Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2019 i Golf Magazine

HOW IT WORKS Invisible watermarks on select photos act as gateways to bonus videos. With the Digimarc app, your smartphone or tablet recognizes the watermarks and automatically delivers the content to your device. 1 Download and open the Digimarc Discover app on your smartphone or camera-capable tablet. The app is free and is available at the iTunes store for Apple devices and at the Google Play market for Android devices. 2 Position the phone four to seven inches above any photo bearing the yellow SCAN THIS PHOTO label (example, right), as if you were taking a picture (flash optional). If you have access to a Wi-Fi connection, downloads will be faster. 3 Hold the camera steady. The app will click and buzz when it recognizes the image and then begin…

DRIVER 1) Titleist TS3 (8.5°), Aldila Rogue Silver 130 TX shaft, 300 yards; $499 FAIRWAY WOOD 2) Titleist TS3 (13.5°), Aldila Rogue Silver 130 TX shaft, 270 yards; $299 UTILITY IRON 3) Titleist T-MB (2), Fujikura Speeder HB 9.8 X shaft, 250 yards; $249 IRONS 4) Titleist 718 MB (3-9), True Temper Dynamic Gold AMT X100; $1,299 3-iron: 235 yards 4-iron: 220 yards 5-iron: 205 yards 6-iron: 190 yards 7-iron: 175 yards 8-iron: 160 yards 9-iron: 145 yards WEDGES 5) Titleist Vokey SM7 (48°, 54°, 60°); 48°, 130 yards; 54°, 115 yards; 60°, 100 yards. All with True Temper Dynamic gold X100 shafts; $150 each. PUTTER 6) Scotty Cameron Select Newport 2; $399 BALL Titleist Pro V1 $47.99/dozen “My wedges have a custom grind with very low bounce that I’ve…

BEAT-THE-FIELD-STREAK LEADERS FOR 2018 Each season, every strokes-gained category has its own beat-the-field-streak leader. In 2018, they were: OFF THE TEE Brooks Koepka 30 ROUNDS APPROACH THE GREEN Tiger Woods 17 ROUNDS AROUND THE GREEN Jamie Lovemark 25 ROUNDS PUTTING Sam Burns 13 ROUNDS TEE TO GREEN Justin Rose 20 ROUNDS…

THE PROBLEM I see a lot of weekend players struggle with their takeaway. If they’re not fanning the club open with their lead arm, they’re whipping it inside, or lifting it straight up and out. Eliminating these errors is critical. Start by keeping the club connected to what the rest of your body is doing. How? Place a 2x4 about two inches behind your ball on an extension of your target line. Take your regular address position. THE SOLUTION Make sure the clubhead is resting against the edge of the board. Start your takeaway by pushing the 2x4 back, away from the ball. You should be able to move it a good foot before the club naturally moves skyward. The key is to match your arm swing with the movement…

Analysis by Top 100 Teacher Jon Tattersall, Fusion ATL, Atlanta, Ga. 72.5 Eddie Pepperell’s greens-hit percentage during his 2018 European PGA Tour campaign, good for 16th overall.…

LPGA STAR TO BE Uber-talented Emma Talley has been ascendant since 2013, when she won the U.S. Am as a freshman at Alabama. But that’s ancient history—even for a 24-year-old. Last year, in her rookie LPGA season, Talley notched four top-seven finishes. Quite a success story for a girl from Princeton, Kentucky (population: 6,329). “My family, they weren’t golfers, so I grew up not knowing a lot about the sport,” Talley says. “I feel like I have so far to go, and I can improve on every part of my game, which is cool. Some people get to a point in their career where they feel like they’re stuck. I’m not like that.” Talley’s Southern-girl-next door charm only adds to her magnetism. Next stop for the Nashville-based globetrotter? Superstardom. —Jessica…

PUTTING USED TO BE considered the most artful of golf skills, and putters were the paintbrushes. Think Ben Crenshaw and his Cézannelike stroke, with the equally elegant “Little Ben” blade in hand. Nowadays, it’s all about maximized moment of inertia, tight tolerances and CNC milling. On the greens as elsewhere, golf can feel almost numbingly sterile at times, with engineering trumping aesthetics. So it’s ironic that the man behind some of the world’s most beautiful putters used to design military equipment meant to withstand nuclear blasts. But faced in 2016 with a job move that would have taken him and his young family far from his native southern Oregon, Brad Converse took an unlikely leap of faith. Inspired by a shopping excursion to The Real Mother Goose, a Portland gallery…

Bridgestone irons have typically targeted better players, but the new Tour B JGR line offers playability for all skill levels. The new HF1 ($849) and HF2 ($899) models are perfect examples. According to marketing manager Zack Kupperbusch, they’re designed to provide “super-game-improvement” and “game-improvement” performance, respectively. The HF1 model, which Kupperbusch calls a “game enjoyment” iron due to its ease of use, is made for higher-handicappers and features a 1030 forged construction with a deep, hollow cavity, variable face thickness, plentiful offset and a very low CG location for extra help getting the ball airborne, even on off-center hits. A wider, antidig sole rounds out the HF1 design, which comes standard in 6-PW with UST Mamiya Recoil graphite shafts. For anyone not sure if they’re a super-game-improvement player, Kupperbusch describes…

How many times have you told yourself that you’re not going to leave your chip short, only to come up 15 feet shy yet again? If you’re struggling to get the distance you want, you’re probably not making solid contact on a consistent basis. Here’s a simple image to help you dial it in. As you set up, move a little more weight onto your front foot, and push the handle forward until your arms and clubshaft form a lower-case “y.” This is the magic letter for your chipping—if you can maintain the “y” through impact and keep your hands ahead of the clubhead, you’ll hit down on the ball and trap it between the clubface and the ground. Hit the ball and then the earth and you should make…

“CHANGE IS GOOD,” the saying goes. Golf has seen a lot of it, even in the quick window of the past dozen years—a blip in the game’s long history. Twelve years ago, only the very well dialed-in among us knew how much backspin they produced with their driver, or what their launch angle and swing-speed numbers might be. Twelve years ago, we were still buying yardage guides in pro shops (at least I was), calling courses directly to book tee times and playing wedges without any real consideration of bounce and sole grind. Twelve years ago, the thought of Tour players sharing vacation and baby pics with their fans—often in real-time—seemed unnecessary, if not absurd. Just last week a Top 100 Teacher delivered an artificial intelligence–fueled, bespoke game-improvement plan straight…

If you had to, how would you grade your first season on the PGA Tour? I guess a C. I did a lot of positive things, but it certainly wasn’t up to par. I don’t think there are many guys out here who are competitive who are gonna be really satisfied with anything, right? I mean, as much success as you have, you always want more. That’s what keeps you going and keeps you working hard. At last year’s Houston Open, you played in the final group on Sunday, ultimately losing in a playoff to Ian Poulter. What did you learn, being in that situation for the first time on Tour? At every level I’ve played, it’s been a bit of an adjustment once I’ve gotten into contention. At the…

EVERY YEAR my three-day Scoring Game Schools and one-day clinics help thousands of dedicated golfers get better at the game they love. Over time this has allowed me to witness a wide variety of swings made by golfers of all different sizes, shapes, appearances and attitudes. These observations, in turn, have helped me develop a way in which you can improve your game simply by watching others. This idea isn’t based on the technical aspects of your swing. For something along those lines, explore the teachings of Manuel de la Torre, Dr. Jim Suttie or Mike Adams—all well known for teaching to specific body types with great success. Instead, I’m proposing that you change the way you watch golf in the upcoming 2018-19 season. I want you to pick out…

THIS MONTH, I’m really excited to kick off my new makeover series. Anyone who follows me on Instagram knows that on-course apparel is a big deal for me, and I’m looking forward to helping GOLF’s readers look their best. Now of course, a makeover doesn’t always require a total overhaul. Take my first featured “client,” Marc Owen. As you can see from his “before” pic, Marc already looks great. As a busy, 50-year-old electrical contracting company VP, he plays golf about twice a month, and he was looking for comfortable, swing-easy pieces to give his golf look a modern spin. I think we nailed it! The all-black ensemble really flatters Marc’s body type, and the printed polo adds flair without going over the top. The final flourish? Matching the color…

We’re enjoying a glass of sparkling water today. It’s so refreshing. And I always like a splash of lime. You’ve had a lot going on over the past year, including a long layoff to recover from major jaw surgery. A lot of screws and plates are holding me together. I still don’t feel part of my face. Hopefully, that’ll change in the next year. And yet, just a couple months after your surgery, you shot 25 under to win your first event back, the Honda LPGA Thailand. I was honestly worried about how hot it was going to be [over there]. I spent all offseason in air conditioning, so when I got off the airplane I was terrified that if any player was going to go down, it was definitely…

NO TOO ANGLED Playing the ball too far back in your stance and then forward-pressing your hands may feel like the correct way to invite crisp wedge contact, but all it does is invite a dig. It can also force you to scoop the ball into the air, which nine times out of ten will result in a skull. NO TOO BACK Another common mistake is placing too much weight on your back foot. Just as leaning the shaft toward the target increases the odds that you’ll thin the shot, so does favoring your back foot. Basically, you’re setting yourself up to catch the ground too far behind the ball. YES BALANCED Play the ball slightly forward of center, with your weight on your front foot and your hands slightly…

One of the most important developments in the recent history of golf club technology began with a single sentence buried in a cryptic tome. Homer Kelley’s 1969 book, The Golfing Machine— its pages bursting with insightful and highly technical swing treatises—has long thrilled and baffled readers. When he was 15, Bryson De-Chambeau borrowed a well-thumbed copy from his swing coach Mike Schy. “Mind blown,” says DeChambeau. Chapter 10, section 7 covers what Kelley termed “customized” swing planes. With his idiosyncratic punctuation, Kelley wrote about a Zero Shift swing: “…one Basic Plane Angle is to be used throughout the stroke without ‘a Variation’—that is, No Shift.” Those 18 words raced through young Bryson’s mind for days. Was it really possible to be on the same plane with clubs as different as…

SOUTHWOOD TALLAHASSEE, FLA. This Gene Bates co-design is the former home course for FSU’s golf teams. It rolls through hardwood-studded terrain high-lighted by moss-drenched live oak. $30-$55; southwoodgolf.com TALEGA SAN CLEMENTE, CALIF. Created in tandem with Schmidt-Curley Design, Talega is cut from arroyos in the hills above San Clemente and sports a variety of marshes, lakes and bold bunkers. $60-$110; talegagolfclub.com AK-CHIN SOUTHERN DUNES MARICOPA, ARIZ. Co-designed with Brian Curley, this brawny 7,546-yard layout features sprawling bunkers, fescue-framed fairways, mountain vistas—and no homes. $30-$225; akchinsoutherndunes.com…

THE BIG BERTHA NAME has been closely associated with innovation, distance and forgiveness for what seems like forever (or at least since the original and “Great” models debuted in the early 1990s.) It’s now affixed to the company’s easiest-to-hit max-game-improvement irons and hybrids, coming to a retailer near you on January 18. The new Big Bertha clubs are aimed at players looking for maximum launch, trajectory, distance and forgiveness in an easy-to-swing package. Whether you’re a high-handicapper who needs the most help you can find or a mid-handicapper who’s lost some swing speed or simply desires a friendlier option, both new Big Bertha clubs are worthy options. Intrigued? We thought you’d be. Read on. Big Bertha hybrids $270 each, graphite callawaygolf.com Big Bertha hybrids are about making high launch and…

When a new Cobra driver hits the market, you instinctively think “bomber,” but in the case of the new KING F9 SPEEDBACK ($449), you should also think “speed.” Greater speed tends to produce more distance, and the F9’s new Speedback Aero design—which features a raised skirt, a rounded crown and a rounded leading edge for 17 percent less drag than the previous F7 driver and 12 percent less than the F8—makes it the fastest Cobra driver to date. To go along with the Speedback design is a carbon-fiber crown that wraps around the edges of the club for added weight savings, a lower and deeper CG, and improved launch and forgiveness. But the KING F9 isn’t just fast and long. It has an extremely thin and hot CNC-milled face and…

BRIDGESTONE TOUR B RX $44.99/DOZEN BRIDGESTONEGOLF.COM The Tour B RX is available in white and optic-yellow. This high-performance ball includes a multilayer design, urethane cover, and proprietary core construction (what you see in Tour models), but with more forgiveness and distance for swings that don’t hit the triple-digit mark. TAYLORMADE PROJECT (s) $24.99/DOZEN TAYLORMADEGOLF.COM The Project (s) doesn’t just come in white, matte yellow and matte orange, it provides even softer compression and feel than the Project (a), but with the same low driver spin and speed to produce plenty of distance through the bag. A multilayer design with reduced drag for max yards. CALLAWAY CHROME SOFT TRUVIS PINK $44.99/DOZEN CALLAWAYGOLF.COM The newest Truvis color looks cool and also helps raise money for the Morgan Pressel Foundation to fight breast…

To maximize your distance and hit the ball from right to left, you need to swing the clubhead on a path that approaches the ball from the inside. If you’re swinging the club so that it moves down to the ball from outside the target line, you’ll either hit a dead pull or a weak slice, neither of which will rekindle memories of your power-hitting youth. To groove the ideal inside approach, warm up with the “three tee drill” before you play. Tee up a ball normally, then lay a club on the ground about 12 inches inside the ball, parallel to your target line. Now place a second tee 18 inches in front of the ball, along the target line, and a third tee 18 inches behind the ball…

BRIAN DAVIS might be the unluckiest player in the history of the PGA Tour. He has never had an ace in competition, a streak of futility that is now at 4,529 par 3s and counting. As of this writing he has made 359 starts on Tour without a victory, the longest drought among all active players. (Omar Uresti, 50, is winless in 368 starts but is now focused on the Champions tour). One of Davis’s best chances to win came at Hilton Head in 2010, in a playoff against Jim Furyk, but, while attempting a recovery shot from the edge of Calibogue Sound, he brushed a tiny loose impediment in the hazard during his backswing, a two-stroke penalty that doomed Davis to defeat. (He alerted officials to what might have…

IN THE 2018 SEASON, Chris Kirk led the PGA Tour with 12 made cuts in a row. While that’s notable, I find “beat-the-field” streaks to be much more impressive. (A player beats the field when, in a round, his score is better than the field’s average score, e.g., a score of 69 beats the field average of 70.3.) A beat-the-field streak demands sustained good play over many consecutive rounds, while a made-cut streak only requires a good combined score on Thursday and Friday, when the field has yet to be narrowed—and toughened—for the weekend. Kirk’s longest beat-the-field streak in 2018 was just nine rounds. Beating the field in many successive rounds is extremely tough, because, as Stewart Cink once told me, “The field never has a bad day.” Yes, the…

My ball landed in a greenside bunker. As I always do, I stood a few feet away from it and took a fast practice swing. The club didn’t strike the surface, but several grains of sand were moved by the air currents generated by the swing. To be safe, I took a two-stroke penalty for “testing a hazard.” Correct call, or not? —DOUG DUIN, VIA E-MAIL That is some kind of powerful practice swing, Doug! By any chance is your nickname “Fan Man”? Regardless, as Rule 12.2b(1) tells us, the restrictions in a bunker include touching the ground or testing the condition by deliberately touching the sand in the bunker. Your heroic pre-shot action moving a few grains of sand didn’t involve the former and isn’t considered the latter. What’s…

You’re 50 yards from the green. The wind is up. You could play your standard pitch, but good luck if you put too much loft on the shot—the wind could knock the ball down, carry it too far or blow it sideways. Your best option here is the bump-and-run. And to make the shot that much easier to pull off, hit it with a hybrid. The heavy weight of a hybrid allows you to make a smaller, more controlled swing but still generate ample distance to get the ball all the way to the target. The setup is very traditional: Grip down a few inches, narrow your stance and set a tad more weight over your front foot. Then make a simple little swing—just a little longer than what you’d…

THE THEORY Instead of trying to pound the sweet spot practice swing after practice swing at the range, try catching a few on the heel and toe as well. By giving your brain multiple reference points to think about, you force it to work harder—so you can learn faster! It’s called variable training. Multiple studies prove that it can be wildly effective. HOW TO PUT IT TO GOOD USE Tee the ball in its regular spot and try hitting it off the toe. After a few attempts, switch it up: Hit some clankers off the heel. Then go back to your quest to locate the center. For a real test, tee two balls off the clubface and see if you can knock them in tandem. Now you’re really putting your…

The moment of clarity came, strangely, after a few beers at TopGolf. This was in early 2018, after I had been using a set of Edel Golf single-length irons for a few months. I’d fallen hard for the concept, thanks to some of the best long-iron shots of my life, but I still wasn’t sure how long the experiment would last. Then at TopGolf I took on a friend in one of those games in which you hit a handful of balls at four different targets. Using a conventional set of clubs, I worked my way through a sand wedge, 9-iron and 7-iron, slightly put off by the changing dimensions of each stick. Then I grabbed the 5-iron and couldn’t believe how foreign it felt. Standing over the first ball,…

Steel-shafted irons have been the standard for decades, but that doesn’t mean they should be the standard for you. In fact, unless you’re a pro, a college player or a competitive amateur (or, to be honest, if you’re anywhere past the age of 30), you should take a serious look at switching out to graphite. Not only do modern graphite iron shaft models offer far more options than steel, they can dampen damaging vibration and are much easier on your body. For starters, check out the four on this page. Each offers great feel, exceptional consistency and big-time performance. FUJIKURA PRO IRON fujikuragolf.com One of the biggest names in driver shafts also makes some of the best composite iron shafts, and the Fujikura PRO is one to take seriously. Available…