Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2017 i Golf Magazine

DRIVER 1) TaylorMade M2, 9.5°, Aldila Rogue Limited Edition 60 shaft, TX-flex, 300 yards; $400 IRONS 3) TaylorMade RSi UDI (3-4) and TaylorMade PSi Tour (5-PW). All with KBS Tour C-Taper 120S shafts; price n/a 3-iron: 230 yards 4-iron: 215 yards 5-iron: 200 yards 6-iron: 190 yards 7-iron: 180 yards 8-iron: 165 yards 9-iron: 150 yards PW: 135 yards WEDGES 4) Titleist Vokey Design SM6, 54°, 115 yards; $150. Titleist Vokey Design SM5, 58°, 105 yards; price n/a. Both with KBS HI-REV 2.0 125S shafts PUTTER 5) Odyssey Works #7; price n/a BALL Titleist Pro V1; $48/dozen FAIRWAY WOODS 2) TaylorMade M2 Tour, 3 (15°), Aldila Rogue Limited Edition 70 shaft, TX-flex, 275 yards and 5 (18°), Aldila Rogue Limited Edition 80 shaft, TXflex, 255 yards; $300 each “I’ve never…

GOLF.COM Watch dozens of PGA Tour stars hit the shots you need at GOLF.com/sequences Analysis by Top 100 Teacher Brady Riggs, Woodley Lakes G.C., Van Nuys, Calif. Other than a runner-up finish in the 2015 British Open, Marc Leishman, now 34, had largely gone unnoticed since his 2009 Rookie of the Year campaign. Last season changed all that. In 2017, the big Aussie bagged two noteworthy titles (the Arnold Palmer Invitational and BMW Championship) and outgained Down Under heavyweights Jason Day and Adam Scott on the money list. You’d think with his 6’ 2”, 200-pound frame he’d rely on pure power. Think again. Leishman is more of a strategist, able to work the ball either way. In fact, he defies the norm in basi- cally every facet of the game,…

Follow Jessica Marksbury on Twitter@Jess_Marksbury We’re drinking chavelas today, which is a mixed drink of Clamato, Negra Modelo beer, and a salty rim—a first for me! It’s iconic to the desert and Southern California. It goes down smooth, and it’s pretty good. You’re currently the fourthranked featherweight UFC fighter in the world. And there could be a title fight in your future. Yeah, the rumors are true. That would be the best-case scenario. I’m right there. I’ve been a professional for 13 years now, and I’ve been in the top 15 fighters in the world in my division for the last seven or eight years. So for me, the longevity I’ve been able to sustain is pretty big. In addition to battling cage fighters, you often go toeto- toe with…

Balance is the key to executing from any lie, especially on a delicate pitch from an upslope. The trick is to embrace the tilt. As you set up, flare your left foot while pulling it away from the target line. As you do this, your hips will align with the hill. Then lean into the slope. And I mean lean. From there, it′s business as usual. With a smooth tempo and your body tilted with the incline, you′ll catch this puppy clean without effort. 1 FULL TILT Set both your shoulders and your hips parallel to the slope by opening your stance and pulling your left foot back. Then lean into the hill. 2 FINISH HIGH Swing along the slope, finishing with “high” hands and your chest facing the target. But…

Initially, we balked at the thought of ranking the best shots from the 2016- 2017 season. Was it even possible? PGA Tour pros alone took more than 1.1 million strokes last year, and 35 different players notched victories. Surely, at least one award-worthy shot played a role in each of those wins. But we liked the idea, so to make the impossible possible, we systematically cut the candidate list to swings with highlight-reel appeal that also happened to unfold under the most pressure. Ultimately, our goal was to use the year’s top plays to help you improve your play. Our guess is that the pressure a Tour pro feels in a career-defining moment is the anxiety that looms over recreational players on almost every swing (at least it does for…

THE SHOT On Torrey Pines’ South Course, the Spanish phenom drained a 60-foot eagle putt that was good the whole way, to pull away for a three-stroke win at the Farmers, his first Tour victory. HOW YOU CAN HIT IT Odds are that a long putt is going to break in multiple directions. The trick is to read the putt in segments. Compare what the ball is going to do at the beginning of the roll to how it will react near the hole as it slows. Emphasize each segment equally, not just the end. Remember, you’ve got no chance at all if you’re unable to start the ball on your intended line. —Top 100 TeacherTodd Sones…

THE INTANGIBLE overall weight For a generation of golfers (or two) raised on the “bigger is better” mantra when it comes to drivers, it may be hard to get one’s head around the idea that less can be more. Less weight, that is, and more distance. Emphasis on the “can.” “Lighter-overallweight drivers are geared to the player who wants more clubhead speed,” says Nick Sherburne, founder of Club Champion, a nationwide clubfitting retailer. “But just because you can swing a driver faster doesn’t necessarily mean you can transform that speed into the ball. That’s the question.” And the answer is: It depends. If you’re an 80-mph-or-less swinger with the driver, these feathery sticks were made for you, with some veteran clubfitters reporting immediate 4 to 5 mph swing speed increases…

Introduced about ten years ago, the original CGB Max irons provided awesome distance and forgiveness and were undeniably groundbreaking at the time. Since then, the engineers at TaylorMade have made significant technological advances, and the latest iteration of the clubs—the new M CGB irons ($1,200, steel; $1,400, graphite)—are potential game-changers for a wide variety of players. The primary goal of the M CGB design is to produce maximum distance for every iron in the set while providing maximum forgiveness on shots struck anywhere on the clubface. To fulfill what sounds like a daunting task, the M CGB irons are built with exceptionally thin faces (less than 2mm) to push COR and ballspeed limits, making them the fastest irons TaylorMade has offered to date. An extremely low CG location further aids…

LAUNCHERHB FAIRWAY WOOD AND HYBRID $220, fairway wood; $200 hybrid The Launcher HB fairway wood and hybrid contain many of the same distanceand forgiveness-enhancing technologies as the driver, including HiBore crowns and Flex-Fins on the soles for faster ball speeds, fixed hosels that help position the CGs low and deep in the heads, and lightweight Miyazaki C. Kua shafts. The fairway wood is available in 15° (3) and 18° (5), while the hybrid comes in 19° (3H), 22° (4H) and 25° (5H). LAUNCHERHB DRIVER $300 Aimed at players looking for big distance and added forgiveness, the Launcher HB driver is available in 9°, 10.5° and 12° lofts, and comes standard with a lightweight Miyazaki C. Kua 50-gram shaft. Notable features of the new big stick include a HiBore crown that…

WE TRIED TO MAKE this month’s cover story (“The Best Shotsof2017,”p.52)asdemocraticas possible—every staff member at GOLF was invited to cast a vote (and, in most cases, votes). The first iteration of the list came in 50 shots strong, with multiple repeats (I’m sure you can probably guess what those were). As we whittled down the list to the 10 finalists, I privately created my own ranking: a recap of personal highlights from the past 12 months. Rest assured, I didn’t get to 50. In fact, I struggled to think of five—it was simply that kind of year. At the top of my list was piping a drive to within sand wedge range on the first at PebbleBeach inSeptember. I know, a solid tee shot—big deal. But in my previous two…

You went from nearly losing your card this season to finishing 52nd in the FedEx Cup standings. What have the last few months been like for you? It’s been the most intense roller-coaster ride I’ve ever been on in 19 years as a pro. It’s been emotional, it’s been stressful, it’s had its ups and downs. And since I started the year thinking that I had only ten events to make enough money to maintain my PGA Tour status (see below), getting down to those final couple of events was becoming hard work. And adding to the drama— a calculation error! [In April, Brian Gay and Poulter thought they had fallen short in their bids to retain their PGA Tour cards after playing on majormedical extensions, but Gay’s wife discovered…

In a foursomes match, an opponent and I each had three-footers left for par. “Good-good?” I offered. He said, “Okay,” but before he picked up his partner said, “No, putt them.” He missed, I made for the win...at which point they argued that the offer accepted by the player putting was binding and the hole had been halved. So, can a player overrule his partner in this scenario or not? —PATRICK CAHILL, ROCHESTER, N.Y. Your opponents are badbad, from the “heads-I-wintails- you-lose” school of fairness. Per Rule 2-4, once a concession has been made (by either partner in team play), it can’t be declined or withdrawn. Likewise, in a “good-good?” concession offer, acceptance by either opponent is binding. There are no overrules. So, in this instance, your opponents would get…

Follow Joe Passov on Twitter@JoePassov Best Hosel Rocket Moment Paired with Kenny Perry in the Tucson Conquistadores Classic Pro-Am, a PGA Tour Champions event, I raise my eyebrows as Perry shanks his opening tee shot on Omni Tucson National Resort’s Catalina course. “That’s a professional golfer, folks,” announced Scott Hoch, waiting to tee off in the group behind us. Perry, who couldn’t have been nicer and whose game recovered quickly, enjoyed the last laugh. Hoch shanked his own shot three holes later and was forced to dutifully report that to Perry on the ninth tee. Top Spot for a Summer Home Of the private golf communities I experienced this year, my favorite was Snake River Sporting Club, in Jackson, Wyo. Among the prime enticements: a Tom Weiskopf design that melts…

More speed and more yard s with less effor t! You slice. When you don’t, the ball dives left, no matter how hard you try to square the face. The problem is that you’re focused on a moment—impact— rather than on the sequence of events that makes flush contact automatic. Truth is, the better you are at “releasing” the club, which begins to happen as soon as you reach the top, the squarer the clubface will be—and you won’t have to think about it. What you’re doing now is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. No worries. Top 100 Teacher Jon Tattersall knows how to flip the script—and knock the ball’s block off. Flip the page to get started. 27 Proven Ways to Shoot Your Best…

1 Is it my stance? Make sure you’re not set up too open in an effort to get more loft on the shot. Pairing an open stance with with a “scoopy” open face is a recipe for pushed wedge shots. HOW TO CHECK Set up so that the club’s grooves are pointing between your feet. Now point your left arm at the target. Is your left hand still in front of your left shoulder? YES FIX NO. 1 You’re set up too open. Aim the clubface at the target first, with the shaft parallel to the grooves on the face. Next, align your body perpendicular to the shaft. Now you’re money. NO 2 Is it my impact? If you “scoop” the ball and let the clubhead pass your hands at…

Contacting the sand with the club’s sole is the secret to smooth blasts. Make it happen by positioning the club correctly at address: 1) Stand tall with the club out in front of you. 2) Point the grip at your right hip. 3) Rotate the club clockwise in your hands until the leading edge is straight up and down. 4) Drop down into your stance. Bounce engaged, sand fears over. Joe Plecker, Elkridge Club, Baltimore, Md. (@JoePleckerPGA)…

You’re at the top of your backswing, loaded and ready to deliver the club to the ball on what you hope is the correct path. It’s a do-or-die moment—missing here likely means that you’ll miss the green. Most players have an idea of what the ideal delivery looks like, but if you had to trace it, would you nail it as you should? Probably not. Theories abound on how to do it, many of them much more complex than they need to be. I can simplify it for you and make your ballstriking much more consistent in the process. The secret? Follow the “hand path.” Here’s what I mean: Jason Sutton, Carmel C.C., Charlotte, N.C. (@golfgurutv) For more pure FIND THE LINE Go to the top of your backswing and…

THE SHOT After watching a four-hole lead evaporate into a one-hole deficit during her Solheim Cup singles match against Lexi Thompson (Lexi shot 7-under on the back nine), Anna Nordqvist nearly jarred an 8-iron on the final hole for a conceded birdie and needed half-point for Team Europe. It was gut-check time—and the Swede delivered with flying colors. HOW YOU CAN HIT IT During intense moments like those that Nordqvist endured as Lexi put together a back nine for the Solheim Cup ages, it’s common to become psychophysiologically aroused— your heart races, your palms sweat and your thoughts speed up. As you try to control these feelings, they can build upon one another into a cascade of damaging emotions. Flip the script on the negativity and realize that the arousal…

LEXI THOMPSON There’s recovery—and then there’s recovery. Minutes after Thompson was assessed a devastating four-stroke penalty in the final round of the ANA Inspiration, she ripped her next drive, through tears, straight down Broadway. RORY MCILROY The 2017 prize for pure creativity and straight-up cool goes to Rors, who, on his first hole of round two at the PGA, intentionally ricocheted his third shot off a cart path. After it buzzed the gallery and bypassed a bunker, it slipped just off the back of the green. Money. BRANDEN GRACE Had Grace realized he was stepping up to a record-shattering putt, his threefooter on the 18th hole of his third round at the British would have been an epic knee-knocker. Instead, he eased it in for a 62, unknowingly topping Johnny…

Golfers and design aficionados have lots to celebrate. Although new course openings have slowed in recent years, a clutch of original creations—from the likes of Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw and Gil Hanse—joined some inspired renovations to make 2017 memorable. New on this year’s list of best new courses is a special citation awarded to the pack of remarkable par-3 tracks that have popped up on the landscape—a welcome and inclusive trend. The short of it? Great design keeps elevating the game in great ways. BEST NEW PRIVATE COURSE/INTERNATIONAL COURSE Cathedral Golf Club Thornton, Victoria, Australia 7,023 yards (6,422 m), par 72 Greg Norman the architect is fast approaching the success levels of Greg Norman the golfer. With more than 100 course designs in 34 countries, Norman is prolific, and with…

The new M CGB from TaylorMade is designed for players who want maximum distance and forgiveness in a high-tech package. To see if it delivers the goods, we had nine golfers test the model against their current gamers at the Club Champion headquarters in Chicago. All of the players were optimized using Club Champion’s fitting methods, and all tested the clubs on TrackMan in a controlled environment. The average handicap of the testers we used was 13.8. Check the results at right to see just how impressive the M CGB irons really are: SOUND HOUND A 3D badge dampens vibration for improved acoustics and feel. HIGHLIGHTS Clubhead speed improved by an average of 5.1 MPH with the M CGB Ball speed increased by an average of 8.2 MPH Trajectory increased…

FOR MORE INSTRUCTION THAT FITS YOUR GAME, GO TO GOLF.COM GO “LONG TO SHORT” TO GET UP AND DOWN Having a hard time sticking your pitch shots close? You could be overaccelerating the clubhead through impact as a way to compensate for an overly short backswing. To smooth out your acceleration and improve your contact and distance control, try the opposite approach: Make a longer backswing and abbreviate your finish. Instead of taking the club back until the shaft is just parallel with the ground, let your arms and hands reach parallel, which will allow the clubhead to move even higher, to roughly the same height as your ear. After a short pause, let gravity and the momentum of the downswing accelerate the club through impact, but this time, cut…

THE SKULL-PROOF WAY TO CHIP Your approach shot comes up just short of the green and rolls into a tightly mown collection area about 10 yards from the putting surface. This may seem like an ideal spot to chip or pitch from—unless you happen to be one of the many golfers who struggle to pinch the ball off tight lies and end up skulling most of these shots over the green. But don’t worry—there’s an easier, safer option out there. You just need to swap out your wedge for your trusty flatstick. STEP 1 GENTLY FORWARD PRESS Set up with the ball in the middle of your stance and the shaft angled slightly toward the target, so that handle of the putter rests just ahead of your zipper. This will…

“SINK” YOUR FEARS— AND SINK MORE PUTTS! The key to becoming a better putter in competition or under any kind of pressure is to create practice games and situations that most closely simulate the kind of stress you’re likely to face on the course. One such game is called “Sinks.” Grab a pal or a frequent playing partner and play nine par-2 holes on the practice green, varying the length and direction (i.e., the break) of each first putt. Score 1 point for each birdie, 0 points for par, and -1 points for a threeputt bogey. Add an element of pressure to each game by having the loser buy lunch or post-round drinks. After a few competitions, you should start to see a big improvement in your lag and short…

WHICH OCTOBER STORIES AND COLUMNS DREW THE MOST LETTERS? EASY KID STUFF Thank you Martin Chuck and GOLF for the extremely simple but helpful explanation of how the left and right arms move in the golf swing (“Hit Like a Kid,” October 2017, right). This immediately made sense to me and helped explain the inconsistencies in my game. I play on a nine-hole executive course, and the day after reading this, I finished one-under for nine holes, four strokes better than my all-time best. DAN PERSOFF,LOS ANGELES THE IMPORTANC OF BEINGERNIE Such a wonderful article on Ernie Els and his daughter (“The Education of Samantha Els,” October 2017). It didn’t really surprise me at all: Our son, Thomas, a collegiate golfer at the University of Virginia, went through the junior…

THE RYDER CUP is dead—you just don’t know it yet. One of the greatest events in sport is on theverge of irrelevancy. The young, talented, hungry golfers from the United States, benefiting from the cohesive leadership of the Task Force era, are going to roll tovictory in2018 inParis. This will be the first American win on European soil in a quarter century and, coming on the heels of an overpowering U.S. win in ’16, will set the stage for a decade-plus of blowouts, sapping the intrigue out of the Ryder Cup. It’s going to get so lopsided that you can expect future Ryder Cups to have all the dramatic tension of...gasp!...the Presidents Cup. Some American fans will no doubt revel in the domination, but this won’t be good for the…

IS A PLAYER’S driving distance pretty much maxed out by the time he reaches the PGA Tour? To quantify the distance gains (or losses) of current Tour pros, I compared driving stats for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, looking at all tee shots on par-4 and par-5 holes. And to eliminate course effects (it wouldn’t be fair, for example, to compare one player’s 360-yard drive at TPC Scottsdale, which is known for hard fairways and tons of roll, with another player’s 270-yard drive at a shorter course such as Harbour Town), I measured each player’s driving distance relative to the field average in each round. The biggest gainer from 2016 to 2017 turned out to be Kevin Chappell, who upped his driving distance versus the field by a staggering 10.2…

Follow Dave Pelz on Twitter @pelz_golf There are two undisputed truths in this great game: 1) No one hits the ball perfectly every time. 2) Every golfer hits shots into trouble. This applies to weekend golfers and PGA and LPGA Tour professionals alike. So regardless of skill level, the goal of every golfer should be to build an escape strategy that not only gets you out of trouble, but gets you into a better position than you would have been in had your last swing not been a bad one. This keeps the damage caused be a poor swing to less than a stroke. The two keys to achieving this goal are to a) make sure your clubhead makes clean contact with the ball, and b) select a safe escape…

1 HOLD POSE Jessica keeps her spine angle intact from setup through impact. So even though she’s unwinding at top speed, her shoulders remain square, making her accurate and powerful. 2 DRAW A LINE You can draw a line from Jessica’s left shoulder through her hands and straight to the clubhead. Copy this, and you’ll know you’re delivering the club at max velocity. 70.0 Jessica Korda′s scoring average during the 2017 season, the lowest of her seven-year LPGA Tour career. 3 FEEL THE ’MO Jessica’s swing is as smooth as they come. Her secret? Momentum. She sets the club in motion during the takeaway, then just lets it do its thing. Impact is merely a happy—and violent—by-product. 4 LAUNCH LATE Jessica’s feet are just getting into the action here. The…

Good putters stroke putts using mostly their upper body. Bad putters? The ones I know tend to lack stability in their lower body. Here’s a great drill to help you understand what I’m talking about: Make strokes with the sledgehammer in your garage. You’ll find out right away if you’re moving your lower body too much, because the momentum of the head will pull your body off line. Instead of letting the sledgehammer or your putter swing you off line, establish a strong base of support and maintain it. You’ll quickly hammer home the importance of a sturdy lower body. You’ve got it right when you sense the hammer swinging like a pendulum, despite its mass. The smoother your stroke, the better your results will be. Bernie Najar,Caves Valley G.C.,…

1 GET SET Take a narrow stance with your front foot slightly flared and pulled back from the target line. Position the ball just inside your back foot and check that your chest is aligned with your toes. Open the clubface a few degrees and set your hands just ahead of your zipper, so the shaft leans forward. PAUSE 2 go smooth Swing the clubhead straight back and get the toe of your wedge to point at the sky. Time it so that your arms and club reach the end of your backswing at the same time (that’s what the best wedge players do). When you do it right, you’ll sense a slight pause in your transition. 3 LET IT FALL Now the secret sauce: As you start down (following…

TRANSITION As you drive your weight back toward the target, sit slightly into your glutes. Your front knee will naturally separate, and the ball will drop. 1 HOLD IT Secure a medium-sized beach ball between your knees as you settle into your address position. Check that your kneecaps are directly over your shoelaces. You should feel some tension in your glutes. 2 PINCH IT As you rotate to the top, squeeze the ball with the inside of your front knee, holding it firmly between your legs. Try to create some pressure under your right heel. This simple move stops you from swaying off the ball. 3 DROP IT Now shift your weight toward the target by pushing off your trailing leg. If you do it correctly, your front knee will…

THE SHOT In near darkness, Kevin Kisner chipped in for eagle from 95 feet on the 72nd hole of the Zurich Classic to put himself and partner Scott Brown into a playoff. Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith prevailed on Monday, but when it counted, the Kiz came up big. HOW YOU CAN HIT IT One of the reasons you never see Tour players flub pitches is that they set up neutral, with their shoulders, hips, knees and heels “stacked” on top of each other (illustration, far right). The more angles you create at address, the more likely the club will dig (near right). From a neutral setup, make a couple of practice swings, sensing the club bottoming out in the correct place and with the required amount of speed. You…

We like to think of ourselves as highly rational actors when we step into our favorite pro shop or equipment store, coolly weighing each club’s critical features and game-changing benefits. Never mind that many if not most of us lose focus and grow weak in the knees at the sight of a driver used by our favorite Tour pro, or a sale tag, or the way the fluorescent light strikes a shiny putterhead just so. If the romantics have their issues, so do the nerds—the hardcore geeks who get all jacked up about COR and know their MOI from their CG. Wonkiness isn’t always clear-headedness, and it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. Even the sanest buyers tend to overlook key features and trends that don’t attract headlines.…

SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR DRIVES Most weekend golfers rely on one setup and tee height for all their drives, whether they’re trying to squeeze more distance out of their swing or just squeeze the ball into a tight fairway. But the fact is, by alternating the height of the tee and tweaking a few other things in your setup, you can greatly enhance your ability to drive the ball both longer and straighter. Here’s how to do it: MORE DISTANCE TEE IT UP, PLAY IT UP To maximize your distance, tee the ball up so that roughly half the ball sits above the crown of your driver. Assume a slightly narrower stance than usual—to promote a fuller shoulder turn—and position the ball closer to the target in your stance, opposite…

LEVERAGE THE GROUND FOR MORE POWER Pound per pound, there’s probably no longer hitter in the game today than Justin Thomas. Listed at only 145 pounds, Thomas ranked first in driving distance on his way to victory in the 2017 PGA Championship (328 yards off the tee). One reason he’s able to generate so much power is that he creates tremendous leverage by pushing up off the ground through impact. Thomas posts up so hard on his lead leg at impact that his feet practically leave the ground. This promotes maximum extension and clubhead speed. Here’s how you, too, can post up like a champ. THE FAULT TOO MUCH LOWER-BODY SLIDE Many weekend golfers slide their lower body toward the target in an attempt to gain more power. Unfortunately, this…