Innholdsfortegnelse for September - October 2023 i Golf Magazine

Awards & Accolades Dale Abraham (2017) PGA member Bighorn GC, Palm Desert, Calif. Cape Arundel GC, Kennebunkport, Maine YouTube: daleabrahamgolf NEW! Rob Akins (2001, 2024) PGA member The Madison Club, La Quinta, Calif. Tributary, Driggs, Idaho robakinsgolf.com “As I wrote in my book with T100 Alumni Charlie King, Golf's Red Zone Challenge, you probably spend a lot of time on the full swing without seeing any real results. Focus on your short game and learn to ‘score’ your performance in each area. That'll give you your true handicap.” Eric Alpenfels (2001) PGA Master Professional Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, N.C. pinehurst.com Cheryl Anderson (2013) PGA member, LPGA member Mike Bender Golf Academy at Magnolia Plantation GC, Lake Mary, Fla. IG: @cherylgolf Todd Anderson (2003) PGA member PGA Tour Performance Center at TPC…

Clubhouse YOUR BACKSWING IS MUCH MORE than getting the club to the top so you can swing it back down to the ball. It's your chance to “load” into your right side—the key to storing downswing speed. There are two parts to this: a shift element and a rotational factor. Here's how you can check and improve both. Slide an alignment stick through your front belt loops. Grab another stick and set it about a foot inside your right hip. With any club (no ball needed), start your backswing. As you do, focus on shifting your weight so you feel it move into your right hip as you start back. (That's the shift part of loading.) As you continue to the top, take pains to rotate your lower body. Here's…

WHEN IT COMES TO ICONIC American apparel, you'd be hard-pressed to find a brand that epitomizes red, white and blue with more flag-waving fulsomeness than Ralph Lauren, which in 2023 celebrates 55 years in business. The company launched its first tie collection in 1967 and quickly became one of the most esteemed fashion empires in the United States. It is an established purveyor of aspirational, sophisticated and quintessentially American apparel and lifestyle products, so there's really no more obvious candidate to provide Team U.S.A.'s uniforms for various international competitions, a role the company has embraced for nearly four decades. This year is no exception, as Ralph Lauren will again step up to the plate as the official outfitter for the American team and staff at the Ryder Cup in Rome…

THE 2023 RYDER CUP PREVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY LATE LAST YEAR, in the wake of the wildest season in pro-golf history, Brooks Koepka was in the body shop. Nagging damage to ligaments in his right knee—from a freak-accident kneecap dislocation—kept him from being able to load weight at the top of his swing. There was also a labral tear of his hip that would flare up on occasion, which nearly caused him to withdraw from the 2022 Masters. Rather than address these injuries in a definitive way, Koepka did as most jocks do: He built a swing around them, haphazardly pushing through the pain because, well, there were races to win. “If you've got a broken tire rod, it's not steering right,” says Marc Wahl, Koepka's physio, who loves…

THE 2023 RYDER CUP PREVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY SRIXON ZACH JOHNSON DOESN'T THINK we'll be friends. He didn't take the U.S. Ryder Cup captaincy at the height of the most divisive time in golf under the illusion that he'd catch an easy ride—from reporters, golf fans or anyone else. And to date, the captaincy has not been that. There were months of LIV/PGA Tour feuding, legal dramas threatening to impact tournament eligibility. And did we mention that bit about the PGA/PIF merger? Why would Johnson (or, for that matter, his Team Europe counterpart, captain Luke Donald) choose to enter this scrum? Because the 47-year-old, 12-time PGA Tour winner believes he has the DNA to deliver the first U.S. Ryder Cup win on European soil since the Clinton administration—DNA that…

THE 2023 RYDER CUP PREVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY BARRING PANDEMICS, geopolitical unrest and other epic disruptions, the Ryder Cup will be played in Ireland in 2027—and celebrate its 100th anniversary. You could argue it really started in 1921, when the editors of Golf Illustrated suggested to the PGA of America that the best U.S. pros play in the Open Championship at St. Andrews. The trip, per the proposal, would be paid for by public subscription. At a time when no U.S. player had ever won the Open, the idea resonated. Eleven American players (one opted out at the last minute) arrived a few weeks early and headed to Gleneagles, where, on the Monday before a proper tournament, a team of 10 British professionals took down Uncle Sam's best. Turned…

ASIA Ba Na Hills Da Nang, Vietnam Banyan Tree Phuket, Thailand The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram Strip Bá Ria-Vũng Tàu Province, Vietnam Chiangmai Highland Golf & Spa Resort Chiang Mai, Thailand FLC Halong Bay GC & Luxury Resort Ha Long, Vietnam Laguna Lăng CÔ Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam Mission Hills Resort Shenzhen, China Ria Bintan GC Bintan Island, Indonesia South Cape Owners Club Namhae Island, South Korea Vattanac Golf Resort Phnom Penh, Cambodia CONTINENTAL EUROPE Arabella Golf Mallorca Palma, Spain Carya GC Belek, Antalya, Turkey Costa Navarino Messinia, Greece Finca Cortesin Casares, Spain Golf du Médoc Bordeaux, France Lofoten Links Gimsøysand, Norway Monte Rei G&CC Tavira, Portugal Oitavos Dunes Lisbon, Portugal PGA National Sweden Bara, Sweden Praia D'EI Rey Golf & Beach Resort Obidos, Portugal Sotogrande Spa & Golf Resort…

When you find your ball on an uneven lie, your best friend is your setup. A quick primer… BALL ABOVE FEET Club: One more Grip: Choke down Stance: If you don't like to choke down, stand a little farther from the ball. Aim: More to the right, since the ball will start left. BALL BELOW FEET Club: One more Grip: Normal Stance: “Sit” a bit more, with your feet spread apart. Aim: More to the left, since the ball will start right. UPHILL LIE Club: One more Grip: Normal Stance: Set more weight on your back foot for balance and angle your shoulders and hips to match the slope you're standing on. Aim: Normal, with the ball played slightly back. DOWNHILL LIE Club: One less Grip: Normal Stance: Set more…

From the Editor major season is over. A good one. Most fans got their first glimpse of LACC. Quite a place. Our cover subject, Brooks Koepka (p. 50), made his way back from injury to bag his fifth big trophy. We saw two non-superstars grab the limelight—and their first majors—proving just how deep and talented the pro ranks really are and that, even with the wattage at the top of the OWGR, anyone can win. Tied to the majors came continued talk of LIV versus PGA, of policy boards and backroom deals and doubt about where the pro game is headed. The question, dear reader, is: How much do you really care? I've been writing about the game of golf since 1995. I've been playing it since, say, ‘82. (Yes,…

Clubhouse GOLF.COM / SMART GOLF STARTS HERE / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2023 ON THE RANGE AT ROYAL LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY OF OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK Sean Zak: When it comes to golf, you're a top-15 player in the world, but where would you rank your fishing skills? Wyndham Clark: Right now, I'm probably a 1 or 2 handicap. I haven't practiced, but if I'm on a seven-day fishing trip, by day six or seven I feel like I can get to a plus-1. I'd get to where I'm country-club good. I could never beat the pro, but I could go out on my own. SZ: Okay, we'll bring it back to golf. People see your sudden rise—topped by this year's U.S. Open win at LACC—and think, I didn't see Wyndham Clark coming. Did you see…

Short Game Chef Q: Hey, Chef! I tend to fold under pressure on chips. How can I get it done when it counts? —Tim D., Daly City, Calif. The culprit is usually your mind. So, how to get it in a good spot without having a few cocktails? To me, it's all about routine. It's your routine that gets you into a flow state. Picture, say, Steph Curry and Shaquille O'Neal shooting free throws. Steph's routine is on time, has movement and is free. Shaq's routine length changed from game to game. It also looked forced, frozen and staccato. Obviously Steph's technique is better, but—let's get deep—he allows the right side of his brain to become activated and engaged while simultaneously tuning out the left side with a repeatable routine.…

GEAR TRAVEL IS OFTEN STRESSFUL. When you're stressed, it's common for your muscles to tighten up, causing you discomfort. Meet your best new travel companion: the Hypersphere Go from Hyperice ($99; fairwayjockey.com). This small (3x3x3 inches and just one pound) TSA-approved massage ball easily stashes in your carry-on, backpack or purse and can be used to relieve pain in your muscles and joints wherever in the world you find yourself. It's made with a durable outer shell to deliver an intense, adjustable vibration with a textured rubber skin that allows you to control the unit with precision. It's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, making it an ideal playing partner, available to help counter any soreness you might feel before, during or after your round. Hypersphere…

BROOKS KOEPKA could have stayed the course and remained an equipment free agent. Four major-championship wins in a two-year span will keep anyone from making wholesale changes to their equipment setup. But even the best players in the world know when it's time to shake things up, Koepka included. Things changed for him in early 2021 after conducting offseason testing with Srixon's ZX7 irons. The feel, dispersion pattern and consistency were noticeably better-to the point that Koepka needed to know if the performance was for real. So he added a tournament to the schedule. “That's why he played the American Express,” said Cleveland/Srixon Tour rep Rob Waters. “He really liked the irons and wanted to put ‘em to the test.” Two weeks after breaking in the irons, Koepka found the…

Much analytic number crunching has yet to be done, and captains picks are TBD too. But, at press time, the leaders on points heading into the Cup are: Team U.S.A. 1. Scottie Scheffler 2. Wyndham Clark 3. Brian Harman 4. Brooks Koepka 5. Xander Schauffele 6. Patrick Cantlay On the bubble: Max Homa, Cameron Young, Jordan Spieth, Keegan Bradley Team Europe 1. Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) 2. Jon Rahm (Spain) 3. Robert MacIntyre (Scotland) 4. Viktor Hovland (Norway) 5. Tyrrell Hatton (England) 6. Tommy Fleetwood (England) On the bubble: Yannik Paul (Germany), Adrian Meronk (Poland), Matt Fitzpatrick (England), Sepp Straka (Austria)…

THE GOLF MAGAZINE INTERVIEW SEPT.–OCT. 2023 Just minutes after the golf world changed, Brooks Koepka took to Twitter. “Welfare check on Chamblee,” he wrote. It was the morning of June 6, and a bombshell announcement had just come out: The PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund—sole backer of rival league LIV Golf—had reached an agreement. It was telling that Koepka's mind—and mock concern—went straight to Brandel Chamblee. The fact that it immediately became one of Koepka's biggest tweets ever suggested that the impressively verbose Golf Channel personality was on other golf fans’ minds too. How did a 61-year-old journeyman-pro-turnedrigorously intelligent TV talking head garner this level of attention? Golf analysis on the tube famously trends toward bland, chummy and inoffensive. In the sunset of their careers, plenty of…

THINK / PLAY / LIVE: THE ENLIGHTENED GAME Lessons SKULLS, THINS, FATS: the worst way to describe any chip. You can eliminate all by keeping a simple thought in mind. Start with the butt of the club pointing at your belly and keep it pointing there throughout your motion. It doesn't matter what type of chip you're trying to hit or if you use a lot of wrist hinge for extra loft or hardly any at all for more run. Sync your arm swing and your body turn so that the butt always points at your center. It's a great tip for golfers who hang back and try to lift the ball into the air or those who think they need a ton of shaft lean at impact. These are simple…

G: Who introduced you to golf, and when did you start playing? SR: I started playing in 1969. Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown, is my best friend. His brother Robert introduced every one of us at Motown to the game—Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops. Yeah, we got into it. G: Where do you play most of your golf now? SR: Wherever they got some holes and flags, baby. I go to the country clubs. I go to the public links. We just go play, because golf is golf. People say, “Well, suchandsuch course is easy.” I want to see the easy golf course. I've never played that one. [Laughs.] G: Who's in your regular foursome? SR: I play with friends I've known forever. There are a few celebrity guys I play with…

Over the past five-plus years, P790s have helped define the fastest-growing category in the iron space: player's distance. These irons can fit both golfers who've graduated from game improvement and single digits seeking more distance in a smaller profile. It's safe to say the latest iteration of TaylorMade's P790 ($1,399; steel) is geared for both player types—and then some. “Everything that's made P790 great to this point remains,” says Matt Bovee, TaylorMade senior engineer. “The new technology we're placing inside is additive.” With an A.I.-designed mass optimization system leading the way, engineers were able to strategically place upwards of 38 grams of tungsten in the toe section, moving mass progressively higher throughout the set for improved control leading into the scoring clubs. A thick-thin back wall and sound stabilizing bar,…

21 Scottie Scheffler's Official World Golf Ranking when he was the final captain's pick on the 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup team. He went 2-0-1 at Whistling Straits and then won his first four PGA Tour titles in 2022. 68.5 Combined points won in 117 matches by Ian Poulter (left), Sergio García and Lee Westwood. Poulter has gone 6-0-1 in singles play. Home Cooking Since 1995, the host team has a 38-point advantage. 30 YEARS SINCE THE UNITED STATES’ LAST VICTORY ON FOREIGN SOIL (1993, THE BELFRY, ENGLAND)…

GEAR GOLF.COM / THE BEST STUFF IN THE GAME TODAY'S MAJOR SHOE manufacturers continue pushing the envelope of technology and fashion to create footwear with ultimate functionality and fierce style. It's time to trade in those trusty, dusty kicks for a new pair (or two?) of the latest and greatest in modern golf shoes. Lucky for you, we've made it easy. The four brands on the following pages will be familiar to you by name, but their newly released models offer a refreshing blend of bold design with full-round comfort and the swing-stabilizing practicality you require to play your best golf. Strap on a pair and see for yourself. SKECHERS GO GOLF BLADE GF SLIP-INS $165; skechers.com. No need to lace ‘em up in the locker room. Simply step right…

THE 2023 RYDER CUP PREVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY 1. Bear Market Which of these Jack Nicklaus-designed courses has hosted the Ryder Cup? a. Castle Pines Golf Club b. Muirfield Village Golf Club c. PGA West d. Valhalla Golf Club Which of these Jack Nicklaus-designed courses has hosted the Solheim Cup? a. Castle Pines Golf Club b. Muirfield Village Golf Club c. PGA West d. Valhalla Golf Club 2. The Crying Game Who famously cried on the beach after blowing a 4-up lead with four to play in Sunday singles at the 1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island? a. Hale Irwin b. Mark Calcavecchia c. Darren Clarke d. José María Olazábal Who famously cried after being forced to replay her holed chip shot, having been adjudged to playing out of order at the 2000 Solheim Cup at Loch Lomond,…

THE 2023 RYDER CUP PREVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF: Finca Cortesin — having seen the course and the resort, what's your impression of it? Stacy Lewis: Finca is beautiful. The resort is awesome. Five stars. So it's gonna be great for players to stay on-site. The golf course itself is a little quirky. It's got some funny holes, and you're on the side of a mountain, so it's hilly. It's gonna be a tough walk for the players. But it's in absolutely perfect condition. I think it's gonna be a great match-play course. It's got a drivable first hole, and the scene there is gonna be awesome. The only downside to it is how tight the course is for fans. To me, it's a little bit silly to have the…

But it was sorely lacking in amenities. No swimming pools. No spas. No comfort stations. Fifteenth-century Scottish shepherds did not exfoliate or sit for mutton sliders at the turn. Some 400 years later, though, when golf migrated to the United States, it fell sway to market forces. For certain wellheeled travelers, stand-alone courses no longer sufficed. Conveyed by train or horse-drawn buggy, these golfers sought the game in luxe destinations. They played and stayed, enjoying their rounds and then indulging in the trappings. They perspired in saunas, soaked in sulfur hot springs, slept in beds with silken sheets. To accommodate their interests, a new creature emerged in the sporting ecosystem, from the mountains of Virginia to the Carolina Sandhills and the sun-kissed shores of West Palm Beach. The golf club…

LESSONS: SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2023 MY QUEST FOR EXTRA YARDS off the tee the past few years goes pretty deep. I don't really expect recreational golfers to do what I've done and go down rabbit holes on the power biomechanics behind the swing to the extent that I have. But, in my research, I discovered a few key movements that the weekender can work on to reach their distance potential. One of the best pieces of advice I could give is: Swing it like you mean it! By that I mean come at the ball with intent. It's more than swinging hard (see below). What you want to do is create as much force as possible on the handle that you can then transfer to the ball. You can see in the…