Innholdsfortegnelse for Dec-15 i Golf Magazine

Introducing Extra SPIN GOLF WITH A LITTLE BITE This game is supposed to be fun, right? Welcome to GOLF.com/extra-spin, an all-new digital destination dedicated to celebrating golf's lighter side. Inspired by SI.com's successful, highly addictive Extra Mustard franchise, GOLF.com's Extra Spin is your home for all things fun, frivolous and far-fetched. You'll find The Search for America's Worst Golf Swing (below), rankings of the sport's biggest snobs, and offbeat galleries, lists and stories. Whether you're a longtime links lover or a newbie to the game, you're one click away from a laugh-out-loud golf experience. THE SEARCH FOR America's WORST GOLF SWING Does your swing result in more groans than greens? Send it our way! If it's bad enough, our Top 100 Teachers might try to fix it. TABLET BONUS ALL-ACCESS…

DRIVER 1) TaylorMade M1, 10.5°, Mitsubishi Rayon Kuro Kage Silver TiNi 70x, shaft, 315 yards; $500 FAIRWAY WOOD 2) TaylorMade AeroBurner 3HL, 16.5° plays to 14.5°, Mitsubishi Rayon Kuro Kage Silver TiNi 80x, 280 yards; $230 IRONS 3) TaylorMade RSi TP (3-PW), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X7 steel; $1,200 for 8 3-iron: 240 yards 4-iron: 225 yards 5-iron: 210 yards 6-iron: 195 yards 7-iron: 185 yards 8-iron: 175 yards 9-iron: 165 yards PW: 150 yards PUTTER 4) TaylorMade Ghost Spider Itsy Bitsy Black Prototype; Price n/a BALL 5) TaylorMade Tour Preferred X; $40/dozen WEDGES 6) TaylorMade Tour Preferred EF (Tour Grind), 47°, 140 yards; 52°, 125 yards; 60°, 100 yards. All with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400; $160 each "The AeroBurner 3-wood was going too far for me.…

BILL HAAS'S HUMANA CHALLENGE WIN in January was the sixth of his career. At the time, only Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Bubba Watson had notched more Tour trophies since the 2010 season. This year's major winners—Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Zach Johnson—have since caught up to Haas, but his success is worth noting. To me, it proves what I've known since I started working with Bill more than five years ago. You've heard of "sneaky long"? Well, Bill is sneaky good. His father, Jay, won nine Tour events. Like his dad, Bill, 33, has built a consistent swing that feels good to him, traditional mechanics be damned. As this sequence shows, Bill sets up open to the target line, takes the club outside a bit, then makes a big,…

1 Perfect read, perfect strike. 2 Imperfect read, perfect strike. 3 Perfect read, imperfect strike. 4 Your guess is as good as mine! To start, align the O-Ball's stripes down your intended line. A PERFECT STRIKE happens when you hit the ball in the center of the sweet spot with the putterface looking straight at—and moving smoothly along—the desired starting line. It's hard to miss with this kind of contact: You get a true roll and reliable distance because the square, sweet-spot strike transfers maximum energy to the ball. Sure, you can make putts without perfect contact, but that leaves too much to chance. You deserve better than that. So here's a question: Are most of your strikes perfect? Be honest. I've been teaching putting for 30 years, and I…

Do your dreams of shooting your best score ever always go "snap, crackle, pop" by the fourth hole? Truth is, you don't have to light up the scorecard early to go low. You just have to avoid big numbers on the first few holes. Turn the page for the secret to curing first-tee jitters, hitting those opening fairways and avoiding card-killing hazards. So dig in for the breakfast of (club) champions. THEY'RE GR-R-REAT! A good start fuels better scores and makes your round a lot more fun. 29 Proven Ways to Shoot Your Best Score Ever!…

THE PROBLEM Your iron contact feels soft, and you're a club shorter than your pals. THE FIX Hold an iron across your chest, make a mock backswing and stop at the "top." If the shaft points to a spot on the ground way beyond the ball, your turn is too flat (photo, near right), which is good for lofting high drives but not for crushing irons. The issue? You're too close to the ball and not bending enough from your hips. Repeat the drill, adding more hip bend at setup, and turn your left shoulder under your chin. Get the shaft to point at a spot just a few inches beyond the ball (photo, far right). Now you're armed for a steep attack, the secret to ball-first contact and pin-seeking…

The quickest way to stop slicing is to strengthen your grip. With both hands rotated to your right on the handle, you're less likely to leave the clubface open (relative to your path) at impact, the position that creates banana-ball spin. This fix is a great Band-Aid for those where-did-that-come-from slices-and it's easy to do. Copy these positions and your slice will disappear-and the yards will pile up. Just one caveat: If your typical ball flight is low and left, a stronger grip may cause more misery. This tip is for those who hit it high and to the right. GET IN LINE Grip the club first with your left hand, making sure the shaft is in line with your left arm. Keep the left arm/shaft alignment at address. THAT'S…

Few mis-hits hurt more than chunking a 30-yard pitch from a tight lie. Oh, the humanity—so close to the hole, yet so far from a good score. Well, we've got good news: Your wedges may be to blame, not your swing. "Recreational players don't buy wedges with enough bounce," says Dave Edel of Edel Golf (edelgolf.com). "In fact, they use wedges with up to 20 degrees less bounce than what's required for optimal turf interaction." This results in wedges that dig too deeply, making solid contact from most lies—even sand—impossible. "The guys on Tour are playing wedges with way more bounce than you think, but they're all custom-fit," Edel says. "If and when they end up with an off-the-rack model, they often struggle, because they're used to more than 20…

The caffeine in your morning cup of java is powerful stuff. "Sometimes it's too powerful," says Amy Goodson, a dietician for Ben Hogan Sports Medicine. "Unless you're used to it, caffeine can induce a jittery feeling and headache symptoms—a bad combination when you're standing over a breaking three-footer." But it's not all bad news, Starbucks addicts. Coffee gives your central nervous system a jolt, providing a very real energy kick. "Just don't expect it to last for 18 holes," Goodson warns. If you like a lot of coffee, Mr. Venti, then pair it with a meal heavy in protein, carbs and healthy fat—such as a veggie omelet with toast—to stabilize your blood-sugar levels. "Be smart," Goodson advises. "If you're not a regular consumer of coffee, don't drink it on the…

COME 2016, Rule 14-1b will prohibit anchoring the club during the stroke. Climb back in off the ledge, people! There are work-arounds. (Here at GOLF, we don't call them "hacks.") Hey, history is hardly littered with brilliant broom-sweepers, so think of this not as the end but as the beginning of a brand-new you on the greens. 1. GET ON POINT Anchoring made the top of the pendulum a fixed point. In any good stroke, the putter's butt end points at the same spot throughout. So in your setup, imagine that the shaft extends upward; wherever it hits your body becomes the virtual anchor point. Now swing the putter such that the butt end is always pointed at that starting spot. 2. GET "CROSS" FIT The main benefits of anchoring?…

Every golfer wants to take the ball deep off the tee. Fortunately, clubmakers continue to innovate in the pursuit of greater distance while enhancing adjustability options and maintaining acceptable forgiveness. Check out these three beauties—one of them might be your ticket to longer, straighter shots. COBRA KING F6+ $400; GOLF.com/cobra The F6+ cuts out more weight than past Cobras by combining a titanium body and face with a lightweight carbon-fiber crown. That savings gets relocated in an 18-gram sliding weight on the sole. You can use the weight to choose from five CG settings, which allows you to tune trajectory and spin. In addition, a low, deep CG contributes to the club's forgiving nature. The King F6+ has an adjustable hosel, with eight loft positions between 9° and 12°. MIZUNO…

I've been called the world's most traveled athlete, but I believe I'm the world's most traveled human. I've been at it for 62 years, and I estimate that I've covered 23 million kilometers [14.3 million miles]. I don't fly private. It's a great and unnecessary extravagance. And I never fly first-class. I don't need the legroom, and it's a waste of money. I'd rather give that money to my grandchildren, or put it into my ranch. Early in my career, I'd fly 40 hours from South Africa to the U.S. to compete against the best in the world, stopping four times along the way. I'd have my wife and children with me. This was before the days of disposable diapers, and the planes were prop planes. I'd be in one…

BEAUMONT IS A HOT, windblown desert city in Southern California with a public course called Oak Valley, within the roar of I-10 and hemmed in by a series of craggy, brown mountains. When Yani Tseng was starting out as a pro, six or seven years ago, Dave Stockton taught her there. Around that time Stockton told me about the course's owner, a Chinese émigré named Huey-Min Yu, and his academy for junior golfers from China, among other Asian countries. I recently saw Mr. Yu in his office at Oak Valley. His courtly deputy, Eric Chen, the academy's admissions director, brought his boss a pot of green tea, and Mr. Yu talked about his adopted sport in his adopted country. "The golf course exit used to be 14th Street," he said.…

RANKINGS RANCOR The courses featured in your list of the Top 100 in the U.S. and World (October 2015) are all beautiful, but there is one major problem: Most of the golfers in the United States can't afford to play them. —GERRY TURCHI, VIA E-MAIL I always look forward to reading GOLF's annual Top 100 rankings, but I find it hard to believe that New Hampshire courses never make the list. I've played Fox Chapel and Oakmont in Pennsylvania, and in my mind, Stonebridge Country Club in Goffstown, N.H., rates right with them. —SAM MCCRACKEN, SLIPPERY ROCK, PA. TRUMP TIRADES I'm stunned that you would publish an article on Donald Trump ("Leader in the Clubhouse," October 2015). There is no place in GOLF for an interview with a person in…

You played a whopping 36 tournaments this year. Was that always the plan? No, I wasn't expecting to play so many events. It was my first full year on the PGA Tour, since last year was the first year I ever kept my card. So I wanted to play all the courses I had never played. I also wanted to make it all the way to the Tour Championship. After becoming the youngest U.S. Amateur winner, in 2008, you struggled after turning professional. This year you bagged your first Tour win and finished ninth in the FedEx Cup standings. How did you raise your game? I was doing very well [early on], but my driver was holding me back. After the Travelers Championship, I found a new driver and found…

Dear Rules Guy: My course uses large, oscillating fans to dry out wet greens. A while back, I hit an approach shot that stopped just off the green, and one of the fans was between my ball and the hole. The only play I had was to try to hit a flop shot over the fan, but I messed it up and made a bogey. Was I entitled to any relief? —ERIC METHENY, OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. Too bad your flop shot flopped. (Check out p. 50 in our November issue to learn how to flop it like Phil.) Those fans are considered immovable obstructions. If the fan interferes with your lie, stance, or the area of your intended swing, then yes, you're entitled to free relief. Unfortunately in this case,…

PAR BIRDIE OTHER DOUBLE BREAKER PUNCHED GREEN BANANA SLICE LIP OUT BE THE BALL PICTURE THE SHOT NO LAYING UP GET IN THE HOLE! TIME TO LET THE BIG DOG EAT YOU DA MAN! BABA BOOEY! DRIVE FOR SHOW, PUTT FOR DOUGH A GOOD WALK SPOILED THE PACE OF PLAY WAS BRUTAL— I QUIT AFTER NINE I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN UP TENNIS WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO TIGER WOODS? THE GOLF GODS MUST BE CRAZY Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan made an eagle 2 on the 18th hole of the Old Course at St. Andrews while playing in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He holed his putt from—where else?—the Valley of Sin. SHOW-OFF SHOTS THE BELLIED WEDGE Degree of difficulty: 4/10 When it's useful: When your ball…

1 Is it my setup? Digging your feet into the sand for stability is good for greenside traps but not for fairway bunkers. It lowers your swing arc, making it tough to pick the shot cleanly. HOW TO CHECK In a trap, set up for a fairway bunker shot. Did you automatically work your feet deep into the sand without choking up on the grip? YES FIX NO. 1 Stop it! One back-and-forth shuffle of the feet will do. If you worry about stability, hit practice shots at the range with a narrow stance, your feet one inch apart. You'll soon swing without swaying. NO 2 Is it my contact? Some golfers are so wary of hitting it fat that they over-compensate, catching the ball on its equator. The result?…

1.56 Fowler's putts-per-green average in 2015. Only Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Matt Jones fared better. 1 HEY! NO PEEKING! Here, Fowler has already made his stroke, but his eyes remain locked on the spot where the ball was at address. Follow his lead—keep your head super-still, and don't look up until well after contact. "Peeking" is a surefire way to block putts or make poor contact. 2 TUCK "EM IN Like most of the best putters, Rickie tucks his elbows lightly against his torso. This makes the shoulders, not the hands, power the stroke, leading to a more consistent motion. So rock "em back and rock "em through! 3 FINISH STRONG Fowler finishes with the putterhead just outside his left foot. That's perfect. You don't want to stop the…

Columbia, Tenn., funeral director Jeff Hargrove, 55, is a stick (and need we say an expert at buried lies?). A lifelong 6-handicap, Hargove is suddenly a 3-index. "I've got a new pitch swing to thank for that," he says. "My old technique was a little too wristy, which required perfect timing. I'd lose two or three strokes a round because of it." Enter Top 100 Teacher Nancy Quarcelino (King's Creek G.C., Spring Hill, Tenn.), who taught Hargrove to quiet his wrists by keeping his left arm long and straight throughout the entire motion. As Quarcelino tells it, the trick is to set up with most of your weight on your left foot, and keep it there as you make the stiff-arm swing. "It's amazing," Hargrove says. "Every pitch flies absolutely…

1. TRUE OR FALSE: 13-year-old Jack Nicklaus was 30 seconds late to his tee time at the 1953 U.S. Junior Amateur at Southern Hills C.C. in Tulsa, Okla., and was penalized with loss of hole. 2. TRUE OR FALSE: The term "burrowing animal" is defined in the Rules. 3. TRUE OR FALSE: You must use the same brand and type of ball throughout an official round. 4. Which of the following is not among the five most-asked Rules question topics, per the USGA? a. 18-2, Ball at Rest Moved (either before or after addressing the ball) b. 24-2, Immovable Obstruction Relief (e.g., cart paths and sprinkler heads) c. 26-1, Relief for Ball in a Water Hazard (Lateral Water Hazard) d. 14-3, Artificial Devices, Unusual Equipment and Unusual Use of Equipment…

YEARS AGO, I had the chance to interview John Paramor, the imposing, no-nonsense chief rules official for the European Tour. (The pros know him, affectionately, as "Big John.") What stuck with me most from our conversation is how incredulous he was about some Tour players' blissful ignorance of the good book. I was reminded of Paramor's remark the other day when Phil Mickelson violated the one-ball rule in play at the Presidents Cup. The condition stated that during a four-ball match, a player must keep the same model of ball in play throughout the round. When Phil, seeking a tactical edge, decided to swap out balls on the seventh hole, he and his playing partner, Zach Johnson, were hit with a one-hole "match adjustment." The episode didn't end there, however.…

THERE'S nothing like the gimme. In a sport that fetishizes rules, the gimme is governed entirely by tradition and an unwritten code of honor. That it remains part of recreational play is a godsend to those of us who are prone to missing our three-footers, but how weird is it that the gimme still exists at the game's highest levels? There's nothing like it in the rest of the sporting world, where player discretion regulates play. The gimme transcends different continents, cultures and competitive makeups. It's the ultimate gray area in a sport that seeks to be black and white. The surprise is not that the recent Solheim Cup was marred by a dispute over a gimme on a one-and-a-half-foot putt, but rather that this sort of thing doesn't happen…

WHEN JASON DAY went on his phe-nomenal run this year—winning four out of six starts and (briefly) ascending to No. 1—we endured endless hours of debate as to who should be Player of the Year. Everyone was busy making a case for either Jason or Jordan. And then Spieth emphatically answered the question by winning the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. All the quibbling reminded me of two of my favorite quotations. The late, great CBS producer Frank Chirkinian used to say, "All comparisons are odious!" And Theodore Roosevelt is said to have noted, "Comparison is the thief of joy." Our need to compare has grown overwhelming. Really, how useful is it to constantly debate which player is the best at a given time? This year, three players—Rory, Jordan,…

SCOTTSDALE ORLANDO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PLAY A 2014 makeover by original co-designer Tom Weiskopf has enhanced the raucously fun TPC Scottsdale's Stadium course. tpc.com/scottsdale Arnie's Bay Hill beckons (above), but you must stay to play. A great alternative: Grand Cypress (New), Jack's St. Andrews homage. bayhill.com; grandcypress.com Casa de Campo's Teeth of the Dog is 39th on our World list, and unlike many tough Pete Dye tracks, this playable puppy won't bite…hard. casadecampo.com.do STAY Talking Stick Resort has two Coore/Crenshaw designs and a heckuva nice spa. (Try the Pro-Sport massage.) December rates from $169; talkingstickresort.com Far from the Disney clamor, The Villas at Grand Cypress offers top-notch golf and practice facilities. December rates from $150 per night; grandcypress.com Carts at Casa de Campo Resort aren't limited to its 81 holes…

You're a longtime brand ambassador for Michelob Ultra. That must make you popular with beer lovers. Absolutely! You can always make friends when you have a beer sponsorship. [Laughs] Beer and golf go hand-in-hand, but top-tier players tend to shy away from alcohol. Do you? I have a confession: I've never had a drink and tried to play. But I know it's a huge part of the game, especially in pro-ams. You're 32. Next year will be your 16th on the LPGA Tour—that's half your life! I joined the tour when I was 18, after one year of college. I was fortunate that I got off to a good start, because it was not popular then [to turn professional so young], and I got a lot of negative feedback. Fortunately,…

Last season, PGA Tour pros sank their first putt—more than 129,000 rolls—about once every three greens. Impressively, when they missed, they left themselves an average of just 28 inches from the hole. Their secret to perfect distance? They practice good pace. Here's how my pro clients dial in the right speed. In just 30 seconds, you'll groove a better stroke for super-long lags, short little knee-knockers, and all putts in-between. [The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.] 10 secs 1 ROLL "EM GET SOME GROUP THERAPY Putt four balls, no target needed. Make the same-length stroke (say, toe-to-toe) on every attempt. Your goal? Group them nice and close. [The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual…

Hitting fairways is challenging enough. But when an already narrow hole pinches down to the width of a cart path exactly where your drives normally land, that's when you know you've got your work cut out for you. Fear not. Here are three ways to dodge all of those hole-wrecking hazards so you can split the skinniest, scariest fairways. 1 GRAB YOUR DRIVER AND PLAY A BETTER ANGLE Picture the shape of your typical drive and discern which side of the hole holds the least danger for that shot shape. Then set up on the side of the tee box that gives you the best angle toward the safest landing zone, even if that points you toward the rough (hey, it's better than water or OB). You'll avoid a penalty…

1 Spray the clubface with foot powder. 2 Draw lines through the sweet spot. 3 Check your impact marks. 4 Mark the tee height that leads to center strikes. 1 Head to the range with your driver, a Sharpie, a few tees and a can of spray foot powder. Spray the clubface of your driver with the powder using a few quick blasts. Don't worry— the spray rubs off easily and won't damage your club. 2 Run a finger across the clubface, leaving criss-crossing lines in the powder through the center of the sweet spot, as shown above. (If you can't get spray foot powder, don't sweat it. A dry-erase marker will work just as well for this drill.) 3 Place a ball on a tee and give it a…

Your elbow pain may be tendinitis, and that's no joke. But if you're determined to finish your round, here are three tips to ease your pain. STEP 1 Pop an anti-inflammatory, like Aleve. Applying heat to the area before your round and icing it once you're in the clubhouse will also alleviate your discomfort. STEP 2 Wear a compression brace, or channel your inner MacGyver and tightly wrap athletic tape around your foream, just below the elbow. STEP 3 Perform this stretch (right), courtesy of Graeme Lauriston, director of physical therapy for Pro Elite Sports at EXOS in Phoenix. The move is a vital part of any elbow tendinitis relief regimen. TENDON STRETCH With your palm facing down, make a fist and curl it downward. Slowly raise your wrist over…

WHEN IT COMES TO THE RULES OF GOLF, most of us could use an attitude adjustment. The Rules protect the game's integrity, yet some see them as a punishment instead of a foundation. A chore instead of a cornerstone. Consider the four main changes that take effect on January 1, 2016. Three are player-friendly: reducing or eliminating penalties related to the ball moving after address (18-2), and offering leniency both for scorecard blunders (6-6d) and for using artificial devices or equipment (14-3). But what gets the hype? The ban on anchoring the club while making a stroke (a putting stroke, we presume, or else you've got real issues). The Rules help, not hinder. Use them. It's good for the soul, putting you in harmony with the spirit of the game.…

There's no need to live your life unsure of the difference between yellow stakes and red stakes—not with umpteen ways to get up to speed. At the source, there is the Rules of Golf itself, which comes free in book form (usga.org). An updated Rules of Golf app will be available in January for free download via the iTunes store (apple.com/itunes/) or Google Play (play.google.com), with the Decisions on the Rules of Golf as an in-app purchase also available for $1.99—check www.usga.org/mobile for more information. The USGA's website also houses the lively, interactive "Rules of Golf Experience," which features videos and lesson plans to make you a maven, along with fun quizzes and additional resources. For the truly hard-core, our governing body, in partnership with the PGA of America, also…