Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Golf Magazine

Ai-One Putters $300 ($450 Milled; $350 Cruiser) Your favorite Odyssey models with a one-of-a-kind A.I.-engineered face insert (back shown) design with an abundance of mishit protection What would you give to leave all of your missed putts within three feet of the hole? Like most weekend golfers, you rarely consider the “leave” distance— how far you have left on a second putt— when you step over the ball. Pros, on the other hand, are constantly thinking about the best place to leave the ball if and when it doesn’t drop. As Jon Rahm noticed during a meeting with Odyssey brass last year, his make probability decreased the farther he was outside three feet. Even if you aren’t putting for millions of dollars, each missed putt could be the difference between…

Clubhouse AFTER MONTHS OF COLD, snow, frost and other messiness, your yard has likely seen better days. But don't sweat it—you can whip it back into shape in no time. Here are four of our favorite superintendent-sanctioned turf recovery techniques. 1. Punch things up As courses start to stir from hibernation, superintendents help revive things with a light springtime punch to aerate the For many more Super Secrets and Stuff Golfers Should Know visit GOLF.com/lifestyle. greens. Opening passageways lets air and moisture move more freely through the root zone— exactly what their (and your) still-groggy grass needs. 2. Get the weeds out Different weeds proliferate in different regions. Chickweed, dandelion, dead nettle, clover—get rid of them. A light application of the proper her-bicide should do the trick. 3. Rake it over…

Clubhouse Scan the code for more DIY goodness with GOLF equipment writer Ryan Barath. WEDGE STAMPING has become more popular than Taylor Swift these days—at least in the golf world. From major winners to players like you and me, using the empty space on the back side of most wedge designs is an opportunity to show who you are and what's important to you. Here's how you can stamp your own with a quick visit to your local hobby shop. 1. Secure the wedge with two-sided tape to a stable base that won't bounce when you strike it. This will prevent the punch from moving when you hit it. 2. Use a piece of masking tape to mark out your design. That way you don't run out of space. 3.…

From the Editor With enough hours and the right jog of my memory banks, I can dig up a scorecard from my youth where I scored a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, in succession, on the back nine of L.A.’s Rancho Park GC. With even fewer hours—and a lot more embellishment— I can share the story of a buddy stuck in a greenside bunker, ball lodged in the grassy lip, holing the shot in front of two dozen onlookers. Well, kinda. The clod of dirt he extricated fell in the hole. The ball? Never saw it again. (We allowed the birdie.) A few years later, at a 1996 Masters watch party, I saw Greg Norman lose a big lead on Sunday and toss off his…

Christo Lamprecht At 6' 8”, the South African amateur could play power forward for the Hawks. He'd prefer a slam dunk this month in Augusta, at his first Masters. ZOOMING FROM THE TEAM ROOM AT GEORGIA TECH, WHERE THE 23-YEAR-OLD IS A COLLEGE SENIOR Dylan Dethier: Growing up in South Africa, who were your golfing heroes? Christo Lamprecht: Ernie Els. I've gotten to know him personally a little, and I've looked up to him a lot. Gary Player is obviously our golf legend, our god-father, like Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer in America. And Louis [Oosthuizen] has always been a great mentor to me too. So those are probably my top three South African golfers. DD: How about golf swing inspiration? Is there anybody you tried to copy? CL: The…

Here are a handful of essentials every golf home should have. Golf locker Your stuff— shoes, balls, clubs, gadgets— can add up. Keep your gear well organized. Backup putter If your trusty gamer goes cold, you'll need an understudy waiting in the wings. Putting aid Rolling a few putts on the regular does wonders for your game—and consistent practice makes a big difference. Just ask DJ (left). Outdoor chipping net Get one with a few different targets on the face so you can practice various chip shots utilizing different trajectories.…

Clubhouse THE BEST GOLFERS CAN HIT A CLUNKY PITCH from the fairway yet still produce a good trajectory, lots of spin and great distance control. How can that be? It's because skilled short-game players understand how to use the bounce of the club to mitigate even an obvious dropkick. Around the greens, bounce is a savvy player's insurance policy. The trick to taking advantage of it is to avoid coming into the ball too steep. It's been proven that if you trace a wider swing arc, your probability of success on a pitch shot goes up. Picture the bounce on your wedges as the bottom of a surfboard: If you come in at the correct angle, it helps the club skim across the turf. As it skims, it allows you…

Clubhouse WANT TO GET BETTER from greenside bunkers? Give yourself a challenge. Grab an 8-iron and go to work. With the limited loft of this club (compared to a sand wedge), you'll need to do things that create extra loft, regardless of the club you're using. This was a lesson I saw demonstrated to perfection by Gary Player—in my opinion, one of the best sand players of all time—in a lesson he gave to three-time major winner Vijay Singh. The secret: Open the clubface and hold it open all the way through impact—like you're hitting a slice on purpose. With my students, I ask them to rotate their forearms to the point where, at the top, the clubface points more toward the sky than the ground (1). The trick, then,…

MASTERS PREVIEW 2024 JON RAHM KNOWS WHAT HE SAID. These last few months, he's been reminded of it often. There was what he said in February 2022, when LIV Golf was nearing formation—and Rahm went out of his way to declare his fealty to the PGA Tour: “There has been a lot of talk and speculation about the Saudi league,” he said then. “It's just not something I believe is the best for me and my future in golf, and I think the best legacy I can accomplish will be with the PGA Tour.” Or in June 2022 at the U.S. Open, with some stars already out the door, when he shrugged offa massive potential payday: “Money is great, but when [he and his wife] started talking about it, we…

‘All that intensity and focus—that's what I felt I needed to compete.’ Sir Nick Faldo wasn't born of aristocratic blood. The knighted World Golf Hall of Famer was raised in public housing north of London, the only child of an accountant and a dressmaker whose acquisition of a color TV counted as a luxury purchase— one that altered the course of their son's life. It was on that vivid screen that a then-13-year-old Faldo watched Jack Nicklaus compete in the 1971 Masters, against a dazzling backdrop of dogwoods and azaleas. It was his first glimpse of golf and the last time he wondered what he wanted for his future. “I always figured I would work an outdoor job,” Faldo says, “but I thought it would be something like landscaping or…

LESSONS: APRIL 2024 THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO SLICE, but most boil down to a weak grip, poor release and/or an open clubface at impact. The culprit: pulling hard with your lead arm and elbow to the point where it stays straight for too long instead of folding, creating a chicken-wing look (above, near right). In this position, the face can't do anything but remain open. Here's a fix that works in practice and on the course. Take your normal setup and grip, then slide your bottom hand down the handle, almost to the end (above left). Start making swings (don't use a ball just yet) back and forth, building up to full speed. With your hands split, you'll find it easier to get your lead elbow to fold as…

LESSONS: APRIL 2024 Attention, class: Tempo and speed are different. Tempo is you. On short putts (and short strokes), your putter moves slower but still at your tempo. The same is true on longer putts and longer strokes (where the putter moves at a faster speed). What's your tempo? Make 10 strokes back and through, picturing various putt distances. Count out “one, two” on each stroke. You'll find that, while the pace of your stroke may change, the “one, two” remains the same. Try this To really get this right you're going to putt three balls. For the first, set two tees between your putter and the ball at address. Of course, the tees will stop your putter from moving past impact. This should prove that your finish has nothing…

Spotlight Like ’em? Buy ’em! Scan the code to get your mitts on the new PING s159 wedges at FairwayJockey.com. The s159s ($197 steel) are PING's most expansive line of wedges ever, with 25 different loft and grind combinations to help you get the most from your short-game tools. They have a straighter leading edge to fit modern player preferences, while behind the face sits a soft elastomer insert for a softer feel. Also new: PING's new WebFit Wedge app to guide you through the selection process. It's as simple as answering a series of questions about your wedge game, then taking the app's advice to to a PING fitter. The process takes minutes and also provides gapping info to help you configure the rest of your set. —Ryan Barath…

23 Consecutive cuts made by Tiger Woods, a masters record shared with Fred Couples and Gary Player. His only career missed cut came in 1996, his second start and last as an amateur. Doubling Up Tiger Woods banked $486K for his 1997 Masters win, while Jon Rahm took home $3.24 million last year. The most exponential period of Masters purse growth was in the 1980s and ’90s, when the winner's share doubled about every five years. 52 19 TOP 10 MASTERS FINISHES FOR BERNHARD LANGER (INCLUDING TWO WINS). THIS YEAR, AN ACHILLES INJURY WILL KEEP HIM OUT OF THE FIELD FOR JUST THE SECOND TIME IN 40 YEARS .…

MASTERS WEEK at Augusta National Golf Club has a distinctly floral motif—just take a look at the names of each hole: Magnolia (No. 5), Yellow Jasmine (No. 8), Camellia (No. 10) and, of course, the famous Azalea (No. 13). And the flower vibes extend off the course, too, in the form of eponymous cocktails. The popular Azalea—a refreshing blend of vodka, pineapple juice, lemon and grenadine—has been the longtime unofficial libation of the Masters. But cocktail connoisseurs looking for an even more refined refreshment will be pleased with these fresh and vibrant floral-inspired options, courtesy of Shaun Lewis, a classically trained chef, cocktail master and general manager at Old Westbury Golf & Country Club on Long Island. Step one for any great cocktail: premium ingredients. Lewis recommends you spring for…

GEAR THE BEST STUFF IN THE GAME 1. Cleveland RTX Full-Face 2 Wedges $180 With grooves that cover the entire face, the RTX Full-Face 2 offers extreme versatility on any shot, especially when you have to open the face. Add in the HydraZip blasting process and Zip-Core construction and you have a max performance short-game tool. clevelandgolf.com 2. Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond $599 With the help of a face designed by artificial intelligence, the Ai Smoke Triple Diamond delivers a tremendous amount of ball speed and forgiveness in a driver that's also engineered to produce less spin for faster swingers. callawaygolf.com 3. Cobra Darkspeed X Fairway Woods $330 This fairway wood offers the ideal blend of forgiveness and speed, thanks to the rear-positioned back weight that helps to…

Take a look at the last decade's winners of the Masters, and the list reads like a murderer's row of some of the game's longest players: Scottie Scheffler. Dustin Johnson. Tiger Woods. Jon Rahm. Bubba. All bombers. Yet, occasionally, a mid-length player manages to crack the champion's lineup at Augusta. Zach Johnson, with an average length of 280 off the tee when he won the event in 2007, was the last short hitter, by pro standards, to claim a green jacket. But there have been plenty of them in the tournament's history: Larry Mize in 1987. Mark O'Meara in 1998. Mike Weir in 2003. Nick Faldo, three times. Ben Crenshaw and Bernhard Langer twice. All players of average or even below-average length off the tee. And despite the yardage-dampening effects…

Emilia Migliaccio photographed by Rusty Williams at Skybrook Golf Club in Huntersville, North Carolina, on February 16, 2024. The United States Women's Open made history last summer at Pebble Beach as the national championship was played at golf's greatest meeting of land and sea for the first time ever. It was a watershed moment in the women's game, as the best female players in the world finally got a shot at one of golf's grandest venues. That week, Emilia Migliaccio made a little history too. She played in the championship (for the third time in her career) and worked as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel. Post-round broadcast appearances by players are commonplace. Post-round broadcast duties are not. “Everything was so crazy,” Migliaccio says by phone from her home in…

SIMPLE SHOTMAKING CRUSH IT FROM A SIDE SLOPE THE SITUATION: The ball is below your feet. Looks tricky, but with a few setup and swing adjustments you can get this one on the green easily. First, take one more club, aim left of your target, position the ball up in your stance and flex your knees so you can reach the ball without hunching over (1). Second, commit to the fact that this ball wants to fade. Let it—that's why you've aimed left. When you swing, the trick is not getting stuck and striking the ground behind the ball. Go for an outside-in attack. I like to picture my club swinging back up the hill on my follow-through (2). Keep things smooth and your lower body quiet. Mission accomplished. Brady…

Your irons go left. Then right. And sometimes straight. What you have is a lack of clubface control, most likely caused by early extension, which is just a fancy way of saying that you rise up as you swing into impact. Consistent iron strikers tend to stay down, rotating within the posture they establish at address for most of the downswing. It's a critical move to learn. Your cell phone can help. Place it in your front left pocket and make your usual backswing (below left). Your goal, once you reach the top, is to push the phone deeper into your pocket. If you extend early or lift up, the phone stays put (middle). Instead, focus on maintaining your forward bend toward the ball as you start down, even squatting…

G: You're known for hitting a baseball a long way. What club would you use to hit a golf ball out of Busch Stadium, where you played for the Cardinals for years? AP: From home plate, I can probably hit a 4-iron out of Busch Stadium. G: You think? Out to the street? AP: Yeah, for sure. I hit my 4-iron probably 215 or 225 yards. What is it— 130 yards to center field? So, you add another 100 yards to that… G: Well, there you go! What's your favorite thing about golf? AP: For me, definitely, 100 percent, it's having the opportunity to play with my son AJ [a former collegiate golfer at Vanguard University]. He definitely can beat me. He hits the ball a long way. He loves…