Hall, Charley Hull and Bronte Law, along with their winning 2019 Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew. The Scot won’t mind the unique team format as she runs the rule over some key players ahead of September’s rematch with the U.S. Women’s PGA Championship runner-up and four-time US Solheim Cup player Lizette Salas and Alison Lee will head the American challenge in Spain while Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn and Lindsey Weaver, the 2013 and 2018 LPGA Rookies of the Year respectively, are others to watch.

Skarpnord is back too and can’t wait to kick on from London.

“It was awesome to win and go down in history as this tournament’s first-ever winner. London was so

golf saudi ceo majed al sorour

much fun so I already can’t wait to do it again in Sotogrande next month.

“Events like the Aramco Team Series go to prove that so much great work is being done to elevate women’s golf, so I know the opportunities I have available for these magical moments are only growing, which is fantastic – and great to be a part of.”

Dame Laura Davies happily concurs. august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

33

gutter credit tk

x golf digest | issue x . 2021

Photograph by First Lastname

By Joel Beall

Photographs by Jesse Rieser

gutter credit tk

We invited two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson to put his game on the line at a regular 6,100-yard track.

The results might surprise you Photograph by First Lastname

It’s a question that prompts a variety of responses. Most tend to think the answer is “stupid low.” If pros can shoot 66s at a tour setup, what chance does a regular course stand? Yet how low is stupid low—63, 60, 58? These guys are good, but they can’t birdie every hole. Conversely, some believe their home courses could hold up just fine. Part of this is pride, but it’s not blind pride. An average course has quirks most tour venues don’t, and the putting surfaces are harder than tour greens because they’re not held to pristine standards. There’s recent evidence to suggest this is true: In 2019, Jim Herman returned to his childhood course, Shawnee Lookout, and set the club record with a 64—a score that sounds stupid low until you realise that (a) Shawnee was just 6,000 yards, par 70, from the tips and (b) Herman had just won the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship at the 7,100-yard, par-72 Keene Trace, thanks to a 62 and a pair of 65s. Maybe regular courses are formidable in a way.

But Herman’s day at Shawnee was one of visitation, not business: The course was closing, and he wanted one more

The course was Starfire Golf Club in Scottsdale. The player was Bubba Watson, and he was staring down a 30-yard pitch on the final hole for eagle. Bubba was out here to do one thing, and that was to go as low as possible.

We suppose that’s the objective for any round of golf, yes?

Only Watson was part of an experiment, and through 17 holes he had passed the test. Now he wanted to end it with an exclamation mark.

“The video better be rolling,” Watson hollered. His voice boomed with authority, and though he was motioning toward a camera crew, he wanted to make sure his friends heard him. For a moment, the man who famously kept his top-button buttoned decided to be a bit unbuttoned. “They better be rolling,” he continued, “because this is going in.”

TOUR STOP VERSUS EVERYDAY COURSE

bubba tip: how to warm up in 15 minutes or less Chip at first to loosen up the back and then ease into full swings. Start with a sand wedge and try to hit it 50 yards, then 100. Switch to an 8-iron.

Next is a 5-iron, full shot. No need to hit more than five balls per club.

Hit a few putts to get a feel for the greens. Now you’re ready to let it fly.

36 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

gutter credit tk

The PGA Tour visits the toughest, longest and most wellmanicured venues in the world—venues that look nothing like the average golf courses most of us play. Comparing the conditioning of regular golf courses to a tour site resembles the before-and-after photographs of a houserenovation show. Tour players hit out of immaculate sand; the rest of us hit out of bunkers that hold something resembling sand. The main similarity between putting surfaces is that both have flagsticks. Yet a long-hitting pro might drive half the greens. This has long generated debate in locker rooms and grills and crowded tee boxes: What would a tour pro shoot at our course?

gutter credit tk

go-around. Score was secondary to sentiment. He didn’t even realise what he shot until his brother told him. Herman’s tale was more barstool fodder than scientific proof.

That’s why we decided to make the experiment official.

Starfire offered to be our testing ground. It weighs in at 6,106 yards, roughly 1,000 yards shorter than the average PGA Tour course. Sound short? Consider the average American male golfer hits his drive about 220 yards, according to the shot-tracking site Game Golf Live, and at that distance the USGA recommends playing from tee markers at 5,800 to 6,000 yards. Starfire is an interesting design with a handful of idiosyncrasies. It has long par 3s and short par 5s, and the layout can be sneakily suffocating. The conditioning is good but not great, the greens are mostly green but brown and bumpy in parts, and the practice range is expansive and stocked with balls that are desperately asking to be sent to the ICU. The green fee is $36. Players dressed in polos and well-trimmed shorts are paired with players in gym attire. In short, a normal public course.

BUBBA TRACKER

NO. 1 / PAR 5 / 559 YARDS

NO. 2 / PAR 3 / 188 YARDS

tee shot 350 yards

tee shot 8-iron to three feet

result 5-iron to 30 feet, two-putt birdie

result makes birdie putt

score one under

score two under

NO. 3 / PAR 4 / 421 YARDS

NO. 4 / PAR 3 / 144 YARDS

tee shot 310 yards

tee shot wedge to 20 feet

result misses green with wedge, two-putt par

result two-putt par

score two under

score two under august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

37

BUBBA TRACKER

As for Bubba, he is not really a pro; there are thousands of those around the world. He is a two-time Masters champion, a feat only 17 men have accomplished. He has won 12 times on the PGA Tour and made six appearances on Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams. That is who you want in this arena—someone whose game underlines the expanse between them and us. With power and touch, a vision to see lines others don’t and the courage to take them, and a proclivity for shaping shots, Watson’s game is singular.

We had our course, and we had our player. We needed a projection. Sal Syed, co-founder and chief executive of Arccos Golf, ran a simulation through his stat-tracking application that projected a 66.5 for the average tour pro at Starfire, with Bubba’s number estimated to be 66.

However, Syed emphasised that this forecast came with an asterisk because it factored in tour-level green speeds.

“As long as he can adjust to the green speeds, his score should be even lower,” Syed said. For context, he said the average male scratch player would shoot 72.3 from those same tees and a 10-handicapper an 83.

Bubba had a number to chase, and it was time to chase it.

‘ATTACKING THIS LIKE A TOUR EVENT’ NO. 5 / PAR 4 / 349 YARDS

NO. 6 / PAR 5 / 498 YARDS

tee shot greenside bunker

tee shot 300 yards, rough

result sand wedge to 10 feet, two-putt par

result 6-iron to fringe, two-putt birdie

score two under

score three under

NO. 7 / PAR 4 / 400 YARDS

NO. 8 / PAR 3 / 203 YARDS

tee shot 325 yards, rough

tee shot 6-iron to 30 feet

bubba tip: how to improve your concentration

result wedge to 20 feet, two-putt par

result two-putt par

score three under

score three under

I always like to have a game going with an opponent or myself. It doesn’t have to be about score; maybe the game is to hit a certain number of fairways or greens or trying to hit nothing but fades or draws. Playing a game within a game will keep you sharp.

38 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

When our editors pitched this idea to Watson, he was all in. But we questioned that commitment when he rolled up to Starfire’s first tee with three—how should we put this nicely—retirees. At first, we thought the starter accidentally sent off a threesome with Bubba—which would make for an interesting story—but Bubba said they were with him.

“I brought the old guys so that my drives look that much longer,” Watson joked. But we prodded. No, really, what’s the deal? Nothing against these guys, but most tour pros are surrounded by agents, managers, instructors, equipment reps, siblings, former college teammates and general parvenus. (Some pros have enough lackeys to field a softball team.) Turns out one of the guys was Bubba’s business partner, Sandy Sansing, and the other two— Charles Davis and Kenneth Darula—are members at Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, one of Bubba’s home courses.

“Hey, man, they’re golfers just like you and me,” Watson said. “I play with a lot of guys on tour, and when I’m at my home courses, I play with a lot of regular folks. I don’t care about your game or what you do for a living or who you are; I just want to play with good people.” Hard to argue with that. Besides, these guys can play: Each of them hit drives of more than 270 yards on the first hole, and all did so despite Bubba pointing out a lake just off the tee box.

But we were not here to watch them. We were here for Bubba. His career low on tour is a 62, but he once shot 58 at Estancia, also in Scottsdale. Bubba asked for a prediction, and we relayed Syed’s forecast. Watson gazed in the distance at the sound of 66, nodded his head and said, “I

august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

39

think we can beat that.” He was dressed like it was a tour event, donned in sponsor apparel from head to toe.

“I’m attacking this like a tour event,” Watson said.

Watson’s warm-up wasn’t as long as it would be for a tour event—he hit 20 or so mid-irons on the range followed by a few strokes on the putting green. Watson had the first tee time of the day at 7:58, and with an open course ahead, what golfer wouldn’t be ready to roll?

Starfire’s opening hole is a 559-yard par 5 with a street hugging the left, a neighborhood on the right and a bubba tip: how to hit from compact sand

gutter credit tk

The lie is going to be firm, so try to pick the ball off the sand as cleanly as possible. When your ball is close to the lip like mine is here, take more loft and treat it like a traditional bunker shot. The big thing is, try not to freak out. The goal is to get it out, not reach the green.

handful of fairway bunkers from 270 to 300 yards out.

Not the most gracious of welcomes. A 350-yard tee shot—what Bubba called a “nice, easy cut”—made things more hospitable. With only 200 and change left, Watson found the green with a 30-foot eagle try awaiting. We should point out that Watson was only days removed from playing in the Masters. Even with a warm-up, going from Augusta National’s greens to public greens would seemingly take some recalibrating. You would expect putts to come up short at first, which is what happened with Watson’s eagle attempt. He made the short birdie to go one under par through one.

About that time a passing motorist noticed Bubba’s distinctive look and pulled over to get a photo with his phone.

Watson was polite and nodded, hopped in his cart and

40 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

gutter credit tk

drove to the second tee. “No matter where I’m at, happens every day,” Watson whispered.

His tee shot on the second, a 188-yard par 3, took one bounce and stopped three feet from the hole. Two under through two. In that moment, 66 seemed like a miscalculation. A piercing 310-yard “stinger” at the third reinforced that notion. The third is Starfire’s No. 1 handicap hole, and Watson had 110 to a front pin. Breaking 60 felt doable. “It shouldn’t be this easy,” Charles said, shaking his head.

The golf gods must have heard these thoughts and punished Bubba for our collective hubris.

His approach landed just past the pin but backed up off the green. His birdie try from the fringe was short; he was human after all. At the fourth, a par-3 island green, Sandy went first, hitting his tee shot 10 feet from the hole. “How

BUBBA TRACKER

NO. 9 / PAR 5 / 460 YARDS

NO. 10 / PAR 3 / 197 YARDS

tee shot 360 yards

tee shot 5-iron over green

result wedge to three feet, makes eagle putt

result chip and two putts for first bogey

score five under

score four under

NO. 11 / PAR 4 / 396 YARDS

NO. 12 / PAR 4 / 339 YARDS

tee shot 330 yards

tee shot to 45 feet

result wedge to 15 feet, two-putt par

result two-putt birdie

score four under

score five under august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

41

BUBBA TRACKER

NO. 13 / PAR 4 / 479 YARDS

NO. 14 / PAR 3 / 169 YARDS

tee shot 310 yards

tee shot 9-iron to 30 feet

result 7-iron to four feet, makes birdie putt score six under

result makes birdie putt score seven under

NO. 15 / PAR 4 / 385 YARDS

NO. 16 / PAR 4 / 369 YARDS

tee shot 300 yards, rough

tee shot 5-iron, 200 yards

result wedge to 15 feet, makes birdie putt

result misses green with pitching wedge, two-putt par

score eight under

score eight under

42 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

much wind is up there?” Watson asked. “About a yard or so,” Sandy replied. “A yard?” Watson said, incredulously. “That’s not a thing.” It was more like 10 yards of wind because Watson’s shot came up 30 feet short. Two straight pars and a third at the 350-yard fifth: Watson’s drive went 320 yards but found a bunker without much sand. (Welcome to public golf, Bubba.) He managed to get it on the green but couldn’t convert the putt.

It was time for Bubba to unleash some steam. His playing partners had put their approaches inside of his for three straight holes, and they let him know it. Watson took the good-natured jabs, but it was clearly the motivation for a 300-yard drive into a three-club wind that finished just off the fairway. A tree would make reaching the par-5 sixth in two difficult—at least it seemed that way. Watson took an easy 6-iron, working his ball 30 yards from left to right and landing it 15 feet short of the pin from 198 yards. A grin crossed Bubba’s face; even he knew that was impressive.

Still, his feel for the greens remained off, and he missed the eagle putt by inches. Three under through six. Much of the same followed at the par-4 seventh (bombed drive, good approach, missed 20-footer) and the par-3 eighth (30 feet right of the pin, good lag). “We’re close,” Bubba mumbled as he walked off the eighth. “Just you wait.”

The ninth is a straightforward par 5, just 504 yards. But the back tee was closed for repair, meaning Watson would be teeing off at about 480 yards. “Hey,” Bubba said, “that water’s not in play, right?” He was motioning toward a greenside pond that was a good 380 yards out. Even for one of the game’s best, this was a ridiculous ask—except his drive came up only 10 yards short of the water, a reminder that our ridiculous is his routine. It was a drive he did not waste, knocking a three-quarter wedge to three feet for an eagle 3.

Watson had not made a putt outside the circle of friendship for the first nine holes, yet he still shot a five-under 31. What Watson was doing at Starfire was as astonishing as what you see on tour. When you watch professionals at an event, you expect a degree of theater, and by day’s end one is almost numb from 300-yard drives and 10-foot approaches. To see Watson doing what he was doing against amateurs—good players, but still amateurs—at a course where a junior clinic was being conducted hammered home that our game and the pro’s game are not one.

Watson briefly disabused that assertion on the par-3 10th. It’s a tough hole with a bunker guarding the front left of the green and a tree overhanging on the right. It was playing straight into the wind. Unfortunately for Bubba, as soon as his ball went up the wind died, and his ball sailed 30 yards over the green. “I think you over-clubbed,” Sandy told Bubba. “Thanks for that observation,” Bubba replied.

He avoided a big number but still left with his first bogey to drop to four under. Worse, he forgot to stop at the turn to grab a hot dog.

You know how after a screw-up you tend to overswing on the next shot and your ball goes soaring into parts unknown thereby compounding your predicament? That’s what Bubba did with his tee shot on the 400-yard 11th. At least the overswinging part. The ball? Well, that went 330 yards, straight in line as a Sunday school teacher. But another birdie putt came up short, and we blamed ourselves

bubba tip: how to stay loose during a backup

for not forcing Bubba to spend an extra few minutes on the putting green before we started.

Watson channeled his frustrations into his drive at the par-4 12th, his ball buzzing by the pin some 340 yards away. A downhill 45-foot putt didn’t give him a reasonable chance at eagle, but he made a good lag for another tap-in birdie. The 13th looks short on the card, a 479-yard par 5, but played long that day because of a two-club wind.

Bubba still knifed a drive 310 yards into the gusts. His approach fell just off the back right. An indifferent chip left him four feet for birdie, but he made it to get to six under.

With the wind blowing hard right to left at the 14th, a short par 3, Bubba hit one of his worst shots of the day. Granted, it still found the green because his bad is our good, but he was on the wrong shelf facing a 30-footer. But then the putter finally decided to join the fun. Watson made it, punc-

I like to take a few practice swings every few minutes to keep my body loose. When those swings are done, I put the club against my bag; letting it sit in your hands will develop bad grip habits. Also, don’t let a delay sour your mood the way I look here. You’re still playing golf!

tuated by an enthusiastic fist bump and snarl. “It’s about time, baby!” he said.

Sharing his excitement was a shirtless man whose house abutted the 15th hole. He was not the first spectator; word had spread about what was going on, and neighbors had trickled out of their homes hoping to catch a glance. These people were warm and encouraging and mostly kept to themselves. Our shirtless friend, however, could not contain himself: “Bubba! Go Bubba! Woooooo!” he yelled.

“Well,” Sandy said, “you can’t let him down.” Bubba didn’t, hitting a beautiful 300-yard draw on the doglegaugust 2021 | golfdigestme.com

43

bubba tip: how to putt on bumpy greens I think amateurs get a little too worked up when the greens aren’t rolling perfect. Don’t use that as an excuse for your putting struggles.

When you get to surfaces that are a bit bumpy, it’s all about the speed. Focus on getting the speed right, and you’ll be OK.

right, par-4 15th, leaving about 70 yards. The approach shot wasn’t his best, maybe 15 feet right of the pin.

However, the putter stayed hot, and Bubba knocked it in: four birdies in a row, eight under on the day. “I told you!”

44 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

Bubba shouted to no one in particular. “I told you!” In the parlance of our times, Bubba was feeling it, and with three holes left, 59 was still in play.

The 16th is a dogleg-left over water; though Watson’s drive was true, his approach wasn’t. He nearly holed an 8-iron chip from just off the green. He remained at eight under but fell to seven at the par-3 17th. It measures just 150 yards, but Watson misjudged the wind, leaving a fried-egg lie in a backside bunker. He muscled it onto the green, but the putt didn’t fall, and Watson made his

BUBBA TRACKER

second bogey. Just as vexing to Bubba, he was down one in his match (for a few bucks) against Sandy; the handicap system can be a bear when you’re a plus-5.9 Index playing against a 6.6, and the 6.6 plays like a scratch. Not that we’re accusing anyone of sandbagging, Sandy.

At the 18th, a 330-yard drive left Bubba 30 yards off the green. There were no bunkers in front of him, but he didn’t have much green to work with. The safe play would have been to throw it on just past the pin and hope to sink a seven-footer for birdie. Bubba saw something else. After

NO. 17 / PAR 3 / 153 YARDS

NO. 18 / PAR 4 / 353 YARDS

tee shot bunker with wedge

tee shot 330 yards

result sand wedge to 10 feet, bogey

result almost holes chip, makes birdie

score seven under

score eight under

a few practice swings, he beckoned for the phones and cameras to come out.

“This is going in,” he repeated, and just as we realised what was going on—Wait, is he calling his shot?—Bubba lofted the ball into the Scottsdale sky; it took two skips and hit the pin only to pop out, three inches from the cup.

Bubba had his hands on his knees, looking at the ball, then down to the ground, then back at the ball, peering like a betrayed quarterback whose wide receiver ran the wrong route. He trudged up to the green looking upward as a handful of spectators clapped. He wanted more than 62. It certainly seemed that had his putter cooperated, the round could have been lower than a 62. (It also wasn’t an official 62, because Bubba had taken a gimme putt or two, but it would have tied the course record.)

“Probably could have been lower, but you don’t want to disrespect a course,” Watson said. “This was challenging.

It’s very playable for everyone, but these greens can be tricky. There’s more break in them than they look.”

As for that called chip shot? “Yeah, we were trying to see how low I could go,” Watson said. “But I don’t care if I’m playing in front of thousands of people or just by myself, I want to have fun. If I ever stop having fun, I’ll quit.”

With that, Watson was off to sign autographs for a growing crowd that had assembled off the 18th. Bubba’s card was shuffled off to be hung in the clubhouse, but it’s his perspective that resonates louder, reminding us that while a low score is nice, it’s not ultimately what counts. august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

45

NATIVE MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE ON EMIRATES Attractions & Activities Health & Wellness Study in the UAE Properties in the UAE Dining Hotels & Resorts 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

THE INSPIRING STORIES OF FIVE GOLFERS CHASING OLYMPIC GLORY FOR THEIR UNDERDOG NATIONS

BY MATTHEW RUDY ILLUSTRATIONS BY NIGEL BUCHANAN

MARIA FERNANDA TORRES AGE 26 • SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO The Puerto Rican flag implies a relationship with the United States, with its stars and stripes and red-white-andblue colorway. However, even though the island a thousand miles southeast of Florida is technically an American territory, it is considered a country by the International Olympic Committee.

Puerto Rico is a sports-mad place—with a rich history in baseball, basketball, boxing and tennis. (Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first gold medal, in women’s singles, at the Rio Games in 2016.)

When golf was voted back into the Games in 2009, Maria Fernanda Torres was a freshman equestrienne-turnedgolfer at the Cupeyville School in San Juan. “I used to ride horses, and one day on the way back from practice, there was a range, and my dad asked me if I wanted to take classes,” Torres says. “When I tried it, I had a passion that made me want to continue.”

Continue she did, practicing relentlessly and making trips to the mainland for American Junior Golf Association tournaments across the

Southeast. Torres earned a scholarship to the University of Florida, where she won five times and was the 2016 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year. She also represented Puerto Rico in the 2014 and 2016 World Amateur Team Championships—which in 2014 were played in Japan.

Torres turned professional in 2017 and won a playoff for the final fully exempt spot through

48 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

whom the Games are more than just a twoweek interruption of summertime majorchampionship preparation. For some, like Morocco’s Maha Haddioui, just making it to the first tee at Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki Country Club will bring exponentially more attention to a part of the world not known for golf. For others, like Chile’s Mito Pereira, it could be the first time we see a future star on the international stage. The golf events are scheduled to be played July 29 through Aug. 7.

LPGA Tour qualifying school for the 2018 season.

That status set her up to earn enough world-ranking points to join the PGA Tour’s Rafael Campos as the two professionals who will represent Puerto Rico in Tokyo. “My dream was to play college golf and to win on the professional tour, but the Olympics is another thing. That’s a bigger dream,” says Torres, who had her best LPGA season in 2019 when she finished 73rd on the money list. “Everybody knows when the Olympics are, and the people at home are feeling the vibe. It’s amazing—another level.”

The postponement of the Tokyo Games to 2021 upset

golf’s collective schedule, but it might actually have been a blessing for Torres. Puerto Rico was pounded by a series of earthquakes in early 2020, followed by rolling blackouts.

She and her family were safe, but those issues—plus COVID lockdowns that made it almost impossible for her to practice— would have been difficult to overcome ahead of a July 2020 tournament assignment.

“Thankfully, my family was fine through that, and we didn’t suffer serious damage, but it has been one thing after another,” she says. “It’s made for an irregular year, but I’ve been able to get back to work on the things I need to do for my game to be ready.”

Torres’ game has always been long on explosiveness. She averages more than 260 yards off the tee, and she is among the LPGA’s leaders in eagles. Now she’s working on her short irons and simplifying her pre-round routine to help channel her attention. “I’m going to try to take it like any other tournament and enjoy the ride. It’s a smaller field, and it’s a lot of the same players you play with every week,” Torres says. “I wish we would be able to see some of the other athletes and how they get ready to play, but it doesn’t look like that will be possible because of the restrictions. It would have been incredible to learn something from what they do. But if I saw LeBron James, I might die.”

Jamie Squire / getty imageS

You tune into the Olympic coverage to see champions win medals, sure. But it’s more than that. A part of the fan experience is being introduced to obscure characters in each sport—athletes you want to root for because of their charisma, perseverance, origin story and chance to conquer the odds. Golf in Tokyo is no different. Jon Rahm, Inbee Park, Justin Thomas and Nelly Korda will be among the favorites to win medals, but here we profile five prospective Olympians for

gutter credit tk

Photograph by First Lastname

issue x . 2021 | golf digest

00

gutter credit tk

00 golf digest | issue x . 2021

Photograph by First Lastname

MITO PEREIRA

hunter martin / getty images

AGE 26 • SANTIAGO, CHILE Scroll the Korn Ferry Tour results from any given week, and it’s a track meet of scores in the mid- and low 60s. You have to go low, a lot, to survive. The line between survival and eventually making it to the PGA Tour? As thin as you can imagine.

Just ask Mito Pereira.

Pereira missed earning full status on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2020-’21 by one shot.

Conditionally exempt, he would have to make enough money in his spot starts to move up in the reshuffle to have any hope of playing a full season.

As the early schedule swung into familiar Central American turf, Pereira got his shot—and he didn’t miss. After a thirdplace finish in Panama earned him a spot the next week in Bogota, Pereira won to lock up full privileges for the Korn Ferry season. In June, he won back-to-back events—shooting a career-low 62 in Raleigh to win the REX Hospital Open and shooting 66-64 on the weekend to win the BMW Charity ProAm by four—which gave him an instant battlefield promotion to the PGA Tour and a fullyexempt season for 2021-’22.

For now, he’s sleeping in countryman Joaquín Niemann’s Florida guest room while he plots an American relocation strategy, and the two are preparing to represent their country in the Olympics. “Chile is a small country, and not everybody even knows what the PGA Tour is,” says Pereira, who won a bronze medal for Chile at the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru. “It was a way bigger deal that I got into the Olympics than it was that I won a tournament.

If we can win a medal, Chile is going to blow up.”

Pereira’s qualification odyssey wasn’t even his first potential diversion from tour golf as a career. He was an elementaryschool golf prodigy in Pirque, a suburb of Santiago, and traveled the international junior circuit recording two World Championship wins. “I went to an academy in the States, and I just got tired of the game,” Pereira says. “I wanted to go to a regular school and do the normal things a kid needs to do.”

After two golf-free years— and a broken collarbone from a foray into dirt bikes and motocross—Pereira got an invitation from a friend to come

back and play a recreational round. “I thought, Why not? and I went out and shot five under,” he says. “I got back into it, and there was still time to get some interest from colleges.”

Pereira played one season at Texas Tech, where he rose to fifth in the world-amateur rankings, then turned professional and started on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. Seeing players like Niemann and fellow All-Big 12 players Scottie Scheffler and Beau Hossler up close verified for Pereira that he had the game to make it to the PGA Tour. “You realise it’s not impossible. They’re great, but they make mistakes, too. They just play smart,” he says. “Working with a mental coach [Eugenio Lisana] has really helped. You have to feel like you always want to keep getting better. I’m ready to play with the best players in the world.”

‘YOU REALISE IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE. THEY’RE GREAT, BUT [PROS] MAKE MISTAKES, TOO. . . .

I’M READY TO PLAY WITH THE BEST.’

august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

51

AGE 33 • AGADIR, MOROCCO Picture the ultimate golf destination and you probably visualise one of the usual photogenic suspects—Pebble Beach, Bandon Dunes, St. Andrews or maybe Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand.

Morocco’s golf landscape has all of those features—linksland, oceanside cliffs, mature forests and even snowcapped mountain ranges—all within a few hours drive. The North African country is the ShangriLa you didn’t know existed, and for the second-consecutive Olympics, the country will send one of its players to compete.

“Close your eyes and you don’t know if you’re in Arizona or Morocco,” says Maha Haddioui, who played for Morocco in Rio and qualified again for Tokyo. “One of the royal courses in Dar Essalam, you could be in a forest in Georgia. My course in Agadir, Taghazout Bay, is a links course. You could be in Ireland.”

But even with all that natural landscape, the game in Morocco has traditionally been one played by the wealthy—or the royal. Claude Harmon (Butch’s father) gained some notoriety in the 1970s for spending his off-seasons coaching King Hassan II in Rabat, and Butch was the head professional at Dar Essalam golf club in the 1980s. When Haddioui was growing up in Agadir, a coastal city at the base of the Anti-Atlas Mountains, the golf course near her home was the curiosity where the tourists came to play. “I thought it was something boring, for the old people,” Haddioui says. “But my mom said I should give it a try. I loved it, and my sister and I started.”

It wasn’t long before Haddioui outgrew the sparse competition at home—“It was kids’ tournaments and social golf, and I was playing with the boys

sional golf tour.

Haddioui’s trailblazing status at home made her first Olympic experience an overwhelming one.

“To represent your country, it’s a different feeling, and you have to be prepared for it,” she says. “I played in a lot of tournaments, but I had never represented Morocco. Players in other parts of the world can do Junior Ryder Cup or Junior Solheim Cup. I didn’t have that chance. You know all the eyes are on you, and I wasn’t prepared for that.”

Haddioui spent two weeks in Rio almost shell-shocked, keeping mostly to her room except for one foray to watch eventual bronze medalist Mohammed Rabii box. Haddioui finished last but resolved to come back in four years a different player.

“I swore to myself, next time I come, I’ll come as an athlete— not a spectator or a golfer,” says Haddioui, who regularly posts her Olympic-caliber workouts on Instagram. “I didn’t work out much before. I went to the gym, but I didn’t know what to do.

Now I’m stronger in the swing, and I can be stable through the shot. I’m ready this time.”

‘[TURNING PRO] WAS A CONTROVERSIAL DECISION. MY FAMILY LOVES SPORTS, BUT THEY WONDERED WHEN I WAS GOING TO GET A REAL JOB.’ 52 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

david cannon / getty images

MAHA HADDIOUI

by the time I turned 15,” Haddioui says—so her parents sent her to Marseilles, in the south of France, to compete in European junior amateur events. From there, she traveled to the United States and played at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., where she was the top-ranked golfer in Division II. “I loved it. It was the best thing I ever did,” says Haddioui, who became fluent in her fourth language, earned a degree in international business and was offered a job in the school’s statistics department after graduation. “My choices were to take that job or to go back home to Morocco and take a risk and turn pro. When I came back, it was a controversial decision.

My family loves sports, but they wondered when I was going to get a real job.”

Ten years later, Haddioui has developed into an established professional athlete who not only won the 2012 Moroccan Ladies Professional Championship but finished third in the men’s version of the same tournament that year. She has been a regular on the Ladies European Tour since 2013 and remains the only Arab woman with status on a major profes-

gutter credit tk

Photograph by First Lastname

issue x . 2021 | golf digest

00

gutter credit tk

00 golf digest | issue x . 2021

Photograph by First Lastname

RASMUS HØJGAARD

gregory shamus / getty images

AGE 20 • BILLUND, DENMARK One of the staples of Olympic programming is the identification of (and investment in) a Cinderella story—the longshot you never knew you wanted to know so much about.

Golf has some of those charming narratives at these Games, but Denmark’s Rasmus H0jgaard is not one of them. Instead, he’s a representative of European golf’s future—a star in waiting you just might not have heard of yet because of the COVID-era stop-and-start scheduling around the world.

The 6-foot-2 Dane won twice in his rookie 2020 season and averaged 320 yards off the tee, proving courses like The Belfry (where he went 67-65 on the weekend to win in a playoff) are more likely to get overwhelmed than he is. The Olympic Games could well be his first opportunity to occupy the world golf stage—and to expand that stage in Denmark. “I don’t know what the experience will be yet, but I’m looking forward to the mystery,” H0jgaard says. “It’s like you’re giving something back to the country.”

In a year, H0jgaard went from the European Challenge Tour to the top 100 in the world rankings. The speed of the ascent might be a surprise, but given H0jgaard’s competitive pedigree, the destination is not. H0jgaard and his identical twin brother, Nicolai, were introduced to the game by their parents at 4 as a way for the family to do something together during summers in Billund, Denmark (which is the birthplace of LEGO toys), and between them, they overwhelmed the family trophy room with amateur hardware. In 2018, they joined with John Axelsen

to win the Eisenhower Trophy at the World Amateur Team Championship in Ireland for Denmark (beating the American team of Collin Morikawa, Cole Hammer and Justin Suh by a shot). Nicolai won the European Amateur, and Rasmus won the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup by four—over Nicolai.

The brothers turned professional in early 2019, and both found success right away. Nicolai finished second to Sergio Garcia at the KLM Open, and Rasmus missed automatic promotion to the European Tour through moneylist performance by one shot before grabbing a card in the final stage of qualifying school.

That became academic when Rasmus won his fifth European Tour start, in Mauritius, just

after Q school, and followed it with that win at The Belfry last August. He’s playing in Tokyo with fellow Danish qualifier (and 2020 European Tour winner) Joachim Hansen, and Nicolai is a good bet to make it hard to tell the H0jgaards apart during the 2024 Games in Paris.

Rasmus says during the Tokyo Games most of Denmark’s eyes will be on the men’s national handball team, which is the defending gold medalist and two-time defending world champion in the team sport that plays like a cross between dodgeball and soccer. He’s been watching, too—as a fan and to crib training notes from his mates on the team.

“The explosiveness you need in handball is good for a golf swing, and that’s something I’m working on,” says H0jgaard, who played club handball until 15. “Golf is nowhere near the level of popularity of handball or soccer in Denmark, but it’s growing. If we could bring back a medal? That would be big.

Everyone will be watching.”

RASMUS AND HIS IDENTICAL TWIN BROTHER, NICOLAI, TURNED PROFESSIONAL IN 2019, AND BOTH FOUND SUCCESS.

august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

55

ADITI ASHOK AGE 23 • BANGALORE, INDIA at age 5 when she and her parents began taking lessons at Bangalore Golf Club—one of the oldest clubs in the world outside the British Isles (established in 1876). “Just seeing the impact it had and the exposure it got at the time was a big deal for me.”

The Rio Olympics were just the next step in a progression that saw Ashok become one of the most decorated young players in the game. After thrashing the limited amateur competition in India—she won the National Women’s Amateur as a 13-year-old in 2011 and was a three-time national junior champion—Ashok validated those credentials by winning the Ladies British Amateur Open Stroke Play in 2015. She turned pro in 2016 and had one of the best seasons for an 18-year-old

darren carroll / getty images

FOR MONTHS, SHE WAS RESTRICTED TO HITTING BALLS INTO A SHEET ON THE TERRACE OF HER PARENTS’ HOME IN BANGALORE.

It would be an exaggeration to say that Aditi Ashok came from nowhere to establish a promising career as a tour player. After all, she grew up in Bangalore, India—a city of almost nine million people. But in golf vernacular, India really is out-of-bounds. It has just 200 courses for 150,000 golfers, out of a total population of 1.4 billion. Even though Ashok represented India in women’s golf at the Rio Games as a newly minted 18-year-old professional, more than half of Indian sports fans surveyed ahead of the Games didn’t even know golf had returned as an Olympic sport.

Ashok aims to change that, in Tokyo and on the LPGA and LET tours. “I read that after the Olympics, Google searches for golf in India were huge,” says Ashok, who started playing

this side of Tiger Woods.

Flashing a deadly short game that offsets below-average length, Ashok briefly led in Rio during the second round before fading to 41st. After the Games, she made a successful trip through LPGA qualifying school and followed it with her first two professional wins back-to-back weeks at the Hero Women’s Indian Open and Qatar Ladies Open.

Since then, Ashok has been trying to juggle playing the American and European professional tours while navigating the severe COVID challenges facing Bangalore and all of India. For months, she was restricted to hitting balls into a sheet on the terrace of her parents’ home in Bangalore, and travel restrictions limited her to just a handful of LPGA events in the first half of 2021—and none in Europe—before she got back to work in mid-June.

“I’m the kind of golfer who thrives on momentum,” she says. “There’s no right time for things you can’t control, but the world is dealing with bigger things right now.”

56 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

gutter credit tk

Photograph by First Lastname

issue x . 2021 | golf digest

00

gutter credit tk

BRE 100

AKING 90 80 WHAT NEW DATA SAYS YOU HAVE TO DO gutter credit tk

TO BEAT YOUR SCORING GOAL

BY KYLE MORRIS WITH ANALYSIS FROM MARK BROADIE • PHOTOGRAPHS BY J.D. CUBAN

ONE OF THE WAYS BUSINESSES LIKE

mine, The Golf Room, thrive is by keeping track of the things that really make a difference to the bottom line.

These KPIs (key performance indicators) are the ones successful companies watch to help stay profitable.

You should treat your golf game the same way. There are things you do— and things you can work on—that have way more impact on your score than other things. These KPIs are spe-

cific to your skill level, which means that if you want to reach a better level by the end of the season, you should be working on a specific set of indicators to get there.

What should you work on? My friend Mark Broadie invented the strokes-gained statistics used by the PGA Tour that identify exactly how players perform in each area of the game relative to their peers. They’re incredibly detailed and valuable tools to reveal the truth behind pro performance. Similarly, using data from rounds of more than 10,000 amateurs of all skill levels, Mark developed a set of KPIs that reveal what is required to break the most common scoring barriers, from 100 to 90 to 80. He even

ranked them, so recreational golfers like you can focus on the areas of the game that will make the quickest impact to lowering your scores.

Of course, you still need to know what to do to make those KPIs better.

That’s where I come in. I’ll show you what to work on so you can spend your practice time more wisely. I’ll also give you a goal-oriented plan so you can monitor your progress (see “Game Plan” chart, opposite page).

Just like my in-person students or the players I work with online at thegolfroomeverywhere.com, I’ll teach you a smarter approach to success on the golf course. You will know exactly how to get to where you want to be.

Let’s get to work.

BREAKING/100

KPI 1: Cut down on the clunkers

Mark Broadie’s research shows that players who don’t break 100 hit at least six duffed shots per round—tops, chunks, skulls, grounders, whiffs, anything that fails to advance the ball significantly from the fairway or rough. These shots often are the result of holding the club deep in the palms, which prevents the wrist hinge needed to swing down on an angle that produces ball-first contact. A better grip is one where the club lays across the base of the fingers. More control of the clubface will cut down on clunkers, too, and that starts by making sure that the back of your top hand on the grip matches a square face when both are pointed at the sky (above).

60 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

KPI 2: Get your pitches on the green—anywhere on the green

From 60 yards and closer, Mark’s statistics reveal that golfers who shoot more than 100 miss the green 4.3 times per round. Poor technique is usually the culprit. Here, I’ve set up a station with a pool noodle resting against my trail shoulder at address (above, left).

When I swing, I don’t want my head to move back and push the noodle (above, middle). I want to make sure to turn and pivot away from it (above, right). This action helps ensure I make clean contact. If you’re ambitious, you can build this station and practice with it, too.

GAME PLAN KPI 1: CLUNKER FREQUENCY Hit no more than a few tops, chunks, skulls, whiffs and grounders per round.

These are defined as any clunker shots outside 60 yards— excluding tee shots on par 4s and 5s.

A shot hit out-ofbounds counts as two clunkers.

KPI 2: PITCHING PERFORMANCE Miss no more than three greens from pitching distance.

Pitching is defined as any shot 60 yards and in, no matter the technique (bumpand-run, lob, etc.).

KPI 3: Make your first putt better

Players who score in the triple digits leave their first putt farther than three feet from the hole nearly seven times a round, and that makes it a lot harder to two-putt. You can get the first one closer more often with better speed control. Practice with a yardstick next to your ball, and take your putter back at distance intervals on the ruler (above). From each distance, feel like the putter “falls” into the ball purely from gravity and note how far the ball rolls. Only backswing length should determine how fast the putter moves and how far the ball goes (this one went four feet). Your job is to make the right-size stroke to get it close (or in!).

KPI 3: PUTTING PROXIMITY Leave no more than four first putts outside of three feet from the hole per round. You can measure this distance by taking one full stride toward the ball from the hole. If you reach the ball, you’re OK.

august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

61

BREAKING/90

KPI 1: Cut down on the ones you drive off the map

More than six drives per round end up in real trouble for 90s-shooters, Mark’s data shows. One reason? If you align your body to your target after you’ve stepped in to hit, this viewpoint can create an illusion where your target shifts from its location. Adjusting to this illusion (above, left) puts you in position to hit a drive off-line, even if you make a good swing. Instead, pick your target while standing behind the ball and then, to verify that line, hold your club’s shaft out to that target at address (above, right) and align your body accordingly.

KPI 2: Use your body to club down When 90s-shooters are in the “green light” zone, a full-swing distance close enough to the green where they should hit it more often than not, Mark’s data shows they miss on one out of every two chances. To improve accuracy, get more turn in your backswing so you can swing down from inside the target line and hit shots with more power. You’ll be able to use a 9-iron where you used to hit an 8 (shorter clubs are typically more accurate).

To train a better turn, try the “can opener” drill my colleague Mitch Farrer uses. Place the head of the club behind your lead knee and the shaft across your trail thigh. Use your thigh as the leverage point to pull your lead knee back (left). Keep practicing this move until you can do it without the club. Then use it in your green-light zone.

62 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

GAME PLAN KPI 1: BIG-MISS FREQUENCY Hit no more than a few drives that add penalty strokes or require you to pitch back into play. A big miss is defined as any drive where you have little or no chance of advancing the ball significantly on your next shot.

KPI 2: GREENS IN REGULATION At least 60 percent of approaches from your short-iron distances should hit the green. Count it as a successful attempt if the ball stops on the fringe or is just off the green but easily puttable.

KPI 3: Down in three is just fine from around the greens

Up-and-downs get all the publicity, but Mark’s data shows you’ll break 90 if you can hole out in no more than three shots around the green 80 percent of the time. Being very deliberate with your process and intent will help. First, evaluate your lie. Then based on that lie, chose the trajectory of the shot you want to hit and identify the spot on the green where you want the ball to land that will help stop it close to the hole. Finally, choose the club that best matches with your intent (like a lob wedge for a high-and-soft shot or a pitching wedge for a low runner). If you get in the habit of following these steps for every shot in practice (above), you’ll build confidence when it comes time to do it on the golf course.

KPI 3: DOWN IN THREE Your goal is to eliminate occurrencs where you don’t hole out in three shots or less around the greens. This includes starting from any short-game scenario, even putting from off the green.

august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

63

BREAKING/80

KPI 1: Improve your sequencing to generate more driving power

It’s difficult to consistently score when you routinely have long clubs into greens, and Mark’s data shows that 70s-shooters hit the ball 6- to 10-percent longer than 80s-shooters on a typical drive. Example: If you normally drive it 200 from the white tees and want to break 80, you’ll really improve your chance by hitting it 212 to 220 yards. How do you do that? You have to get more power from your lower body, so I’m standing on a balance board to help illustrate the proper weight shift needed for speed. I start with pressure on my lead foot at address (above, left), and then transfer it to the back foot at the start of the swing while keeping my upper body from swaying outside of that foot (above, centre). Now here’s where power really gets generated. Before the club reaches the end of the backswing, I shift pressure into the front foot, tilting the board down on the target side (above, right). Then I swing down and through.

Think shift, then turn going back and shift, then turn going forward, and you’ll put a lot more pop in your drives.

KPI 2: Find the slot for accuracy

Even PGA Tour players aren’t knocking down the flag constantly from 125 to 175 yards. Their median proximity to the hole from from this range is 23 feet.

The takeaway: To break 80, you don’t have to be as precise as you might think.

The median proximity for you needs to be 40 feet for approach shots where you have no more than, say, a 6-iron in your hands.

When I was a tour pro, Mike Bender taught me a drill that helps train a swing path for better accuracy.

Before you address a ball, place a cone or other soft barrier two feet behind you in line with your toes, and stick an alignment rod in the ground outside of the ball that points just above your trail shoulder (right).

The cone and stick are boundaries, and you should try to swing back and down without hitting them. When you groove this “slot,” you’ll hit more accurate shots.

64 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

GAME PLAN KPI 1: DRIVING LENGTH Seventy-five percent of your drives should be 6to 10-percent longer than your current driving average. Or hit it long enough that you have a decent chance of reaching the green in regulation.

KPI 2: APPROACH ACCURACY Your median proximity to the hole should be no more than 40 feet for approach shots where you’re using a middle iron or less.

This includes shots that miss the green.

KPI 3: Learn to roll every putt on line

To break 80, you should be holing your first putt on a green at least six times a round, Mark’s data shows.

Practicing with this tee station (above) will help achieve that goal. The two tees by the ball are slightly wider than the putterhead. The other two tees, five inches away framing the putting line, are a little wider than the ball. Address a putt so you can see that the ball’s alignment line matches the putting line, then hit your putt.

The clubhead should pass between the first set of tees, and the ball should roll between the second set.

Note if the alignment line on the ball wobbles (bad) or rotates end over end (good). If you can hit every putt out of the centre of the face and put a true roll on the ball, you’ve got the stroke of a 70s-shooter.

KPI 3: PUTTING PROWESS No matter the distance, hole your first putt at least a half a dozen times per round. This includes putts from off the green.

august 2021 | golfdigestme.com

65

The Loop

by coleman bentley

NO MO’ POTATOES: AS FANS RETURN, IT’S TIME TO UPDATE GOLF’S TIRED PHRASES

66 golfdigestme.com | august 2021

Illustration by Harry Malt

AED 99 only

Get your gloves for the new season.

New delivery arriving September!

To subscribe, visit golfdigestme.com/subscription

SUMMER PACKAGES

SUMMER ACADEMY LESSONS Summer packages available at the Peter Cowen Academy at Emirates Golf Club & Jumeirah Golf Estates

@petercowendubai

www.duabaigolf.com