Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2016 i Golf Magazine

DRIVER 1) Callaway XR 16, 9°, Mitsubishi Kuro Kage Silver TiNi 70 shaft, X-flex, 298 yards; $350 UTILITY IRON 2) Callaway Apex Utility, 3 (21°), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 130 steel shaft, X-flex, 240 yards; $230 IRONS 3) Callaway Apex Pro, 4-9, Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 130 steel shafts, X-flex; $1,200 for set of eight 4-iron: 226 yards 5-iron: 213 yards 6-iron: 199 yards 7-iron: 186 yards 8-iron: 170 yards 9-iron: 153 yards WEDGES 4) Callaway MD3 Milled, 46°, 131 yards; 54°, 115 yards and 58°, 109 yards. All with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 130 steel shafts; $130 each PUTTER 5) Odyssey Versa #1, 35"; $100 BALL Callaway Chrome Soft; $40/dozen FAIRWAY WOODS 6) Callaway XR Pro, 16°, 265 yards; $150, and Callaway XR 16, 21°, 250…

Danny Willett's Masters win surprised a whole lot of Americans, but golf fans in Europe could see it coming. Over the last five years, they'd watched the young Englishman get better and better, racking up four wins and 30 top 10s. As the saying goes, he was "due." Willett's milestone win is really no surprise. His coach, Peter Cowen, is a legend—the "Butch Harmon" of England. A former European Tour player, Cowen has developed a knack for taking his players to the top, notably Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and Louis Oosthuizen. Willett is his latest success story. Cowen's no-nonsense demeanor is reflected in Willett's swing, which features minimal wasted movement and maximum effectiveness. Smooth and repeatable, it's devoid of hiccups and compensations. Danny's best move? He keeps the shaft and…

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.] Follow Joe Passov on Twitter @JoePassov CUP O' JOE POSTAGE DUE This month's British Open venue, Royal Troon, is home to one of the shortest holes in major championship golf. The 123-yard eighth is known as "The Postage Stamp" for its tiny green. Tom Weiskopf won the Open there in 1973, and he explained to me how he handled this tiny, treacherous hole: "If I misplayed my tee shot, I wanted to miss on the left side of the green and end up in a bunker. Otherwise, there was little chance of making a par." And there's more from Mr. Weiskopf… LITTLE BIG SHOTS The 16-time Tour winner is more than just a major champ. Weiskopf is one…

I played 20 events on the PGA Tour last year and won five of them, including my first major. I had to hit a lot of tee shots under pressure, either to maintain a lead or to claw my way into contention. I won't lie—the butterflies fluttered often. Thankfully, I've built a driver swing I can trust (I hit 10 of 14 fairways on the final day of the 2015 PGA Championship, with Jordan Spieth breathing down my neck). My secret? Guiding the club into position at the top so I can unleash it without fear on the way down. Here's how to do it. 1 TRIANGULATE YOUR SETUP… Solid basics will save you from tee-box stress. I use geometry, establishing a triangle with my arms and another with my…

The hybrid is a minor miracle: It's forgiving, versatile and easy to hit—for most golfers. But if you're struggling to enjoy its many benefits, you may be swinging it with a sweeping, fairway wood motion. The result? Thin or fat contact. Instead, treat your hybrid more like a 6-iron. Swing it around your body, with enough of a descending blow to clip the ball off the turf. This setup position will help. You'll soon be hitting a lot more greens (from a lot farther out), and your hybrid will become your favorite club. BACK IT UP Letting the ball creep too far forward in your stance makes it difficult to hit down on the ball. Place the toe of the hybrid against your left heel, with the clubface pointing toward…

Degree of Difficulty 9/10 When it's useful: The ball is almost completely submerged in water, but you can't afford a penalty stroke. How to hit it: "The key is a steep, powerful swing," says Top 100 Teacher Brady Riggs. "Just make sure at least some of the ball is above the water before you try it." Check the Lie. An important guideline: You want at least half the ball to be visible above the water line. Otherwise, this becomes a much tougher shot to pull off. Create Leverage. Players like to put on their rain gear prior to hitting this shot, but it's more important to focus on your feet. Keep your shoes on—they might get wet, but a stable footing is critical. Take a wide stance to further promote…

Golf shoes don't create the same buzz that shiny new drivers and irons do, but keeping your feet happy will help you play better and have more fun. Each of these 12 new models makes a fashion statement, provides solid footing for your swing and keeps your dogs from barking all the way through the 18th hole. Find one to suit your style, swing and budget. BIION PATTERNS $110 This lightweight, EVA slip-on shoe makes you feel like you're walking barefoot. Cutout holes in the upper let air circulate; the dual-density, shock-absorbing innersole has small nodes for added comfort; and hexagon-shaped nubs provide traction. The patterns include Zebra (pictured), argyle and camouflage. ECCO CAGE EVO $190 The EVO has a water-resistant mesh upper with protective polyurethane webbing. A polyurethane "cage"…

THIS YEAR MARKS my 30th consecutive visit to the British Open. Few courses test the very best players' shotmaking and nerves like the 2016 host, Royal Troon. I've seen more than one pro come unstuck on the "Postage Stamp," the par-3 eighth named for its tiny putting surface. Zach Johnson will have to navigate those 123 challenging yards if he wants to defend his title. I like his chances. Johnson is a masterful wedge player, and his playoff win last year at St. Andrews is proof that he can handle British Open pressure. On page 66, the "Champion Golfer of the Year" discusses that magnificant victory, as well as the misstep the week before that fueled his major achievement. Another Open champion, a smiling Louis Oosthuizen, appears on our cover…

You've had plenty of ups and downs. After winning Rookie of the Year honors in 2005 and racking up several wins, you fell into a terrible slump, eventually dropping out of the top 500. Then you bounced back in 2015, almost winning the Valspar Championship. How did you reclaim your game? It had to do with clearing my head. I was doing a lot of searching, a lot of nitpicking. It started with getting back to ball flight, and hitting shots and seeing shots—getting away from technique and just playing again. Did fatigue contribute to your struggles? After all, you've been a pro golfer for half your life, since you were 17. I don't feel like that was ever a problem. I've always felt like an underachiever, like I have…

Rules Guy: My ball came to rest in a puddle of water on a cart path. I wanted to hit my ball from the path but not from the puddle. Can I take relief from the water and still drop on the cart path? —HORACE ALLISON, ATLANTA, GA. You want to hit from the concrete? (Note to self: Never loan Horace my shiny new blades.) You may be in luck. If you want to take relief from the casual water—rather than take relief from the cart path, since you can only do one or the other at one time—you may do so. And if the nearest point of relief from said puddle is on the cart path, then drop away. That drop could be tricky, though. Cart paths are awfully…

IN THE THIRD ROUND of last year's PGA Championship, Jason Day was a perfect 13-for-13 on putts from inside 10 feet. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? Not so fast. "Putting from inside 10 feet" is, in my opinion, an uninformative and misleading golf stat that should be tossed into the trash bin. Let me explain. "Putting from inside 10 feet" is often cited as a measure of how well a player is performing on those critical, makeable short putts. In a tournament, you'd probably think that holing, say, 90 percent of those rolls would indicate a good performance, but that number is only slightly better than the PGA Tour average of 88 percent. (In fact, in 10 percent of all the rounds they play, Tour pros hole 100 percent of putts…

We've swapped spirits for caffeine today. Louis, how are you taking your coffee? Black, with two sugars. I can't start my day without having at least two cups of coffee in the morning. When you have a drink at the end of the day, what's your go-to? I've got my Louis 57 [brand] wines. It started out as a sort of a hobby, and I really got into it. It's something my wife and I enjoy a lot. It's been six years since your British Open victory at St. Andrews, and you almost won there again last year. What is it about the Old Course that brings out your best? I felt really comfortable last year at the Open. I thought, I'm going to win this week, no one's going…

Step 1. While seated, place your head between your knees. Close your eyes and relax for 10 seconds. This gets nourishing blood flowing to your eyes. Step 2. Rotate your pupils in a circle while keeping your head still. Move them together, slowly. After completing a few circles, change directions. "It's pronounced Eye-gor." Step 3. Close your eyes and look upward behind your eyelids at about a 20-degree angle. Hold for five counts, allow your eyes to settle, and repeat. Step 4. Rub your hands together until you feel a slight burn, then place your palms over your eyelids. Press in gently and hold for 10 seconds. Hand heat is a balm that soothes stressed-out eyes—and swings.…

1 BE A PULL HITTER At the top of his backswing, Bryson?s left shoulder was under his chin. Now it?s as far away from his noggin as it can get. Pulling your left shoulder up and away like this pulls the grip into the impact zone ahead of the clubhead, leading to pure, ball-first contact. 2 DOWN IN FRONT DeChambeau's arms extend downward in front of the center of his chest. Copy this! This syncs up your arm swing with your body turn, making square contact almost automatic. It should feel like your arms reach full extension just after you strike the ball. 3 SAVE SOME HINGE Even though DeChambeau has extended his arms, he's maintained some bend in his right wrist. This is huge! Keeping some flex delofts the…

1. Take your normal setup position, then place your right palm on the side of your right hip, as shown. 2. Push your pelvis forward and turn your left hip. It will feel like your left shoulder is moving up and back. 3. Add your right hand. Notice my right-side bend? Copy this look on real swings and your bend will lead to boom!…

You're cruising toward a record-low round when your calf cramps up. Follow these steps and you'll lock in on Old Man par instead of just locking up. 1 STRETCH It's a proven way to relieve most muscle cramps, according to registered dietitian Jill Castle. Focus on the big muscles: calves, quads, hamstrings, hips and back. 2 DRINK Castle advises slugging fluids before and during your round. If you overdo beverages that cause dehydration, like coffee, tea or booze, it'll be Down Goes Frazier! 3. WALK Trained muscles are less likely to cramp than untrained ones. At the very least, walk (or jog) between rounds to build up muscle stamina. 4. ADD SALT An electrolyte imbalance can make muscles contract, so Castle recommends keeping salty pretzels, crackers or nuts in your…

EDEL THE BRICK $300; edelgolf.com Dave Edel built the Brick for Bryson DeChambeau, who requested a rectangular flatstick that wouldn't swing like a typical "toe-down" weighted putter and could eliminate distractions caused by busy colors, graphics or alignment aids. The "torque-balanced toe-up" design has a 12-gram weight in the heel, plus a 50-gram counterweight in the shaft—seven inches from the butt end of the grip—to balance the head throughout the stroke. A sound slot in the sole improves feedback. This out-of-the-box design should appeal to players who use the leading edge, and overall head shape, for alignment. The "toe-up" balance point allows the head to swing easily down the target line. The Brick has an oversize Big Dog grip, and is customizable for length, lie and heel weighting. BRAINSTORM HAPPY…

The PGA Tour remains exceedingly white, and I'm not talking about the ice-cream-man pants favored by many of the lodge brothers these days. The players and their caddies, the broadcasters and their bosses, officials and reporters and fans—it's a sea of white. The Tour—and you could say the same of the USGA and the PGA of America—looks nothing like the broad rush of humanity scurrying through the Orlando airport during spring break. It looks like 1958. And then I paid a short visit to the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship in early May, a 30-year-old event that has been run by the PGA of America since 2006. What a joy, to walk the flat fairways of the PGA Golf Club, in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and see scores of young…

ALL THE HOOPLA surrounding John Daly, 50, joining the Champions Tour takes me back to the 1997 PGA Championship. It was my second full year on the golf beat. When Daly got off to a hot start in the first round—he shot a 66 on a tight setup at Winged Foot—I was assigned to trail him for the week, my first real exposure to the enigmatic star. Daly was only two years removed from his British Open triumph at the Old Course but had recently hit bottom. Earlier that year, he'd withdrawn midway through the Players Championship following a boozy late-night binge that landed him in a hospital and, two days later, the Betty Ford Clinic. A week after that, his third wife filed for divorce, and a couple weeks…

AS I WRITE THIS, five players have withdrawn from Olympic consideration: Australia's Adam Scott and Marc Leishman, South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, and Fiji's Vijay Singh. They'll likely be joined by more dropouts as golf returns to the Olympics after a 112-year absence. The problem? In my opinion, it's not a scheduling issue, as several players have said. You can blame it all on Rio and its unlucky organizers. The problems plaguing golf at the 2016 Olympics are many. First and foremost, there's the host. Rio de Janeiro wouldn't have been my top choice for the sport's first Olympic appearance since 1904. Had golf returned in 2012 to the London games, we could have watched players compete in England, where historic, world-class courses abound. Or, conversely, the International…

The tighter your dispersion pattern, the better your touch. Roll straight putts from long range (left), then breaking three-footers (below). By focusing on the variables that influence roll, you'll improve your contact. HITTING PUTTS isn't difficult: Just swing a very short club with minimal speed a few feet back and through, in the process barely taxing the bigger muscles in your torso and legs. But holing putts? That's difficult. Shifting variables make it a vexing endeavor. Even if your stroke is mechanically sound and your confidence is high, you still have to deal with slope, ever-changing green speeds, grain, wind and choosing the correct aiming point. Cracking this code is the tricky part to putting, and you won't find the answers by simply rolling putts, no matter how much time…

Chew on this: A smooth backswing leads to a powerful, consistent game off the tee. Of course, that's easier said than done when you're battling jitters—the tee box can be a scary place. So much can happen, from pulling your drive O.B. to blocking it into the hazard. World No. 1 Jason Day knows all about handling stress—he's become one of the great clutch drivers of his generation. So turn the page and let the reigning PGA champ help you turn the tee box into your personal driving clinic. 31 Easy Ways to Shoot Your Best Score Ever!…

This month's British Open at Royal Troon features one of the shortest holes in major championship golf: the 123-yard par-3 eighth (shown here). "Postage Stamp" is wee but wicked—its green measures just 10 yards at its widest. (You know a hole is tough when the left-front bunker is named "Coffin.") Any score is possible, from a 1 (Ernie Els in 2004) to a 6 (Tiger Woods in 1997). Whatever course you're playing, here's how to make short work of a short par 3. 1 HIT A KNOCKDOWN WIND CHEATERS FLY STRAIGHTER Hitting a full pitching wedge or 9-iron is tempting, but big swings with lofted irons launch the ball too high, leaving your fate to the wind's whim. Grab an extra club and make a three-quarter knockdown swing. Slower swing…

It used to be that every great player (the likes of Hogan, Nicklaus, Miller) waggled the club at address. Recently, waggling has gone the way of the Dodo. That's too bad, because a good waggle eliminates arm tension and lets your wrists hinge freely. And more wrist action means more power. A good waggle can also show you the correct path to impact. As you address the ball, flex your left wrist back, creating a cup in your right wrist (bottom photo, right). Flex it as far as you can, making a 90-degree angle between your left forearm and the shaft, then return the club to its address position. Continue in a nonstop, back-and-forth motion. Now, add a little loop, hinging the clubhead slightly out (as in away from your…

THE PROBLEM You can't start the ball online, you can't control distance, and you might have the yips. You're probably overaccelerating into impact. THE SOLUTION Set up as you normally would, then hover your left foot over the impact zone, lining up the right side of your shoe with the center of the ball. Now putt. With this setup, the shaft will slam into your shoe at about the same time as the putterhead strikes the ball. Your follow-through is nonexistent, which forces you to make a bigger backstroke in order to roll the ball all the way to your target. This is a good thing, because a longer backstroke halts any tendency to speed up the putter through contact. It's called a "pop" stroke, but it's as smooth as…

I always play the John Deere the week before the Open, then arrive for the British on Monday. When I got to Scotland last year, I was upset. I felt like I gave away the Deere. I didn't birdie 14, a drivable par 4. I didn't birdie the reachable par-5 17th. And I had a 15-footer on 18 that would have got me in a playoff, but it lipped out. I was angry. [Johnson finished a stroke out of the playoff won by Jordan Spieth.] Most years at the Open, I take my hybrid out of my bag and put in a 3-iron. I can't hit it very high, so it stays down and under the wind. It doesn't spin, and it just goes forever. There was no omen last…

FOR MORE INSTRUCTION THAT FITS YOUR GAME, GO TO GOLF.COM LOW HANDICAPPER You play well but want to shave those last few strokes off your handicap. MAKE WINDY PUTTING A BREEZE When most golfers think about the wind, they're primarily interested in how it affects the flight of their ball. But wind can also affect the roll of your ball. Last year's British Open at St. Andrews, for example, was delayed several times when winds gusting close to 40 miles per hour caused balls to roll off the green. Just marking the ball proved to be a challenge. When putting in the wind, it's easy to become distracted and lose your concentration—not to mention your balance. The key is to anchor yourself to the ground and stabilize your stance. Take…