Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i Golf Magazine

GOLF IS IMPORTANT TO ME. It’s a favorite pastime, one I enjoy with my friends, my wife and my son. Golf’s deep-rooted principles—integrity, sportsmanship and managing the balance between risk and reward—are at the heart of my own core values, whether in personal or business pursuits. Most importantly, my passion for the game is a bond—with you, our one million–plus subscribers and countless millions of other readers of this magazine. We are golfers. This is why I purchased GOLF in February 2018, and why—in what I hope is a welcome surprise—this issue looks and feels different than any widely distributed golf magazine you’ve ever read. The goal from day one was to build on the title’s legacy—60 years strong as of this year—by deeply investing my own personal time and…

WHERE WE’RE PLAYING Rustic Canyon Golf Club in Moorpark, Calif. Links-like tracks are rare in SoCal, and this one’s playable for all handicaps, with surprisingly quick greens. Careful: Windy conditions can make it tough. —Michael Chwasky WHAT WE’RE BUYING Callaway Hyper-Lite Zero L Double-Strap Stand Bag. I bought this 2.5-pound beauty in advance of a three-day, 86-hole, carry-your-own golfapalooza at Bandon Dunes, and it proved to be worth its weight in (really light) gold. —Alan Bastable WHAT WE’RE USING Bridgestone B330-RX yellow golf balls. Like so much else in life, it’s a concession to aging. I’d been resisting the color switch, but it’s the best change I’ve made in a long time. —Josh Sens WHAT WE’RE READING The Match, by Mark Frost. A page-turner about one of the game’s greatest…

3,111 Miles covered by PGA Tour players’ combined tee shots in 2018—the distance from Jacksonville to Juneau. 77% LPGA-best GIR in 2018. Set by Rookie of the Year Jin Young Ko. $45,019,2 37 Matt Kuchar’s career earnings following his win at the Mayakoba Classic, putting Kooch 10th on the all-time list. Next to reach $45M: Zach ($44.7), J-Day ($43.6) and Rors ($40.9). SMART STARTS Best Scoring Jumps: Early Tee Time vs. Late MORNING GLORIES Dustin Johnson 1.6 Alex Cejka 1.43 Jon Rahm 1.26 Hunter Mahan 1.25 Jason Dufner 1.29 AFTERNOON DELIGHTS Abraham Ancer 1.44 Rory McIlroy 1.23 Chris Kirk 1.09 Brian Harman 1.00 Jimmy Walker 0.92…

“YOU JUST DON’T LIKE GOLF?” asks the kind woman at the front desk of Fusion ATL, an athletic training center in posh Buckhead cofounded by GOLF Top 100 Instructor Jon Tattersall. “So why are you here, exactly?” An excellent question. She’s right: I don’t like golf. For 43 years of life, and the last 25 as a sportswriter, I have actively avoided golf. Some of my reasons are fair (I didn’t grow up around the sport, I lived in near-poverty in the concrete wasteland of New York City for a decade). Some of them are personal failings (lingering and largely unexamined class issues, agoraphobia, dread of running into Alice Cooper). But I don’t play. This probably makes you, the GOLF reader, think I’m a jerk. I don’t necessarily disagree. But…

BEHOLD THIS THING OF beauty in your hands. A magazine! In this case, an ink-on-paper magazine devoted to the many pleasures associated with an odd cross-country game. That golf magazines exist at all is a testament to the advanced state of our civilization. In the stacks of the USGA library, in Liberty Corner, N.J., there are bound volumes of 863 different magazines, each title devoted to golf, from all over the world and from three different centuries. At the starting line, alphabetically, is African American Golfers Digest and, near the end, Yankee Golfer. The G section is especially dense. There’s Golfdom and Golfing and Golf Life and, of course, two American monthly stalwarts known in dentist offices all across this country, Golf Digest and GOLF. We’ll be 60 on our…

THE STRAIGHT LINE Draw a line along the equator—the thicker the better. On the greens, point the line on the ball down the line to your target, then square your putter to it. Bam! Perfect aim. THE PERSONAL TOUCH A smiley face or your kid’s initials can help calm your nerves. Motivational cues are great too—as long as it’s not WWIBFD (“What Would Ian Baker-Finch Do?”). THE “T” LINE If the straight line fails to improve your alignment, add a horizontal mark. When taking your address, set the putterface square to the horizontal. This is foolproof! THE LONE DOT Pros focus tighter on the ball than amateurs, studies show. It takes hours of training. Or, you can draw a black dot on the ball and keep your eyes on it…

TARO ARAI, 49 Chief Dreaming Officer, Mikuni Restaurant Group Sacramento, California Handicap: 9-11 You strike me as a confident man. Or not too smart. Do you play in that suit? I do, but none of my friends do. Tell me about the suit. One of my daughters gave it to me for Father’s Day. I always wear whatever I want. I have no shame. And when I play in a tourney, people always know where I am. You run five tourneys, right? Yes, all for charity. We’ve raised $1 million for a breast cancer navigator program, and we sponsor the Mikuni Infusion Center at Sutter Hospitals. We’ve helped more than 4,000 patients! We’ve helped raise money for the tsunami in Japan, for Houston and the California wildfire victims. That’s a…

DO YOU ASPIRE TO SLOWER BALL SPEEDS, extra difficulty launching drives and missing more fairways? If so, then Callaway’s new Epic Flash isn’t for you. If you don’t mind the suggestion, set your performance bar just a bit higher and test drive the Epic Flash. The “Flash” is about new face technology, developed using artificial intelligence (AI), while the “Epic” unofficially describes the ball speed this driver is capable of producing. According to Evan Gibbs, Callaway’s R&D director for woods, the company assessed more than 15,000 iterations of various Flash face designs before finding the longest and most forgiving one, a task completed by an AI-powered supercomputer so fast that trying to do likewise on your own Mac or PC would take upwards of 35 years. (Your legs would cramp…

TAYLORMADE’S P790 AND P760 IRONS aren’t exactly twins, but, fair warning—we’ve never seen them in the same room together. The P790 has the movie-star looks of a traditional forged blade, but in terms of ballstriking feel, the P760 is equally glam. The main difference is that the P790 is designed for lovers of the long ball—its active face, hollow construction, SpeedFoam filler and Speed Pocket technology generate lights-out ball speed. Better yet, they’ve engineered plenty of wiggle room for the times when your swing is less than perfect. While much of this tech made its way into the P760, this set hangs its hat on delivering the benefits of a true progressive set, pairing SpeedFoam-injected long irons (3-7) with solid-construction short irons (8-AW). The transitional nature of the p760 is…

DRIVE with DUSTIN JOHNSON ALL TOUR PLAYERS ARE LONG. DJ IS LETHAL. MATCH HIS SPEED? GOOD LUCK. BUT YOU CAN STEAL HIS BALANCE, AND THAT’S PLENTY ENOUGH. Over twelve pro seasons, Dustin Johnson has evolved from unbridled long-bomber into the PGA Tour’s most consistent performer. He’ll tell you: He’s put in the work, developing his flexibility and strength off the course to improve the stability in his swing when he’s on it. It’s no coincidence that his driving game has matured, too. The result is a calculated bomb-and-gouge method that marries power and control (he’s placed first or second in strokes gained off the tee six times over his last eight healthy seasons), making his biggest weapon the envy of the game—and maybe the most lethal in history. As he’s…

“When you watch Jason Day putt, you see something different. He and Dave Stockton, the two best putters I’ve ever seen, both get the ball into what we call ‘pure roll’ incredibly fast. Good putters achieve pure roll within 10 to 25 percent of the total putt length after contact. For example, on a 12-foot putt, the best in the world achieve pure, skid-free roll within three feet of the point contact is made. Obviously, you want that number as low as possible. Jason’s ball gets into pure roll more like 7 to 8 percent after it’s struck. He’s at the very top of the putting pyramid. We like to think that TaylorMade technology has a hand in that. Our pure roll inserts, where we put a groove in the…

Greg Norman wears many hats, and not just ones with shark logos. Witness his new role as official tourism ambassador for Vietnam. His appointment reflects how seriously Vietnam takes golf, and also how seriously Norman takes Vietnam. With three courses to his name in the country—including heralded Ho Tram Bluffs, an Asian Tour host site, and KN Golf Links, a 27-hole facility etched through dunes along the southeast coast—and a slew of other projects underway, Norman sees great promise for the Vietnamese market. Ambassador Norman? How’d that come about? The catalyst was what the government saw in the quality of our courses and in the potential for golf to promote tourism and growth. I’ve been in golf for more than 40 years. I’ve seen what it’s contributed in Dubai, Mexico,…

EVEN THE BRIEFEST conversations with Sean Foley are inspiring, to say nothing of enlightening. Politics, history, literature, golf, life—it’s all on the table. After an amazing year—Foley’s longtime student Justin Rose ascended to World No. 1 for the first time; Cameron Champ emerged as the most exciting young player in golf; and 2016 Masters champ Danny Willett returned to the winner’s circle under Foley’s guidance—we caught up with the man who looks at golf and coaching just a little bit differently than everyone else. GOLF: Justin and Tiger—two No. 1s on your coaching résumé. We’re impressed. SEAN FOLEY: Look, I’m only as good as my guys are. Take Rosie—he’s something else, man. He’s amazing. His golf IQ is off the charts. When he gets going he gets into this beautiful Rosie…

BILL BELICHICK is one of the most brilliant minds sports has ever known. He’s also an avid golfer. Do gridiron smarts transfer to the links? We scoured Ian O’Connor’s new Belichick biography (Houghton Miffin Harcourt, $28) to find an answer. THE BEST PART: Shortly after the Giants’ Super Bowl XLVI victory over the Patriots in 2012, Belichick was on the range ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am when Tiger Woods’s caddie, Joe LaCava, approached. LaCava, a Connecticut native and lifelong Giants fan, saw Belichick and loudly proclaimed to a fellow caddie: “How about those G-Men kicking the Patriots’ ass?! A second time!” Belichick, standing five feet away, completely blanked LaCava, never lifting his head, and kept swinging.  THE TAKEAWAY: Ian O’Connor’s biography on the Patriots head coach sheds further…

HIGH FLYER You can tell from his finish that Tiger has launched a higher-than normal approach. He’s extending his lower spine up and toward the target. It’s a great move for any swing—if your back can take it. Looks like Tiger’s finally can. MUSCLE MATTERS There’s no denying it—Tiger’s arms are still jacked! And they’re not for looks. Woods understands that at the highest levels, golf is a power game that taxes every muscle. Tiger continues his legacy as the original Tour gym rat, and if his arms are any indication, he has zero plans to let the youngsters on the Tour out work him. BACK IN BUSINESS Players with bad backs rarely swing to a full finish, let alone a high one like this. As with his knees, Tiger’s…

PGA TOUR ROOKIE Cameron Champ won the Sanderson Farms Championship last October in only his second event, and just one month after securing his Tour card. The boatload of FedEx Cup points he earned in the fall (521 in his first five events) almost guarantees his entry into the FedEx Cup playoffs come August. You’re sure to hear more about him, not only for his wins and top tens, but for how he uses his prodigious drives to achieve success. At the time of this writing, Champ leads all Tour players in strokes gained driving, with a massive gain of 1.5 strokes per round. To put that in perspective, the leader in this stat category averaged a gain of 1.0 strokes per round from 2004 through 2018. (Note: Bubba Watson…

WHEN YOU’RE AT THE LOWEST OF LOWS—and for me, that wasn’t that long ago—there’s always a little voice in the back of your head that says, “You might not get back to being as good as you were.” THE VOICE IS POWERFUL. But I fought back. “I’ve got more wins in me,” I said. “I’m going to make the team in Paris.” That was my goal for the last two years leading up to the 2018 Ryder Cup, and it’s what kept me going. IT WAS DIFFICULT BEING VICE CAPTAIN LAST TIME, at the 2016 Ryder Cup. I know how much I’ve helped the team in the past, but, hey, I wanted to assist in any way I could, so vice captain it was. We left the Cup in Hazeltine…

Eddie Van Halen will forever be cooler than you. But if it makes you feel any better, he gets just as infuriated by golf as the rest of us. If he handled his guitar the way he handles a golf club, the world of rock would be an infinitely poorer place. But this is still his game, and the member of Los Angeles’s Lakeside Golf Club will be playing golf as long as he’s playing “Panama.” The game still drives him nuts: Rock gods, they’re just like us! Why do you play? [My brother] Alex and I used to play pitch and putt, but it wasn’t really about golf. It was about that ice chest full of beer. It was just fun to go out there and whack the ball…

BEN HOGAN’S BALLSTRIKING was legendary, perhaps the best the game has ever seen. But even his motion had good years and bad, and he’d spend hours on the range trying to, as he famously quipped, “dig answers out of the dirt.” In fact, it took Hogan a decade to notch his first professional solo win—his early game was plagued by a hook, the result of an overly strong lead-hand grip and insufficient body rotation. Weakening his hold after a “series of trial-and-error experiments” was a key step that eventually transformed Hogan’s swing into the one we admire today. When this 1939 sequence was snapped, Hogan was still searching for his ideal motion. So, to better understand how his swing evolved from this point, we assigned Hogan a Swing Index using…

“MULTI-PIECE CAVITY medallion” might sound as if it’d be tasty paired with a nice Sancerre, but it’s actually a key component in producing the beautiful feel of the new F9 Speedback irons from Cobra. As with a fine meal, the ingredients of modern irons must complement each other and those who swing them. Though made with mid- and high-handicappers in mind, F9 Speedbacks are also lightning in the hands of the folks who play for big money on Sundays. It’s easy to see why: A flexible, thin face, a low CG location and perimeter weighting combine to produce beaucoup distance, high launch and more forgiveness than we sinners of the sod deserve. Check out the components of the F9 Speedback’s design—including that cavity medallion—to better understand what victory tastes like.…

February, 1972: Your dad somehow shoots a 78 with the dust-covered sticks you’ll discover looking like relics from a primitive civilization years later in a corner of the garage. Meanwhile, here in 2019, you still can’t break 80 with technology that’s so advanced it makes NASA blush. February, 1980: Arnold Palmer admits that the original recipe for an “Arnold Palmer” was three parts iced tea and one part Pennzoil. February, 2004: En route to a playoff win at the Buick Invitational, John Daly makes Tour history as the first PGA player to shoot his nicotine habit, firing a second-round 66 while also firing up 66 lung darts. This month: I propose that henceforth all dramatically graceful escapes from a daunting situation be known as a “Ballesteros.” As in, “What was…

IT WAS RAINING AS IF IT MIGHT FORGET TO STOP, a soaker so Homeric that even the puddles complained of feeling damp. Not a single soul that comprised the Honourable Company was to be seen on the links. Muirfield would have to wait, so the two Americans and a friendly Scot of no little renown in Gullane ducked into the silent bar at the Greywalls Hotel. Acquaintance being made with the Americans just that very morning, the Scotsman was understandably unaware that the two rotundities, both in Scotland for the first time, were professionals. You should try Belhaven, a Scottish beer, my throw, said he. We should, said we. Barman, he said, without a hint of hesitation, a bottle of Belhaven, and three glasses. It occurred to us that perhaps…

11 Putters 3 Polos 3 Iron Sets 3 Balls 2 Drivers 1 Damn Fine Alignment Stick PING’S NEW SIGMA 2 LINE isn’t the company’s first stab at adjustable-length putters—they tinkered with the concept some five years ago, but with mixed results. What brought PING back for another go? According to Paul Wood, vice president of engineering, it’s the appeal of delivering custom-fit results to an audience—a big audience—that may not yet be comfortable with a full-blown putter customization. What changed this time? As with many things in R&D, you build on the partial success and failures of things in the past. We had an adjustable-length mechanism in that first version—a fairly simple clamp—that did an awful lot of what we wanted, but we also had a list of things that…

REAL GOLFERS WALK, and buddy, that’s you. So now you’re striding confidently down the fourth fairway, having piped yet another drive, and you start to feel it. It’s just an annoying little itch on the outside of your heel. At first you don’t pay much attention, but by the time you reach the seventh tee that itch has worked its way into a pulsating blister and it’s throbbing with every footfall. By 10, the pain is so bad it has the potential to ruin a terrific round. If you’d been wearing the new FootJoy ProDry socks, you might have been able to avoid all this misery. The Lycra/spandex line sports a double-layer heel cushion (bye, bye blisters). Add to that moisture-sucking DrySof technology and you have a sock certain to…

“Dustin can form an opinion on a driver very quickly and intuitively. What does it look like when he sets it down? What does it feel like? He’s such a good driver that it’s one or two shots before he knows if it’s dialed in. “I’ve worked with DJ a lot in tuning his gear. He has always gravitated toward adjustable-hosel drivers: M1, M3 and, now, Taylor-Made’s new M5. During his first look at the M5 back in October, again, he hit one or two shots. The ball spin was a little low, so we moved the weights back. All of a sudden he’s got 12.5 degrees of launch, a ton of ball speed—183, 184 miles per hour—and flying it 330. And he’s doing it consistently. It wasn’t 100 percent…

“We’ve progressed with Jon’s iron game quite a bit over the past few seasons. It was one of the areas we targeted for improvement when he went pro. At ASU, he was hitting muscle-backs, and he had a tendency to miss left. We worked him into some P750s and got his directional bias back in a good place. “Now we’re diving into the new P760s. A lot of the players are creating their sets differently than in the past—some might use p790 long irons and muscleback short irons. We used our technology to package the p760 irons along those lines. What we’ve come up with is a SpeedFoam-filled progressive set, from short irons to long irons. If you look at the short irons, each is made with a full one-piece…

I JUST HELPED MAJOR CHAMPION Stewart Cink switch to the arm-lock putting method. It’s an easy—and possibly superior—way to putt, and golf’s governing bodies have given it their full blessing. Here’s the basic concept: Connect the shaft of your putter to your lead arm at address (photo, above) and keep it there during your stroke. By doing this you eliminate any deviations in shaft angle from setup to impact, where most putting errors occur. Honestly, it makes controlling the putterface darn near idiot-proof. It also improves grip pressure consistency and rhythm. No more jabs or flinches! The only drawback is that because the shaft leans forward as it stays fixed against your lead arm, you’ll need a putter with significantly more loft—about eight degrees. Otherwise, the method is simple. Set…

1. BUILD A WALL Protect yourself—don’t cede your power, process and purpose to your partner’s emotional outbursts. Double your focus on your game. Worrying about their actions will simply amp the frustration. 2. GET ZEN Find time to recenter your presence. Tapping into the old saying “Be where your feet are” is a great mental trick to reconnect to what you’re doing in the present moment, not to their meltdown. 3. ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE Your partner’s condition will indeed impact you, despite your best efforts. Just as a smoker going cold turkey must embrace lasting cravings, accept the fact that finishing the round isn’t going to be easy. 4. START A COUNTDOWN The moment your partner officially goes to the Dark Side, count the number of holes you have left…

MY EARLIEST MEMORIES of the game are of me perched on the hood of the family car, watching my father hit balls at a listing range off Lincoln Ave. in Orange, Calif. Maybe my sisters are there, maybe not, but I’m with someone, scoring each shot, A to F, before they zoom into the darkness, beyond the reach of poor-wattage floodlights. Is it a Saturday night or a Wednesday? Who knows? I’m just happy to be there, surrounded by dirt, rusted fencing and my father’s languid swings. I have other memories: joining Dad in the stall at the range and, eventually, on the course, the latter being some of the happiest days of my youth. Of making friends with others who also loved the game, and our post-school rounds, laughs…

I’LL NEVER FORGET the sound of the guns. Our ships firing on the bluffs above the sand. Their armaments shooting over our heads, back at our boats. I was 24 years old when I landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy for my first day of combat. I don’t recall being nervous—I was confident in my training. It was June 7, 1944. My regiment, the 175th infantry, was sent in one day after D-Day, and because we were fresh, our job was to relieve the tired units and push deeper into France. We battled through what people now call hedgerows—lines of vegetation that farmers used to separate pastures. Germans planted guns in them. They had this new machine gun called the M42, and it was the scariest weapon we faced. It…

WE’VE ALL BEEN TOLD HUNDREDS OF TIMES that we “can’t” do certain things. I, for example, am constantly reminded that I can never be a good role model until I win on tour. But what does winning have to do with the ability to positively contribute to the world? Being a “winner” often seems like the only way to earn respect. Whether it’s in sports, entertainment or business, this scenario seems to play out over and over again. Winning eclipses all transgressions—and if you’re not winning, you’re nothing. That’s just not right. The ability to act as a role model shouldn’t depend on owning a pile of trophies. Instead, we should look at role models as whole people—people who fail but overcome adversity, people who inspire us both on and…

WALK THIS WAY Even if you’re slotting drives, add pop with any of the nine brilliant colors available in Ogio’s new Shadow Fuse 304 stand bag ($249). Designed with “extreme attention to mobility and comfort,” it features lightweight construction, improved weight distribution and balance, a four-way top with integrated carry handle, and a valuables pocket with water-resistant zipper. It’s heavy on the good stuff, easy on the back.…

RETRO GOLF BAGS AND HEADCOVERS have made a comeback in the last few years, with Jones Golf and Seamus leading the way. Erik Heltne, a Minnesota-based commercial real estate professional, noticed the trend and the potential to expand the retro offerings with a product that rarely gets anything more than a passing glance: alignment sticks. The result are BubbaWhips, hickory-crafted beauties that turn heads in addition to fine-tuning your setup. The 45-inch sticks are constructed from genuine 3/8-inch hickory with a weather-sealed matte finish and come in four different colorways. A silver nail cap is added to the end to complete the classic look. The sticks have been gaining traction in recent months and were spotted in the bags of a number of players during the Ryder Cup, including Rickie…

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT that a chance meeting between two surfing German attorneys would result in the creation of a golf ball company? Yet it was on Munich’s Eisbach Wave (look it up) that Vice Golf was born. As your Facebook feed has likely informed you, Vice strives to provide big-brand-comparable performance at about half the price. Co-founders Ingo Duellmann and Rainer Stoeckl claim that Vice balls are consistently tested by Golf Laboratories in San Diego, Calif., to ensure that their performance and durability are up to snuff. For more info or to order products, visit vicegolf.com, where you can utilize the company’s Ball Recommender tool to figure out which model is best for you.…

MODERN FAIRWAY WOODS PLAY SO LONG that you can sometimes bang them right out there with drivers off the tee. Hybrids are super-long, too, and with enough loft choices that you can slip one in your bag to replace a mid-iron. And don’t get us started on long irons, which have stronger lofts and are easier to hit than ever (just ask Rickie, left). Where does that leave you? Probably confused about how to set up the gaps in your long game. You can thank high-COR fairway woods and hybrids and game-improvement, flex-face irons. (A handwritten note is always a nice touch.) So how do you choose between these power options? According to Tim Briand of True Spec Golf, the answer is about swing speed. Check out the graphic above…

DRIVER: 1.Titleist TS3 (10.5 degrees), Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 5X shaft, 285 yards; $499 FAIRWAY WOODS: 2.TaylorMade M4 (15 degrees), Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei CK Pro 70TX shaft, 265 yards; $249 3.Titleist 913Fd (18 degrees), UST Mamiya Proforce VTS 8TX shaft, 248 yards; $NA HYBRIDS: 4.Titleist 913Hd (20 degrees), Graphite Design Tour AD DI 105X Hybrid shaft, 230 yards; $NA 5.Titleist 915Hd (23.5 degrees), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft, 218 yards; $NA IRONS: 6.Titleist 718 MB (5-PW), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts; $185 per club (steel) 5-iron: 202 yards, 6-iron: 190 yards, 7-iron: 180 yards, 8-iron: 165 yards, 9-iron: 152 yards, PW: 142 yards WEDGES: 7.Titleist Vokey Design SM7 F-grind (54/14 loft/bounce), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shaft, 125 yards; $149 each…

Believe it or not, the guys playing for all that money on TV are gaming driver heads that, as TaylorMade puts it, have been sorted for “spiciness,” meaning the ones with the highest COR—or as close to the .830 limit as possible—and ball speeds are saved for Tour players. The rest of us? Even TaylorMade admits that it sometimes struggles with mass-quantity quality-control to ensure max COR in each and every one of the tens of thousands of driver heads it produces. In creating the new M5, TM designers say they’ve found a solution. The plan: Make every clubface faster than the USGA limit during initial production, then bring them back down to the .830 limit by injecting them with a “slowing” material that systematically reduces rebound. It’s a potentially…

Jason Day became the best putter in the world in 2016, so it’s no coincidence that he finished that year as world No. 1. He was slightly off on the greens in 2017, but was resurgent last season, winning twice and again dominating on the dance floor. Yep, the cheery Aussie has renewed his focus on the flatstick and has made himself invincible—from short range in particular—once again. Plenty of players have taken notice, though it’s usually Day who’s dishing the compliments. On set for the photos seen splashed across these pages, it was Jason propping up Dustin Johnson’s clubhead speed. He was effusive about Jon Rahm’s tight irons, and blown away by Tiger’s imagination with his wedges. But when the shoot shifted to the green, the hyperbole shifted to…

During the 2015 Masters Tournament, Lanny Wiles did what any other visitor to Augusta National Golf Club would try to do: buy himself a souvenir to commemorate his trip to a place most golfers spend a lifetime vainly dreaming of going. Wiles, hoping to avoid the crowds at the merchandise pavilion, approached the pro shop near the clubhouse. A bored security guard at the shop’s entrance stopped him and asked to see his patron’s badge—the coveted token that would ensure his entry. “Sorry, I don’t have one,” Wiles told the guard. “Then you can’t go in,” the guard replied, probably for the hundredth time during his shift. Unlike many of the other visitors to Augusta National that day, however, Wiles had been in this particular pro shop once before. In…

1901: It’s not a full 18, but it satisfies the needs of Arthur Hesketh Groom, the British expat who builds a four-hole loop as a private playground, which expands two years later into a nine-hole layout. Behold Kobe Golf Club, the first course in Japan. 1913: Growing domestic interest in the game gives rise to the Tokyo Golf Club, the first golf club in the country established by and for Japanese golfers. 1940: During World War II, a number of the country’s courses are requisitioned by the Japanese military. After the Allied victory, many of these same courses are seized by U.S. forces. 1942: Future Golf Hall of Fame inductee Isao Aoki is born. 1950-60: As Japanese courses return to Japanese control, the game enjoys a surge. Along with new…

“My game fuel is consistent: It’s a lot of GoMacro, Vega and Orgain protein bars. I use those to keep me fueled and refreshed during the round. I also have a lot of hydrators that I use and different ones I’m still trying out. Then there’s candy. Not during the round—that’s for after. And, oh my gosh: chocolate milk is my favorite thing in the world. I try to go the healthier route with Fairlife (ultra-filtered) chocolate milk, but yeah, sugar is definitely an issue of mine that I may—or may not!—work on.”…

EVERY NOW AND AGAIN, A TRAINING AID proves so popular that it becomes a trend at the game’s highest levels. The Tour Striker Smart Ball, invented by GOLF Top 100 Teacher Martin Chuck, is the latest to reach those heights. Canvass the range at any PGA or LPGA Tour event and you’ll notice Chuck’s training aid all over the place, including in the hands of Justin Rose, who used it throughout the 2017-18 season (a year that saw him win the FedEx Cup), and 2016 PGA champ Jimmy Walker, who you can see working with the aid below. Practicing your swing with the Tour Striker Smart Ball ($42.99, tourstriker.com), is very intuitive: You place the lanyard around your neck and tighten it until the ball rests between your forearms. The…

9:56 a.m. Pulls driver, hits two drives. 9:59 a.m. Checks Trackman numbers, discusses with caddie. 10:01 a.m. Hits third drive. 10:02 a.m. Assistant hand-delivers package containing K-vest training aid. 10:04 a.m. Hits drives four through seven, full routine. 10:05 a.m. Begins practicing backswing takeaway drill. 10:06 a.m. Cracks joke about his swing to caddie. Hits drives eight through 12. 10:08 a.m. Hits two drives, stepping into the shots Happy Gilmore-style. 10:09 a.m. Checks Trackman numbers, hits four drives. 10:12 a.m. Hits two more drives. 10:13 a.m. Stops Happy Gilmore swings, resumes practicing takeaway drill. 10:14 a.m. Hits three drives, packs away Trackman, checks phone for text messages. 10:15 a.m. Two wedge shots to cool down. Leaves range. When: Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018  Where: The RSM Classic…

THANKS TO A RULES CHANGE by the USGA, golfers will now have three options when putting in 2019: Remove the pin completely, have someone tend the pin, or leave the pin in and unattended. If your putt hits the pin in the third scenario, there’s no penalty (formerly two strokes or loss of hole). It’s a major change in the name of speeding up play. While I certainly applaud that effort, I’m more excited about something else: I can’t wait to see the PGA Tour ShotLink data that will be generated by this rule change, because I think it will help golfers hole more putts. In a statement on its website, the USGA writes that there “should be no advantage in being able to putt with the unattended flagstick in…

PRELUDE: I love to hit a draw—it’s my number-one shot on Tour. I pull out the low version of it to keep the ball in the fairway when the wind picks up. It flies a hundred miles per hour and stays under the wind so the breeze can’t affect it. STEP 1: I choke up on the club and move the ball an inch or two back in my stance. I set a majority of my weight over my left leg and keep it there throughout my swing. STEP 2: As I take the club back, my main thought is to feel like my right palm is continuing to face the ground for as long as possible. I like that feeling as I motor through impact, too. I think: “Swing…