Today 39 S Golfer UK - January 2022

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THE FUTURE OF GOLF By phone... 01733 468000

By email... editorial@todaysgolfer.co.uk
IS IN GOOD HANDS EDITORIAL
Editor Chris Jones
Deputy/Production Editor Nick Harper
01733 468523
01733 468382
Courses Editor Kevin Brown 01733 468299
I’m writing this the Golf Participation Report, the number of Equipment Editor Simon Daddow 01733 468469
morning after the total golfers globally has increased from 61 Features Editor Michael Catling 01733 468685
PNC Championship million to 66.6 million in a five-year Top 100 Courses Editor Chris Bertram 01733 468000
Group Art Director Hakan Simsek 01733 468240
in Florida. It’s too growth period, surpassing the previous Digital Editor Rob Jerram 01733 468631
early to get any high mark of 61.6 million set in 2012. Art Editor Craig Iredale 01733 468466
official numbers, but Phil Anderton, Chief Development Art Editor Philippa Swanborough 01733 468466
I imagine the event Officer at The R&A said: “The new figures Senior Digital Marketing Executive Sarah Pyett 01733 468571
had more eyeballs on are very encouraging, but we need to work Editorial Assistant Stephanie Etchells 01733 468243
it than several of together as a sport to make the most of this
CONTRIBUTORS
last year’s Majors. opportunity by retaining those people who
John Robins, Andy Proudman, Piers Ward, Josh Berhow, Paula Heelan,
Of course, it was the return of Tiger have returned to golf or tried it for the first John Huggan, Brian Wacker, James Cheadle, Chris Ryan, Adrian Fryer,
Woods, who defied expectations with a time. We can achieve this by offering a Simon Payne, Gilbert Hepburn, Deana Rushworth, Andrew Murray,
runner-up finish (27-under!) just a year variety of attractive and flexible options Neil Wain, Karl Morris, Natalie Lowe, Gary Casey, Tony Dear, Meghan
after his horrendous car crash. But the real that encourage golfers to play regularly MacLaren, Duncan Lennard, Howard Boylan, Bob Atkins, Angus Murray,
star of the show was Tiger’s 12-year-old and enjoy its many health and wellbeing Lionel Morris. All images by Getty Images unless stated.
son, Charlie; a mini-me version of his dad, benefits with family and friends.”
ADVERTISING
who is surely destined to turn pro one day. Along with stars such as Charlie Woods
Commercial Director Donna Harris 01733 395028
The whole event was a great advert for the and Leona Maguire (see p38) set to take us Key Account Director Jack Raynor 01733 366328
game; fathers, sons and daughters, all into the future, and inspiring even more Sales Account Manager Ben Peck 01733 363206
playing together; 82-year-old Lee Trevino youngsters to get off their Xboxes and on to Travel Director Ken Gill 07810 377146
playing the same holes as 11-year-old Karl a golf course, the game’s future looks rosy. Telesales Executive Lisa Ladds 01733 465759
Stenson… and all of them having a blast. Inserts contact Howard Foster 0161 877 7455
That age-defying ability to enjoy a round
MARKETING
is one of the reasons golf is booming right
Direct Marketing Manager Julie Spires 01733 468164
now, with over five-and-a-half million new Marketing Manager Susan Rogers susan.rogers@bauermedia.co.uk
golfers taking up the game since 2016. Head of Newstrade Marketing Leon Benoiton leon.benoiton@flgroup.co.uk
According to the R&A’s 2021 European Chris Jones, Editor Newstrade Marketing Manager Karen Caruso karen.caruso@flgroup.co.uk
PRODUCTION
Advertising Production 01733 468878
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H BAUER PUBLISHING
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Sport Managing Director Steve Prentice
CEO, Bauer Publishing UK Chris Duncan
President, Bauer Global Publishing Rob Munro-Hall
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4 ISSUE X X X TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK
CONTENTS MARCH 2022
111
AMERICA’S 100
GREATEST COURSES
Ranked, reviewed, rated
FEATURES PLAY BETTER SUBSCRIBE EQUIPMENT

TODAY!
08 Front Nine 71 Thumbs Up AND GET 92 TaylorMade Stealth Drivers
Golf’s month ahead, brought to Eradicate the tight grip that The next generation of driver faces
you in lovely bite-size chunks. destroys your chipping feel. EVERY COPY is here – with every golfer in mind.
25 Nail Your Swing Basics 72 Caddie On Your Shoulder OF TG DIRECT 94 Callaway Rogue ST Drivers
A swing masterclass in the The card-wrecking short bunker TO YOUR ‘Speed Tuned’ for greater distance
company of Me And My Golf. shot to a tight pin made easy. DOOR FOR and stability. You’d have to say yes.
38 Leona Maguire 74 Break 100/90/80 JUST £4.30 100 Callaway Chrome Soft 2022
An exclusive interview with Ireland’s Elevate your putting game – a AN ISSUE! Our top-performing ‘club golfer’ ball
fast-rising, Solheim Cup superstar. masterclass for every level of golfer. TURN TO gets a new core and cover for 2022.
44 Weird Courses 78 DIY Diagnosis PAGE 24 102 Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K Putters
Birdies in the bush, the Beatles Why an upwardly mobile attack Blades aren’t forgiving, but the Tri-
behind the bar? It’s golf gone crazy. angle can add yards to your drives. Hot may be about to change that.
54 Caddies Anonymous 80 Learn A New Shot 104 Honma Beres Drivers & Irons
With anonymity guaranteed, the Faced with a restricted backswing Japanese craftsmanship delivered
bagmen lift the lid on the game. shot – here’s how to make it count. in different levels of personalisation.
66 Undercover 85 Short Game 108 Showcase
TG’s fourball takes on The Grove. Three words for greenside success. Mid-layers to keep the cold at bay.
6 ISSUE 422 TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK

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www.scottsdalegolf.co.uk Warrington, Cheshire
10
ON OUR RADAR
Your guide to the 2022 season,
plus we reveal how you can
attend two Majors in Scotland.
12
LOCKER ROOM CHAT
Viktor Hovland on exceeding
expectations, Ryder Cup pain,
and watching Tiger on YouTube.
16
NUTS ABOUT GOLF
Meet the 21-year-old who played
90 courses in 90 days – and cut
his handicap by 12 shots!
18 Rising star
Jose’s design portfolio
FAIRWAY TO HEAVEN includes 21 courses open
for play, stretching from
We profile the new-look
Dundonald Links and reveal the Spain and Italy as far
new craze sweeping golf courses. afield as China and Qatar.
8 IS SUE 422 TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK

STRIKING GOLD
INTwo newGREECE
courses add to Costa
Navarino’s world-class offering
Ancient Greece hasn’t exactly
been a golfing hotbed down the
years, but that’s about to change.
Next month there will nearly be a
handful of top-notch courses to pick
from and play… all at a single venue.
That venue is Costa Navarino, where
Jose Maria Olazabal’s two new layouts
– the world’s first International
Olympic Academy Course and
neighbouring Hills Course – will open
in February, complementing the
existing (Robert Trent Jones Jr) Bay
and (Bernhard Langer) Dunes courses.
The Olympic is the longer, tighter and
tougher of the two courses, the Hills
a little more forgiving off the tee.
Overlooking the Bay of Navarino
and Ionian Sea, Costa Navarino
currently sits 11th in our latest
European Top 100 Resorts listing, but
the addition of two new world-class
courses could well see it rise still
further next time round.
www.costanavarino.com
TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK ISSUE 422 9

F R ON T NINE
JANUARY MAY
ON OUR RADAR 20-23 | Abu Dhabi HSBC 5-8 | British Masters |
BUILD YOUR
Championship | Yas Links, The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield
Abu Dhabi, UAE 19-22 | US PGA Championship |
27-30 | Dubai Desert Classic | Southern Hills, Oklahoma, USA
Emirates, Dubai, UAE
YEAR PLANNER!
JUNE
MARCH 2-5 | US Women’s Open |
10-13 | Players Championship | Pine Needles, North Carolina, USA
TPC Sawgrass, Florida, USA 16-19 | US Open | The Country Club
All the key dates for 2022 , including 23-27 | WGC Match Play |
Austin CC, Texas, USA
(Brookline), Massachusetts, USA
23-26 | Women’s PGA Champs |
the biggest events taking place in the UK 31-APR 03 | Chevron
Championship | Mission Hills,
Congressional (Blue), Maryland, USA
30 - JUL 3 | Irish Open |
California, USA Mount Juliet Estate, Kilkenny
APRIL JULY
7-10 | The Masters | 7-10 | Genesis Scottish Open |
Augusta National, Georgia, USA The Renaissance Club, North Berwick
Muirfield, Gullane
WARM YOUR HEART BY THE TELEVISION BOOK YOUR GOLF GETAWAY

Now is the time to make up for all the live golf
While we’re still waiting to as a player and captain in the you missed because of the pandemic. Tickets
hear how – and where – we Solheim Cup, which saw her are now on sale to attend some of the UK’s
can watch the PGA Tour next guide Team Europe to biggest events this summer, including two
season (Sky’s contract was back-to-back wins for only Major Championships. To help save some
due to run out on December the second time in history. As pennies, you can now snap up a Scottish
31, 2021), we can at least enjoy far as feel-good stories go, Summer Golf Pass to attend three tournaments
a couple of golf documenta- there aren’t many for just £85 per person. There are only a limited
ries which celebrate two better than number available, but the price includes tickets
of the biggest success stories these two. for one Championship day of your choice at
in 2021. The first of two Portrait of a each of the Scottish Open, the Senior Open and
30-minute shows profiles Captain: the Women’s Open, with a saving of up to £20.
Richard Bland’s long-awaited Catriona and For an even cheaper day out, The Belfry returns
first DP World Tour victory Richard as host of the British Masters, from May
at the British Masters and the Bland: 478 are 5-8, and you can now pick up an adult
mental struggles he faced in now showing day ticket for just £25, which also
reaching the winner’s circle. on Sky includes free entry for
The second centres on Sports On under 16s. Oh, to be
Catriona Matthew’s success Demand. young again!
www.et.golf/scottish
summergolfpass

14-17 | The 150th Open |
St Andrews (Old), Fife
21-24 | Cazoo Classic | TBC
21-24 | Evian Championship |
Evian Resort, Evian-les-Bains, France
21-24 | Senior Open |
Gleneagles (King’s), Perthshire
28-31 | Hero Open |
Fairmont St Andrews, Fife
11-14 | FedEx St. Jude Champs |
TPC Southwind, Tennessee, USA
18-21 | BMW Championship |
Wilmington CC, Delaware, USA
25-28 | Tour Championship |
East Lake, Georgia, USA
SEPTEMBER
8-11 | BMW PGA Championship |
NEXT
28-31 | Women’s Scottish Open | Wentworth, Surrey
Dundonald, Ayrshire 22-25 | Presidents Cup |
Quail Hollow, North Carolina, USA
AUGUST 29-OCT 2 | Dunhill Links
4-7 | Cazoo Open | Championship | St Andrews (Old),
Celtic Manor, Newport Carnoustie & Kingsbarns
4-7 | Women’s Open |
Muirfield, Gullane NOVEMBER
11-14 | World Invitational | 17-20 | DP World Tour Champs |
Galgorm & Massereene, Antrim Jumeirah (Earth), Dubai, UAE
THE 2022
DRIVERS TEST
PUTTSHACK WATFORD Looking for a new big stick?
If you love crazy golf but don’t
fancy a trip to the seaside right
leaderboards and interactive
games like trivia quizzes and
We’ll reveal the longest,
now, Puttshack is the place to go
for some family fun or a night out.
beer pong on every hole. We’d
recommend leaving the prize
the straightest and the
They’ve just opened a fourth UK wheel hole until the end, where most forgiving
venue, less than three miles from you can win a free game or money
The Grove, which houses four off at the restaurant and cocktail
+ + +
nine-hole courses, each with a dif- bar, which serves 127 different
ferent theme. It’s basically Topgolf types of rum. We’ll drink to that!
for putting with a point-scoring Prices start from £9 per game.
system, plus trackable golf balls, www.puttshack.com POWER TOP 100 NICK PRICE
SECRETS COURSES ON HIS
FROM THE IN THE LIFE IN THE
TOUR MIDDLE EAST GAME

F R ON T NINE
good indicator of what I’m doing.

You can play great and not win
tournaments, so I think, for me,
it’s just I need to keep doing what I
am doing, because I’ve been playing
really, really well, but I need to just
get a little sharper on and around the
greens, which I feel like I’m already
showing promise there. I feel like if
I just keep working on what I’m
doing over the course of a year, if we
could just get a little bit better there,
that’s going to be huge.
In terms of where you want to

be in your career and wins (5),
are you ahead of schedule?
Yes, I would say so. You know, it’s
still crazy to think that I’m playing
on the PGA Tour, thinking back to
where I grew up and playing golf in
Norway. You’re playing golf for six
months and it’s pretty far-fetched to
even play golf professionally. So for
me to be winning tournaments is still
pretty unreal.
We’re a few months on from your

LOCKER ROOM CHAT Ryder Cup debut now. How do you
look back on that experience?
‘BEING OUT HERE ON TOUR STILL

Well, first of all, just some great
memories, just being around my
teammates. Growing up I basically
watched half of that team and all the
FEELS UNREAL – LIKE A DREAM’

vice captains and Padraig as the
captain, play in the Ryder Cup and,
I mean, just being on that team I was
surrounded by legends of European
golf the last 20, 25 years. So that was
Viktor Hovland on Tiger, targets and being over that Ryder Cup just incredible. But as far as my golf
game, I was able to hit some really
nice shots under the biggest pressure
I’ve ever had and I take a lot of
Above Hovland’s Congratulations on your his brain when I was 13 or 14 and that comfort knowing that I can perform
Hero victory was Hero World Challenge win. had a big impact on me as well. at that level.
his fifth title It wasn’t an official PGA
since turning pro Tour win but did it feel like one, Did Christmas come at a bad time Did it take a long time to get over
in 2019...
given the strength of the field? for you, given you’d clearly found it, the loss?
Below ... It Hell, yeah! There were only 20 some good form? It passed pretty quickly because
followed on from players in the field but the strength No, I needed a little break. I went obviously it wasn’t that close. If it had
defending the World was great and I feel like my wins (see back to Norway and spent Christmas come down to one putt that I missed
Wide Technology box) have come when the fields there, just relaxing. It was too cold to on the last hole or something like that,
Championship a
month earlier. haven’t been as strong, so for me to play any golf, so I just got some R&R. that would have been tough to get
do well in a field like that gives me a over, but we got beat by the better
lot of confidence. What are your targets for 2022 team and that’s how it goes some-
– have you set anything specific? times. It sucked, but I try to learn from
Winning Tiger’s event I don’t like to set specific results, kind of everything that happens and
was clearly a big thing. goals, I think the stats are a really try to turn it into something positive.
How big an inspiration was
he to you growing up?
THE HOT WEATHER HERO

Yeah, I remember sitting
in the classroom at
school in Norway just
watching highlights of Of his five professional Mayakoba, and the Hero pattern Hovland himself
Tiger on YouTube. He victories to date, Hovland World Challenge in the struggles to explain.
has won four times in Bahamas. His only win “There’s not too many
definitely inspired me locations where people go outside of a tropical similarities to Norway, so
and helped me in that on holiday: the Puerto Rico climate came at last year’s I don’t really get it myself.
way, but I also took a lot Open, the Mayakoba Golf BMW International Open Usually there’s trouble off
of inspiration from Henrik Classic (Cancun), the in Munich. For a man who the tee (in those events)
Bjornstad, who was World Wide Technology grew up with the colder and you’ve got to hit it
Norway’s first player on Championship at climate of Oslo, it’s a straight, I think that helps.”
the PGA Tour. I got to pick

F R ON T NINE
AROUND THE CLUBS
Aussie rules!
Think playing 72 holes in 24 hours is tough? Try averaging
THE RULES
YOUR
16 rounds a day for a week. That’s exactly what Mick
McLoughlin managed to do to set a new world record for
the greatest number of golf holes played in seven days
(cart assisted). The Irish-born 58-year-old hit close to
11,000 shots and spent an average of 17 to 18 hours each
QUESTIONS
day at Wynnum Golf Club in Australia before breaking
the record by a single putt with five-and-a-half hours to
spare. McLoughlin’s efforts helped raise more than
$278,000 for a children’s charity in Queensland.
ANSWERED!
Still struggling to get to grips with the World
Handicap System? The R&A are here to help...
Why is there a 95 percent Can I submit a score using a
handicap allowance in fairway mat?
individual strokeplay? You may submit scores for
In individual strokeplay formats, handicap purposes when using
it is important that when a player fairway mats as long as the mat
£2.50 for a fourball! performs well, they place well on
the leaderboard – regardless of
is placed as near as possible to
where the ball lies. The ball may
A new performance centre has opened in Cannock, their Handicap Index. This is what be cleaned when lifted.
Staffs, which is claiming to boast the largest indoor we mean by equity – and it is the If mats are compulsory on
putting green in the UK. Midlands Indoor Golf have 95 percent handicap allowance all parts of the course (including
filled the facility with a 35ft moveable practice green, which creates equity. areas cut longer than fairway
TrackMan and SkyTrak simulators, and a chipping area Without it, there is an increased height), your score is no longer
with three heights of turf. As well as being able to book probability that a higher acceptable for handicapping
lessons and club fittings, you can also reserve one of handicapper will win the event. purposes.
seven indoor range bays for just £10 per hour (plus a This is because there are generally Similarly, if a Local Rule is
membership fee of £25 a year). There’s even the option to more higher handicap players in implemented for players to move
play famous courses, such as Augusta and Sawgrass, or the field, thus it only takes one of the ball from the fairway to the
an 18-hole course featuring a mix of iconic holes from them to have a good day. rough for their next shot, your
around the West Midlands. www.midlandsindoorgolf.com score is not acceptable for
Can I still submit a score when handicapping.
my course is using winter
greens or winter tees? What happens to my Handicap
Balls in the backyard Yes, although there are limits to
how much the course can be
Index if I fail (or forget) to
submit a pre-registered general
Batchwood Golf Course, in Hertfordshire, may be forced
to undergo a redesign due to complaints from neighbours changed. For scores to be play score?
about wayward tee shots threatening their homes. The acceptable, no more than two Whenever a player fails to submit
course has already been adjusted twice in the last six temporary greens are allowed to a score, the Handicap Committee
years to limit the number of stray balls, but now a new set be used on an 18-hole course, should investigate the reason
of properties is in the firing line. A temporary tee box is and no more than one on a nine- why, and take appropriate
set to be used on the problematic 9th hole until November hole course. action. If the scorecard is not
2022, while the council consider what action to take.
Some driving lessons for the members might help!

MATTHIAS SCHMID
Won the 2021 Rookie of the
Year Award despite making just
seven European Tour starts.
Since turning pro after winning
the Silver Medal at The Open,
the German bagged four top
20s, including a runner-up
finish at the Dutch Open, to
secure his card for 2022.
GENDER EQUALITY
Not before time, Royal Dublin
has become the last golf club in
Ireland to scrap its male-only
membership policy – 137 years
after it was founded.
RHYL GOLF CLUB

After being saved from closure
twice in six months, the Welsh
club has closed for 12 months
while sea defence work is
undertaken. It plans to return as
the UK’s first carbon-neutral
club, with a self-sufficient
energy and water programme.
GET THE
HOT
FREE RULES &
OF GOLF
APP NOT
The Rules of Golf
discoverable, a penalty score difficulty on the day, on a app makes the rules THORBJORN OLESEN
may be applied (England Golf specific course. The PCC will not easier to search, and The Dane now needs to rebuild
recommend a penalty score of be triggered due to the poor is free to download his career after being found not
on iOS and Android guilty of sexual assault, assault
course rating + course handicap, performance of a small number of
devices. You can by beating, and being drunk on a
unless there is a valid reason for players in the field. flight in 2019. He’s currently
learn the basics by
the non-submission). In order for the PCC to trigger watching the 10 outside the world’s top 400.
If the scorecard is discoverable, an adjustment, a significant ‘essential rules’
the available hole scores are still percentage of players must return videos and then use DP WORLD TOUR
taken into account – even if the scores which are higher or lower the visual search to As far as new beginnings go,
scorecard is not complete. On than their expected scoring range. help find a ruling shortening the Joburg Open to a
holes that have been started but On days when the conditions quickly on the 36-hole event and then canning
not completed, the hole score is are perceived to be difficult but course or in the two other South African events
recorded as a net double bogey. there is no adjustment for PCC, clubhouse. The 30 because of Covid was pretty bad.
diagrams and 25 Hearing tales of pros scrambling
On holes that have not been this will be because a significant
‘how to’ videos will to get home before a travel ban
started for a valid reason, a hole number of players have scored also help you to kicked in was even worse.
score of net par is recorded. A within their expected range. proceed correctly.
score differential will be calculated It is not just weather that can
on this basis and added to your cause scores to be higher or lower
JORDAN SPIETH
After being docked two shots for
scoring record. than expected, as course failing to replace his ball after
conditions and course set up also accidentally nudging it with his
Why is there rarely an play a key role and can contribute putter, Spieth was hit with the
adjustment for the Playing to a PCC adjustment (or lack of it). same penalty after playing from
Conditions Calculation (PCC) In any case, players are not the wrong tee at the Hero World
on days when the conditions expected to play to their handicap Challenge. He’ll have better weeks!
feel more challenging? every time they go out, and this
The Playing Conditions is reflected in the player’s
Calculation is designed to detect expected scoring range that is
when the playing conditions used for the PCC.
are ‘abnormal’ and reflect any
significant changes in scoring For more details, see www.whs.com

F R ON T NINE
NUTS ABOUT GOLF
‘WHEN I STARTED I WAS PLAYING OFF

18 UNOFFICIALLY. NOW I’M OFF 6.9!’
Oscar Finch had never broken 90 before setting off to play 90 rounds in 90 days. Now he’s playing off single figures
Prior to teeing off at played 15 rounds in my lifetime up clubs meant all but eight of the
Colchester Golf Club on until September. HOME 90 green fees were waived.
September 8 last year, golf
was little more than a fleeting hobby
“It was only because I wanted to
do something out of the ordinary COMFORTS “What was really special was
when I was explaining to other
for Oscar Finch. He had never that I even came up with the Finch’s Top 10 golfers about what I was doing, it
tracks in Essex
broken 90. He didn’t even have a challenge of 90 rounds in 90 days. was getting them to talk and open
handicap or membership. His golf I was never much of a golfer, but I 1. Thorndon Park up, which was fantastic,” says
bag consisted of a set of second- definitely am now. My best score 2. Bentley Finch, who has so far raised more
hand Mizuno MX-200 irons and a was a three-over 72 at Belhus Park. 3. Abridge than £2,500 for Mind. “It just shows
24-year-old driver which he picked I still can’t quite believe that!” 4. Saffron Walden that mental health does affect
up from the side of a street for free. Finch, 21, attributes his improve- 5. Boyce Hill everyone in their own way.”
He can laugh about it now ment to a combination of better 6. Hainault (Old) Finch has already committed to
because he’s upgraded to a Taylor- course management, learning his 7. Chelmsford joining a golf club for the first time
Made M6 driver, but for a while yardages, and practising his lag 8. Stoke by and is now planning to take part in
Nayland
Finch looked every inch the novice putting in between rounds. He the Macmillan Longest Day Golf
(Gainsborough)
golfer he was when he first took makes it sound so easy, but the 9. Romford Challenge this summer. He’s even
on a charity challenge of playing actual challenge was anything but. 10. Frinton set himself the target of playing off
all 90 courses in Essex in 90 days. Besides the physical stress (Havers) scratch within the next
There were some high scores, of hitting 7,553 shots, three years.
most notably 117 (45 over par!) at Finch had to contend “I’ve caught the bug
Five Lakes. “You can imagine where with running his own now,” says Finch, who
most my golf balls ended up,” he property investment finished on December 7
laughs now. But then something company while trying to with a scoring average of
incredible happened. fundraise for Mind, a 83.9. “It’s been so good for
“It’s been a bit of a mega journey mental health charity. my own mental health that
because at the start I was playing There was also the issue I want to play every week.”
off 18 unofficially... now I’m off 6.9,” of travelling 8,406 miles To donate to his cause, visit
he explains. “I did surprise myself by car, though the www.gofundme.com and
because I had probably only generosity of the golf search for ‘Oscar Finch’.

NUMBERS GAME
127
ROUNDS
Proof that the man never
stops: Sungjae Im played
17 rounds more than any
other player on the PGA
Tour last season. He also
set the record for the
most birdies or better,
with 513 across 35 starts.
How did your stats
compare in 2021?
$1,485,055
The average earnings of a
PGA Tour player for the
2021 season (not
including FedEx Cup
bonuses). A record number
$87M
The record prize money up
for grabs this season on the
LPGA Tour – that’s around
$340 million less than what
the PGA Tour is now offering
from tournament purses.
38.4
The percentage of putts drained by
Inbee Park from 10-20ft on the LPGA
Tour since June. Now we know why so
many people think she’s the greatest
putter in the game. The PGA Tour
average is only 25.5 percent while the
of 124 players earned at LPGA Tour average is 23.3 percent.
least seven figures, while
Bud Cauley made
$100,650 from just one
start – or 273 shots!
$23,447,798
If you add up all the prize
money and bonuses,
66 MILLION *
The total number of global golfers – that’s a 5.5 million
rise in the last five years. This is largely driven by an
additional 2.1 million golfers taking up the sport in Great
Britain and Ireland since 2016. Good work everyone!
this is how much
Collin Morikawa has
made since turning
pro in June 2019.
*The R&A and Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS)

He’s currently
making an
average of
$390,796
every time he
tees it up. He
doesn’t turn 25
until February.
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F R ON T NINE
ARE ‘ENJOYMENT FAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
TEES’ THE FUTURE?

Wychwood Park is the latest golf club
to scrap gender-specific tees – and
FROM OUT OF THE
A new multi-million pound upgrade has transformed
your local course might be next If higher powers deem
foreign golf breaks to be a
A new £25 million investment has
seen Dundonald Links
non-starter as we move transformed into one of
through 2022, we at least have Scotland’s, and the UK’s, leading
some good news close to home. resorts. Often in the shadows of
its high-class Ayrshire
neighbours Troon and Turnberry,
that may be about to change.
The now-upgraded
Kyle Phillips-designed
modern links has
always been a big
draw but was often
Traditionally, your gender (and ego)

would dictate which tees you play from,
but an increasing number of golf clubs
are now breaking away from tradition in an
effort to become more accessible and inclusive.
In Cheshire, players at Hartford GC are
being invited to select from five tee boxes based
on their ability and personal preference, while
Wychwood Park has dispensed with colour
tees altogether, replacing them with the slope
of the golf course.
Ian Orrell, Golf Operations Manager at
Wychwood Park, told us: “When making
recommendations to groups to play the red
tees and eliminate long carries, we got the
same answer: ‘We can’t play from the women’s
tees’. The language used had to be altered to
remove the stigma that was associated to
playing from the forward tees.”
By providing a tee recommendation board,
based on a golfer’s handicap index and average
driver distance, Orrell claims more and more of
their members, particularly men, now choose to
play from forward tees to improve their playing
experience– and they’re not alone.
England Golf told us that 330 golf clubs have
had a red tee rated for men in the last three
SIX OTHER GREAT GOLF RESORT LODGE
years, taking the total to more than 500.
“We’re seeing an increase in shorter, more
playable courses for
men, but it also goes
the other way with
lengthening courses
for women,” says
Gemma Hunter,
Head of Handicap-
ping and Course
Rating. “I think over
the next few years
DORSET GOLF RESORT GWEL AN MOR
DORSET CORNWALL
this will become Home to 27 excellent holes of golf There’s fun for all the family at this resort
more prevalent as (Lakeland, Woodland and Parkland nines), overlooking the coastal town of Portreath.
clubs and golfers USGA-spec greens and a range of It boasts Residence Eco Lodges as well
realise there’s no impressive accommodation options as two-storey Scandinavian
such thing as men’s including stunning five-star Scandinavian lodges a short walk from the resort’s
or women’s tees.” log homes, which can sleep up to eight Famous Nine layout, which replicates some
people and are set in a wooded glade of the world’s great holes and guarantees
surrounded by a pine forest. year-round playability.
www.dorsetgolfresort.com www.gwelanmor.com

SHADOWS…
Dundonald Links into one of Britain’s most essential golf escapes
let down by somewhat golfers – plus they have the added
underwhelming off-course
amenities, including a rather
benefit of lying just yards from
the 1st tee. HOW WE RANKED IT
32nd in Top 100 Scotland
low-key clubhouse. That’s clearly In addition to the lodges, the “Kyle Phillips’ original doesn’t need
no longer the case. venue also boasts a hotel with 22 much modification. One of Europe’s
The opening of 18 luxury contemporary rooms – a short finest courses of the past 25 years,
on-site lodges, with two, four and stroll from the stunning new Dundonald doesn’t wow with views
six-bedroom options, has helped two-storey clubhouse. It also but, as a clever and considered links
turn Dundonald into a premium provides glorious panoramic test, it takes some beating.”
resort. With bag storage and views out to Ailsa Craig, the Isle Design 32.8 Setting 7.7 Memorability
drying areas, large living spaces, of Arran and beyond. Europe can 12.3 Playability 8.0 Consistency 8.6
fully-equipped kitchens and all wait when this is so close to home. Presentation 8.5 Total 77.9
mod cons, they’re perfect for www.dundonaldlinks.com
LODGE
& PLAY
OPTIONS TO CONSIDER... DEAL
You can treat
yourself (and playing
partners) to a
memorable golf
break at Woodbury
Park, Devon, home of
five Swiss-style
lodges offering great
course views. A
two-night lodge stay
includes breakfast,
two rounds on the
MALKINS BANK RUDDING PARK championship Oaks
PERRANPORTH
CHESHIRE NORTH YORKSHIRE CORNWALL
Since opening in 1976, Malkins Set in 300 acres of landscaped gardens course and A handful of lovely lodges lie just a
Bank has matured into an excellent test and woodland, Rudding Park is the most two-course dinner short walk from the clubhouse and 1st
of golf, with tree-lined, undulating beautiful hotel in the very beautiful spa each evening, and tee, slap bang in the middle of this
fairways running alongside the Trent and town of Harrogate. The superb parkland costs from £296pp ultra-quirky James Braid links.
Mersey Canal. You can – and should – golf is complemented by the option to stay (based on four Perranporth towers high above the Atlantic
elevate the experience by staying in one of in luxury lodges in a peaceful lakeside sharing). on Cornwall’s north coast, guaranteeing
the six luxury en-suite pods that sit setting. Even – or especially – in winter, breathtaking views at every turn. A round
alongside the 18th fairway. the hot tubs are an added bonus. DETAILS AT – and a golf break – to remember.
www.malkinsbankgolfclub.co.uk www.ruddingpark.co.uk woodburypark.co.uk www.perranporthgolfclub.co.uk

F R ON T NINE
‘THE POWER AND

THE GLORY – MY
GOAL FOR 2022’
F
air weather golfers, look
away now. I’ve just got back
from a mid-week roll-up.
It took 20 minutes to clean
my trolley, my golf bag
looks like it’s been kept on
a building site and I haven’t
played to my handicap in over two
months. Winter conditions (that’s
my excuse) have decimated my
game. What better way, then, to
THE BAD GOLFER
avoid thinking about mud balls,
standing water and bunkers like because it so encapsulated the John Robins nervous when I watch. Far from it.
Blackpool beach than to look ahead! mixture of awe and dread in An award-winning I always want to make people feel
This time last year we were more which we held them. To us comedian, BBC Radio golf is welcoming to them,
concerned with whether courses beginners they weren’t just a 5Live presenter and regardless of their ability. In fact,
co-creator of YouTube
would be open than whether we different league, they were a whole channel ‘Bad Golf’ with true bigger boys don’t actively do
could finally stop coming over the different sport. Confident, strong, Alex Horne (youtube. anything to intimidate, it’s just
top, break 80, or learn to hit a flop and always with a perfectly timed com/badgolf). Follow something about them that makes
shot. But despite the troubling quip as they steamrollered past Bad Golf on Twitter your knees turn to jelly when
news about new Covid variants, (“There’s only six more hours of and Instagram (@ they’re eight minutes early to the
it does feel like we’re a long way daylight, lads, good luck!” or “Hope BadGolfChannel) and first and watch you struggle to get
John (@nomadicrevery
from courses closing down again... you’ve brought your waders!”) & @nomadic_revery). the ball to sit on the tee. What I
touch wood(s). Last year’s goal, for me, was to Read more on John’s mean is, I want to find a way to get
So what’s your goal for 2022? play off an 18 handicap and by quest to improve at a bit of power into my shots. I want
As I said in last month’s column, May I had achieved this, peaking todaysgolfer.co.uk to take divots like beaver pelts, I
winter is a time when the range at 12.3. I’ve struggled to play to it want to say, “160 yards to the
can be more welcoming than the since but am levelling off at about front... probably a seven”.
course, and an ideal time to assess 14.5, which I think is achievable to Now, I know that’s what we all
your game, ride out the initial maintain. However, I still look at want. And for so long I’ve focused
inconsistency brought about by the swings of people around my on accuracy over distance, slowing
a swing change, or a new grip, or level and feel there’s a big gulf my swing down so that I hit more
even new clubs. Are you making between them and me. My drives fairways than I miss, but I’m 39
changes for next year? I certainly am. average a pretty paltry 217 yards, now, still relatively young, and I
When Alex Horne and I started I take about one divot per annum am regularly outdriven by golfers
our YouTube channel Bad Golf in and I’ve been known to leave an 20 years older than me. In fact in
2019, we were truly bad. Not just 8-iron short on a 120-yard par 3. one exceptional example at my club,
bad at golf but also very bad at So, my golfing aim for 2022, is to I was outdriven by a golfer well
Below Our man’s
playing on golf courses. I remember become a bigger boy. goal for 2022 looks over twice my age.
our first round together, when the I don’t mean I want to intimidate a little something So I think it’s time to add a bit of
opportunity to use the air gun to other golfers, or make people like this... power in there somewhere. Get
clean our shoes was a genuine that torso up to scratch and turn my
thrill, and not the post-round pain swing into something resembling a
in the behind it is now! bouncer trying to break down a
One thing we were not quite door rather than a clown struggling
prepared for, though, is how to keep juggling balls in the air.
intimidating it was playing in front So, I’ve signed up for a ‘golf
of (and it was always in front of!) fitness’ course, it’s a big step for
‘proper’ golfers. The sort of guy someone whose idea of fitness is
who can make you top your drive walking to Tesco. And I’m hoping
just by standing politely to one side that seeing exercise in terms of my
as you tee off. The type of player swing will give me the motivation to
who, after you offer to let them play do something I’ve never done
though just launches their ball into before... go to a gym.
space, or to the heart of the green, But, hopefully, by next summer,
and then disappears into the my golfing aim for 2022 will have
distance. That’s right... bigger boys. come true, and I will finally be able
We called them ‘bigger boys’ out drive an 85-year-old.

F R ON T NINE
YOUR VIEW GET IN TOUCH

As well as email (editorial@todaysgolfer.co.uk) and post (Media House, Lynch Wood,
LETTER OF THE
MONTH WINS…
A PING 2021 PUTTER
RRP £250
Peterborough, PE2 6EA), you can contact us using any of these social platforms... @Thetodaysgolfer @TodaysGolferBauer @Todaysgolfer @Todaysgolfer
ANOTHER WAY TO WORK THE

RULES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
I would like to add an entry to the round in flip-flops either. Some of the
‘eight ways to use the law to lower arguments I’ve heard are that dress
your score’ article you ran in your codes put people off from wanting to
February 2022 issue. You may also play our game. But my golf club has
declare your ball unplayable anywhere a dress code and some members still
on the course (except in a penalty area) play in plus fours. Does it drive people
and take stroke-and-distance relief away? It doesn’t appear to. We have a
under penalty of one stroke by playing waiting list of more than 100 people.
from where the previous stroke was Royston Marshall, email
made (Rule 19.2a).
Examples of where this might be of GOLF’S NEW DIRECTION
benefit from a damage limitation point The face of golf appears to be
of view include being able to take relief changing. YouTube has become
outside a bunker, and play from where absolutely massive with tips, vlogs
the previous stroke was made; or if Hunstanton is affectionately known as the ‘Augusta of the UK’. and insights into the minds of pro
you putted off an elevated green either golfers. However, it does seem
into a bunker or down a steep slope, because I wanted to include the quite strange that Rick Shiels has
you may take relief by placing a ball fantastic 17th at Hunstanton. 1.95 million followers, whereas
back on the green where the previous Highlights include back-to-back Padraig Harrington only has 20-
stroke was made. A one-stroke penalty classic par 3s and par 5s on the front odd thousand. Either way, it’s
applies in any such case. nine, and the brutal trio of tough par definitely taken off and for non-Sky
Gordon Lawson, Dornoch 4s to finish! subscribers like myself who can’t
1st Trevose watch golf on TV, it’s been a real
18 OF THE BEST... 2nd Prince’s (Shore) bonus. It has definitely inspired me
Inspired by your recent Top 100 Most 3rd The Grove to improve my own game.
Fun Courses to play, I’ve come up with 4th Woking Simon Thorpe, Southampton
an 18-hole course which uses no more 5th Sunningdale (New)
than one hole each from those I have 6th Royal Ashdown Forest (Old) THE HYSTERIA IS TOO MUCH
played in the UK. It’s tougher than it 7th Woburn (Marquess) As much as I enjoyed watching
sounds. The hardest decision was 8th St Andrews (New) Tiger’s comeback, it doesn’t seem
leaving out the 17th at St Andrews, 9th Forest of Arden right that his son, Charlie, was
partly because I love the fabulous 10th Sunningdale (Old) subjected to the same kind of media
par-3 11th on the Old Course, but also 11th St Andrews (Old) circus. It was quite troubling to see
12th Isle of Purbeck how much attention was devoted to
13th North Wales his swing, equipment and even his
14th Foxhills (Longcross) demeanour. The obsession feels a little
LENGTH ISN’T EVERYTHING 15th Woodhall Spa (Hotchkin)
16th Ganton
creepy and being the son of perhaps
the greatest golfer of all time should
I hope that this letter gives 17th Hunstanton not excuse that. Lest we forget he’s
LETTER others inspiration. Last year, I 18th The Belfry (Brabazon) still only a kid, he’s not even a teenager
OF THE was preparing for surgery to have Ivan Hirschowitz, email yet. The way people are carrying on
MONTH a lung removed to get rid of my makes me feel that we are setting him
cancer. This year I’m back DUMBING DOWN GOLF up to fail by putting so much
playing our great game after almost 18 months Recently, I was taken to pressure on his young shoulders.
out. As I’m no longer able to hit the ball as far as a golf club with no dress Rachael Church, email
I used to, I decided that the only way I could code. Members were
play to the same level was to improve my short arriving from work and
game. I have focused on my chipping and going straight onto the Tiger and Charlie Woods finished
putting with some success and am returning course in paint and second at the PNC Championship.
scores similar (almost!) to before. My message cement-spattered
to everyone is that distance isn’t everything. overalls, despite
If you can chip and putt well, which is changing rooms
achievable for most to attain, then you can still being available in
be competitive. the clubhouse. It was
Jim Davidson, Scotland not unknown for
members to play a

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GET BACK TO
BASIC
Let Me and My Golf’s Piers Ward and Andy Proudman
set your game up for a fantastic season of golf
Piers Ward and

Andy Proudman are the
founders of golf’s most
successful online coaching system,
Me and My Golf. Their informative,
interactive and empowering content has
won them more than 1.5 million followers
across their social platforms and more
than 500 million views across YouTube,
Facebook and Instagram. They coach
at Perton Park GC in their home
town of Wolverhampton.
P H O T O G R A P H Y A N G U S M U R R AY
W I T H T H A N K S T O P E R T O N PA R K G C , W O LV E R H A M P T O N .
V I S I T W W W. P ER TO N G O L F C LU B .C O.U K
G
olf is a game of myths. We’ll examine several of them
within this article, but perhaps the biggest of them all is
that the basics of the golf swing are for beginners only.
Of course, the game’s fundamentals represent the
starting point for anyone new to the game; but even if you
feel you have a sound understanding of the building blocks
of the golf swing, these crucial elements are in need of
constant evaluation and checking. We golfers slip in and out
of good habits all the time, and all too often what we think
we are doing is not what is actually happening. We might
have learned the basics as beginners, but from then on our
mission is to keep on top of them.
And of course, now is the perfect time to do it. With little
or no competitive golf available at the start of the season,
you have the time and space to shake off those old, bad
habits and build your 2022 game on solid foundations.
Going beyond the set-up into the basic movement patterns
every swing needs, this article is designed to help you do
just that. We’ll also clear up four false concepts about the
basics of the swing that may be holding you back.
But remember; basics need constant attention. Keep this
information to hand and return to it regularly through the
season. Believe us: applying regular basics maintenance is
your most efficient route to a season of consistent,
enjoyable golf.

BASIC #1: YOUR GRIP
A ROUTINE FOR
A BETTER HOLD
Piers says The only part of your body in
contact with the club, your hands have the
potential to control the clubface… or to lose
that control. Even the most orthodox holds can slip
over time, so regularly adopt this routine to check
yours is in great shape...
Lead hand
1 Stand upright,
your feet together.
Hold the club out in
front of you in your trail
hand, the shaft angled
slightly upwards. Keep your
focus on the leading edge of the
clubface, which you must set to
vertical or upright. Align your lead
hand with the leading edge – the
back of the hand will be facing
down your target line.
2 Place your lead hand

against the handle so it
runs from the middle of
your index finger to the
bottom of your little finger.
3 Close your fingers

and thumb around
the grip. Your hold should
feel more in the fingers
than in the palm. This gives
the wrist the mobility to
hinge and cock.

3 Whichever grip you choose,
make sure to check that...
You can see two to two-and-a-
half knuckles on the back of your
lead hand.
The V formed by your trail-hand
thumb and index finger points up
towards your trail-side ear.
The hand pressure is firm enough
to secure the club, yet light enough
to avoid wrist or forearm tension.
Trail hand
1 Keep that leading edge upright and
the shaft angled a little upwards.
Stretch your trail hand out and place
its fingers against the shaft as shown,
its palm facing the target.
2 Slide the hand up the shaft to meet

the lead hand. Do not change its
orientation. When the hands meet,
wrap the fingers around. Interlock or
overlap as preferred; alternatively, there
is absolutely nothing wrong with the
10-finger or baseball grip.

BASIC #2 POSTURE
GAIN BALANCE AND
PROMOTE GOOD ANGLES
Andy says Your posture for forming perfect posture.
over the ball affects your Ideally do this standing on an
balance and the angle at alignment stick, set under the
which you swing the club around laces of both shoes; this line
you. Because of this, it is a crucial represents your balance point,
part of consistently solid striking. and helps you feel if you are too
Let’s learn a step-by-step process much into the toes or heels.
1 Grip the club and

stand upright, your
feet shoulder-width apart.
Make sure your chin has
not dropped and the nape
of your neck is flat. Allow
your hands and arms to
hang relaxed in front of
you, the clubshaft just
slightly lower than parallel
with the ground.
2 Hinge forward from the hips until the club hits the
ground. Throughout this hinge, keep your back
nicely neutral; we are lowering the club through hip
hinge, not through any bending of the spine. As you
do this, you should feel your legs naturally straighten.
3 Soften the knees. We are not looking for excessive
knee flex or bend, more a feeling of popping them both
forward, out of their sockets. Through this softening you MYTH
should feel your weight through the middle of both feet. ‘Keep your lead
Make sure to check that...
Your arms are hanging comfortably, arm straight’
feeling nice and soft.
There is a natural curve to Piers says It’s easy to see where
the shoulders and neck. this myth comes from: examine the
You feel ready to move. motions of most top players and you
will see a lead arm that does indeed
look pretty straight as they swing
back. The problem here is that the
harder you try to create the
straightness, the more problems it
causes during the swing.
Stiff-armed
As soon as you actively set out to keep
that lead arm straight, you will create
tension; your grip will tighten, and so
will the arms. Your wrists get jammed,
you can’t get any flow into your motion
and your swing becomes restricted.
Softer hands
The key element here
is grip pressure.
Take your address,
and practise
hingeing the
club vertically
up and down to create some freedom
in those hands and wrists.
Comfortable
straightness
Take this softer hand
pressure into your
backswing and simply
swing the club back on
4 As a solid, final posture check, ask a

friend to drop a line from the inside of
your upper trail arm. Alternatively, film or
a sound, natural arc.
Now it becomes possible
to create a comfortably
photograph your address and check extended lead arm that
yourself. Great posture sees that vertical gives your action width
line drop down to the ball of your foot, just without tension.
in front of the laces.

BASIC #3: AIM
A ROUTINE
Face first…
Your first job is to aim the
clubface at the target. Of course
here, our focus is the bottom,
FOR BETTER
leading edge of the face; we are
looking for it to run at a 90°
angle to a line from the face to
the flag; in other words square.
ALIGNMENT
This can be tricky to see so
placing an alignment stick,
aiming up the ball-hole line, can
really help.
Piers says Your aim is

something that needs constant
re-evaluation, but never more
than at the start of a new season.
Let’s get into some good habits straight
away by reminding ourselves of the
basics of how to aim...
… Then body
From here we run our body parallel to the
line we’ve created from the clubhead to
the target. This means feet, knees, hips
and shoulders parallel to the target line,
but not at it. Make sure your process is
always clubface first, body second.

MYTH
‘Keep your
clubface looking
at the target
through the swing’
Andy says We know that
for the ball to go straight, the
clubface must be square to our
target line at impact. It sounds logical,
then, to keep the face in this ‘square’
position throughout the swing.
Unfortunately, the swing doesn’t
work this way.
Held off, held open

If we try to hold the clubface square to the
target as we swing back and through, we
set the face at odds with the rotational
nature of the golf swing and it becomes
impossible to move through technically
sound positions. Your action will begin to
feel awkward and powerless, and your shots
will lack consistency. Perhaps the biggest
problem with the concept shows up through
impact, where an intention to keep the face
looking down the target line sets it
increasingly open to its arcing, inward path,
inevitably promoting a slice.
Open and shut case

Instead, we need to get our heads around the concept that the
clubface needs to remain square to the arc of the swing and not
to the target. This is ‘true’ square. It may seem paradoxical, but
letting the face open and close is the real path to straighter
shots. This means allowing the clubface...
To rotate open to the target during the backswing, the toe
starting to point upwards as the shaft moves through parallel.
To rotate briefly back to square through impact.
To rotate closed to the target during the throughswing, the toe
again upward at shaft parallel.

BASIC #4 ARM MOTION
TRAIN ROTATION AND RELEASE
2
Andy says
Now from here,
A key truth
all we are going
about the golf to do is rotate the
swing – and something forearms until both
that even seasoned thumbs point down
golfers fail to recognise the target line. Do
– is that what you do not move the hands
after impact influences themselves; simply
impact itself. A major rotate the forearms.
component here is arm Check that, as you
movement. Correct do this, you retain
rotation and release that subtle kink in
encourages your body the back of your
to find the appropriate trail wrist.
position to deliver the
club. So let’s examine
how the arms need to
work post impact –
and also what you
should avoid...
1 Start without a
golf club, and
simply get into
posture. Form two
fists with your
hands, your thumbs
out in front. Look to
create and feel a
slight kink in the back
of your trail wrist.
Rotate for straight

Note it well; it’s the
movement of your
forearms that controls
where the clubface is Avoid this
aiming. If your forearms For clarification, this is the
fail to rotate, you will throughswing forearm action
tend to leave the face you need to avoid. Instead of
open and hit slices. rotating the hands flip forward,
This rotational move causing the lead wrist to
is essentially how buckle. Besides weakening the
we square the clubface by adding unwanted
clubface for impact as loft, this release also causes
we swing through. problems with quality of strike.

MYTH
‘Get under
the ball’
Piers says In a game where we are
looking to send the ball up into the
air, getting ‘under’ the ball at the
strike seems like a good idea. It isn’t.
Halfswing drill
After practising this forearm
rotation motion, take a lofted iron
and set up to the ball. Make some
short swings, training the same
movement. Use your finish as a
checkpoint that...
Your thumbs are pointing down
towards the target.
The toe of the club is in the air. Hanging back:
Your arms are extended, with Thick and thin
hands relaxed. If we try to get under the ball or assist
its launch in any way, we tend to hang
back on our trail side and/or throw the
clubhead forward. Both actions
promote heavy contact – ground
before ball – and perhaps some thin,
leading-edge strikes as the clubhead
rises through impact.
Launch through loft

In fact we are looking to create the
opposite – a downward strike, in
which any ground contact takes place
Keep it moving Face first, path second after the ball is struck. A downward
As you work on this short swing, it’s It may feel slightly illogical to prioritise blow is the most powerful strike, and
important you let the motion flow. Do not the throughswing as a way to improve the also of course the cleanest. It can still
think about hitting positions as you are backswing. But in the golf swing, the send the ball upward because of the
moving; merely use your finish as a clubface is king. By ensuring the correct loft on the clubface. This year, make
checkpoint. Once you start to find this finish release/rotation of the clubface, these sure you let the face loft do the work
on a regular basis, increase the length of the impact and through-the-ball fundamentals and focus on driving the ball forwards
swing and simply look to swing through this will in turn organise the body into developing and down.
position to your new finishing position. the ideal rotation and swing path.

BASIC #5 THE PIVOT
FUNDAMENTAL Piers says The rotational
movement of your torso –
the swing’s pivot – is
transitional shift, then a
throughswing turn. The turn-shift-
turn drill Andy and I detail here
BODY MOTION
literally at the core of every great focuses on training an effective hip
golf swing. Perhaps the most and torso rotation, without the
effective concept for this body distraction of hitting balls. Work on
motion is to break it down into it slowly at first, building speed as
three stages – a backswing turn, a your confidence grows.
1 Begin by taking your golfing posture and pinning

your hands against your chest as shown. Make
sure your legs feel strong and stable. Try to build in
an awareness of your trail hip; its movement will
play a key role in an effective body pivot.
2 Turn…
From here you are simply going to
rotate the hips and the torso away from the
target; look to give your upper body turn of
around 90º. As I’m demonstrating here,
your trail hip should not move laterally; this
is very much a rotation, not a sway.

… shift…
As I complete my
backswing rotation,
I feel pressure down
through my trail foot.
From the top of the
backswing, there needs
to be a definite shifting
back into the lead side.
This gives your action
power and sets up the
throughswing rotation.
Andy’s stick, held over
my trail foot, gives a
reference for how and
where I need to move...
... From that fully-rotated top-of-backswing position, allow

your lower body to shift laterally until your lead hip is back over
the foot. Your weight or ground pressure should now feel very
much lead-side. Allow your chest and upper body to remain
pretty passive through this, although the lower-half shift will
drag it forward and prime its unwinding.
… turn
Only after completing
this shift should you Blending it
be thinking about together
rotating through to The turn-shift-turn
the finish. As the drill drill is a relatively
suggests, the complicated motion,
sequence is a definite but an important one
turn (backswing), to get right. So start
then shift (transition), slowly, without a club.
then turn As it becomes more
(throughswing). So a comfortable and you
moment after feeling want to try it with a
that shift, call again club, keep an emphasis
on your hips and torso less on perfection or
to rotate you through. positions and more on
At the end of your that growing feeling of
motion, look for... flowing, coordinated
A straight line up movement. Finally, keep
your lead side. your hands soft on the
Chest and pelvis club. That will allow
facing the target. your core muscles to
Chest points slightly control the motion, and
upward, heart to the sky. help you feel the pivot
Weight under your you are building.
lead foot.

BASIC #6 HEAD MOVEMENT
STEADY NOT STIFF
Andy says Unfortunately for golfers
across the globe, 99% of references to
what the head should do during the
golf swing are unhelpful. Let’s examine
why that is... and learn a far more effective
concept for a part of that body that plays a
far more significant role in the swing than
many golfers think.
Freedom to move
Instead, we would far rather
you saw your head as something
you are looking to move, rather
Head down: Locked up than something you want to keep
So what are those 99% of still. OK, we don’t want it swaying
references? Do you really need to all over the place; it does need
be told?! We have all been told to to remain reasonably steady.
“keep your head down” – or perhaps But like any hitting activity, golf
“still” – at some point. Well- is an explosive sport and its action
meaning advice. But either intention needs fluency and dynamism.
merely locks your neck and Nothing truly stays still, and this
immobilises the swing, robbing it of applies to your head.
fluency and speed. It also switches
off the upper body, ensuring it
cannot make its contribution to the
movement. The result is short,
armsy swings and a loss of
power and accuracy.
Head rotates
with the body
This image is more a
representation of where you
should feel your head is than
where it will actually be; but
allow your face to rotate with
your body’s motion and you will
free yourself to making a far
smoother, more connected and
more powerful swing.

Throughswing freedom
Move from chip shots into
pitches, irons and eventually into
your woods, taking the concept
of tracking the ball flight with
you. Very quickly you will start to
Flight tracker feel the freedom, rotation and
To help you get into the habit
speed that a still head denies you.
of head freedom, we are going
Yes, there is a slight leap of faith
to hit a series of chip shots.
here, an element of giving up
Just knock each ball forward
control to gain it. But as golfers
10 yards or so. But on each
such as Annika Sorenstam and
shot, your goal is to pick up
Henrik Stenson have shown, head
the flight of the ball as
movement and rotation are no
quickly as possible, and
obstacle to outstanding golf.
watch it all the way till it
lands. To do this, you simply
have to rotate your face to
follow the flight. Note how
much more freedom you feel
in your chest and shoulders…
and how much more readily
they rotate.
MYTH Arc of triumph

Because we stand to the side of the
‘Swing ball, the plane of our action is not
upright but tilted. As soon as we
straight to start the club back, it wants to arc
naturally inwards, around the body.
hit straight’ On the way down the club arcs back
outward, touching the ball-target line
Andy says As with most
myths, our final fallacy
only briefly at impact before moving
back inside.
sounds good on paper. Keep
The best way to see and feel this is
the club swinging up and with your longest and most arcing
down the ball-target line club, the driver. Set two sticks or clubs
and surely you just deliver either side of the ball to represent your
it on a neutral path, and hit ball-target line. Now turn back and
the ball straight? Well, the through, allowing the natural body
best way to debunk this rotation Piers has just shown you to
myth is to try it. You’ll make work the club from in-to-in.
a motion that is unlike any As the saying goes, “swing around
golf swing you’ve ever seen to hit straight”; the sooner you trust
before, and the results will this concept, the quicker you’ll
be disastrous. improve your accuracy.

THE
SMILING
ASSASSIN
LEONA MAGUIRE
Already making a name for herself on the LPGA, Ireland’s
Leona Maguire went stratospheric during Europe’s Solheim
Cup victory in 2021 – but her best is yet to come...
W O R D S K E V I N B R O W N P I C T U R E S G E T T Y, I N P H O P H O T O G R A P H Y
E
verything Leona Maguire for a long time,” said US Captain Pat
touches turns to gold. Hurst, summing up Maguire’s
That’s at least how it seems nerveless dominance.
and it’s been that way ever What we’ve seen thus far in her
since she first picked up a career may have been impressive,
club in her native Cavan, Ireland, but Maguire’s performance in
27 years ago. Toledo, Ohio, suggests the best is
A stellar amateur career that still to come. Before all of that,
propelled her to the top of the world however, the 27-year-old sat down
ranking for a record 135 weeks and a with TG to assess her journey so far.
success-laden US college career saw
her take her place on the biggest Now the dust has settled a little,
stage of all, the LPGA Tour, in 2018. how would you sum up your rookie
Victories and records have Solheim Cup performance?
followed, including equalling the A dream come true, I couldn’t really
lowest round (61) in Major golf have asked for a better week. To be
history during last year’s Evian part of only the second European
Championship. And then came team to win on American soil was
the explosion. incredible. It was just such a
A rookie going into the lion’s den, fantastic team from top to bottom,
Maguire played a near-flawless and captains, players, caddies, everybody
pivotal role in Europe retaining last involved. Some of the girls who had
year’s Solheim Cup, undefeated and played a few times before said they
returning 4.5 points in the 15-13 thought it was the best team we had
victory at Inverness Club. “She is had in a while. It was so much fun to
the one we are going to have to fear be part of – ‘Beany’ (Catriona

Left Mel Reid took Right Maguire’s
Maguire under her Solheim Cup debut
wing in the Solheim was notable for its
Cup – in some style. absence of nerves.
Let’s rewind, back to the

beginning. How did it all start
for you?
I was nine or 10, which is relatively
old compared to these days when
everyone is picking up a club
practically as soon as they can walk!
Twin sister Lisa and myself played
all kinds of sports growing up, so
we were relative latecomers to golf.
As teenagers we got involved in a
lot of sports, but it came to the point
where there weren’t enough hours
in the day. And with golf being
something we were good at and
something we saw a potential future
in, bit by bit it became more of a
priority. When we reached 15 or 16
and got picked for the Curtis Cup
(2010), that was probably the turning
point as we started to travel a bit
more for golf. There wasn’t so much
Matthew) was an incredible captain, time for the other sports, plus there
she just knew exactly what to do. was also the risk of picking up an
What was your highlight of

the week?
SISTER ACT injury, so golf took over.
You were playing at Slieve

Going to the first tee for the first
THE SIBLING RIVALRY DRIVING LEONA MAGUIRE Russell in Cavan at this point?
time, listening to the music blaring “There’s no doubt that we brought each other on, Yeah, a nine-hole, par 3 course at
on the putting green and walking competing against one another all the time without Slieve Russell. It also had a main
up to the packed stands with Mel realising it, and that has definitely improved us both.” course but you weren’t allowed to
(Reid) and just soaking up the So says Leona of the relationship she has with older play the big course until you were
atmosphere. It was so loud, I’ve (by 15 minutes) twin sister Lisa, pictured below, left. 12, so we stuck to the nine-holer
never experienced anything like “There were times when we came up against each and worked our way up from there.
that on a tee. other in finals such as the 2008 Irish Ladies’ Close We had three clubs to start with – a
at Westport and the Irish Girls’ Close at Mullingar –
I won the Ladies’ and Lisa won the Girls’! It was a lot 3-wood, 7-iron and putter – and our
How did you handle the nerves? of tit-for-tat and, more often than not, Lisa would goal at the start was to break 50.
I was fortunate to have some great tend to come out on top; she was bigger, taller and Once we achieved that, with a 48,
team-mates, veterans like Carlota stronger than me and she generally hit it further. But we then worked our way down.
(Ciganda), Mel and Anna it was a friendly competition between us – we We probably honed our skills a lot
(Nordqvist) and they told us what wanted to beat each other, but if I didn’t win I wanted quicker, only having a few clubs.
to expect. A lot of people say it’s the her to win and vice-versa. We played on Irish teams When we turned 12 and graduated
most nervous you’re going to be so together, foursomes together, and it was great fun. to the big course we improved very
just swing hard and hope you make We had a ball, especially helping Ireland win the quickly, and between 12 and 14 we
European Team Championship in 2009 in Finland.
contact and wherever the ball goes, We didn’t drop a foursomes point the whole week and started playing in the Irish Girls
the ball goes. I was fortunate to have that was absolutely massive.” competitions. We got to the Irish
Mel with me and she just made me Closed final together in Westport in
feel so comfortable and, to be honest, 2008 and then on junior Ryder Cup,
I expected to be more nervous than Solheim Cup and Curtis Cup teams
I actually was. at 15. It snowballed from there.
What was the reaction like Did you play with more girls
when you got back home than boys in those early days?
to Ireland? There weren’t any other young girls
Incredible. I wasn’t expecting at our club, so we went out with the
anything like that. It was great lads and played on some of the guys’
driving around my home town in teams. We were also members at
a gold convertible BMW with my Castle Hume in Enniskillen and
grandmother, everybody out we used to play on the lads’
cheering, happy again after all the teams until it got to a certain
lockdowns. To me, it reinforced point where we weren’t
the power of sport… and allowed to. We played in
confirmed that the Irish fans are boys’ competitions, though
the best fans in the world, no we’d play off different tees.
matter what sport it is. We’d play in inter-club

‘A LOT OF PEOPLE
SAY IT’S THE MOST
NERVOUS YOU’RE
GOING TO BE SO
JUST SWING HARD
AND HOPE YOU
MAKE CONTACT’
matches, we’d play in the junior
matchplay against the boys, all of
that. When we got a bit older we’d
play in the ladies’ comps. But I don’t
think we realised how good we were
until we started going abroad and
playing in different events.
Who were your big inspirations

back then?
Padraig Harrington was the big one.
He was winning his three Majors
and it was a huge deal for an
Irishman to be competing against
the best players in the world. Suzann
Pettersen was another. Lisa and
myself got to play nine holes with
her at the 2010 Irish Open. I was
really nervous, but she couldn’t have
been nicer. Obviously, she played a
massive role in the following year’s
Solheim Cup win… so gutsy, so
passionate and so determined.
How important were your

experiences as an amateur?
I loved every minute of my US
college career. I had an incredible
four years at Duke, North Carolina,
competing with the best young
players in the world week in, week
out. The coaches didn’t treat me any
differently from anybody else on the
team, but they were always
challenging and pushing me to be
better. Otherwise, winning the British
Amateur in 2017 was the last thing
I wanted to tick off before I turned
pro. I was World No.1 amateur at the
time and felt I had a target on my
back going into that event. Then to
finish off with a Curtis Cup win at
Dun Laoghaire in 2016, in front of a
home crowd, was incredible.
At what point did you realise you

wanted to be a professional golfer?
Probably not as a kid, but during my
teenage years, once I got a glimpse of
what it was all about at the 2009
Solheim Cup and the Solheim in
Ireland two years later, that was a
real eye-opener. At the time, ladies

‘I SET HIGH status that way or, if not, go to Q And you made a very decent
STANDARDS School. I went there and missed out

by a shot which was a very bitter pill
start – until the world changed…
Yeah, in my second event I came
FOR MYSELF, to swallow. So the grand plans I had

didn’t quite work out. I had to reset
fourth in Australia in 2020 (ISPS
Handa Vic Open). It was a
BUT ALL I CAN and figure out a new plan. Up to that

point everything had worked out
challenging week, very windy, but
I really enjoyed it and it’s just a
CONTROL IS
pretty smoothly and that was the shame we haven’t been able to go
first main roadblock I’d come across. back there since. It was the last golf
HOW I PREPARE’
we got to play before things were
And what was the new plan? shut down because of the pandemic.
Go to LET Q School the following
month in Morocco. I managed to get How did that affect your plans?
my card and the next year I played We were lucky as rookies to
a mixture of Symetra Tour and LET essentially have a year-and-a-half,
golf wasn’t on TV a lot, only at very events and I got my LPGA card. It nearly two years for our rookie
strange hours, and even then it was was a difficult year, but a massive season. There was nothing we
only snippets. I’d never really seen learning curve; I think I learnt a lot could control and the LPGA did an
those top players compete, so getting more than I would have had I gone incredible job enabling us to even
to play in an Irish Open in 2010 was on the LPGA straight away. I lost in play in the second half of the 2020
huge, watching the likes of Suzann two Symetra Tour play-offs but won season with a lot of restrictions and
Pettersen, Michelle Wie and Paula a couple of times, which basically protocols in place to ensure everyone
Creamer. That was the moment I secured my LPGA card for the was safe and healthy.
realised this is what I want to do. following season.
So the million-dollar question,
How hard was the switch particularly after the
from amateur to pro? Solheim Cup: how good
I turned pro in June 2018. can you become?
I had Symetra Tour status
having gone to Q School the EUROPE’S You’re always growing,
always learning every time
Below As a rookie,
Maguire won four-
winter before and expected
to hit the ground running.
The plan was to play a few
RISING STAR you’re in a new situation.
The Solheim Cup was a
massive confidence booster
and-a-half points 2009 & 2010 French U21 Open Champion
from five at last events on the Symetra Tour that showed I can compete
and get my LPGA Tour 2009 Scottish Ladies Open Champion against the best players in
year’s Solheim Cup.
2009 European Team Champion the world week in, week out.
2011 British Ladies Strokeplay Champion The same applies to Majors;
2011 Portuguese Women’s Amateur I think I improved a lot in
Open Champion the Majors in 2021 – shooting
2008 & 2012 Irish Women’s Close Champion that 61 at Evian was a big
deal. It’s all about feeling
2016 Low Amateur at the Women’s British Open more comfortable every
2017 Ladies British Amateur Champion week, being in the leading
2015, 2016 & 2017 No.1 in the European groups alongside the best
Women’s Amateur Golf Ranking for the third players. You learn from
straight year those scenarios.
2015, 2016 and 2017 Mark H. McCormack Medal
as the leading women’s golfer in the World Amateur Is it all about the Majors?
Golf Ranking Every pro golfer wants to
win Majors. Getting myself
into contention as much as
I can – the Evian was my first top 10,
so it’s a case of putting myself into
that position more often. That’s what
you practise for.
How do you handle the growing

expectations on you?
I set high standards for myself, but
all I can control is how I prepare and
just keep on working on my game.
What is driving you on?

I think the desire to be the best I
can be is what drives me. Whether
that’s winning or whether it’s
climbing as high in the world
rankings as I can, I’m a competitor
at heart and I’m always trying to
push myself to get better.

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by five-time Open champion James
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the area’s many attractions, including HOW TO ENTER
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E N T E R N O W AT W W W.T O D AY S G O L F E R . C O . U K / W I N
IT’S GOLF... BUT
NOT AS WE KNOW IT
There are almost 40,000 golf courses in the world, but some are stranger than others…
MONTGOMERY
NATIONAL,
MINNESOTA USA
The course themed
on The Beatles;
see page 47. UUMMANNAQ GREENLAND
Home to the World Ice Golf
Championship each March.
BRICKYARD LA JENNY FRANCE

CROSSING USA Europe’s only
A Pete Dye design course for nudists.
with four holes inside
FURNACE CREEK USA the Indianapolis
The lowest course in Motor Speedway.
the world, 214 feet
below sea level, where
it can top 54°C.
THE AMAZON GOLF

Bri ck yard Cross ing , USA PRISON VIEW GC COURSE PERU
LOUISIANA Nine-hole jungle
In the grounds course where the
of Louisiana State starter doesn’t hand
Penitentiary, so you you a tee sheet, but
need a background a machete.
check to book a
tee time.
Fu rn ac e Cree k, U SA
Sku kuz a GC, Kru ger

Nat iona l Par k, Sou th Afri ca
DAVIS GOLF LINKS

ANTARCTICA
This only course on
the continent, at the
Davis Station.

Uu mm an na q, Gre en lan d
rom the Amazon rainforest to
F the foothills of the Himalayas...

the icy wastes of Greenland to
the red-hot deserts of California...
a desire to play golf – even in the world’s
most inhospitable places – has seen weird
and wonderful courses spring up all over
the place. The courses here are just some
of the stranger once we’ve seen – and then
we’ve actually gone to visit two of them,
including a course in the USA themed on
The Beatles and a golfing odyssey through
the Australian outback.
TORNIO/MERI-LAPIN
SWEDEN/FINLAND
Eleven holes are in
Sweden, seven in PYONGYANG GOLF
Finland; and both are COURSE NORTH KOREA
in different time zones. Where Kim Jong-Il,
in his first round of golf,
HIMALAYAN GOLF shot 34 over 18 holes,
COURSE NEPAL including 11 aces. D on M uean g, T ha
ila nd
Built entirely by hand in
a river valley beneath
the world’s highest
mountain range.
MERAPI GOLF CLUB

Him alayan Go lf Co urse, Ne pa l INDONESIA
In the shadow of Mount
Merapi, one of the world’s
most active volcanoes.
DON MUEANG
THAILAND QUEENSLAND
A course squeezed OUTBACK AUSTRALIA
between the two The course that runs
main runways at through the bush;
Bangkok airport. see page 50.
ROTORUA GC
NEW ZEALAND
No need to worry
SKUKUZA GC, KRUGER CARBROOK GOLF about water here,
NATIONAL PARK SOUTH AFRICA CLUB AUSTRALIA just boiling pools
The lake by the 15th of mud…
Expect hippos, baboons,
hole is full of sharks.
giraffes and lions (yes, lions)
to be watching you tee off.
LOST FARM TASMANIA
Twenty-hole Coore- THE HILLS
Me rap i Go lf Clu b, Ind on es ia
Crenshaw design, with NEW ZEALAND
two extra spectacular The 18 holes are
par 3s, 13a and 18a. adorned with giant
sculptures made by
its wealthy owner.

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Inside the world’s first Beatles-themed golf course
(complete with a yellow submarine)
W O R D S J O S H B E R H O W I M A G E S T W I N C I T I E S G O L F. C O M
reg McKush has a phone to putter with a yellow submarine on the head.
G answer. He always does, it seems.

Someone making a tee time or
another caller enquiring about a
But that’s hardly scratching the surface of
his obsession – Fab Four gear is all over.
McKush is the owner of Montgomery
weekend event. One more about greens fees. National Golf Club, a Beatles-themed golf
“Can you hold on one second?” he says, course in rural Minnesota. It wasn’t a
speaking into his mobile. He’s usually Beatles-themed course until McKush took
running the show from behind the bar, over in 2018. Now there’s a 17-foot guitar
manning the tills and juggling the tee sheet. greeting golfers in the car park, a hole with
Behind him, on the wall, is a large Beatles the world’s largest – only? – guitar bunker
poster, one of many in his pro shop. Directly and a one-ton yellow submarine floating in
across from him stands a limited-edition a pond on the signature 18th. Beatlemania is
Beatles jukebox, a few guitars and a everywhere. It’s on the club’s website and on

Left Greg, John, would help with
Paul, George and marketing. So, after a
Ringo, hard at work little haggling, he
in Montgomery bought both the
National’s pro shop. submarine and guitar
for $14,000. When one
of his friends saw the submarine getting
towed on delivery day, he knew where it
was going. “Tell me you didn’t just buy a
submarine,” he texted McKush.
The refaced guitar and painted
submarine stood outside the clubhouse and
were a hit. Beatlemania at Montgomery
National had begun.
THE CLUBHOUSE IS COVERED with

memorabilia, including a rare Beatles
jukebox that McKush picked up at an estate
sale. (Ringo Starr, Ozzy Osbourne and
Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler
reportedly have the same
one.) The scorecard is Beatles-
themed and the course
website’s homepage image is
the Abbey Road album cover,
the scorecard; the holes are named after despite the White Album being
Beatles songs and, yes, there are McKush’s favourite. He doesn’t
strawberries growing near the hole have a favourite song; he says
dubbed ‘Strawberry Fields’. there are too many. He knows
And you know what? It’s working. how to play nearly all of them,
Montgomery National is busy because and often he’ll grab his guitar –
it’s fun and affordable and and 1,100-watt PA system – and
interesting, and when something sing outside, providing a
is interesting, people ask soundtrack for those still
questions. A couple of weeks ago finishing up their rounds.
16 gents travelled 75 miles to play If the wind is just right, his
the course together, clad in Beatles voice carries the entire course.
shirts. So what is the deal with “I think it gets back to his roots
Montgomery National? Well, it as basically an entertainer first,”
all starts with its owner. says marketing director Kevin
Unterreiner. “He just happens
to own a golf course now.”
McKush sometimes sleeps at
the course; he’ll hit shots off the
McKUSH, 57, WAS BORN in back deck in his pyjamas at
Canada, but his family moved to dawn or grab a guitar and
Minneapolis when he was 15. His strum and sing and broadcast
parents bought a nine-hole golf it all on Facebook. When he
course in Minnesota in 1979, added chimes in on a group text that’s
another nine and renamed it Lone an incubator for course ideas, he
Pine Country Club. McKush worked the tee and 55 yards long and nearly 20 often includes song lyrics (“ob-la-di, ob-la-
there as the pro until the family finally sold feet across at its widest point. The next da”). If you want a golf buggy you can help
it in 2002. The course was promptly torn up year, he made two of his most important yourself – the keys are in a bowl outside on
and rebuilt. It reopened in 2005 as The purchases in the rebranding of his golf top of the garbage can. The contact information
Meadows at Mystic Lake, an 18-hole course course – a 17-foot guitar and a 25-foot, on the course website gives McKush’s
that remains one of the top public courses one-ton, fibreglass submarine. personal mobile and says to call or text him.
in the state. McKush, a Beatles fan since school, Once he had a promotion where golfers
McKush stayed on as the project manager bought both from an antique store, which could get a free round if they brought in a
for the new course and was its director of does its best advertising by displaying its Beatles CD. He quickly received hundreds
golf for 12 years. He retired in 2013 at the most notable pieces off Interstate of discs. “I’ve thrown a lot of
age of 47, but, inevitably, he became bored. 35. McKush had talked before Top things at the wall to see if they
He looked into buying nearby Montgomery about buying the submarine, The Olson guitar stick, and they just keep sticking,”
National, about an hour south-west of which was an extra from the 1970 bunker lies in wait on McKush says. “It’s a wonderful
Minneapolis, but the price wasn’t right. movie Tora! Tora! Tora! (the movie the par-4 10th. canvas that I can do whatever I
A few years later, however, it was. had two, but blew up one on the Above want to here.”
The first musical move came in 2018, just first take and never needed the Help! signs guide Once, when a member was
a few months after buying it, when an Olson second.) He wanted to paint it golfers through waiting in line at a local bank,
guitar bunker was built to the side of the yellow, and proudly display it at the club’s ‘Magical he heard two men in front of
fairway on the par-4 10th. It’s visible from his course, which he figured Mystery Tour’. him talking about Montgomery

‘I’VE THROWN A LOT
OF THINGS AT THE WALL
National and its eccentric owner. “You got
to go to that course,” one said. “The guy is TO SEE IF THEY STICK.
like Willy Wonka if you traded chocolate
and candy for golf and The Beatles.” IT’S A WONDERFUL
McKush said it was the greatest CANVAS THAT I CAN DO
compliment he could receive.
WHATEVER I WANT TO’
was the ideal spot to marry clubhouse
camaraderie with the end of a round.
MONTGOMERY NATIONAL, though, Plus, it had a pond players had to avoid
is not supposed to be a gimmick, despite its off the tee — which is exactly where
claim as the world’s first music-themed McKush decided to place his yellow
championship golf course. The Beatles submarine. The new routing, dubbed the
theme was fun and interesting and good ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, was unveiled in
for social media, but the course needed to July, with The Beatles Help! signs staked
deliver, too. When he bought it, McKush throughout the course to get golfers used to
knew he wanted to build a log cabin the new sequence. A contest on Facebook
clubhouse, complete with spacious outdoor helped name the holes after Beatles songs.
seating and an outside amphitheatre for live The 1st is With a Little Help From My
music, but he wanted it by the 5th green, Friends, since a member had a heart Above
which sits atop a hill and provides a nice attack on the hole, was treated by The 17ft-high guitar
view of the property. paramedics that landed via was bought at the
It seemed only right for the 5th Below helicopter, survived and later same time as the
to become the new 18th. Already All 18 holes have been decided it was a fitting name. yellow submarine.
a strong par 4 with a daunting named after a Beatles The 6th is Strawberry Fields
song, including the Right
uphill approach to a slick, Forever, since McKush is The signs point the
sloping, back-to-front green, it 8th: Fool on the Hill. growing strawberries nearby. way, including one
The 8th, a par 3 from which which leads to a
you tee off on a hill, is Fool on strawberry field.
the Hill. The 17th, with water
right, is Octopus Garden. And the
final hole, the 18th, is the only
one with two names, simply
because two made sense. This story
Both names are fitting: Yellow first appeared
Submarine and The End. on GOLF.com
The yellow submarine:

an ever-present reminder
of one man’s obsession.

Over six weeks, more than 150 golfers swung
and putted their way through the beautiful
Queensland Outback in one of the world’s
unique golfing events. TG joined them...
WORDS & IMAGES PAUL A HEEL AN
t’s late afternoon and the
I Blackall golf course is swathed

in soft, orange light. Gangs of
galahs are squawking and
swirling around us, wood ducks are ruffling
still lagoons, kangaroos are watching
cautiously from the fairways and one
regal-looking rooster is following us.
It’s a quintessential Australian bush
scene and one we’re becoming familiar
with as we travel the Outback for the
world’s most remote and richest amateur
golf series, the 2021 Outback Queensland
Masters. On this afternoon we’re checking weaving
out the course for the series’ fourth round our way
and to play a few holes in preparation for through
the weekend’s rounds. In every town, the the Outback.
first nine is played on Saturday and the Unlike our first
second on Sunday. games in Charleville and
This year the tour began in Biloela, Quilpie, where the shock of
followed by Charleville, Quilpie, Blackall, playing on sand greens threw us, we plan
Hughenden, concluding in Longreach. to be ready for Blackall. Local knowledge
A $10,000 prize is on offer for the first hole- on Outback courses, it turns out, is critical.
in-one on each of the first five courses and In every town the weather has been similar,
a staggering $1 million is up for grabs in with chilly mornings, breezy days, cobalt-
Longreach. It’s an event for players of all blue skies and plenty of sunshine. Perfect for
ages and abilities. Many who attended the golf. On challenging courses when things go
inaugural Outback Queensland Masters in askew, there’s a mix of frustration and
2019 (2020 was cancelled due to Covid) are hilarity. Laughing off disaster shots, it’s
back to compete again. soon understood, is the ideal coping
My golfing partner, Matthew Smith, and mechanism. On each course we are
I chose to play four events. In between accompanied by a few dogs strolling along
events, with our non-golfing partners, we’re with players and supporters; in nearby

paddocks we often spot horses, cattle, sheep,
kangaroos, abundant birdlife and, ‘TO PUTT, COMPETITORS we are Outback Masters. With fierce
determination and persistence, the three-
occasionally, teenagers on dirt bikes. USED A 10KG RAKE putting on nearly every hole begins to quell
On the remote sand greens of Quilpie,
one golfer, David Pennell, did what every TO PULL OUT A SMOOTH, and scores pick up.
In each town, PGA professional and golf
tournament player was striving for. He made
SEAMLESS TRACK TO coach Darren Weatherall runs free coaching
a hole-in-one on the delegated hole, bagging
the $10,000 prize. Word spread swiftly
through the camp and on to national media.
THE HOLE’ clinics for the local kids who turn up
bursting with enthusiasm and excitement.
“It’s a great chance to introduce golf to young
With the odds of an amateur making a hole- finally, impossible sand greens. people and for them to gain some first-hand
in-one at 12,500 to one, the excitement was Many hadn’t experienced these punishing, knowledge and skills,” he explains.
palpable. Pennell, who is on the 1,900km so-called ‘greens’ before. How hard could Brisbane’s Edwina Robertson is the
journey with his wife, Karen, says it was raking a sleek, smooth path to the pin be? youngest adult player in the series. She says
the most challenging par 3 he’d ever played. For a start, the rake is no ordinary garden with so much attention to detail and
“It’s my first hole-in-one in 51 years of rake. It’s made of steel and weighs more than innovative, thoughtful organisation, the
playing golf,” he said. “The sand greens are 10kg. You mark out the path with the rake event is the best she’s experienced. “The
so different to the grass greens I play on – throngs, then turn it on to its roller side and effort, resourcefulness and creativity gone
I can’t believe it’s happened.” drag it along slowly to make a smooth, into making this event happen is so
With an exciting mix of orange seamless track. impressive,” she adds. “Everyone is having
jackets for the top two winners Charleville has an unnerving a brilliant time.”
Below
(male and female) in every event, Expect oiled, mix of sand and grass greens Road tripping between events means
a leaderboard, signage, branding, jet-black, shockingly and the sand versions are oiled, the journey itself is as rewarding as each
automated scoring cards, the slow greens that jet-black, shockingly slow and golf weekend. We’ve come to know and
biggest prize money pool for an smell of diesel. smell of diesel. But better understand remote towns and
amateur event, great food and isolated stations and the resilient
entertainment – and having the people who live there. Driving
Australian PGA Championship through incredible, expansive
trophy, the Joe Kirkwood Cup, the landscapes across country you
tour-like experience is exhilarating. haven’t seen before is unforgettable.
Throughout the six-week event, With two weeks to spare between
golfers swing, slice and putt their way our Blackall and Longreach weekends,
through scrub, saltbush, dry and we drove across the heart of the
running gullies, soft red dirt, cracked Channel Country to the red sand
muddy earth, stony fairways and, dunes on the edge of the Simpson

Desert. After recent rain the Above some crumbled sand greens.
country is bursting with new life. More than 140 As well as hosting the Outback
We lunched at one of the world’s players, plus Queensland Masters, with more
support crew, made
most isolated pubs, the Betoota up 2021’s event. than 140 players plus crew at all
Hotel, which recently reopened six destinations, the Outback also
after a 23-year closure. In Boulia Below hosted the Big Red Bash at
we stayed in glamping tents for the Sure, there are roads, Birdsville (attracting more than
Boulia Camel Races, widely just not the type 9,000 people), the Queensland
known as the Melbourne Cup of you’re used to. Music Trails, and countless
camel races, and flew over the families travelling around for the
town and incredibly stunning landscape in school holidays. With thousands on the
a helicopter. roads, the Outback has never been so busy.
Above With many Outback towns having a golf Some, like us, are in four-wheel drives,
The 2021 event course, practice games are sought after in some are in campervans and others are
took in six stops, between the main events. At Cunnamulla in towing caravans. It quickly becomes clear
with more than the far south-west, the golf course boundary that booking ahead for everything,
$1m up for grabs. runs alongside the Warrego River. On particularly accommodation, medical
several of its holes giving way to mobs of appointments and restaurants, is essential.
emus making their way across fairways and The event concluded with those who had
greens to their watering hole is common. In played two or more weekends, eligible to vie
Windorah, population 80, it looks as though for the $1 million hole-in-one. Against the
most of the golfers have left town. While the wind, one by one, players stepped up for
course is in need of some serious their shot. No-one managed to pull it off.
maintenance, we found enough holes Never mind, most will be back to try again
to have some long practice shots on next year. “It’s like a travelling golf club with
overgrown fairways and putts on everyone creating memories together,” one
organiser tells us. “Friendships and
connections are made and many
are eager to come again.”
For information on the 2022

Outback Queensland Masters,
which begins on June 18, visit
outbackqldmasters.com

THE GOOD GUYS, THE
GOOFBALLS AND MR
ALLIGATOR ARMS.
WELCOME TO...
On the promise of complete anonymity, we asked

50 top-level tour caddies for their honest,
unvarnished views on the game and the players
who pay them. The replies were illuminating...
I N T E RV I EWS J O H N H U G G A N & B RI A N WAC K ER

Q1 WHICH PLAYER WOULD YOU
MOST LIKE TO WORK FOR?
What does a caddie want from his paymaster?
Q2 IF YOU
To be treated nicely and to be very handsomely HAD TO
remunerated. And if that paymaster also
happens to be a living legend, that would help WORK FOR
too. Our opening question returned some
fairly predictable replies, with two men
FREE, WHICH
dominating the answers... PLAYER
WOULD YOU
WORK FOR?
RORY TIGER The highest percentage here
said Tiger Woods (36%).
M C I L R OY WOODS “Just to have said you had,”
36% 34%
said one of many, in what was
a recurring theme. “I’d make
a lot of money with Tiger,”
said another, not quite
grasping the concept of ‘free’.
The next highest percentage
(18%) was from caddies who
“He’s a great guy, “How can you flatly refused to work for
an unbelievable not answer anyone for free. “I mean, do
player and he’ll Tiger to this? you work for free?” asked
make you a I’d have one. The remaining 46% was
made up of Rory, Harold
killing. He still preferred to be Varner, Seve (via a time
has a long way to carrying his bag machine) and Webb Simpson
go in his career 15 years ago, but – “As nice a guy as you’ll find
and there’s no even so. Just to and he makes a boatload of
better bag out be able to tell my cash,” said another confused
soul. Rickie Fowler (9%) and
there than Rory.” grandkids I had.” Adam Scott (7%) both rated
Brooks Koepka was the next-best, highly, mainly on account of
on 12%. “He’d win you a stack of cash,” they being nice guys who treat
chirped. While the remaining votes split their caddies well but for an
between Xander Schauffele, Phil Mickelson, additional, money-can’t-buy
Tommy Fleetwood, Marc Leishman and Fred perk. “You know you’ll
Couples – we’re guessing back in the day always have plenty to look at
rather than right now. in that guy’s gallery!”
Q3 WHO’S THE MOST Q4 THE CHEAPEST

GENEROUS PLAYER ON TOUR? PLAYER ON TOUR?
In caddieing circles, generosity comes in two forms – time A clear winner here, as Matt Kuchar
and money. Defined thus, one man led the way… “No one polled 35% of the votes. “He had
gives more time than Rickie Fowler,” said one of our everybody fooled but those inside
caddies, as Fowler polled 17% of the votes. “He always treats the ropes always knew,” replied one
people well and he always takes care of them, and that caddie. “And it’s not even close.”
includes his caddies. In this one, it’s Rickie by a mile.” Indeed it wasn’t close, but the
Another very well regarded tour pro was Sergio Garcia, who European Tour’s Richie Ramsay
polled a next-best 13% of the votes. “Sergio’s a super guy pulled in 23% of the votes, ahead of
when it comes to his caddies,” said one respondent. “And his the likes of Miguel Angel Jimenez,
Christmas bonus is always a handsome Jamie Donaldson and Sungjae Im.
one.” Other notable good guys: And while billionaire Tiger Woods is
Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy, only name-checked once in this roll of
Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, dishonour, it is to memorable effect.
Webb Simpson and Billy “Tiger’s gotten a lot better over
Horschel. “Billy’s always giving recent years, but he still has
guys rides on the plane and he those alligator arms.”
gave his caddie $1 million after
winning the FedEx Cup. I wanna
work for Billy!”

Q7 WHAT IS YOUR
Q5 WHICH TOUR Q9 ARE YOU OVERPAID,
PLAYER HAS THE HONEST OPINION UNDERPAID, OR
FRUITIEST ABOUT THOSE WHITE PAID ABOUT RIGHT?
LANGUAGE?
Shame on you Ian Poulter MASTERS OVERALLS?
(21%), Harold Varner III (19%)
and Tiger Woods (14%) – “The “They are cool.”
mics don’t pick up half of what OVERPAID
Tiger says, but he loves to drop “It’s tradition.” 21%
F-bombs and tell dirty jokes.”
But when it comes to filling the “Shit, it gets way too hot
airwaves with expletives and in those.”
setting a very, very bad example,
there can be only one winner: “They’re obnoxiously “We are never
“It’s Pat Perez by an absolute uncomfortable. I get the tradition, underpaid.”
mile,” said one of our bag
carriers. “He’s always swearing but come on.”
but it’s just who he is.” “Hate them. I’m not a painter and
decorator.”
“I prefer them. It’s easy. I’d wear ABOUT
“F*#@$!!” them every tournament.”
RIGHT
61%
“I like it for one week a year.”
“They’re uncomfortable and
heavy and you stink after “Missing cuts –
wearing them all day.” underpaid. Winning –
overpaid.”
UNDERPAID
PAT PEREZ
Q8 WHAT’S THE 18%
EASIEST MAJOR
39% CHAMPIONSHIP TO WIN? “Underpaid,
undervalued and
under-respected.”
Q6 WHAT’S THE
BEST ADVICE
YOU’VE EVER
RECEIVED? Q10 WHO’S THE BEST
One simple question elicited
CADDIE ON TOUR?
so many different replies. One caddie above all others, put
“Be patient”, “Try not to ‘over- up on a pedestal by his peers...
caddie’ and “Don’t be a ‘Yes’
man,” all featured repeatedly,
alongside “Never be scared to
lose your job – because it’s
going to happen at some point,
often out of the blue, and
there’s nothing you can do
about it.” A recurring theme
centred on the need to prepare
thoroughly and leave no stone
unturned. “Always do the
62%
simple things well and be one-
step ahead.” “Have everything
ready. But don’t volunteer
anything.” And “Just work hard.
Period.” However, the age-old BILLY FOSTER 19%
caddie adage clearly still rings Honourable mentions for Mark
true in the modern era. “Turn THE MASTERS Fulcher (11%), Joe LaCava
up, keep up and shut up” – (13%) and Steve Williams (15%).
and variations on that theme –
PGA Championship 38% The winner, however, was Billy
polled 19% of the votes, US Open – 0% Foster, erstwhile caddie to Seve,
suggesting that even in an age The Open – 0% Sergio, Westwood and Clarke.
of a friend on the bag, the boss “A cool customer and he’s had
remains The Boss. success in so many eras.”

Q11 WHAT Q15 WHAT KEEPS
TOURNAMENT YOU AWAKE AT
TREATS YOU NIGHT?
THE BEST? What does the average tour
Caddies are not, by nature, caddie worry about to the
complicated souls. All they point of not being able to
require to be happy is to be
fed and watered and treated
Q13 WHO’S BEEN sleep? Not much, it would
seem. A quarter (25%) say
like if not VIPs then RIPs – THE BEST PLAYER they sleep just fine. “If
rather important persons.
For that reason, The Masters ON TOUR IN THE you’ve been around a while,
you’ve seen it all and there’s
rated highly here (18%). “The
food is great, the locker room
MODERN ERA? nothing that should worry
you,” said one of them.
is better than The Players The likes of Brooks Koepka and Dustin Those who do worry are
and, best of all, they have Johnson may beg to differ. Bryson troubled by the fear of being
beers ready for you when you DeChambeau will no doubt have his own late for duty (18%) – “An
finish.” Wells Fargo also thoughts. And Jon Rahm had his backers – early alarm in the morning
ranked high (16%). “The food “No question he can dominate the rankings.” and fear of missing a tee
in the caddie area is great and But this category wasn’t even close...
time.” The wind is also a
significant concern (12%),
69%
they let us valet,” beamed
one. “Everything is done just “Especially when it’s blowing
right.” But the premier 20-25 mph”. Fear of the
tournament among caddies sack troubles only a few
lies on our own shores. (6%). But the biggest
Wentworth’s BMW PGA concern for those who do
Championship received more lose sleep is of making a
votes (26%) than any other wrong decision (22%).
tournament. “The food is
excellent, the changing rooms RORY MCILROY “Any decision that costs the
boss shots is going to play
are great, they just seem to “When he’s putting well, Rory has no on your mind.” As for the one
get everything right.” caddie who’s kept awake by
weakness. When he putts even average, a fear of “working weekends”,
there’s no one better out here.” he might want to use that
19%
time to think about pursuing
an alternative career.
Q16 WHAT’S THE

TIGER WOODS WORST MISTAKE YOU
MADE THAT NO ONE
“Tiger’s still the best – KNOWS ABOUT?
when he’s healthy.” As with the previous question,
most caddies fret over perceived
incompetence. From not waking
up in time, to not having any balls
on the first tee, to somehow
losing the boss’s bag along the
Q12 WHAT
TOURNAMENT Q14 WHO IS THE way, idiocy comes in many guises.
“I once put the bag down on the
TREATS YOU THE MOST IMPRESSIVE ball when we were looking for it
in the rough,” admitted one. “I quit
WORST?
Only in a world of multi-
ALL-ROUND PLAYER the bag of a future Major
champion when he was a nobody
millionaires could a person
moan about having to go to
YOU’VE EVER SEEN? and before he hit it big,”
harrumphed another. Most often,
Hawaii. But carrying a bag in though, the concerns centre on
paradise and getting paid for miscalculations. “I once gave a
it clearly ain’t all it’s cracked bad yardage and my player hit it
up to be. “The Sony Open is over the green, we made bogey
atrocious,” moans one of and lost the tournament
many (26%). “There are no RORY by one,” admitted one. “My boss
facilities, they have us outside M C I L R OY didn’t know, or at least he acted
in a tent and the parking’s 27% like he didn’t know.” “So many
lousy. As for the food, to say wrong yardages,” laughed another.
it’s not good is being kind.” “But it’s just part of the job and
Not good? “It’s horrendous,” TIGER you can’t be right all the time.”
says another. The Honda WOO DS Happily, it’s not always doom
Classic (13%) and John Deere and gloom. “I once miscalculated
Classic (7%) are better, but 62% on the first hole,” chuckled one
not much, while The Masters caddie. “Well, I thought it was
isn’t universally loved. “It’s the the first hole but it turned out
worst because there are so An other it was the 10th. My player got
many rules. I hate that.” 11% to 15ft and birdied it.”

Q17 WHAT DO YOU
SAY TO YOUR
PLAYER DOWN THE
STRETCH IF HE IS
LEADING ON THE
FINAL DAY?
Opinion is split here. Some caddies suggest their player
should embrace the situation as much as possible,
others would say nothing. “My player’s a winner and he
knows what to do,” they said. The second-most popular
(29%) approach is to take the player’s mind off the
situation completely. “We’d talk about anything at all
other than golf,” said one. “It would be a time for every
joke I know.” But the most popular approach,
accounting for 50% of the votes, is to just keep on
keeping on. “Take it one shot at a time. If it’s been good
enough to get you into this position, just keep doing
what you’ve been doing.”
Q18 HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PLAYER CHEAT?

An ancient, noble and honest game? Well it’s ancient, certainly...
“I see it all the time with guys

‘testing’ different clubs behind “If it is
their ball in the rough. The next happening out
thing you know, the grass is
YES NO here, I haven’t
matted down and they have a 94% 6% seen it. At least,
clean look at it. And we all not yet.”
know who they are.”

Q21 WHAT’S
Q19 WHAT ONE RULE Q23 IS IT A GOOD
WOULD YOU CHANGE? THE WORST PIECE IDEA TO HAVE A
So many, many options here, but OF CADDIEING FRIEND ON THE BAG?
the replies centred on a handful
of recurring themes and issues. YOU’VE SEEN?
Still being able to be DQ’d for
signing an incorrect scorecard Some 23 years later, the memory of a
rankles, as does the rule of intent Frenchman daftly paddling around in the YES
– “There are people who are
cheating and it’s far too vague a
burn still dominates most thoughts when 21%
this question was posed...
term.” The new lower drop rule is
also still an issue, likewise the
moveable obstruction rule. As one JEAN VAN DE VELDE 42%
caddie pointed out, “You really
shouldn’t be able to have an “When Jean Van de Velde lost “There’s a lot to be said
entire gallery help move a boulder.”
the 1999 Open at Carnoustie for having someone
However, they are minor quibbles you’re comfortable
and most votes were split with Christophe Angiolini
between the age-old issue of on the bag. If he’d just hit with. It demands
slow play (25%) and the ruling wedge, wedge on the friendship – and
on divots (44%). “If you’re in the
last hole, he wins yardage books are so
fairway you should get relief from good. So why not?”
a divot,” said one of many. the Open.”
A significant 38% abide by

some caddie code of
Q20 HOW MANY omerta, refusing to name MAYBE
SHOTS A WEEK DO names. Most are variations 39%
YOU SAVE YOUR MAN? on the theme of giving their
paymaster bad advice and
Assuming the man plays four watching as his ball airmailed
rounds a week, Thursday to the green or fell into the water
Sunday. The caddies claimed... as they missed the cut or
narrowly lost the “It can work because of
0 SHOTS tournament. Many of those how good the yardage
0%
respondents didn’t lose and greens books are,
any sleep over it; 22% of but it’s a fine line.”
them did.
1 SHOT
0% Q22 THE BEST

NO
40%
2 SHOTS PIECE OF CADDIEING

40% YOU’VE SEEN?
Much caddie kudos to Joe
Grenier for getting Max
“Starting out, no. You
NEED a pro. You can’t
be friends sometimes
Honma over the line at or a “Yes” man. If you
3 SHOTS Wells Fargo in 2019 for his
29%
first PGA title –
are, you won’t be
acknowledged by 40%. “He friends long.”
was all over Max the
whole back nine on
4 SHOTS Sunday, he played
Q24 SHOULD
25%
such a big part in his
victory.” Michael RANGEFINDERS
Greller at the 2017 Open
was also highly
BE LEGAL?
commended. “When Jordan To be blunt, no. Only 16%
believe they should. “It would
5 SHOTS Spieth hit it off the map,
help speed up play,” was the
6%
Michael kept him calm and was instrumental in him
recurring response. Which
getting that win.” But half our caddies (50%)
means 84% think they should
plumped for the same man at the same Masters in be banned. A good number
2013. “Steve Williams wins this by some distance,” believe they actually slow down
said one of many. “If he hadn’t had the experience of play. Many believe it replaces an
knowing just how much that putt broke on the 10th art form with cold, hard science.
“Depends on the week hole at Augusta in 2013, I’m not sure Adam Scott
but it’s between two and And a few are fearful of where it
would have won that Masters.” would end. “We’ll be out of a job
five, though they would soon if they don’t stamp them
never admit that.” out.” So that’s a no, then.

THIS MUCH I KNOW
‘My retirement
plan has always
been to open a bar
in the Caribbean.
I’m not ready to do
that yet, though’
ERNIE ELS
PORTRAIT JAMES CHEADLE
hirty long years ago, Theodore Ernest Els Growing up, I played a lot of rugby, cricket and tennis
T blew the doors of golf wide open. Victory

in 1992’s Protea Assurance South African
Open may not now register as his greatest
before I ended up focusing on golf. I just loved golf
more than all the other sports. In rugby you get hurt,
and I don’t like to get hurt. I stopped playing rugby at 16,
victory in a very decorated career, but it may well rank my dad really told me not to play anymore. I still play
as his most important. tennis now. I mean, I’m a shadow of my former self, but
Three decades later, Ernie Els has 72 worldwide I still enjoy the game.
victories to his name, including US Opens in 1994 and
1997 and Open Championships in 2002 and a decade My nickname at school was always just ‘Elsey’. My wife
later. Nineteen victories on the PGA Tour and 28 on the still calls me Ernest – I think because that tends to get
European Tour helped elevate Els to superstar status my attention. But I much prefer to be called Ernie. It’s a
on both sides of the pond. very friendly name.
Today, older, wiser and 33 years after he first joined
the professional ranks, the Big Easy is well placed to I’ve always loved the smell of gas stations. I guess it’s
offer his perspective on the world and the lessons he’s because my dad was a trucker and I was in the trucks
learned along the way – including why that first victory with him since I was four years old. That smell brings
changed everything. back so many memories for me.

‘Stand over a putt to win The Open and
your stroke won’t be your regular stroke.
Your putter head will be literally shaking’
My very first job was in the air force. I did my basic Above left Ernie African PGA and the South African Masters – before
training and they gave me a desk job, so it was very has made a habit of that, Gary Player had been the only guy to have done
uneventful. That was the only job I had other than golf. winning wherever that, so it was a big thing. It was a very good year for me
It made me realise, even at that young age, that I wasn’t he’s played. in South Africa, which got me a card in Europe and then
born to be sat in an office. I was born to be out in the I followed that up by finishing tied for sixth at The Open
open doing what I love, which is golf. Top “Competing at Royal St George’s the next year. Everything happened
against Tiger was very quickly in about a two-year span that started with
My closest brush with death? I almost lost my hand such a privilege,” that ’92 SA Open.
once. Things could have been very different if I had says Els.
done. I’ve had a couple of car accidents along the way. America was a hard place to crack. I was fortunate
One of them was a pretty bad one when I was 18 or 19.
Bottom Launching to get on the South African Tour and I tried the
the 2007 Johnnie
My friend and I were in the army and we came back from European Tour a bit in the early days, but for some
Walker Classic in
the border and had been out celebrating. We probably Phuket, the start of reason I kept missing in America. Then I got a card
shouldn’t have been driving but we went into the centre Els’ three-year plan in Europe and started doing well there and I then had
of Johannesburg and flipped the car over. It was touch to challenge Tiger as some very good breaks in South Africa. I won that
and go for my hand so it was a lucky break. World No.1. South African Open and that got me some invites to
You think you can survive anything when you’re that play in the States and then I won the US Open in 1994.
young but my father was very upset so I knew it was A lot of good things happened to me at an early age, and
pretty serious. I wish and hope my children won’t ever I had a lot of luck along the way.
go through anything like that.
That US Open in 1994 could have gone any way.
1992 was the year my life changed forever. That year It could have gone to Colin Montgomerie, it could
I won the South African Open and even today the South have gone to Curtis Strange, who was in there, it
African Open gets you into events around the world, could have gone to Loren Roberts... I guess that for some
including The Open Championship. I also won the South reason I was in the right place at the right time.

THIS MUCH I KNOW
THE CV
Born on October 17, 1969 in
I made so many putts that day. If I didn’t Johannesburg, South Africa. there), but competing against him was Above Ernie
win that one, and get a 10-year exemption such a privilege. overcame a shaking
as a 24-year-old, and a lifetime exemption Wins the 1984 Junior putter head to
on the European Tour... well, that really World Golf Championship I said I had a three-year plan to dethrone win his first Open
set me up. in the Boys 13-14 category, Tiger, but that never quite happened. Championship at
edging Phil Mickelson into I felt really good after a win at the South Muirfield in 2002.
Being part of the ‘Big Five’ was just a second. African Open, I think in 2006 or His second Open
great time. There was me, Tiger, Vijay something. I had a very bad knee injury in came a decade later.
Singh, Retief Goosen and Phil Mickelson Wins the South African 2005 and that put me off track and I really
and we were all in the prime of our Stroke Play Championship wanted to rededicate myself to the game.
careers. It was a golden era. We won a lot in 1989 and turns pro later I don’t normally talk so big or make such
of tournaments around the world. I won, that year. bold statements but, you know, I was
just in that five-year period, I think 27 feeling that I really needed a goal to go at
events around the world. But obviously
Wins first of four Majors, and I felt I needed a plan, so I made that
the US Open in 1994 – the
Tiger was the dominant figure at that Masters (2nd twice) and PGA plan public and I came close. I didn’t quite
point. He was winning the most Majors (3rd twice) evade him. close the deal and it was maybe something
and establishing himself as one of the I regret saying, but I wanted and needed to
greatest players. I got four Majors, Phil’s Inducted into the World have a goal to go at.
got six, Retief’s got two, Vijay has three Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.
and then Tiger has 15, so it just shows you How does it feel when you’re standing
how dominant he was. over a putt to win The Open? Well, your
stroke is certainly not going to be normal when you’re
Tiger was by far the toughest competitor I encountered. in that position, you know that much. You can feel the
It was tough for me because I felt I could really be the tension all through your body and in your arms and
best player in the world – and I was the best for a short hands – I mean, the putter head is literally shaking!
time on paper (Els was ranked No.1 in the world for a All you can think of is trying to make solid contact.
combined nine weeks between 1997 and 1998). But Tiger If you decelerate you’re going to miss it left, if you hit it
was really the man to beat because he was the best player too hard you’re going to miss right. So you’ve just got to
of my generation. try to make good contact.
It’s been a long ride. I’ve known Tiger since the early But the way your body feels – man, it’s so hard to
’90s when he was still a junior player, and we’ve shared describe. When that putt dropped for the first Open
a lot of moments together. I know I could have had a in 2002, it was hard to take in or comprehend what I’d
couple more events under my belt (but for Tiger being done. At first it’s just a relief. Just huge, huge relief that

THIS MUCH I KNOW
you’ve done it. It’s over and you’ve won. Left barefoot. However, what we all need to remember is
A lot of stuff goes through your mind, but it takes a Ernie’s retirement that there’s never been only one way to get the ball in
while before you can really even start to take it in and plan has been in place the hole efficiently.
it takes a while longer to truly comprehend the scale of but on hold for almost
your achievement. 30 years now. If I could time travel to any point, I’d go to the 1950s
through to the mid-70s. Everything was much quieter
I don’t have a favourite of the four Majors. Any time Below and less stressful back then and many of my biggest
you lift a trophy it’s wonderful. The joy is indescribable. One of the 72, Els heroes in golf were around at that time.
So to pick one of the Majors over the other is very hard.
is victorious in I’d have loved to play with them in their prime – Ben
the 2013 BMW
When I was young, I was very cocky and thought I’d Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Gary
International Open.
win them all. I thought The Masters was going to be Player, Arnold Palmer. I think I’d have had a really good
first, then The Open and then US Open and PGA time with Jimmy Demaret.
Championship. Sadly, it hasn’t been as easy as that, but
I’ve loved every victory I’ve had. I’ve had a retirement plan for almost 30 years. Back
in the early 1990s, right before the US Open, the media
Winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in asked me, “What will happen if you win this US Open?”
2010 was one of my happiest memories. Arnold was I said I’d just take the money, go to the Caribbean and
one of my favourite people in golf and he inspired me so open a bar, and that would be that.
much. I remember him saying that everything in life that That was 20-something years ago and I’m still trying
he had he owed to golf, and I completely agree with that. to win more tournaments, as well as building golf
That’s how it is for me too and I’m so grateful for courses all over the world. So I guess that bar is still
everything the game has given me. gonna have to wait!
I still love the competition. I love to compete Gary Player has always said that the senior Majors
in everything I do. Whether it’s golf or table tennis or should count as Majors. I’m not sure I agree with that
whatever else, I have this drive to win. It’s in my blood. statement but I think the career ‘Senior Slam’ certainly
I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my brother for that. should be celebrated a little more. That’s a goal for me
He’s older than me and he wrestled me to death. now though, to win a few of those senior Majors.
But he instilled a big, competitive
drive in me. Because he was a bit
older, I was trying to beat him and
I couldn’t quite do that too many
‘Arnold Palmer said he owes everything
times. But, nowadays, I compete
for myself and I’m still trying to
he has to the game of golf. That’s true
win. I think I always will be.
for me too – I’m so grateful for everything
I owe so much to my wife. She
(Liezl) has been with me for the game has given me’
90 percent of my career, and
obviously we both have loved the
ups and didn’t like the downs too much; that’s always
tough to take as a professional sportsman. At times she’s
had to really pull me out of some dark holes, and I really
appreciate it. She’s been a pillar of strength for me.
Adversity is just part of the game. You kind of do

what you need to do. You know what your dream is
and just keep following it. Sometimes, you hit a low
and you’ve got to pick yourself up and you’ve got to
keep living the dream, and that’s ultimately what you
want to do.
Golf is and always has been a game of inches and

tweaks. In your stance, in your equipment, in your
attitude, in everything you are and everything you do.
I’ve never been a very technical player. I don’t get

caught up in swing positions and mechanics. When
I work on my swing, I’m looking for feels. You’ll get
better results – and often more distance – if you swing
at 80 percent. I get all kinds of people telling me I have
the best swing in the world – it’s beautiful, it’s effortless
– but I know when that isn’t true.
In my view, Louis Oosthuizen has the most beautiful

swing in the world. Or at least one of them. It’s about
turning, about rhythm, about building speed
gradually and that’s something I can relate to. He’s on
the ground (with his swing). I am, too. Swinging out
of my shoes is not a concept for me. Really, I could play

UNDERCOVER
TIGER COUNTRY
THE GROVE, HERTFORDSHIRE
Tiger Woods tamed it in 2006 – but how will our intrepid fourball get on?
OUR UNDERCOVER PLAYERS

CHARLES BRISCOE-KNIGHT
Age 75 Handicap 14 Lives Reigate, Surrey
Best golfing moment Monty asking
“Who’s the pro here?” when I matched his
score on a number of holes in a Pro-Am.
CHRIS BOARDMAN
Age 56 Handicap +1.4 Lives Tadworth,
Surrey Best golfing moment Celebrating
three holes-in-one within three years – all
on the same hole.
KEVIN BROWN
Age 65 Handicap 15 Lives Peterborough,
Cambs Best golfing moment Setting up a
TG Tenner match at Wentworth (and winning
on the 18th!) against Samuel L. Jackson!
CLIFF WEIGHT
Age 67 Handicap 3.3 Lives Walton Heath,
Surrey Best golfing moment Holing for a
two at the 17th at Rye to win the President’s
Putter for the second time.
NEED TO KNOW...
Founded 2003
Designer Kyle Phillips
Yardage 5,507-7,152 yards (par 72)
Green fees Until Feb 28 – Mon-Wed, £115; Thur-Sun, £135;
Residents (all week), £99
Where it is Chandler’s Cross, Hertfordshire, WD3 4TG
Star holes A set of memorable short holes but the wheels can
come off as early as the SI1 par-4 3rd, where you drive from an
elevated tee to hopefully find the right side of the fairway before
taking on the critical shot over ‘Hell’s Lake’ short of the raised
green, also guarded by shaven swales.
Contact 01923 294266, teetime@thegrove.co.uk
‘To get four balls on the
first green in eight shots
was almost showing off
– but then it got harder’
I first played The Grove just after it opened and
really enjoyed it. Now, having encountered it
fully mature and displaying rough capable of
testing even Bryson DeChambeau’s muscles,
I love it and would think it has to be near the
top of England’s leading parkland layouts.
Be warned, though, you need to pitch up
armed with a variety of shots – combined with
pinpoint accuracy to execute them – if you’re to
get the better of the challenging layout.
To get four balls on the first green in eight
shots was almost showing off, but the other 17
holes proved really tough – apart from the
uphill par-3 16th… our combined score of eight
was unprecedented in my time playing the
game – a feat even the Tour stars would struggle
to achieve. Oddly enough, though, I’m usually
not a big fan of short holes played to hidden
greens and there are a couple at The Grove!
Perhaps strangely, for a 14-handicapper, my
favourite hole was the toughest stroke index –
the wonderful downhill par-4 3rd, with a small
lake short of the green. On the day, going for it
in two was out of the question, but a sensible
pitch and two putts secured a good net par.
Off-course, the front of house service was
impeccable. The 1st tee briefing, just like many
USA courses of similar ilk, was factual and
helpful and in my book you’ll struggle to find a
better resort venue in the country. My only
issue was that I would have liked to have seen
the 3ft high rough trimmed down to aid speed
of play, but overall it was a memorable day out.
The Grove lies a short drive from central

London – but feels a world away.

UNDERCOVER
‘You’ll struggle to find

a better conditioned ‘The gentle par-4
course or better service opener is a nice, gentle
anywhere in the world’ introduction – then it
gets down to business’
I’ve been fortunate to play (and stay) at The Grove on
several occasions and it simply gets better every time. The Grove’s grand gates were easy to find and
It prides itself on its first-class service and course
conditioning and, once again, it passed both tests with GROVE a welcoming sight after dealing with the insane
traffic on the M25! Once we reached the
flying colours. On both counts, you’ll struggle to find
better – even on the other side of the Atlantic.
TEE CARD clubhouse, the staff were very welcoming and
helpful. We had time for a quick coffee and off
The big, bold, speedy greens are a joy to putt on, HOLE PAR YDS we went to the range, which was not only close
providing you have a red hot putter, and the fairways 1 4 312 by and convenient but also first-class.
are so immaculate you feel a tad guilty taking a divot. 2 4 385 The course starts gently with a short par 4,
The tees are equally pristine and hold the key to a 3 4 410 but then quickly gets down to business. The
pleasurable, entertaining round as opposed to a hard 4 3 127 holes are all very well thought out with no
slog: it’s a resort venue and with the layout ranging from 5 4 402 obvious weak points. The fairways are
5,500 to 7,000-yards plus, there are four tees to pick from 6 5 506 generous and lush – which is just as well as
– disclose your handicaps to the friendly starter and he’ll 7 3 132 you need to stay out of the penal long rough!
recommend which suit you best. 8 4 393 The par 4s have a very pleasing mixture of
Kyle Phillips has made the best possible use of a 9 5 515 lengths and shape to them, with the 8th and
relatively modest landscape to create a fine, challenging 18th standing out for very different reasons –
36 / 3,182
test of golf. One or two holes are somewhat ‘samey,’ but tricky and long respectively.
the four short holes are pivotal… and I’m not just saying 10 4 341 The par 5s on the front nine are strong,
that because I was an inch away from holing out at the 11 5 463 though the two on the back nine are a little
4th and showed the way, securing the first of four birdies 12 4 419 similar. The par 3s are the stars of the show,
at the uphill 16th! 13 3 184 however, with a great mixture and providing
All this fun, frivolity and quality – both on and off 14 4 342 wonderful tests for all golfers. All in all, a
course – doesn’t come cheap. But when you consider 15 4 367 wonderful and very enjoyable course to play.
its location, and the fact it’s hosted a World Golf 16 3 148 Finally, the food and drink in the smart
Championship and British Masters, and the fact that 17 5 470 Stables bar/restaurant post-round were
Tiger Woods has prowled its fairways, it’s justified. 18 4 416 exceptional and I’d conclude by definitely
If you can afford to, staying and playing at The Grove 36 / 3,150 recommending The Grove as highly as any
is the dream ticket. TOTAL 72 / 6,332 resort course experience I’ve had to date.
Four sets of tees make Kyle Phillips

track a test for all levels.
The fairways and greens

prowled by Tiger Woods
during his WGC win in 2006.

‘The tees were very flat,
neat and tidy. In fact,
everything about The
Grove is neat and tidy’
The Grove experience unfolded as we drove up the
long curling drive with enticing views of the rolling
countryside where a golf course has been crafted.
It was a marvellous sight and my first view of The
Grove. I sensed all the right messages. The karma felt
good and the mansion house hotel looked impressive,
too. On arriving at the clubhouse we were warmly and
enthusiastically greeted by staff who couldn’t have
been more helpful.
I was impressed by the sizeable putting green and
even though it was mid-afternoon it was still virtually
immaculate – the roll so smooth and true.
The excitement built nicely as we moved to the 1st tee.
We chose a buggy – it was a warm day and as there are
long walks between some holes, it proved a wise choice,
particularly as the impressive fleet of buggies featured
the very latest technology and provided us with all the
vital yardage information at a single glance.
The tees were flat, neat and tidy. Actually, everything
at The Grove was very neat and tidy. The fairways are
generous and easy to hit from, the semi-rough is just
that, but for really ‘wild’ shots you were in lost ball
country. The beautiful greens are receptive to a well
struck shot and one of my favourite holes was the 12th,
which demanded two decent strikes. The only weak link
was the par-4 10th, a poor imitation of the 10th hole at
West Sussex.
Overall, Kyle Phillips has done a great job… and The
THE UNDERCOVER VERDICT
Grove is well worth a visit. The home of a luxury resort dubbed ‘London’s
Country Estate’ and with bags of pedigree, The
Grove has hosted and entertained celebs and
sporting stars aplenty since opening its doors
under two decades ago. Three years later it
famously staged the first World Golf Championship
event to be held in England (Tiger Woods was a
rampant winner) and a decade on it saw Swede
Alex Noren triumph in the British Masters.
But did Kyle Phillips’ modern masterpiece
deliver the goods for TG’s fourball one afternoon
last summer? It certainly did, with seasoned
3-handicap campaigner Cliff Weight enthusing:
“It’s a five-star establishment… and deserves all its
stars. We elected to play from the Grove tees at
6,332 yards, so there were lots of chances of birdies
(alas, not so much for the two higher handicappers!).”
Our fourball’s enthusiasm was undoubtedly
partly due to the fact they all registered birdie twos
at the par-3 16th, prompting Cliff to add: “As far as
I’m concerned, this is a first. I’ve never known of
any other fourball achieving this, except on the
Himalayas putting course at St Andrews!”
More than anything, the TG team were
enamoured by the Augusta-style conditioning of
the layout as well as the outstanding service on
offer, while the halfway house’s tasty sausage
rolls were also well received. Other than M25
traffic issues (what’s new?) and thigh-high
rough (to speed up play, a local rule means you
can drop your ball under a one-
shot penalty), our fourball had
a fantastic experience. Sadly, NEXT
emulating a Tiger eagle on
the par-5 9th comfortably
MONTH
proved beyond them. Maybe G A N T ON,
next time… YORKSHIRE

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YO U R C OAC H
CHRIS RYAN
Founder of the HIT
Golf Academy, based
at Forest of Arden.
chrisryangolf.com
QUICK FIX
UMBS UP
A tight hold
destroys chipping
back and through. As well
as boosting feel and
feel and awareness. awareness, this lagging
To keep grip pressure in sensation develops a
check, take your wedge and smooth, co-ordinated
grip normally. But just rhythm. After 10 chips,
before you start back, lift replace the thumbs softly
both thumbs off the handle. and repeat.
With the thumb/forefinger
pincers removed, you’ll To tune up feel
instantly gain a better feel and flow, start the
for the weight of the head. swing with arms
Hit chips with your thumbs slightly flexed to remove
up. Notice how the clubhead any remaining tension in
almost lags as your hands your hands and arms.
and arms swing the handle
Caddie On Your Shoulder p72 Break 100/90/80 p74 DIY Diagnosis p78
Home On The Range p79 Learn A New Shot p80 The Basics p82
Short Game p85 Golf Fit p86 Picture This p87

P L AY BE T T ER
CADDIE ON YOUR SHOULDER
SHORT BUNKER 1
Read the lie
The lie of the ball determines your
SHOT TO A TIGHT PIN

ambition. If it is lying cleanly, the option
of floating one out high and leaving it
reasonably close to the hole remains open
to you. If the ball has settled at all you’ll
need to dig it out, and a steeper attack with
a delofted face means a lower, hotter flight.
Formby’s greenside bunkers that puts my eyes at hole level and If this is your fate, change your goal from a
are not for the faint-hearted leaves me precious little green to potential up-and-down to making sure you
and this one – just to the left work with. This is a situation that are putting with your third shot… even if that
of the short par-3 16th – is a super needs a calm head and a pragmatic means playing away from the flag.
example. My tee shot – so nearly approach. Base your approach on
good – has been gathered into a trap these four factors...

YO U R C OAC H
ADRIAN FRYER
solidgolf.co.uk
Fellow of the PGA based
at Liverpool Golf Centre.
liverpoolgolfcentre.co.uk
WHAT WOULD
RORY DO?
Picture a tour pro playing
your shot. What would the
rhythm of their swing look like?
How steeply would the ball rise?
Where would it land, and how
much would it run? Imagining an
expert in your position is a solid
way to visualise the shot you
need to play, and so the swing
you need to execute. The only
adjustment you’ll need to make is
to increase the margin for error.
In this case that means picturing
the ball landing by the pin, rather
than on the green short of it.
2 3 4
Where’s the Big Error? Add loft Grass cutter
Positive visualisation is a key element The biggest mistake club golfers Once you have a clear mental picture
of any successful shot, and we will come make on short bunker shots is of the needed shot and swing, it’s
to that. But before then, it will do you no failing to accelerate or complete the important to rehearse it. That’s not
harm to make yourself aware of the one thing followthrough. The best way to deal with so easy in bunkers, of course, where you
you know you must avoid with the shot. On this is to play the shot with more loft – for can’t strike the sand on the practice swing.
a shot where the pin is barely eight strides example, an opened-up lob wedge as opposed So make your swings on the grass outside
away but six of them need to be carried, the to square-faced sand wedge. Creating the bunker. Train the swing pace, length and
answer is plain; getting cute, underhitting height and not distance, extra loft gives release you’ve pictured, allowing the sole of
and watching the ball roll back into the sand. you permission to add speed, and therefore the club to engage the ground as it swings
Adjust your strategy and targeting to take the commitment. Of course, this needs some through. Make a couple of strong, confident
Big Error out of play. practice to avoid that short Big Error – but dry runs and you will find it much easier to
with work, you’ll learn the more aggressive commit to the shot in the sand.
rhythm that yields best results.

P L AY BE T T ER
BREAK 100/90/80
BETTER
PUTTING Ultimately, the putting stroke
demands precision but very little BREAK 100
power and very few moving parts.
Instructing your body to calm down to the
Reduce
point where you can find that all-important movement,
precision is one of the key challenges
facing the 100-breaker. Let’s examine two
calm the
areas where problems frequently crop up… stroke
and learn how to deal with them.
1 2
STEADY THE LEGS the bungee to hold the stick/shaft twist to face the ball and the hole. persevere and you will start to
When putting, head movement is across the front of your thighs, as With the entire head, upper body feel a much steadier head and
the enemy of precision. Golfers are shown (1). Find a straight putt, and and shoulders pulled around, the upper half, with pure striking
often told they moved their head take your address; get the stick to putter can’t help but follow… as coming a lot more readily.
after a missed putt. That may be line up with your hips, knees and clearly indicated by the stick (2).
true, but usually the movement feet, square to your target line. Line bonus
originates from lower down. Hold fast for pure striking The second big benefit of a
Twist… and bust Your simple goal for this exercise steadier upper half is that your
Square guide The unconfident putter wants to is to hit putts without the stick shoulders can now work more
For this drill you’ll need an assess the success of the putt, moving. It sounds simple, but for up and down the line as your
alignment stick or clubshaft, plus almost before the ball is struck! chronic throughswing twisters arms swing the putter back and
some kind of band or bungee. Use Typically, this means a damaging it can prove a challenge. But through. That’s going to allow you

YO U R C OAC H
3
SIMON PAYNE
UKCC Level 3 coach and
PGA Fellow pro at Cowglen
GC, Glasgow.
to send your putts up the target Wrist burn Swing a grip Calmer stroke
line far more easily. To move the putter face, it quickly To get past this damaging Make enough repetitions like
becomes clear that the best way movement pattern, get hold of this and you will start to train a
FORGET ABOUT to do it is via your wrists. Hinge a putter grip… or an object of smoother, calmer stroke, driven
THE FACE them back and the putter moves similar size and shape. Take by the more dependable arm and
We know the ball will only do backwards (3)… Hinge forwards your stance and practise swinging shoulder muscles. When you feel
what the clubface tells it to, so it and the putter moves too (4). the grip back and through. ready, find your putter and swing
is only natural to want to control This is the easiest way to move With no head or face to focus it back and through, keeping
the ball by controlling the face. the putter face, but far from the on, your attention shifts to your attention on the handle and
However, focusing on the face best way. It fires too much energy moving the grip… and the best not the head. The face becomes
itself can cause issues, and into the head, compromising path way to do that is through your much more stable and your
here’s why... and attack angle. hands and shoulders. delivery of it far more consistent.

P L AY BE T T ER
BREAK 90 1 2
Improve
roll
Roll the ball well

and it will stay on
line and roll out the
correct distance. When we
struggle to do this, we must
focus on the putter’s attack
angle. A gentle level-to-up
brush is ideal, but problems
with the lead wrist and how
it affects the release of the
putter can make it hard to
find. Let’s learn a drill that
will help...
Breakdown
Let’s focus for a minute on the
angle in the back of the lead
wrist. If it buckles through the
strike, as pictured here (1), the
clubhead flicks past the hands
with loft added to the face.
A steeply upward attack with
plenty of face loft is no recipe
for a smooth roll.
Skid row
The opposite is no better (2).
Allow that lead wrist to bow
and you will tend to create a
more downward attack with
a delofted putterface. This
3 4
tends to strike the ball into the
ground, causing it to bounce
and skid. Again, no good for roll.
Wrist watch
For this exercise, grip down
the handle of your putter to
leave the top portion exposed
(3). Note how there are pretty
even gaps between the handle
and each wrist. Ideally, we will
preserve those gaps through
the stroke. Slip a ball between
your lead wrist and the handle
to help feel this.
Consistent,
smooth release
Hit putts with the ball in place
(4). With your lead wrist locked
into an effective and consistent
position, the putter releases
well and the ball rolls smoothly.
Hit 10 putts with the ball in
position before dropping it
out. Try to replicate the same
feeling, preserving a steady
gap between wrist and handle.
Don’t worry about where the
ball finishes; just focus on
achieving that smooth roll
off the blade.

1 2
BREAK 80
Improve
rhythm and
focus
The golfer ENGAGE WITH perception of distance and chest-on to the putt. It’s than a complicated
aspiring to THE TARGET your feel for the putt. a position that helps you technical solution. So get
shoot in the Most golfers rehearse the connect with the target to work on stroke length,
70s will have mastered putt from beside the ball, Two eyes are and become less stroke- equalising backswing
the basics of putting. a position that allows you better than one focused. Give it a try. and throughswings to
Aside from the to shuffle into your set-up Our perception of distance retrain consistent and
constant need to check with minimal fuss. While rises exponentially if we REGAIN RHYTHM controllable acceleration.
basics, putting issues there is nothing inherently stand face-on and gauge THROUGH If this happens on the
become a little more wrong with this, you are it through both eyes (2). STROKE LENGTH course and your club has
cerebral. Here are two making your practice swings You can bring this into If you find your touch the appropriate pins, lie
ways to keep out of with your head down and your putting by making has deserted you, it is far the flag on the green and
your own way and let looking at the ball (1). your practice swings more likely to be an issue use its black and white
the stroke flow... This can compromise your from behind the ball, with the stroke’s rhythm sections to guide you (3).

P L AY BE T T ER
YO U R C OAC H BU Y A BE T TER G A ME
The cut-
price cure
GILBERT HEPBURN
Senior PGA
Professional, PGA
for fats
National Golf Academy
Scotland, Gleneagles. and thins
Flatball Swing
Training Aid £7.99
With tyres, tees and towels
making some of golf’s best
swing aids, there’s no shame
in going cheap and simple with your
training gadgets – and Flatball is
about as cheap and simple as it gets.
The same diameter as a golf ball
but only a quarter of an inch thick,
Flatball is aptly named. Toss it
down on a flat surface and it sits
intimidatingly flush. This, of course,
is the idea. Only a perfectly pinched
delivery permits any sort of decent
contact; a rising attack will almost
certainly see you swing over the top,
while an over-steep or slightly heavy
assault will see the sole bounce up
and over. As such, Flatball is an
inexpensive and generally effective
compression trainer for irons and
short-game shots.
But as you might expect at £8 or
thereabouts for six, it’s not without
fault. First, we have limited usability.
Perched up on grass, Flatball’s
effectiveness is compromised; and
while it’s good on range mats, you
can’t exactly wander out to collect it.
Also, feedback can be a little
sketchy for attack angle – if you
mistrike, it’s not always obvious
what your mistake was – and there
DIY DIAGNOSIS is precious little information on path
GET UPWARDLY MOBILE

or dynamic lie (eg toe-deep strike).
Yet for the price and ease of use,
particularly as a winter, round-the-
house training aid, Flatball remains
a smart, value option that is well
worth a look – especially if you are
Your driver attack angle can add significant distance an habitual thinner or chunker.
– put this simple drill into play for maximum gains Izzo Golf, via amazon.co.uk
1 2 3
If you want to wring Launch monitors To monitor your
every yard out of your have shown us how driver attack angle,
driver, you can’t afford distance can increase place a headcover 18
to ignore attack angle. significantly when we inches ahead of the WHAT
Your technique can see the raise the ball’s launch angle. ball. Each drive should IT DOES
driver squeeze down on the When we do this we create miss the headcover as it Helps you nail your
ball, sweep upward through a higher, hotter flight with sweeps up and through. irons and short-
it or strike it with a level distance-sapping spin held Headcover striking shows game shots.
attack. Each scenario creates in check. Higher launch is your attack is too steep –
its own set of so-called achieved by sweeping consider moving the ball
‘launch conditions’; in upward through the ball. forward in your stance,
terms of distance, the two Generally speaking, the and work on a ground-up
we are especially interested slower the swing speed, downswing movement
in are the ball’s launch the more upward you’ll sequence to take the
angle and spin rate. need to swing. steepness out of your attack.

HOME ON THE RANGE YO U R C OAC H
THE PERFECT
In your most effective and powerful golf
swing, the sequence of your downswing
works from the ground up. This is the
natural sequence we use for throwing and
WARM-UP DRILL
hitting, but for many club golfers, it needs a
little encouragement to come out. That’s why DEANA RUSHWORTH
I recommend the following drill as a great way Former England international
to kick off your practice session. Use it for two and Advanced PGA
Professional, Witney Lakes
sets of three balls and it will set a tone, feel and Resort, Oxfordshire.
rhythm for the rest of the basket. deanagolfpro.co.uk
1 2
One, two, three Slow and steady
Use your 7-iron for From this new
this drill. Start by stance – feet close
lining up three balls together and behind
and addressing the ball – swing
the first one with back to complete
your regular set-up. your backswing.
Begin the motion by Swing with a slow
drawing your lead and steady rhythm;
foot across to your remember, this is a
trail foot. Allow the warm-up drill.
club to hover a foot or
so behind the ball.
3 4
Step to it Up and away
As you feel the club Swing through and hit the
reach the top, stride ball. Do not worry too much
forward with your lead where it goes; just enjoy
leg to replant it back the feeling of creating the
into position. This correct ground-up power
should feel almost like sequence – legs, pelvis,
a powerful throwing torso, arms, club. Move
action, where you step straight on to repeat the drill
first to create a snap for the other two balls; it
in your arm. This step will help you drill sequenced
helps you accelerate rhythm into your action.
the club at the right
point in the swing
and promotes good
weight transfer.

P L AY BE T T ER
LEARN A NEW SHOT
THE RESTRICTED
BACKSWING SHOT
Another green missed at
Turnberry’s stunning King
In circumstances such as these
you could alter your aim line to
Robert the Bruce layout; clear a backswing path, but that
and my chances of pitching back to would mean hitting away from POWER
the pin are hindered by a prickly your target. However, with some THROUGH
and uncompromising gorse bush simple and effective alterations, ANGLES
On ordinary, unrestricted
blocking the path of my backswing. you should not have to...
swings we talk about
building speed and
power through creating
width and coil in the
swing. Obviously,
this is not an option
here. We have to look
at secondary power
sources… and the key
option here is your
wrists. As well as
creating speed, an
aggressive cocking and
uncocking of the wrists
narrows the arc of the
swing; exactly what’s
needed in this context.

HOW TO PLAY IT
1
Create space centrally for a shot like this. as shortening the club, this
Your first goal is to work on a But here, it may not be possible. encourages the quick wrist
stance and swing that sees your Shift yourself laterally, towards cock you’ll need.
clubhead miss the obstacle. the target, until the ball is just 3. Take more loft to
Consider these elements... inside your trail foot. accommodate the delofting
1. Step away from the bush. 2. Grip down the handle. In caused by the rear ball position
Depending on the lie, you would extreme cases this may mean and the choppy release your
probably position the ball trail hand on the metal. As well wrists are about to deliver.
2 3
YO U R C OAC H
Backswing Pick the club up Delivery Jam it out

Base your backswing move on a feeling of using To make your best strike, remind yourself that
your wrists to send the clubhead upward as its sole power source is the wrists. Focus on
ANDREW MURRAY abruptly as possible; you should establish a 90º uncocking your wrists to drive the club down onto
Former European Open angle between lead arm and clubshaft pretty the back of the ball. This won’t create the same
Champion who specialises quickly. Your core remains stable. Rehearse this force as a normal strike; but the speed of the
in one-on-one or group
coaching and corporate backswing multiple times to get a feel for the wrist release, allied to a compressing blow from a
golf events. quick wrist cock and to ensure you miss the bush delofted clubface, should give you enough power
andrewmurraygolf.com or tree… then repeat the move on the swing itself. and distance for most greenside situations.

P L AY BE T T ER
THE BASICS
STRIKE POINT
In the fourth instalment of our series
dedicated to golf’s five modern basics,
our focus shifts to the point of contact
between the clubface and the ball. Though
obviously central to the shot’s success, strike
point is often buried under a mass of WHAT EFFECT
well-meaning but ultimately ineffective swing DOES IT HAVE?
tips. So let’s bring it back to the surface with The biggest effect of strike point
the tips and drills that target a better strike. is distance. A centred strike
affords optimal power transfer,
but it is estimated that missing
the centre by an inch costs
10% of your distance – that’s
around a 25-yard loss with the
driver. Missing the sweetspot
WHAT IS IT? can also create curvature due
Quite simply, the part of to the so-called ‘gear effect’, a
the clubface that meets toe strike promoting draw spin,
the ball. Obviously this and heel strike encouraging cut
could be high, low, into spin. There is also a vertical gear
the toe, the heel or from effect, with high-face strikes
the centre. More forgiving reducing spin and low-face
clubfaces can make it hard strikes increasing it.
to know your strike point,
but you can discover your
pattern by...
Covering the face with
foot spray, which leaves an
impact mark.
Inking the back of the
ball and seeing where the
face is marked.
Covering the face with
impact tape, designed
specifically for this job.
YO U R C OAC H
NEIL WAIN
PGA professional based at
Keele GC, Staffs.

STRIKE POINT CONTROLLER #1 SWING PATH
If you are experiencing problems with the quality of your strike, the first
element to check is the path of your swing.
1 2
Off-track Address: Set square

A neutral swing path – the club swinging straight Improving a crooked path begins at set-up. Work
down the ball-target line at impact – gives you your on making sure your shoulders, hips, knees and feet
best chance of finding the centre of the face. As soon are parallel to each other and to the ball-target line.
as you begin to swing excessively from out-to-in or But also ask a friend to place a shaft across your
in-to-out – as pictured here – you are sending the forearms to check they are square; even if everything
club across the ball, which brings the heel and toe else is lined up, a poor grip can skew the arms and
much more into play. send the club offline.
3 4
At-the-top: Shoulder guide Delivery: Butt points the way

An off-line swing often reveals itself at the top. Offline swings tend to create compensatory loops,
An overly inside backswing moves the hands low which show up on the way down. Inside backswings
and flat, while an outside move makes you steep and loop ‘over-the-top’, outside swings can drop on the
upright. A great thought to beat both is to feel your inside; both compromise strike. In an on-plane move,
hands are above your trail shoulder as you change the shaft will point pretty much down the target line
direction; relatively easy to achieve, it ensures you as it swings through parallel. Stage this position before
are neither too flat nor upright at the top. rehearsing it in slow motion, gradually building speed.

P L AY BE T T ER
STRIKE POINT CONTROLLER #2 LOSS OF POSTURE
When we lose our set-up body angles, we also lose the shape and path of the
swing. Although coming from a different source, the result is the same – an
across-the-line pass at the ball and poor striking.
1 3
Shaft pointer 3. Make a backswing
The most effective turn, making sure the
way to retrain this shaft and butt point
loss of posture is by between the two balls.
focusing on increasing
your backswing 4. Chances are your
shoulder tilt. shoulders will feel
much more tilted, and
1. Place a second ball your backswing a little
a foot or so outside shorter. That’s fine. This
your object ball, as is a compact, controlled
shown. move that allows you to
retain your body angles
2. Address the inside and keep the club on
ball as normal. But plane.
now, while keeping your
set-up posture, lift the 5. Make this a regular
club up and pin it across part of your warm-up.
your shoulders. It will help to train you
to turn in posture… and
that’s really going to
help your ballstriking.
Too tall
This is the most common loss of posture
– a standing-up through the backswing,
the upper body’s set-up forward tilt
almost disappeared. When the torso
becomes more vertical, the shoulders and
arms cannot help but turn the club into an
excessively flat position.
Over the top

Sensing they are too flat, golfers who
do this become overly steep during the
downswing to get the club back down to
the ball. Typically this means an out-to-in
impact path that is always pulling the
centre of the face inside the ball. Expect
weak toe strikes.

SHORT GAME
INTENTION,
at all levels. This is what can and does
happen when our thoughts and focus
jump from task to technique.
ATTENTION AND
That being the case, what
can you do to prevent this from
happening time and time again? It is
pretty simple. In a world where we are
led to believe that complexity is the key,
ATTITUDE
quite the opposite is true.
Once you have assessed the lie and
the shot you have to play, here are three
crucial questions that will reduce the
clutter and help to put you in the best
state to play the shot...
Three key words for greenside success What is my INTENTION? Without
intent, you have no starting point or
In our second exclusive extract around the grip in a desperate attempt not destination.
from The Lost Art of the Short to make a mess of yet another pitch. Where is my ATTENTION? This can
Game, authors Gary Nicol and Karl Only seconds ago, you were totally be on something useful, or something
Morris reveal how to stop technical focus engaged and absorbed in the shot and now useless. This is an individual thing, and it
distracting you from the task at hand. you are entirely detached from what, in is up to you to discover the placement that
reality, is a pretty straightforward shot and serves you best.
When you are faced with a shot around a fairly simple task. All thoughts and How is my ATTITUDE? Am I
the green, whether that be a shot that visions of playing a great shot have been committed to my intended shot? Am I
requires less than a full swing, a pitch replaced with numerous internal technical ready to accept its outcome, good or bad?
over a bunker or water, a chip-and-run instructions, all vying for your attention. Whenever you face a short-game shot,
or a bunker shot from a plugged lie, do Your initial clarity has been replaced with these three words – Intention, Attention
you start thinking about what the ball a maelstrom of mental clutter. and Attitude – should form the basis of
needs to do or what you need to do? All you have ever learned about staying your planning. If you can allow them to
In other words, are you thinking about in the present moment has gone out of the become the foundation of your short game
the task or the technique? window as your mind goes on – and indeed your entire golf game – you
The shot or the swing? a journey of time travel. will become able to release yourself from
We would imagine that, YOUR COACHES Firstly, revisiting previous the technical noise and be in a far better
initially, like most golfers, you bad shots and then, just as state to solve the problem in front of you.
are probably thinking about quickly, jumping ahead into
what your ball needs to do to the future, predicting and Taken from The Lost Art of the Short Game by
get close to the flag. Great: you worrying about the result or Gary Nicol and Karl Morris – with a foreword
are focused on the task. outcome of the shot. from Bob Vokey, the godfather of wedges.
However, once you are over You are not alone. This Available now at www.thelostartofgolf.com in
the ball, there is a strong happens all the time to players hardback (£19.95) and Kindle (£9.99) formats.
possibility that your thoughts
will quickly turn to what you
need to do. Those thoughts
might be about how you need to KARL MORRIS
move your arms, hands, hips & GARY NICOL
and/or shoulders. You have have coached everyone
probably figured out how you from beginners to Major
would like your ball to fly, winners. Karl’s company
The Mind Factor (www.
where you would like it to land themindfactor.com)
and how it will react when it works closely with TPEGS
lands on the green. Ultimate Golf Experiences,
Visualisation is extremely run by Gary and Andrew
powerful and something we Coltart at Archerfield Links.
strongly recommend you work
on. You have created a nice
clear image of the shot in your mind’s eye.
You’re almost ready to go, but then – out of
nowhere – you suddenly think about the
last time you played a similar shot that
resulted in a double bogey because you
duffed it three feet in front of you. You
remember that one of your playing
partners told you that you had bent your
left arm in your backswing and lifted your
head at impact. Now your thoughts are
entirely on your technique.
You have completely forgotten about
the shot you face right here, right now and
suddenly you feel fear and tension engulf
you. You can feel your hands tighten

P L AY BE T T ER
YO U R C OAC H
GOLF FIT
BACKSWING NATALIE LOWE

TPI Level 3 trainer
STRETCH
and UKSCA Strength
& Conditioning coach,
owner of Manchester-based
Pro-Fit Golf Conditioning.
www.pro-fitgolf
conditioning.com
For the typical club golfer,

training their body for golf
comes a distant second behind
training their technique. Yet it’s
2
physical elements such as flexibility Slide the palms up
and strength that dictate the quality Once both palms are on the
and consistency of your movement, wall, slide your trail palm
as well as protecting you from injury. (right for the right-hander)
Training your body needn’t be time- upwards. If you can, try to
consuming or demand a gym membership; slide the lead hand up to
there are simple things you can do at home reach it. Maintain golfing
that take two or three minutes. Give them posture as you do this. Hold
a try; just a little golf-specific training can the position for 10 seconds;
take you a long way. you’ll feel a stretch through
your arms, shoulders and
upper back – areas
where you need
1 flexibility to create
a wide, powerful
Wall reach swing arc. Repeat
3 For this exercise
stand side-on to
three times.
a wall, your trail foot
around 18 inches
from it. Take your golf
posture, arms criss-
crossed across your
chest. Rotate back
through your rib-cage;
From here, simply
reach back until both
palms are on the wall. Always
consult
your GP
before
adopting
any new
fitness
regimen.
Advanced Increase the stretch

On its own, the Wall Reach can be a massive
help with backswing length and extension.
But to take this exercise to the next level,
turn your lead hip and knee away from the
wall while leaving your palms on it. Mimicking
the upper/lower body separation that permits
you to start the downswing from the ground
up, this move will help you train a stronger
downswing sequence.

PICTURE THIS
USE YOUR
YO U R C OAC H
Butch Harmon has
always been fond of saying
that your body doesn’t
MIND’S EYE
understand English. Sending verbal
instructions to your muscles rarely
works; images and tags, on the
other hand, are far more effective. GARY CASEY
Club Professional and Coach
Here are four that will help you at Pitlochry Golf Academy.
drive the ball further... www.garycaseygolf.com
1 2
Grip Ice cream Stance
Picture how you’d hold an ice Eiffel Tower
cream cone – in the fingers, This image is for
gentle yet secure, with the arm your stance. Of course
soft and relaxed. Bring that same the Eiffel Tower has a
feel to your trail-hand grip; it will wide base, tapering
help power to flow from your as it rises. Picture
big body muscles through your lower body
into the club. adopting that same,
stable spread at
the base; this will
help you contain
and balance the
long and wide
driver swing.
3 4
Backswing Finish Smiley face
Number 9 For this final image,
Picture you are wearing imagine you’ve drawn a
a football shirt with a smiley face on the sole of
number 9 on the back. your trail shoe. Better still,
Imagine that, as you actually draw one. Your
swing the club back, job for the finish of the
you will show the swing is to show the face
number to someone to someone standing
standing face on behind you. It’s an easy
to you. You might cue to gaining the
not quite manage it, weight shift and
but the image will rotation every
help you make a throughswing
full backswing needs.
rotation through
the ribcage.

THE DEFINITIVE TOP
GUIDE TO OUR
GREATEST
COURSES
VISIT US
ONLINE
H E N E
T ME O F W
H O U R SE
www.todaysgolfer.co.uk
C O K IN G S
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HE
T O H ER E
Every club tested and rated at www.todaysgolfer.co.uk YO U B L P
BETT UY
ER
NEW LAUNCHES
X
CARBON v
TITANIUM
TaylorMade and Callaway
unveil their flagship 2022
drivers... and they couldn’t
be more different
NEW GEAR NEW GEAR NEW GEAR SHOWCASE

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2022 EQUIPMENT
THE DAWN
OF THE
CARBONWOOD
First we had hickory, then persimmon, followed by steel and titanium. But TaylorMade say the metalwood
era is over – and all their driver faces from now on will be carbon-fibre. Starting with Stealth...

TUR
PA G E TNOTSH E
A L L T H R E EE E
STEA
D R I V ELRTSH
nly a handful of drivers
O have ever truly changed
the game – things like the
first persimmon; TaylorMade’s first
steel head in 1979; Callaway’s original
Big Bertha; TaylorMade’s r7, the first
movable weight driver… This year,
TaylorMade believe they have
another; the Stealth.
In four decades, wooden
clubs had their day, and
steel has come and
gone. Titanium is
So does it work?
today’s metal of TaylorMade have done
choice, but masses of testing, and
TaylorMade now results have thrown up some
believe its days impressive gains. Officially, they shape, size and
are over, too – say carbon adds 1.1mph more ball profile of each
and Stealth speed over a SIM2. But during How does layer to get the
heralds the era of initial seeding, we understand it work? right balance of
the ‘carbonwood’. gains of 5-6mph have not TaylorMade’s durability, sound and feel, while
TM are so been uncommon. initial goal for also maintaining the brand’s speed-
confident of the exploring carbon protecting Inverted Cone Technology
performance of their faces was saving behind the face.
new carbon-fibre face weight. But as they
Stealth driver, chief of Metalwood explored the idea, engineers Is it faster?
Creation Tomo Bystedt told us: “Due found other benefits, too. Let’s deal The weight removed from the
to the benefits of titanium plateauing, with weight first. A titanium driver Stealth’s face made it possible to
TaylorMade will never make a face weighs 43g. A carbon face make the face bigger (4,150mm2
titanium-faced driver again.” weighs 26g. This 17g of freed-up mass compared to a SIM2 Max’s 3,750mm2).
Carbonwoods might sound is then repositioned to create the That inspires extra confidence, but
radically different, but carbon-fibre ledge the face is bonded to, with extra also means a larger portion of the
drivers aren’t entirely new. Others mass being spread face can be at the maximum
have tried – and failed – to use the through the body. allowable CT (characteristic time)
lightweight composite in driver Think of it like limit. The idea improves
construction before (remember a car crash; a forgiveness and shot-to-
Callaway’s C4?). Yet TaylorMade car with a shot consistency, so
insist Stealth takes the tech to a new lighter golfers get more
level, thanks to material and process front and a predictability and
breakthroughs. heavy less drop-off
The new design brings the weight weight in the between on and
savings and energy transfer benefits boot will create off-centre hits.
of carbon-fibre, but critically without more force
losing the sound and feel DJ, Rory, during a collision Is it more
Tommy Fleetwood and Collin than the same car forgiving?
Morikawa expect from a with mass evenly Prior to 2004, the R&A
TaylorMade driver. This distributed through its body. tested drivers using a
is how they’ve done it. COR test (coefficient of
Face coating
Is it durable? restitution); the spring-like effect of
TaylorMade discovered a Why carbon? TaylorMade’s engineers built the a club face. That test involved firing
pure carbon face caused spin Carbon-fibre isn’t Stealth’s face from the ground up, as a golf ball from an air cannon at a
inconsistencies between dry an obvious choice using existing materials and clubhead and measuring the velocity
and wet. So they added a nano- for a driver face; construction methods would have at which the ball bounced off
texture (hence the pattern) and it needs to be made the face 1cm thick! They had to different areas on the face. But it was
PU coating (similar to the cover strong and flexible figure out how to make carbon-fibre time-consuming to do, so in 2004
of TaylorMade’s TP5 ball) to while having the at half the thickness of that currently they moved to the CT test; that also
ensure more consistent capacity to available, and how many layers were measures the spring-like effect of a
spin rates. withstand frequent needed, as well as establish the clubface, but using a portable
high impact collisions. pendulum to strike the club face.
But whereas previous Sensors then read the amount of time
carbon drivers had faces
twice as thick as a traditional ‘TAYLORMADE the two objects stay in contact with
each other. It’s much quicker, and
titanium face – which inhibits flex
and deadens sound – TaylorMade’s SAY THEY WILL could be done on Tour. TaylorMade
realised lots of modern drivers hit
engineers developed this one using
60 layers of ultra-thin carbon strips.
NEVER MAKE A modern CT limits, but fall below the
previous allowable levels for COR. A
That layering process means this face TITANIUM-FACED carbon-fibre face closed the gap,
offers more consistency than
titanium, without impacting sound. DRIVER AGAIN’ making Stealth fast and more
forgiving.

2022 EQUIPMENT
TAYLORMADE
STEALTH DRIVERS
Three new models designed with every golfer’s game in mind
aylorMade have slotted their leads golfers to hitting shots harder at the rear that maximises
T new carbon-fibre face into
three driver models, each
as there’s less fear of missing the
centre. The Stealth’s face is 11%
MOI performance.
Speed Pockets. Part of
designed to cover off the playing bigger than the SIM2 and 20% TaylorMade drivers for years,
preferences of everyone from Rory bigger than the original SIM in 2019. the Stealth’s Speed Pockets
McIlroy to Rory Bremner. Along Speed Shaping. Since the original maximise face flex and
with the face material, all three have SIM, TaylorMade drivers have ball speeds and produce
several things in common... been optimised for speed in additional forgiveness on
Bigger faces. Thanks to the downswing. Even low face strikes.
the material switch, there’s though Stealth models So they share certain traits,
less weight located at the have bigger faces, but they also have some key
front. This means Stealth they’re aerodynamically differences to make them
faces can be bigger, to optimised and come more appealing to
inspire confidence, decked out with an individual
which often also Inertia Generator weight players...
S T E A LT H
P L U S+ £499
Lofts 8°, 9°, 10.5°
Stock shaft Project X Hzrdus
Smoke Red RDX 60 (mid flight),
Mitsubishi Kai’li White 60 (low flight)
TaylorMade have brought into three-driver
families since the M1, M2 and M2 D-Type
back in 2017. The Plus+ is Stealth’s lowest
spinning model, and TaylorMade say the head will
lower backspin by 200-300rpm compared to the
standard Stealth. It’s called Plus+ because there’s a
sliding weight track located behind the face, which
neither of the others have. A 10g weight lets golfers dial
in a preferred shot shape and/or boost ball speed by
locating the weight directly behind the typical impact position.
It’s ideal for players who want to chase distance through
lowering spin, and for those who like a more workable driver
or want to see drives fly with a particular shape.

TWO STEALTH
S T E A LT H HD £469 FAIRWAYS
Lofts 9°, 10.5°, 12° (10.5°, 12° women’s) TaylorMade’s two-pronged attack at
Stock shaft Fujikura Air Speeder 45, Aldila Ascent Ladies 45 (women’s) fairways continues in 2022. Players
HD stands for High Draw. But that right-to-left ball flight willing to pay for the performance of
doesn’t come at the expense of forgiveness. TaylorMade titanium fairways should take a look at
say that by lumping weight in the heel, some draw models the Stealth Plus+, but the majority of
accidentally lower MOI and off-centre hit forgiveness – club golfers will flock to the powerful,
that isn’t the case here. Thanks to its lighter, higher- forgiving stainless steel Stealth.
launching Fujikura Air Speeder stock shaft and adjusted Along with Speed Pockets to improve
internal weighting, this is a high launch mid spin driver performance on low face impacts, both
with maximum draw bias. A women’s Stealth HD has the models share new Infinity Edge carbon
same face and forgiveness tech, with subtle crowns (freeing up weight for improved
cosmetic differences and its own forgiveness) and laser etched face stripes
Aldila Ascent shaft. to boost confidence and set-up accuracy.
S T E A LT H £279
Lofts 15°, 16.5° 3HL, 18°, 21°, 24°
Stock shafts Fujikura Ventus Red 6 FW, Fujikura Ventus
Red 5 FW, Aldila Ascent Ladies 45
Fairway wood faces are too small to
benefit from carbon fibre in the same
way as the Stealth drivers, but a new
toe-and-heel wrapped carbon fibre
crown frees up enough mass to allow
a 5% MOI gain over the previous
SIM2 Max fairway and a 13% gain
over the original SIM Max. The Stealth
has a V Steel sole for versatility from
the turf and a bigger profile than the
S T E A LT H £469 Plus+ (190cc vs 175cc).
Lofts 9°, 10.5°, 12°
Stock shaft Fujikura Ventus Red 5
With no sliding sole weight or need to
tie up any of the mass freed up from
the new carbon face to create a track,
the Stealth has a 15% higher MOI than
the Stealth Plus+. That means extra
forgiveness and ball speed protection ‘WITH THE
when shots are sprayed across the
face. The Stealth is very much the STEALTH,
mass market model, which means it
will be the most popular version. Like THEY’VE S T E A LT H P L U S+ £349
the previous SIM drivers, the standard
model has a slightly lighter head (200g
COVERED OFF Lofts 13°, 15°, 19°
vs the Stealth Plus+ at 202g) which THE PLAYING Stock shaft Project X Hzrdus Smoke Red RDX 70 FW
is optimised for speed. TaylorMade say
thanks to spinning 200-300rpm less PREFERENCES TaylorMade titanium fairway woods
have been a massive hit among tour
than the Stealth Plus+, and because
of the mid-high flight stock shaft,
OF EVERYONE players who love the smaller but
forgiving heads, which deliver both
you should see this model as offering FROM RORY workability and shot control. The Plus+
mid-high launch with mid-low spin.
Compared to the Stealth HD, expect MCILROY TO has a refined 175cc size, yet there’s a
12% larger face area and a 12% MOI
a more neutral shot shape, but with
similar levels of forgiveness.
RORY BREMNER’ gain over the SIM2. A V Steel sole plate
has a clever fang-shaped design, with
weight stacked at the front so the head
wants to roll forward and control spin.

2022 EQUIPMENT
CALLAWAY
ROGUE ST DRIVERS
Four new models ‘Speed Tuned’ for greater distance and stability
ersonalised performance Callaway have explored how consistently constructed than

P is nothing new in the
world of drivers. Most
every parameter can be optimised
to incrementally nudge the rules
previous models, and better
at transferring impact energy
manufacturers offer three or four of maximum distance and stability to the ball.
models, so golfers can take to higher levels. Updates shared by A tungsten speed cartridge
advantage of low spin, more all four models include... (which ranges in weight
forgiveness, or draw bias. And A new Jailbreak Speed Frame from 20-26g) at the back
it’s that simple, personalised behind the face, which is stiffer at of the head delivers
performance idea Callaway have the bottom and more flexible at extreme perimeter
taken inspiration from to develop the top, to improve flex and weighting performance.
four new Rogue ST drivers, energy transfer. Callaway have also
each of which is ‘Speed A Unibody construction optimised each
Tuned’ to better suit its means the Rogue ST driver model with
intended audience. heads are more its own stock shaft.
R O GUE S T
M A X £479
Lofts 9°, 10.5°, 12°
Stock shaft Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue
The most forgiving model,
accounting for 55-60% of all Rogue ST
sales. Compared to the Epic Speed,
the Max cuts backspin by 250rpm, adds
1mph of ball speed and gives an 11%
tighter dispersion. Callaway say there’s
a touch of draw bias built in (but nowhere
near as much as the slice-busting Max D),
so it suits all levels of golfer well. A 26g
tungsten speed cartridge (the copper-
coloured section at the back of the head)
means more MOI than Mavrik, so expect
extra ball speed protection when shots
don’t hit the middle.

R OGUE S T T RIP L E
DI A MOND £479
R O GUE S T M A X D £479 Lofts 9°, 10.5°
Lofts 9°, 10.5°, 12° Stock shaft Project X Cypher Stock shaft Mitsubishi Tensei AV White
Thanks to extra heel weighting, the ST Max D is In 2021, Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson
the family’s most draw biased model. It has less won Majors and Xander Schauffele
face progression, so there’s more time to square won an Olympic Gold using a Callaway
the face at impact. A more upright lie angle helps Epic Speed Triple Diamond driver that
start shots further left of the target, and there’s a wasn’t available to the public. That
forgiving, stretched address profile and internal will change in 2022. This is a tour-
and external weighting to create maximum shot proven, 450cc, low-spin option for
shape correction. A 20g Tungsten Speed Cartridge better players, decked out with a
also ensures high MOI performance for maximum neutral-to-fade bias which Callaway
forgiveness performance on off-centre hits. say makes it a great anti-left driver…
and nowhere near as forgiving as a
Rogue ST Max.
CALLAWAY
ROGUE
FAIRWAYS
Callaway have taken a similar
personalised performance approach
R O GUE S T to three new Rogue ST fairway
M A X L S £479 woods. Each model (ST Max, ST
Lofts 9°, 10.5° Max LS and ST Max D) has a more
Stock shaft Mitsubishi Tensei AV White player’s shape than the flatter, pan-
Like all four ST drivers (and each different shaped Epic fairways. Inside, new
loft), the lower spin LS has different AI Jailbreak ‘bat wings’ in the toe and
designed patterns on the back of the face heel work together with a new C300
to optimise ball speed from the typical maraging steel face to encourage
impact locations of each loft and model. more flex in the centre for improved
Callaway say the tech gives marginal ball speed and distance.
gains over competitors, and since starting
to use AI in 2019 they’ve got better at
asking the computer to optimise loft,
launch and spin. Each generation wrings
out extra performance that wouldn’t have
been possible before AI. The tech allows
Callaway to make the LS very speed and
spin robust, so on and off-centre hits fly
consistent distances. Expect a strong,
lower, more penetrating trajectory,
with more shot shaping capacity
and a more neutral (straight) ball
flight than the ST Max.

2022 EQUIPMENT
CALLAWAY
ROGUE ST
IRONS
Each model is more tailored to the traits of
its target audience than ever before
ny company make because they’re

A that can
count the
forged and cost over
a grand a set. But
brilliant forged Apex Callaway know that
iron family within not everyone is
their ranks is going willing to pay top
to find it difficult price to play forged
when introducing irons, so there’s
competing new plenty of space for
models. Apex are the the four new Rogue
best irons Callaway ST models...
R O GUE S T P R O £949 (s), £1,149 (g)

Stock shafts Project X Rifle Tour Flighted (s),
Mitsubishi Tensei AV White (g)
ST Pro is a cast hollow body iron (the
majority of hollow irons have either a forged
body or face). Thanks to 48g of tungsten
inside (split between toe and heel locations, and
188% more than the Mavrik), we get the looks of
a tidy muscleback blade at address with similar
levels of forgiveness to a compact mid-handicap
cavity back. Designed for low-to-mid single-figure
handicappers, Callaway say the Pro is compact and
workable as well as being fast and long for the category.
C A L L AWAY ’ S 2 0 2 2 I R O N L I N E - U P
A P E X MB £1,099 A P E X 21 T C B £1,099 A P E X 21 P R O £1,099 ROGUE ST PRO From £949

Category Muscleback blade Category Player’s iron Category Player’s distance Category Player’s distance
Handicap range Four and below Handicap range Four and below Handicap range Eight and below Handicap range 10 and below
Our favourite blade of 2021. The iron played by Jon Rahm. A compact, forged, hollow body The choice between Apex 21
The head has lovely straight TCB stands for Tour Cavity iron with the added benefit of Pro and this model in 2022
lines and sharp edges. Back, which should spell out internal tungsten weighting for will likely come down to forged
very clearly how this model is stability and a fast flexible face feel (Apex) or distance and
for the best ball strikers. for extra ball speed. price (Rogue).

R O GUE S T M A X O S
£849 (s), £1,049 (g)
Stock shafts True Temper Elevate 85g (s),
Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue & Project X Cypher (g)
Compared to the Rogue ST Max, the OS have
wider soles, more offset (which creates a little
draw bias) and a thicker topline, all of which
will help boost confidence for lots of mid-to-
high handicappers. A fraction more loft (than
the Rogue ST Max) helps flight shots
correctly at more average speeds, so
approaches will still stop and hold
a green. All four Rogue ST sets
have unique AI-developed
face patterns to optimise
ball speed, launch and
spin based on the
typical impact locations
for their target golfer.
Mid-to-high
handicappers will get
better performance on
toe-side misses with the
Max OS, while better players
will get improved results on heel
misses with the Rogue ST Pro.
R O GUE S T M A X
R O GUE S T M A X £849 (s), £1,049 (g) O S LIT E £1,049 (g)
Stock shafts True Temper Elevate MPH (s), Stock shaft Project X Cypher
Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue or Project X Cypher (g) The fact the Max OS Lite is only
The original Rogue X iron caused quite a stir as available with graphite shafts in
its 27º 7-iron was the strongest and longest on Women’s, Lite and Regular flexes says
the market at the time. Callaway have dialled everything you need to know about this
back a fraction on the Max’s loft (27.5º), but model. Callaway say it shouldn’t be
they insist the 2022 Rogue is longer thanks to pigeon-holed as a women’s or senior
new high-strength 450 AI Face Cups. The material iron, but it’s the perfect cavity back for
is stronger and more durable, but essentially also golfers who struggle for speed. The
capable of flexing nearly as much as a titanium driver heads are lighter and larger than the
face, which is amazing considering the size and Max OS, and there’s more loft, to keep
material difference. Callaway say that thanks to a more shots in the air for longer.
stable body (there’s 62g of tungsten inside; 260% more
than Mavrik), energy transfer efficiency is improved, too.
A P E X 21 From £1,099 ROGUE ST MAX From £849 A P E X D C B From £1,099 R O GUE S T M A X

Category Player’s distance/mid-handicap Category Mid-handicap Category Mid-handicap O S/O S LIT E From £849
Handicap range 14 and below Handicap range 12 and below Handicap range 14 and above Category High handicap
A brilliant forged cavity back Perfect for golfers who put less You won’t find many better- Handicap range 28 and below
which will suit the speed, look of a premium on how their irons looking mid-high handicap For maximum forgiveness
and distance desires of a huge look, feel and sound and are irons, and few forged iron without employing hybrid
amount of decent club golfers. happy, in exchange, to get more alternatives will be better set style irons, these are the irons
power and forgiveness. up for moderate swing speeds. to consider.

2022 EQUIPMENT
TAYLORMADE
STEALTH IRONS
The reinvention of the classic cavity back
RRP £849 (s), £949 (g)
Availability 4-PW, AW, SW, LW Stock shafts KBS Max MT (s), Fujikura Ventus Red (g)
7-iron loft 28º (with the option to go 1º stronger and up to 2º weaker)
aving cornered the Cavity backs have been a

H player’s distance iron
market with the
staple in golf since the 1970s
and ’80s, but TaylorMade
beautiful and brilliant P790 reckon the modern ‘Cap
iron, TaylorMade are now on Back’ technology in their
a mission to reinvent cavity new Stealth iron offers a
backs in a bid to lure more significant performance
mid and high-handicap club and cosmetic step
golfers to the brand. forward in 2022.
TAY L O R M A D E ’ S 2 0 2 2 I R O N L I N E - U P
P 7MB £1,299 P 7MC £1,299 P 770 £1,299

Category Blade/muscleback Category Player’s iron Category Player’s iron
Handicap range 4 and below Handicap range 4 and below Handicap range 8 and below
A one-piece, forged, A one-piece, forged, A modern hollow body
muscleback blade that’s muscle cavity player’s iron that combines
designed to allow the iron. Only 10% of tour the compact size
world’s best ball strikers players choose decent golfers love
to shape and work shots musclebacks, the rest with the benefits of
into the tightest, tucked opt for irons such as the faster ball speeds and
away pins on tour. MC as they offer a smidge extra forgiveness.
of forgiveness.

THE KEY TECH IN DETAIL
What is Cap Back? New sole
TaylorMade say it’s a decent step and toe
forward over cavity back irons. shape
The hollow head and Thru-Slot in TaylorMade
the sole disconnect the face from have wrapped
the body, and with nothing bonded the Cap Back
to, or behind, the face there’s no around the toe,
barrier to attaining maximum flex which they say
and rebound. Inverted Cone removes an additional
Technology (a cone-shaped pattern 10g of inefficient weight.
on the back of the face) helps Engineers have used that
optimise and protect ball speed at mass to expand the sole
golfers’ typical impact locations width by 3mm beneath the
across the face throughout the set. centre of the face, and there’s
no trailing edge relief on the
Why no OS model? sole. The rejig helps improve
TaylorMade believe one Stealth performance from lower on
iron, with a head optimised for the the face, where lots of club golfers
traits of both mid and high- impact shots.
handicap players, works better for
both parties. You’ll get to choose
between (28° 7-iron), stronger (up to
A mid-handicap player’s iron
Yes, the Stealth have a similar blade STEALTH TO
1°) or weaker lofts (up to 2°), which
is a simple but very clever idea. It
means naturally stronger,
length and hosel offset to the SIM2
Max, but from the back they have a
sleek look that really isn’t too
THE RESCUE
As with the SIM2 in 2021,
faster speed players can different from Titleist’s
TaylorMade reckon two hybrids give
gravitate to the standard CNCPT irons – and they cost
and stronger lofts, while £500 a club! Inside, a toe rib
golfers the options they need to dial
more moderate speed supports the topline and in the gap between their longest iron
players can benefit from works together with an and shortest fairway wood. For the
extra loft. internal polymer Echo first time, both Stealth Rescues
damper to tune sound and have carbon-fibre crowns
feel to the levels of a single- (which free up 7g of weight)
and a laser-etched
‘TAYLORMADE’S
piece forged iron.
alignment stripe along the
MODERN CAP Stealth vs SIM2 Max iron

TaylorMade say that
top of the face to help
golfers set up square to
BACK AIMS TO compared to the SIM2 Max,
the Stealth has a 0.8mm lower
their target at address.
The Stealth Rescue is
ATTRACT MORE centre of gravity, so the mid-
long irons especially will
a wider, more fairway-
MID AND HIGH- launch higher, and all shots

inspired shape, with a 7%
higher MOI than the SIM2 Max.
HANDICAP CLUB won’t sacrifice backspin,
peak height or descent angle.
The Stealth Plus+ has a much
narrower, iron-like body shape, and
GOLFERS’ Even though the standard
7-iron loft (28°) is 0.5°
TaylorMade say golfers can expect
fast ball speeds and a more
stronger than the previous
workable shot shape.
SIM2 Max, approach shots
will stop on a green.
P 790 £1,149 S T E A LT H
Category Player’s distance iron £849 (s) £949 (g)
Handicap range 14 and below Category Mid-handicap iron
A modern hollow body, Handicap range 10 and above
player’s distance iron that A brilliant cast option
combines the looks of a for club golfers who put
muscleback blade with a premium on great-
the playability of a mid- looking irons, but don’t
handicap iron. quite have the ball-
striking prowess of a
single-figure handicapper.

2022 EQUIPMENT
CALLAWAY
CHROME SOFT 2022Our top-performing ‘club golfer’ ball gets
a new core and cover for 2022
hen Jon Rahm signed for Callaway Titleist, have passed 14% for years) Callaway
W this time last year, there was no
schedule to make a switch to their
haven’t taken their foot off the gas.
The 2022 Chrome Softs have a new
Chrome Soft ball. Yet he chose to put it in core, which is softer yet stronger, so
play in his first week out on tour with the it offers more ball speed from the tee
brand, and ended up having a stellar 2021; with softer feel at slower speeds
winning his first Major, getting to World with an iron and wedge. A new
No.1 and banking more than $7.5 million. aero design will also optimise
Along with Phil Mickelson’s age-defying drag and lift, in a ball that
PGA Championship victory and Xander was already coveted for
Schauffele’s Olympic Golf gold, plus a its wind stability and
record year under their belts (Callaway say performance by Rahm,
they now own a 20%+ share of the ball Xander, Mickelson
market in the USA, where no brand, bar and co.
C HR OME S OF T 2022 £50 per dozen

Construction Three-piece with urethane cover Compression 75
Options White, Yellow, Triple Track, Truvis Red, Truvis Yellow
Unlike previous Chrome Softs, the 2022 version has
become a three-piece (previously four) ball. Callaway say the
switch is due to the benefits the new SoftFast core brings to
the party. The brand say this model is Callaway’s Titleist Pro V1
equivalent, where previous generations were very much aimed at
golfers with sub-100mph driver swing speeds: it will make up
70% of Chrome Soft sales.
Golfers can expect to see a
0.5mph ball speed gain with
130rpm less backspin with the
driver, plus 330rpm less 7-iron
spin, which Callaway say
equates to a five-yard carry
distance gain across the board.

C HR OME S OF T X L S 2022
£50 per dozen
Construction Three-piece with urethane cover
Compression 100 (but with a softer core than
the Chrome Soft X)
Options White, Triple Track, Triple Track Yellow
The LS has a new urethane cover
blend, so expect more spin
separation to the X ball and more
greenside spin over the previous
version. A new aero package also
helps straighten flight, so expect
the LS to be less workable. This is
a bomber’s ball, which means it
will account for 12% of Chrome
Soft sales. Compared to the
previous generation you can expect
0.8mph more ball speed and
‘THE X LS IS A 130rpm less backspin (which adds
distance) with the driver, and
BOMBER’S BALL 120rpm less iron spin, which
C HR OME S OF T X 2022 THAT DELIVERS equates to an average gain of four

yards through the bag.
£50 per dozen
AN AVERAGE
Construction Four-piece with urethane cover
Compression 100 FOUR YARDS
Options White, Triple Track, Triple Track Yellow
Callaway’s most played tour ball is a
EXTRA THROUGH
natural equivalent to Titleist’s Pro V1x,
but thanks to being faster, longer and
THE BAG’
a touch softer, they expect plenty of
converts. The X should account for
18% of Chrome Soft sales, and it
offers a slightly lower ball flight over
the previous model. You can expect a
0.7mph ball speed gain with the driver
(over the previous generation), while
A RISE
iron spin will remain the same.
& FALL
Chrome Soft fans will notice the
price has crept up from previous
years, but Callaway will have a ‘buy
three dozen, get a dozen free’
promotion throughout 2022. It
means the cost (from the previous
£39.99 a dozen RRP) drops from
£3.33 to £3.13 per ball, if you take
up the offer.

2022 EQUIPMENT
ODYSSEY
TRI-HOT 5K
PUTTERS
A forgiving blade? These five new
models could change everything
lade and forgiveness are
B two words never uttered
in the same sentence.
Golfers who prefer the styling
of the former have just
accepted it means
sacrificing forgiveness
for a putter that better
suits their eye.
But forgiving
putters are on the
up; Odyssey say
65% of the
models they
sell now fall
into the MOI
and mallet categories.
So in a bid to offer
golfers who love blades
the same sort of
forgiveness levels as a
mallet, Odyssey have
come up with the Tri-
Hot; a blade that could
out-perform a mallet, with
a classic head shape tour
players would love.
‘A FORGIVING BLADE
IS THE CLASSIC
OXYMORON – BUT
THE TRI-HOT MAY
CHANGE THAT’
ODYSSEY TRI-HOT 5K MODELS
T RI-HO T 5K T RI-HO T 5K T RI-HO T 5K

ONE £379 T WO £379 T HREE £379
The archetypal toe-and-heel- Fuller, less sloping back bumpers Perfect for fans who
weighted blade putter. See the and a slightly longer blade length remember the flowing back
One’s slightly stubbier body and give a straighter edged look at shape of a Ping Zing putter.
flowing curved back bumpers as address. We like the contrast in A slant neck gives significant
an alternative to Ping’s Anser or colours between the darker front levels of toe hang, so the Three
Scotty Cameron’s Newport and and lighter back section, which is an excellent fit for golfers
you really won’t go too far wrong. highlights alignment at address. with strong arc strokes and
A cranked neck gives moderate A cranked neck gives moderate players who like to feel the
levels of toe hang, so the model levels of toe hang, so the model is sensation of releasing the
is a good fit for slight arc strokes. a good fit for slight arc strokes. putter through impact.

ODYS SE Y
EL E V EN £329
Models Eleven, Eleven Tour Lined,
Eleven Triple Track
Odyssey say the Eleven is
their first high-MOI putter to
deliberately attack a forward
centre of gravity (CG).
It’s a quarter-of-an-inch
closer to the face than other
leading mallets, which
THE KEY
creates better speed and
spin control consistency
TECH IN on off-centre hits, as well
as a tighter dispersion in
DETAIL terms of accuracy and
distance control.
The head has a 260g
Forward centre of gravity 120g+ of tungsten in the toe (heavy). Of course, you’ll need
steel chassis, with a light
Blades naturally have a and heel. The design creates a fitting session to decide
forward centre of gravity as an MOI of over 5,000gcm², which is best for you.
(19g) TPU sole insert to
their bodies are so narrow. which Odyssey say is remove inefficient mass
Odyssey’s engineers wanted unheard of in a traditional- White Hot insert from the centre of the body.
to make sure they didn’t lose sized blade. Over half the putters Odyssey Strategically positioned
this while chasing MOI make for their pros are aluminium and steel weights
performance, as that’s what Gains on the green requested with the legendary create a putter that
gives the launch, feel and ball Odyssey compared their 5K White Hot urethane insert. combines the feel and
speed control that many blade models against blade fans’ After years of trying to launch of a blade with the
advocates love. A forward favourite the Scotty Cameron convince golfers there are forgiveness of a mallet or
centre of gravity also creates Newport, on a putting robot. better options for improving MOI model. To ensure great
less sidespin on off-centre They say the Tri-Hot hit putts top spin and roll, the White feel and feedback, each
hits, so you get a tighter into a 44% smaller area, Hot is now firmly back on the Eleven also comes decked
dispersion and more produced a 20% tighter menu. Each Tri-Hot 5K out with the legendary
chance of holing dispersion and a 15% comes with one, along with a White Hot face insert and
imperfect putts. improvement in red Stroke Lab shaft. a red Stroke Lab shaft.
distance control. All three Eleven heads are
Ultimate multi- the same shape. You get to
material design Weight a choose between
Stainless steel, aircraft-grade minute slant neck, double
aluminium and over 120g of To ensure golfers
bend or centre
tungsten come together have the opportunity
within each Tri-Hot 5K head. to tailor each of the Tri-
shafted hosels,
The front (including the Hot models to their and whether your
hosel) is made from 303 individual weight and putter comes with
stainless steel, which helps balance tastes, Tour Line or Triple
keep the CG forward, before a interchangeable weights in Track alignment
CNC-milled aluminium body the sole can be either stripes, or no
is fixed to the back of the face aluminium (light), steel sightline at all.
with chambers to position (standard), or tungsten
T RI-HO T 5K T RI-HO T 5K
D OUBL E WIDE £379 T RIP LE WIDE £379
The name comes from the head A brand-new idea from Odyssey
being almost twice as wide as for 2022. Thanks to being
a traditional blade head. Double significantly wider than a
wide putters have grown traditional blade, the body
significantly in popularity over boasts additional stability and
the last five years as their body forgiveness. The size and
size dictates offering slightly straight edges can be a real
more stability and forgiveness bonus for golfers who love
than you get with a traditional blades but aren’t quite ready
narrow body blade. to go full-on narrow body.

2022 EQUIPMENT
HONMA
BERES DRIVERS
AND IRONS
Japanese craftsmanship packaged in
different levels of personalisation
Driver Black £1,050, Aizu £1,175
Irons Black £420 p/c, Aizu £500 p/c
eres clubs have a reputation as irons. Of-course,

B the go-to range for well-heeled
golfers wanting to splash a
that’s made Beres a
tough sell to 99.99% of
notable amount of cash on gold and the golfing population,
platinum-encrusted golf clubs. even though the 2 or
Thanks to Honma’s star rating system 3-Star clubs (less blingy)
(from 2 to 5-Star), it’s possible to are very solid game
personalise clubs with different improving options. The new
levels of bling, from gold-plated Beres Black and Beres Aizu drives. Similarly, the
badges and platinum ferrule family both focus on the game irons are designed to
rings to extremely expensive improving traits that the good be easy to launch and
handmade custom shafts. looking 3-Star family bring to forgiving at average swing speeds, too.
That’s why prices for the party.
5-Star clubs can top Made in Japan
£3k for a driver and Packed with tech The Japanese put a huge premium on
£24,000 for a set of An L-Cup face gives the quality craftsmanship. Honma hand-roll
driver a large sweetspot, the shafts found in the Beres ranges at
which works in tandem with a their Sakata factory. It means each shaft
triple sole slot to deliver fast ball can be constructed to the brand’s own
speeds. A lightweight crown recipe with aluminium and carbon-fibre
also lowers the centre of sheets being positioned across 10
gravity for high launching, different axes to improve speed, accuracy
low spinning, long carrying and give a counter-balanced feel.
Black or Aizu?
Beres Black is more subtle
and predominantly
black. Beres Aizu is
much more bling,
with gold-coloured
heads and
patterned decals.
Both are available
as drivers, fairways,
hybrids and irons.
‘PERSONALISE
CLUBS WITH
DIFFERENT
LEVELS OF BLING,
FROM GOLD-PLATED
BADGES TO PLATINUM
FERRULE RINGS’

PRACTICE...
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BETTINARDI PRACTICE...
HLX 3.0 WEDGES

‘DOUGHNUT’ HOLE REDUCER
Milled heads bring more consistency to the table

£169
Lofts 52º, 54º, 56º, 58º, 60º Finishes Satin Chrome, Black Smoke
Stock shaft True Temper Dynamic Gold S200
ettinardi are best known predictability, the face and

B for premium putters
that have every surface,
grooves of each head are also
CNC milled to very tight
edge and radius lovingly CNC
milled. But to avoid the £720
tolerances. The idea means we get
wedges that look more consistent,
PRACTICE...
‘RIGHT ANGLE’ PUTTING ALIGNMENT
price tag of other milled clubs, but also play more consistently, too.
these HLX 3.0 wedges are The HLX 3.0 have forged
cleverly milled only in the heads, so if you play and love
places that make a difference. forged irons, and have struggled
The hand polishing to find matching forged wedges
required to take a raw head (as Vokey and Cleveland no
to a finished iron or longer forge wedges), the HLX 3.0
wedge inevitably should be right up your street.
leads to variations Bettinardi say the new model
and inconsistency. has been developed to offer
By CNC milling the players a softer feel with extra
HLX 3.0’s sole shape and feedback, with increased
grind, every head sits at versatility and just a smidgen
address in exactly the same way. more forgiveness over
To ensure consistency and previous models.
PRACTICE...
‘PURE PUTT” PUTTING GATE
TWO GRINDS
GO TO WAR
Bettinardi’s standard C-Grind sole has been
designed with a slightly higher toe to promote
aggressive spin control. Full sole shaping is a
good fit for most players and turf types. The RJ
Grind (available on the 56°, 58° and 60° lofts
only) is good for players with steeper attack
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THE TEST
MIZUNO’S PRO
IRONS HIT THE
SWEETSPOT
Three models offer different things
to different players... as long as you’re
a fairly consistent ball striker
or the first time, Mizuno have brought
F their previously Japan-only Pro irons

(so they’re not MP or JPX irons) to the
western world. With three new models
arriving in golf shops recently, we wanted to see
how the clubs compare and find out where each sits
within the Mizuno family, so you can make a better,
more informed buying decision in 2022...

For more on 2022’s irons visit www.todaysgolfer.co.uk
MIZUNO PRO 221 MIZUNO PRO 223 MIZUNO PRO 225

RRP £165 per club RRP £180 per club RRP £200 per club
Availability 3-PW (r/h only) Availability 4-GW Availability 4-GW
Stock shaft 21 premium options Stock shaft 21 premium options Stock shaft 21 premium options
7-iron loft 34º Forgiveness rating 1/5 7-iron loft 32º Forgiveness rating 2/5 7-iron loft 30º Forgiveness rating 2.5/5
Category Muscleback blade Category Player’s iron Category Player’s distance iron
TG verdict The 221 is the TG verdict Forged tour-level TG verdict If combining the
archetypal muscleback. To and muscle cavityback irons beautiful looks of a blade
be fair to any brand making have risen in popularity over with the distance and
blades, though, there’s not the last couple of years, so forgiveness benefits of a
too much designers can much so most brands cavityback was the original
change before connoisseurs sponsoring elite tour players goal for hollow body irons,
start complaining about the now want a compact forged the sleek 225 absolutely nails
differences being too extreme cavityback within their the brief. The model is so
and then declining to put range. Our pro loved the size, well proportioned there
them in play. It means shape and feel of the 223s and will be plenty of golfers
changes can be hard to spot. the data consistency between who don’t even realise it’s
What you do get with the shots was absolutely perfect not a muscleback blade.
lovely 221 is a shape, look and for him. Don’t be fooled into The 225 brings together
simple styling that will be thinking the cavityback complex constructions and
just as relevant in 10 years as makes it a good fit for mid- materials to get optimal
it is today, and that’s a theme handicap golfers; Mizuno’s performance across the set,
that runs through all three own website lists the Pro 223 which of course explains
Pro models. We can’t say our as typically being a good fit the additional cost. Our data
pro felt much difference for 5-9 handicappers. suggests at decent swing
between the Pro’s copper Compared to the 221, the speeds there’s a 2.4mph ball
layer (under the chrome 223’s 2° stronger 7-iron (and speed and four-yard carry
finish, so you can’t see it) and more lively chromoly head distance gain in favour of the
the JPX921 Tour, which material) produced 2.5mph 225, with spin, height and
doesn’t have the tech. But for more ball speed and six descent angle remaining
true feel players, you’d yards more carry. But we almost identical. For most
always want any advantage feel more golfers will find golfers, as long as they’re
stacked in your favour. In all themselves choosing happy to stomach the extra
honesty, most club golfers between this and the hollow money for a set, those
just aren’t consistent enough body 225. What’s really numbers will swing them
to entertain putting a set of important to understand is towards the 225s. For those
221s in play. And if you are, the stronger 225 (by 2°) who don’t want to stretch
you won’t give a damn about produced a 1.6mph faster ball that far, or players who are
the 7-iron costing you 4.1mph speed and four yards more still yet to be convinced by
of ball speed and 10 yards of carry, but it did that while the consistency of hollow
carry (at a decent swing producing similar backspin, body irons, then of course
speed) against the brilliant peak height and descent the JPX921 Forged will
hollow body 225. angle numbers to the 223. happily step in.
‘OUR DATA
SUGGESTS AT
DECENT SWING
SPEEDS THERE’S W H AT T H E N U M B E R S S AY
A 2.4MPH BALL #7 LOFT BALL SPEED LAUNCH BACKSPIN HEIGHT DESCENT CARRY
SPEED AND JPX921 Hot Metal

JPX921 Hot Metal Pro
29°
29°
129.6MPH
132.2MPH
14.8°
15.1°
6,015RPM
6,028RPM
34YDS
36YDS
46.9°
47.9°
184YDS
188YDS
FOUR-YARD Pro 225 30° 128MPH 15.6° 6,080RPM 34YDS 47.4° 181YDS
CARRY DISTANCE JPX921 Forged 31° 125.6MPH 15.8° 6,109RPM 33YDS 47.1° 177YDS
GAIN IN FAVOUR Pro 223

JPX921 Tour
32°
34°
126.4MPH
125.1MPH
16.5°
16.6°
6,252RPM
7,320RPM
35YDS
35YDS
48.1°
48.8°
177YDS
171YDS
OF THE 225’ Pro 221 34° 123.9MPH 17° 6,808RPM 35YDS 48.4° 171YDS

SHOWCASE
WIN THE
COLD WAR
With no warm sun on the horizon for the foreseeable,
now’s the time to invest in a slick new mid-layer...
Ping Vertical
£70
A cracking extra autumnal layer
that will keep you cosy and
comfortable when conditions demand
more than just a polo shirt. The Vertical
has stretch properties, so it will never
impede your swing. We particularly
like the built-in crease resistance,
making this is a great
low-maintenance option.
Galvin Green
Damian £169
If you’re the type who feels Ocean Tee
a jacket impedes or restricts you Wobbegong
on the golf course, have a look at £84.99
the brilliant Galvin Green Damian. The Wobbegong is named after
It’s designed to work with your body an endangered shark, and we
as you swing, plus the Insula fabric love how the 97% organic cotton
is made from 90% recycled (and 3% recycled materials) gives
polyester, so you’ll be doing a luxurious feel. Look and feel
your bit to help save great while staying warm and
the planet. doing your bit to sustain the
planet… what’s not
to like?

Mizuno Quick Dry Breeze £77 Galvin Green Lanzo £259.99 Under Armour Storm Daytona £85
Watching the Mizuno-clad Japanese Olympians Galvin Green’s Interface-1 fabric is perfect for The Daytona offers breathable insulation, so it’s
power to third in the medals table showcased how 90% of the rounds we play. The Lanzo combines perfect for a chilly morning but also great as the day
big a deal Mizuno are when it comes to sports gear. the super-lightweight and quiet Interface-1 fabric starts to warm up. This model has a generous ½ zip
The Quick Dry Breeze is great at regulating body with thin, but extra warm Primaloft insulation. front, so it’s easy to get it on and off on the golf
temperature by absorbing and diffusing moisture. It’s windproof and water repellent. course, but there’s also a full zip hoodie version.
Glenmuir Wick £60 FootJoy Floral Half Zip Camo £100 adidas Go-To Primegreen
Digital camo prints are bang on trend right now A super-simple and classy option, with on-trend COLD.RDY Hoodie £60
and the Wick is a very reasonably priced, camo print sleeves and collar. A Durable Water After Tyrrell Hatton won wearing one in 2020,
lightweight, breathable, pop-over-style jersey. Repellent treatment to the outer means a light adidas needed to up their hoodie orders last year.
And without any recognisable golf branding, it will shower will bead up and roll off this technical Made from 40% recycled polyester, this is multi-
work off the golf course as well as on it. jersey. It comes in four colour choices. functional on and away from the course.
Puma Cloudspun T7 ¼ zip £54.99 PXG Fairway Camo Pullover £170 TravisMathew Popchock £99.99
The T7 is a cracking choice either on its own or Made to move with your body, this polyester and A great example of how much the modern golf
as a layering up piece, as it’s so soft and cosy. Spandex pullover is more suited to milder winter sweater has changed. The Popchock is a super
An excellent range of colour options and a regular days in the UK. Moisture wicking and quick lightweight cotton and polyester mix, which works
fit mean the T7 is a garment for all, not just drying, it’s an excellent and stylish complement brilliantly as a fitted, flattering pop-over that you
Rickie, Bryson and the other ripped elite. to the PXG irons in your bag. can get on and off easily when conditions change.

PRIZE DRAW
WIN A GALVIN GREEN

PACLITE ®
RAINSUIT!
And be fully covered whenever the heavens open
B ecause winter golf demands

clothing that provides
protection in the most
challenging weather conditions,
we’ve teamed up with leading high-
in the swing as playing conditions
become wet and windy.
The ARMSTRONG jacket is
100% waterproof and
windproof, while offering
As well as being totally
waterproof and windproof, the
ARTHUR trousers are incredibly
breathable and lightweight.
Stretch inserts allow for a full
performance apparel brand Galvin unbeatable comfort and range of movement during the
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the chance to win a new premium front pockets, it also features width and the elasticated waist
rainsuit worth more than £525. shaped sleeves and elasticated and drawstring provide a
Made from the lightweight cuffs to ensure a comfortable fit.
GORE-TEX Paclite® fabric first streamlined fit that HOW TO ENTER They come in three
introduced for serious golfers in avoids impeding the Visit www.todaysgolfer. colour choices of navy,
co.uk/win and click on the
2003, the ARMSTRONG full-zip swing. It comes in five Galvin Green page and enter black and sharkskin,
jacket and matching ARTHUR colourway options – your email address. Entries and sizes S-XL (3XL
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to maintain maximum movement and sizes S-3XL. leg options.
PRIZTEH
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E N T E R N O W AT W W W.TO D AY S G O L F E R . C O . U K / W I N
KIAWAH ISLAND
TOP
(OCEAN)
SOUTH CAROLINA
COURSES OF
AMERICA
TH E MOST AUTHORITATIVE
R AN KINGS IN TH E GAM E
AMERICAN HOT
Ranked and rated: The 100 greatest US courses you can play
WELCOME TO
AMERICA’S
GREATEST
Welcome to our inaugural

Top 100 Courses in the United
States – with every entry
playable by everyone.
The US is the most popular
destination for British golfers
after the big names of
continental Europe, so it was
high time we tried to play a
part in helping you make the
best decisions about where
to play on the other side of
the pond.
Pebble Beach, California
My knowledge of US courses
amounts to fewer than 25 of
this list and, as I always say,
the ability to compare is 1 PEBBLE BEACH a dozen courses before Mike Keiser hired
essentially everything when PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA them for the second course on the
it comes to compiling ranking Despite the somewhat hefty green fee sandhills at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
(you’re looking at around the $600 mark), The result was exceptional and put Doak
lists. And I don’t like guessing
Douglas Grant and Jack Neville’s iconic among a shortlist of truly elite designers.
about what’s good and design on California’s Monterey Peninsula
what’s not. remains one of the most sought-after tee- 3 PINEHURST (NO. 2)
So I took a backseat this times in America. Now a couple of years PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA
month as a specialist US into its second century, Pebble Beach is a Donald Ross frequently tinkered with his
panel took control, led by round you will never, ever forget. original 1907 layout until his death in
Englishman-in-America Tony 1948. In the 1970s its tenor was impacted
Dear and supported by 2 BANDON DUNES by narrow fairways bordered by heavy
various other well-travelled (PACIFIC DUNES) rough, but Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw
golfers including Jim Hartsell, BANDON, OREGON were, thankfully, hired to restore the
Tom Doak and his team at Renaissance course’s width and sandy character in
Jimmie James, Kirk Baert and
Golf had already designed or renovated 2010, reopening to a fanfare in 2011.
Malcolm Baker.
They assessed the best of
America in the usual
categories of Design, Setting,
Playability, Memorability,
Consistency and
Presentation.
I hope you enjoy the list and
find it as fascinating as I did;
Pasatiempo and Lawsonia
(Links) are now very high on
my wish list.
Chris Bertram
Top 100 Editor
Pacific Dunes, Oregon

TOP
4 WHISTLING STRAITS
SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN
Thanks to Pete Dye’s extraordinary vision,
560 acres of nondescript arable land on
the western shore of Lake Michigan
became a mesmerising journey up, over,
down and through a landscape of entirely
artificial, but fairly convincing, dunes that
opened in 1998.
5 PASATIEMPO
SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA
The course Alister MacKenzie chose to live
on (beside the 6th hole) during his final
years, and which could well be the least
Whistling Straits, Wisconsin
altered of all his designs. It opened in 1929
and was lovingly restored by Tom Doak
and Jim Urbina between 2006 and 2007.
6 BANDON DUNES
(BANDON DUNES)
BANDON, OREGON
Unlike Tom Doak, who had been creating
courses for a decade or more before
working on the Oregon coast, a 27-year-
old David McLay-Kidd was a virtual
newcomer to the design business (one
course to his name… in Nepal!) when he
and his father began clearing dense gorse
on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean in
1994. Five years later, Kidd’s outstanding
links course opened to universal acclaim
and rightly won just about every design
Bandon Dunes, Oregon
award going.

7 KIAWAH ISLAND (OCEAN) 8 BANDON DUNES 9 BANDON DUNES
KIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA (BANDON TRAILS) (SHEEP RANCH)
The same ingenuity, creativity and artistry BANDON, OREGON BANDON, OREGON
Pete Dye (and wife Alice) had called upon at Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s first course The newest 18-hole course at Bandon
TPC Sawgrass (No. 14), and which would at Bandon Dunes takes golfers away from Dunes opened in June 2020, 18 years after
show up years later at Whistling Straits, were the coast and up into the pine forest south- Tom Doak and Jim Urbina had first laid
likewise much in evidence at Kiawah Island east of the resort hub. That automatically out the Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch with
where the Dyes raised the ground several feet loses it a few marks with purists, but the 13 greens that golfers who knew how to
so golfers would be able to see the ocean at quality of its routing and overall design gain access to the property could work
virtually every turn. Adventure, intrigue and actually make Trails many people’s into a round any way they wished. When
excitement packed into every hole. favourite course at Bandon. Mike Keiser chose Coore and Crenshaw
to create an 18-hole course, Coore’s routing
skills would be taxed to the limit as he had
only 140 acres to work with and Keiser
wanted to use the coastline as much as
possible. That they designed a course which
feels much bigger than it is, that visits the
ocean about 10 times and is every bit as
popular as its resort neighbours, is a
testament to C&C’s skill.
10 BETHPAGE STATE PARK

(BLACK)
FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK
Rees Jones may have renovated them a
couple of times, but on the Black you are
essentially playing the holes A.W.
Tillinghast laid out (or was it the park’s
superintendent Joseph Burbank?) in 1935.
And they ain’t easy. This is muscular golf
requiring muscular shots. As the sign says,
Streamsong (Red), Florida
the Black is an ‘extremely difficult course’.
Kiawah Island (Ocean), South Carolina

TOP
Sand Valley, Wisconsin
11 STREAMSONG (RED) Crenshaw’s Sand Valley, which opened on shots over its 652 acres. Brooks Koepka
BOWLING GREEN, FLORIDA an unlikely area of sandy soil in central made it look fairly limp in shooting 16 under
It’s a great shame Coul Links was never Wisconsin in 2017. at the 2017 US Open but, be assured, for you
built, but UK golfers only have to fly to and I it is anything but.
Orlando and drive 90 minutes into central 15 TPC SAWGRASS
Florida to see why Coore and Crenshaw are PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA 18 STREAMSONG (BLUE)
probably the most acclaimed architects in Playing the holes the pros play is always BOWLING GREEN, FLORIDA
the world. Here in Polk County they took special. And if those holes were designed The Blue rarely gets the plaudits the Red
advantage of significant acreage, dozens of by a particularly creative, envelope- does. Fair enough, it’s not quite as dazzling.
lakes formed during the site’s phosphate pushing Pete and Alice Dye on what was But bear in mind it ranks all of five places
mining days, and millions of tons of sand to once a swamp, the experience is all the lower on our list of public courses in
route a constantly thought-provoking more invigorating. America, which boasts over 12,000 courses
course with numerous memorable holes anyone can play – the difference between
that opened in 2013. 16 GAMBLE SANDS the two is really minimal in the grand
BREWSTER, WASHINGTON scheme of things. A typically interesting
12 BANDON DUNES High on a hillside overlooking the Columbia Doak design, the Blue puts greater
(OLD MACDONALD) River in central Washington, David McLay- emphasis on your ability to strategise, make
BANDON, OREGON Kidd was handed every golf course sound decisions and execute accordingly
Doak and Urbina’s take on C.B. architect’s dream site – beautifully-rugged, than it does in hitting the ball vast distances.
Macdonald’s templates and design feature-packed ground on sandy soil with
philosophy results in a fascinating set no housing component and incredible views. 19 LAWSONIA (LINKS)
of holes that make up a round perhaps And he absolutely made the most of it. The GREEN LAKE, WISCONSIN
better-suited to a head-to-head matchplay course opened in 2014 and has been working William Langford and Theodore Moreau’s
duel than a medal round. Whichever its way into golfers’ consciences ever since. design style was utterly unique. But far from
format you play, though, you’re going to
Xxxxxxxxxxx being gimmicky or different for the sake of it,
love the firm, sandy turf and variety of 17 ERIN HILLS it resulted in wonderfully interesting golf
shots you’re asked to hit. HARTFORD, WISCONSIN that makes you wonder why they aren’t
The UK golfer will gaze astonished at the better known. Lawsonia Links, which
13 SAND VALLEY sheer immensity of barren, windswept Erin opened in 1930, is perhaps the best and most
(MAMMOTH DUNES) Hills, which throws up numerous inviting distinctive of their remaining layouts.
NEKOOSA, WISCONSIN
Wide fairways mean everyone gets off
the tee safely, but cleverly-positioned and
intriguingly-shaped hazards and other
obstacles mean the golfer seeking to match
or better par needs to bring his best stuff.
McLay-Kidd’s Mammoth Dunes, opened
a year after the original course at Sand
Valley, and keeps golfers engaged the
whole way round.
14 SAND VALLEY
(SAND VALLEY)
NEKOOSA, WISCONSIN
The course that gives every golfer the
chance to get creative and make full use of
his/her repertoire of shots is the course
that holds their interest day after day, Streamsong (Blue), Florida
round after round – like Coore and

20 TOBACCO ROAD surfaces were the story. The fescue on the as with the Streamsong, Sand Valley and
SANFORD, NORTH CAROLINA greens, which never thrived, has since been Bandon Dunes courses, there’s precious
British golfers might not be familiar replaced with poa annua and the course little to choose between them.
with architect Mike Strantz, who started plays infinitely better as a result.
out working for Tom Fazio and later 24 SHADOW CREEK
built his own successful design company 23 FOREST DUNES LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
before sadly succumbing to cancer in (THE LOOP; BLACK/RED) Forgetting the incredible feats of
2005, at the age of 50. Of his eight (highly) ROSCOMMON, MICHIGAN engineering and horticulture, the wild
original designs, Tobacco Road is Publications in the US tend to treat each imagination and the sizeable investment
considered to be his masterpiece with huge, course on this reversible 18 separately, but needed to transform a once-rocky,
sandy areas, heavily-contoured greens and we wanted to celebrate the brilliance of sandy desert into a lush golfer’s Xanadu,
unconventional-looking holes that make Doak’s concept, routing and shaping by Shadow Creek is a very interesting golf
you double-take. The sight of the 1st hole, combining them, as the sum of the parts is course with a number of memorable
funneling between two grassy, 50ft tall a truly remarkable achievement. The Black holes and conditioning the maintenance
banks either side of the fairway fills you Course, which opened in 2016, tends to be crew at Augusta National would be
with anticipation before you even start, the more favoured of the two layouts but, proud of.
and the excitement never really lets up.
21 STREAMSONG (BLACK)
BOWLING GREEN, FLORIDA
Massive, undulating greens are the most
noteworthy characteristic of Gil Hanse’s
eye-popping 2017 design. They may be
fairly easy to find, but getting down in
two every time is a serious challenge.
Huge sandy waste areas add to the
Black’s very distinctive look.
22 CHAMBERS BAY
UNIVERSITY PLACE, WASHINGTON
Beautifully situated on Puget Sound,
40 miles south of Seattle, Chambers
Bay is a much better course than the one
we saw during the 2015 US Open when
Chambers Bay, Washington
burnt fairways and disfigured putting
Spyglass Hill, California

TOP
25 ARCADIA BLUFFS (BLUFFS)
ARCADIA, MICHIGAN
Not unlike Whistling Straits, the Bluffs
Course is a totally man-made lakeside layout
(on the east side of Lake Michigan) that very
closely resembles a links. The Rick Smith
and Warren Henderson design opened in
1999 and possesses a number of phenomenal
holes on the water that make this an exciting
round. Some of the inland holes are pretty
special, too.
26 MOSSY OAK
WEST POINT, MISSISSIPPI
With sand dredged from a nearby river,
Gil Hanse was able to create firm and fast
playing surfaces on the Mississippi Black
Prairie while crafting the sort of beguiling,
strategic holes you’d expect from so shrewd,
perceptive and just downright clever an
architect. The course opened in 2016 just
down the road from Old Waverly, another
Arcadia Bluffs (Bluffs), Michigan
course on our Top 100 list (No. 77).
27 THE GREENBRIER RESORT

(OLD WHITE) is full of Macdonald’s famed template Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, holes. Lester George worked on restoring Island and opened in 1966. The first five
WEST VIRGINIA the course in 2006 and Keith Foster was holes of this Robert Trent Jones Snr design
It’s another steep green fee, but there’s brought in for renovations following stretch out toward the sea and play among
a lot of history and significance attached horrendous flooding in 2016. the sand dunes. The course then turns
to the Old White. Opened in 1914 and inland, heads into the trees and stays there
designed by C.B. Macdonald and Seth 28 SPYGLASS HILL for the rest of the round. The forest stretch
Raynor, it was the first 18-hole course PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA doesn’t ever arouse the same level of
offered to guests of the magnificent Originally called Pebble Beach Pines, excitement as the opening holes, but it
Grand Central Hotel (built in 1858) and the course was renamed after a location in remains a great test.
29 KAPALUA RESORT
(PLANTATION)
LAHAINA, HAWAII
When Ben Crenshaw called design partner
Bill Coore to discuss the proposed project
at Kapalua, he described “land gently rising
from the sea”. When Coore saw the site for
himself, he wondered if Crenshaw had
been joking, and knew it would be a
challenge to build a course on so steep an
incline. But with perhaps the first signs of
an uncommon knack for routing, Coore
devised a PGA Tour-worthy venue that
opened in 1991 (renovated in 2019) and
which throws up a number of terrific holes,
the best of them perhaps the unforgettable,
downhill, 677-yard par 5 that has become
so familiar to viewers of the Tour’s season-
opening event.
30 WINE VALLEY
WALLA WALLA, WASHINGTON
Following a strong design debut at Bandon
Crossings in Oregon, Portland’s Dan Hixson Kapalua Resort
was hired to turn wheat and alfalfa fields a (Plantation), Hawaii
few miles west of Walla Walla into an
exposed, linksy golf course that opened in
2009 and where strong winds are often in Prairie Club – co-designed alongside Chris build good golf holes, the resort turned to
play. The ability to keep the ball down is Brands and opened in 2010 – typifies the 33-year-old William Flynn. The Boston
frequently essential, as is a competent genre with wide fairways, rugged bunkers, native, turned Philadelphian, used 20
ground game. Views south and east to the firm surfaces and large, undulating greens. tons of dynamite to blast through the
Blue Mountains add to the appeal. limestone, managing to squeeze in a
33 KARSTEN CREEK marvellous 18 holes that took just 13 months
31 MANELE STILLWATER, OKLAHOMA to complete and which opened to guests
LANAI CITY, HAWAII Former Oklahoma State University golfers in 1924. A young Sam Snead worked here
How often have you been tempted by a Rickie Fowler, Victor Hovland, Matthew in the pro shop.
course’s signature hole only to discover the Wolff and numerous others who graduated
other 17 are, frankly, as dull as dishwater? to the PGA Tour once called this tough, 35 FRENCH LICK (DYE)
The 12th and 17th at Manele on the Hawaiian 1994 Tom Fazio design on the banks of Lake FRENCH LICK, INDIANA
island of Lanai certainly rank among the Louise, their home course. When the French Lick Springs and West
game’s most surreally-stunning holes, but Baden Springs hotels joined forces to
thankfully the rest of Jack Nicklaus’s 1993 34 OMNI HOMESTEAD become the French Lick Resort in 2005, the
design is full of good golf. RESORT (CASCADES) owners decided to add a third golf course to
HOT SPRINGS, VIRGINIA its list of amenities (it also manages Sultan’s
32 PRAIRIE CLUB (DUNES) After Peter Lees and then A.W. Tillinghast Run GC, 20 miles south-west of the resort).
VALENTINE, NEBRASKA turned down the opportunity to design a Pete Dye was hired to build 18 holes on a
The Nebraska Sand Hills have become course at the famous Homestead Resort in difficult site many designers would
synonymous with natural, lie-of-the-land Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains, saying the probably have passed on, and moved 2.5m
golf and Tom Lehman’s Dunes Course at the valley was too cramped and full of rock to cubic yards of earth to make the course,
Sea Pines Resort

(Harbour Town), South Carolina

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Torrey Pines (South), California
which opened in 2009, work… which it does than 300 acres of live oaks, pines and about this piece of ground… it’s gorgeous.”
in a crazy Pete Dye way. magnolias, resulting in some fairly Ozarks National opened in 2019 and
narrow playing corridors and making attracted the usual stack of five-star reviews
36 MID PINES Harbour Town a course where precision that Coore/Crenshaw designs tend to get.
SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA is favoured over power.
Just as Coore and Crenshaw revived 41 MARQUETTE GC
Donald Ross’s No. 2 course at the Pinehurst 39 PINEHURST (NO.4) (GREYWALLS)
Resort in 2010 with a bold but sensitive PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN
restoration, so Kyle Franz (who was part Shortly after Gil Hanse had completed his Mike DeVries, who now heads up a global
of the team that worked on No. 2) breathed incredible 2018 transformation of the course design firm with Australia’s Mike Clayton
new life into Mid Pines, another Ross that began life as a nine-holer in 1912, the and Dutchman Frank Pont, sits just on the
original six miles east of No. 2 that had USGA decided it was good enough to share edge of today’s elite group of architects
first opened in 1921. Ninety-two years hosting duties of the 2019 US Amateur thanks to highly-acclaimed courses such as
later, Franz cleared trees, rebuilt bunkers, Championship with the resort’s venerable Cape Wickham in Australia and Kingsley
expanded greens and widened fairways No. 2 Course. Indeed, so highly did the Club in his home state of Michigan. Four
to rekindle the Ross magic. USGA think of it, the first round of the 36- years after Kingsley had opened in 2001,
hole matchplay final was played on No. 4. he arrived in the northern Michigan town
37 SAND HOLLOW Not bad for a course barely a year old. of Marquette and cut a route through the
HURRICANE, UTAH forest, between huge chunks of granite
John Fought and Andy Staples took 40 BIG CEDAR LODGE (hence the name) and over amazingly-
advantage of the incredible red-rock (OZARKS NATIONAL) undulating ground to create a singular
scenery in southern Utah’s high desert HOLLISTER, MISSOURI golf adventure that would be among the
when building a course that didn’t really The generally flat, clay-based plains of country’s most popular courses were it not
fit into any conventional category when it Missouri, in the middle of the USA, might for its somewhat remote location.
opened in 2008 – and still doesn’t now. not have been the first place you’d expect
The front nine is stunning enough, but it Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to build a 42 TORREY PINES (SOUTH)
pales against the awesome back nine where golf course, but Ozarks National is actually SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
the stretch of holes from the 12th to the 15th located on the Ozarks Plateau in the bottom Originally devised by William P. Bell (but
takes you on a journey you won’t take half of the ‘Show Me State’, where the pair constructed by his son William F. Bell in
anywhere else in the world. found all the elevation they needed. 1957) and remodelled by Rees Jones in
Indeed, it didn’t take Johnny Morris, 2001, this southern California cliff-top
38 SEA PINES RESORT owner of the five-course (including Tiger course splits opinion between architecture
(HARBOUR TOWN) Woods’ Payne’s Valley) resort, long to aficionados who believe the design is
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA convince Crenshaw to come. “There are somewhat formulaic and predictable and
Opened in 1969, ahead of the inaugural so many beautiful spots on this course, those enamoured with its coastal setting.
Heritage Golf Classic (now RBC Heritage), it’s unbelievable,” said the two-time Whichever side of the argument you fall
Harbour Town was designed by a 44-year- Masters champion. “There is a certain on, there’s an awful lot to be said for any
old Pete Dye, assisted in a consultancy atmosphere about this place that we’ve municipal that has hosted two pulsating
role by then seven-time Major champion never seen before. We’ve built a lot of golf US Opens and records roughly 90,000
Jack Nicklaus. Fairways cut through more courses, but there’s something special rounds a year.

Silvies Valley Ranch Pine Needles, North Carolina
(Hankins/Craddock), Oregon
43 BLACK WOLF RUN (RIVER) 46 PRIMLAND (HIGHLANDS) 47 YALE

KOHLER, WISCONSIN MEADOWS OF DAN, VIRGINIA NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
As every golfer familiar with the Pete Dye High (3,000ft) in the Blue Ridge Mountains Expect the C.B. Macdonald/Seth Raynor
legend knows, the Indiana native and one- of south-west Virginia, Englishman Donald design that opened in 1926 to be the
time insurance salesman combined vivid Steel had his pick of the 14,000-acre highest riser between now and the next
imagination with resolute determination Primland property and chose a spot with edition of this list. Long revered as one
and a sometimes gruff manner to do things amazing views of the Dan River Gorge. of the teacher/disciple duo’s best ever, the
that few other people could even have Building a course here was no easy task but course’s condition had been in steady
imagined. Dye designed 18 award-winning Steel, along with then associates Martin decline for many years before it closed
holes here in 1988, but returned a couple Ebert and Tom Mackenzie, found a route altogether during the Covid lockdown,
of years later to chop them up and add along ridges, through valleys and over going unmaintained for well over a year.
nine new holes, forming the River Course. chasms that created an exciting journey It eventually reopened to limited university
A year later, nine more holes were added any golfer would enjoy. and Connecticut-resident play in April 2021
to create the Meadows Valley Course.
The River Course, enclosed within a bend
of the Sheboygan River, features some truly Paako Ridge, New Mexico
original Dye moments at holes like ‘Hell’s
Gate’, ‘Jackknife’, ‘Cathedral Spires’ and the
extraordinary par-3 ‘Tall Timber’, with the
river curving on the right and a stand of tall
trees on the left.
44 RUSTIC CANYON
MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA
Gil Hanse and his design partner Jim
Wagner, together with author, broadcaster,
blogger and golf architecture expert Geoff
Shackelford, took a very old-school
approach in creating this links-feel layout
that opened in 2002, an hour north of Los
Angeles. No plans or blueprints, just a lot
of on-the-fly, on-site decision-making that
resulted in a wonderfully natural, lie-of-the-
land course where your ground game is put
to the test.
45 SEA ISLAND (SEASIDE)

ST SIMONS ISLAND, GEORGIA
Golf at the luxurious Sea Island Resort
began with nine Walter Travis-designed
holes in 1927. Harry Colt and Charles Alison
built a second nine-hole course in 1928,
and two more nines were added later. In the
late 1990s Tom Fazio was hired to join the
Colt/Alison holes to one of the other nines,
forming the Seaside Course which opened
in 1999. Fazio removed a lot of trees and
added faux dunes and sandy waste areas
to give the course the look and feel of a
genuine links.

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and can only be played by guests of the
1,740-room, MGM-owned Beau Rivage
Resort and Casino, 20 miles south in the
coastal town of Biloxi.
recognition as Pinehurst, six miles to the
49 FOREST DUNES (WEISKOPF) west. Like its neighbour, however, it
ROSCOMMON, MICHIGAN possesses a ridiculous amount of good golf
As the name suggests, the golf resort at for a town of its size. As well as Mid Pines
Forest Dunes possesses both heavily- (No. 36) and Southern Pines (No. 95), it
wooded areas and expansive sandy areas also has three-time US Women’s Open
that together form exceptional golf ground. venue (a fourth coming in 2022) Pine
Developed by trucking company owner Needles, which got the Kyle Franz treatment
Lew Thompson, Forest Dunes opened in in 2018 when Donald Ross’s 1928 original
2002 with a superb Tom Weiskopf- returned to its glorious best.
designed course, which travels through the
woods on the front and opens up a little on 52 CALEDONIA
the back with holes surrounded by large PAWLEYS ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA
expanses of sand. Mike Strantz’s first solo project, in 1994,
Caledonia features the sort of quirks,
50 CROSSWATER oddities and extravagances the architect
SUNRIVER, OREGON became famous for. Yes, it’s idiosyncratic
There is something very special about in so many ways, but Caledonia is also
and, five months later, the famous Ivy- central Oregon’s high desert in the undeniably beautiful, and the combination
League college announced it had hired summer – deep blue skies, the snow- of Lowcountry nature and Strantz
Gil Hanse to renovate the course and bring capped Cascade Mountains, scented pine immoderation is intoxicating.
back its once grand scale. Given the success forests and, at the Sunriver Resort, 20
of virtually every major renovation Hanse miles south of the small but beautifully- 53 PRONGHORN (NICKLAUS)
has carried out over the last decade, it’s a positioned city of Bend, a gorgeous Bob BEND, OREGON
safe bet the new/old Yale will be something Cupp-designed golf course that opened A 45-minute drive north-east of
to behold. in 1995 and which sits in a lovely meadow Crosswater (No. 50), and about 1,000ft
crossed by the Little Deschutes River. It’s a lower in elevation, Pronghorn Resort is
48 FALLEN OAK magical combination. home to Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio-
SAUCIER, MISSISSIPPI designed courses that opened in 2004 and
Deep in the De Soto National Forest, Tom 51 PINE NEEDLES 2006 respectively. While the Fazio
Fazio designed an elegant woodland layout SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA Championship Course remains largely
with natural wetlands that opened in 2006 Southern Pines doesn’t get nearly the same private, the Nicklaus Signature Course is
open for public play and definitely ranks
among the Golden Bear’s finest designs.
The twisty, turny, uphill par-5 15th is the
pick of a particularly strong stretch of
holes on the back-nine.
54 SILVIES VALLEY RANCH

(HANKINS/CRADDOCK)
SENECA, OREGON
Reversible courses enjoyed something of a
brief renaissance a few years ago with the
opening of Tom Doak’s The Loop (No. 34) in
Michigan and Dan Hixson’s Silvies Valley
Ranch in far eastern Oregon. While The
Loop (2016) opened before Silvies (2017),
Hixson had started work on his course(s)
long before Doak, but years of staggered,
seasonal work, a small construction crew
and the fact the 140,000-acre ranch was a
three-hour drive from the nearest good-
sized town meant holes appeared slowly.
The fascinating 36-hole/27-green/16-fairway
layout that eventually emerged from the
desolate high desert was well worth the
wait, however.
55 PAAKO RIDGE
SANDIA PARK, NEW MEXICO
A 27-hole Ken Dye design from 2000,
Paako Ridge sits at 6,500ft above sea level
in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains,
north-west of Albuquerque. A recent
renovation by Minnesota-based architect
Kevin Norby was part of a major
improvement project the property’s owners
initiated in 2018 – improvements that could
soon see a fourth nine added.

56 THE DUNES 58 GIANTS RIDGE (QUARRY) pros who originally lobbied the Tour
MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA BIWABIK, MINNESOTA to remove it from the schedule), the
When Robert Trent Jones Snr arrived at the Jeff Brauer has been a respected course general consensus nowadays is that it is
Dunes Golf and Beach Club, north along the architect for a long time, but his most a thrilling examination. Tough? Yes.
coast from the small settlement of Myrtle productive period was 2000-2005 when he Wearing? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. But
Beach, first incorporated as a town in 1938, created a couple of northern Minnesota also highly entertaining and strangely
the site was open and sandy with a few oaks gems both ranked in America’s Top 100 satisfying. Dye did soften the course
and the odd lagoon dotted about. The area Public Courses (see Wilderness at Fortune occasionally, but perhaps it was just waiting
developed rapidly in the second half of the Bay, No. 97). The Quarry at year-round for 460cc titanium drivers and urethane-
last century, so the course is now surrounded destination (winter and summer sports) covered balls all along.
by suburbia on two sides with the ocean to Giants Ridge opened in 2003 just south of
the south and Buck Island Swamp to the the Embarrass River, named by French 60 ATLANTIC CITY
east. Though the Dunes came early in a explorers whose passage was constantly NORTHFIELD, NEW JERSEY
career spanning 60-plus years, it would thwarted by fallen trees (‘Embarrass’ in There aren’t many courses with Atlantic
remain one of Trent Jones’s best courses, French originally meant ‘blockage’ or City Country Club’s design pedigree
and the 13th – a 590-yard par 5 named ‘obstruction’). Built on a former sand, (well, none other than ACCC to be precise).
‘Boomerang’ that sweeps right around gravel and iron ore mining site, the course Nine holes were built at Northfield, 10 miles
Dunes Lake – perhaps his most famous hole. mixes a little woodland with heathland, a west of the coastal destination city in 1897
little Pine Valley with Sand Valley – a very to attract wealthy resort guests who would
57 MAY RIVER (PALMETTO BLUFF) appealing combination. travel to and from the course by tram.
BLUFFTON, SOUTH CAROLINA The second nine was added shortly after
Another Lowcountry favourite, this Jack 59 PGA WEST (STADIUM) and, in 1915, Willie Park Jnr was invited to
Nicklaus beauty opened in 2004 in the May LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA make upgrades. Ten years later, William
River Forest, 20 miles west of Hilton Head There are times at the Stadium Course Flynn created a routing and 18 holes that
Island and 25 miles north-east of Savannah, when you walk on to the next tee, take a remained untouched for 70-plus years,
Georgia. Centuries-old oaks line fairways look at what now confronts you and think, until the owners hired Tom Doak and his
also bordered by the river, marshy areas, “Again?” Pete Dye’s infamous 1986 Renaissance Golf team to update it. Doak
wetlands, large sandy waste bunkers and caricature of a golf course never lets up and built up marsh-front fairways to mitigate
native grasses. It’s a heady combination that while it may have proven too much for the threat of flooding, rerouted the back-
creates a tough but beautiful test. many over the years (including PGA Tour nine and reshaped the flatter fairways.
Atlantic City, New Jersey

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PGA West (Stadium),
California
61 PRINCEVILLE MAKAI 63 WE-KO-PA 64 BLACK DIAMOND RANCH

KAUAI, HAWAII (SAGUARO) (QUARRY)
The original course at Kauai’s luxurious FORT MCDOWELL, ARIZONA LECANTO, FLORIDA
Princeville Resort, the Makai Course Thirty miles east of the golf club after In 1987, when Tom Fazio’s Quarry Course
opened in 1971 and was Robert Trent Jones which it is named stands Four Peaks, a opened at Black Diamond Ranch, 75 miles
Jnr’s first solo project. There were three prominent landmark in the Mazatzal north of Tampa, fancy signature holes that
nines until 2009 when Trent Jones Jnr Mountains (‘We-Ko-Pa’ is the Yavapai clearly cost a lot to build were all the rage.
returned to combine the Links and Ocean pronunciation of ‘Four Peaks’). At just The 371-yard 15th hole, with water all down
nines into one spectacular course which over 7,500ft, it is visible from virtually the left and canyon walls behind the green,
possesses a couple of thrilling clifftop holes, every one of We-Ko-Pa’s 36 holes, the was splashed over every golf publication
and awesome views of Hanalei Bay and first 18 of which (see Cholla Course of note. The course ranked very highly
Makana Mountain. below No. 88) debuted in December 2001. and, though it has slipped a little over the
Coore and Crenshaw’s third course in last 34 years, it deserves its top 100 spot
62 BEDFORD SPRINGS the Arizona desert (their two courses at because, as it turns out, the rest of the
BEDFORD, PENNSYLVANIA Talking Stick on Salt River Pima-Maricopa course is pretty good too. Long a private
Another course with an amazing cast of Indian community land, 20 miles west club, Black Diamond Ranch now offers
design characters, Bedford Springs opened towards Phoenix, opened in 1998) was stay/play packages at houses in the
with a Spencer Oldham-designed 6,000-yard named after the statuesque cactus that community, hence its place here.
layout in 1895. Oldham’s original was lost, appears throughout the course and
but A.W. Tillinghast salvaged and redesigned which can grow to be 150 years old. No 65 WORLD WOODS
nine holes in 1912. Eleven years later, Donald single hole on the Saguaro Course (PINE BARRENS)
Ross was hired to expand the course to 18 stands out in particular because, in a BROOKSVILLE, FLORIDA
holes and in 2006/7, as part of a $120m resort sense, they all do. This is desert golf at Just 20 miles south of his acclaimed
renovation, golf course restoration expert its very best with beautiful vegetation, Quarry Course at Black Diamond Ranch
Ron Forse, who has worked on more than 50 superbly-conditioned surfaces and holes (No. 64), Tom Fazio’s sandy, heathland
Ross designs, completed an acclaimed wide enough to give every golfer a chance, Pine Barrens course at World Woods GC
renovation that sought to incorporate but angled, shaped and positioned to opened in 1993, with Fazio himself calling
Oldham, Tillinghast and Ross features. reward careful placement. it his “best work”. It has long been a
mainstay of Public Top 100 lists and is
frequently described as a mix of Pine
We-Ko-Pa (Saguaro), Arizona Valley and Augusta National. That might
just be the marketing people talking,
though the seemingly outlandish claim
actually isn’t unreasonable.
66 WHISTLING STRAITS (IRISH)

SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN
Two years after Pete Dye’s incredible three-
time Major championship and one-time
Ryder Cup-hosting Straits Course (No. 4)
opened, the Irish Course joined the
Whistling Straits GC line-up. Built on
similarly artificial, Dye-made dunes a little
further inland from Lake Michigan than its
older brother, the Irish Course shares its
rugged, linksy look but features Bentgrass
surfaces instead of fescue and allows
buggies, unlike the walking-only Straits.
So it’s a smaller, more resort-golfer-friendly
version of the Straits Course, but still wildly
enjoyable for every type of golfer.

67 CAPE ARUNDEL 70 COG HILL (NO.4)
KENNEBUNKPORT, MAINE PALOS PARK, ILLINOIS
This exquisite Walter Travis gem on the The fourth course at Joe Jemsek’s famed
Kennebunk River opened in 1920, replacing golf facility, 30 miles southwest of
nine holes designed by Scottish immigrant downtown Chicago, was built by Dick
Alex Findlay. Though private, the club Wilson and Joe Lee and opened in 1965. It
welcomes public play – meaning everyone was designed to be Cog Hill’s championship
can see how adept the three-time US layout, capable of challenging the best
Amateur champion and 1904 Amateur golfers in the world, and Wilson’s narrow
Championship winner was at creating fairways and heavily-bunkered greens
strategic holes with mesmerising greens. certainly fit the bill. The course hosted the
Long hitters will assume the sub-6,000- PGA Tour’s Western Open from 1991 to
yard, par 69 layout is a pushover – before 2006 and the BMW Championship in 2007
falling foul of its ticklish demands. and 2009-2011, as well as the 1997 US
Amateur Championship. Rees Jones made
68 MYSTIC CREEK some tweaks in 2008, adding length but
EL DORADO, ARKANSAS pushing the fairway bunkers out a little to
Not well-known to golfers in the UK, or simultaneously increase the challenge for
even the USA outside of ‘The Natural State’, Tour players but make it a little friendlier
Mystic Creek is a big, brawny test (7,529 for green fee payers.
yards from the back) among the cathedral
pines of southern Arkansas, designed by 71 WILD HORSE
Ken Dye and opened in 2013. GOTHENBURG, NEBRASKA
A largely wild and barren course built on
69 LINKS OF NORTH DAKOTA the Nebraska Sand Hills with a minimalist
RAY, NORTH DAKOTA philosophy, Wild Horse was designed by
Stephen Kay, like Jeff Brauer, Ron Forse, former Coore/Crenshaw associates Dan
Mike Strantz, etc, is largely unknown in the Proctor and Dave Axland, who formed
UK, but widely respected in the USA where their own design company – Bunker Hill –
he has practised since 1983, working on in 1989 with the intention of honouring the
300+ courses both as the original architect strategic and artistic courses of the Golden
and expert restorer/renovator. His best- Age (Axland is now part of the firm
known design is undoubtedly the Links of Whitman, Axland & Cutten). It opened 22
North Dakota, which opened in 1995 on a years ago but still boasts a peak-rate green
barren, exposed, remote spot overlooking fee of just $62. Paying the equivalent of £47
Tetherow, Oregon
the Missouri River. So remote is it, in fact, for a course this good is almost unheard of
its official address puts it in the tiny town of in this day and age.
Ray, which is actually 16 miles away. Much
of the Peace Garden State sits on clay-based 72 BAY HARBOR them is probably the Links 9, which plays
soil, but here Kay got to work on a rare (LINKS/QUARRY) on higher ground overlooking Lake
seam of sandy soil and moved only 7,000 BAY HARBOR, MICHIGAN Michigan, and Quarry 9, which uses a stone
cubic yards of earth in creating a pure, Arthur Hills’s Bay Harbor opened in quarry near the Lake to great effect.
organic course where imaginative use of 1998 with 27 holes. Any of the three
the ground pays dividends. combinations is a fun 18, but the best of 73 WARREN COURSE AT
NOTRE DAME
NOTRE DAME, INDIANA
Wolf Creek, Nevada Named after, and financed by, a University
of Notre Dame alumnus, the Coore/
Crenshaw-designed Warren Course opened
in 2000 on fairly flat ground half a mile
north of the university campus – about 100
miles east of Chicago.
74 TACONIC
WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS
Another university-owned course, Taconic
is the home of Williams College golf and was
designed by Warren Stiles and John Van
Kleek. It opened in 1928 on charming
parkland in the far north-west of the Bay State
and was renovated by Gil Hanse in 2009.
75 WILDERNESS CLUB
EUREKA, MONTANA
Just eight miles south of the Canadian
border, Wilderness was designed by Nick
Faldo with Brian Curley and opened in
2009 – a bad time for a big-money, 550-acre
residential development to open, hence its
move from private club to public access.
With three mountain ranges in view, lakes,
streams, pines and sandy expanses, the
course is a delight – if a little tough to get to.

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76 CASCATA years after the Scotsman had burst onto 82 TORREY PINES (NORTH)
BOULDER CITY, NEVADA the scene at Bandon Dunes, 250 miles to SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
We’re tempted to say Cascata is the poor the west. Torrey’s North Course was originally
man’s Shadow Creek, but, depending on designed by William F. Bell and, like its
what time of day you play, you may still 80 FRENCH LICK (ROSS) more famous sibling to the south, opened in
need to part with $550 to play this striking FRENCH LICK, INDIANA 1957. Fifty-nine years later, former Open
2000 Rees Jones design. It lies 25 miles Seven years after Donald Ross completed champion Tom Weiskopf completed a
south-east of the Las Vegas Strip. the design of his rolling, exposed layout at renovation so extreme it is probably better
the French Lick Springs resort, it hosted labelled a redesign. Weiskopf took 18
77 OLD WAVERLY the 1924 USPGA Championship won by bunkers out, reducing the total number
WEST POINT, MISSISSIPPI Walter Hagen, who beat English native from 60 to 42, expanded the greens
Site of the 1999 (the year after it opened) US Jim Barnes 2&1 in the final. A much- significantly, removed trees, rebuilt a few
Women’s Open, won by Juli Inkster, the Bob needed renovation was completed in greens and redesigned the 7th hole, turning
Cupp and Jerry Pate-designed Old Waverly 2006 by Lee Schmidt, working alongside it into the sort of short par 4 he is so keen
is a gracious parkland course where creeks the Donald Ross Society. The project on. He also reversed the nines, moving the
and lakes affect play on 11 holes. focused primarily on bunker renewal more dramatic holes to later in the round.
and tee-restoration as Ross’s greens were
78 BAYSIDE still largely intact. 83 LINKS AT SPANISH BAY
BRULE, NEBRASKA PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA
More excellent but very remote Nebraska 81 WOLF CREEK Sand from this part of the Monterey
Sand Hills golf and more restrained, MESQUITE, NEVADA Peninsula had been used in the construction
unpretentious Axland/Proctor design that When you shut your eyes and think of the of Pebble Beach Golf Links and by the time
wisely uses what undulations, ridges and most spectacular golf course you can the Pebble Beach Company began considering
other features were already here to create imagine, with lakes, streams, lush green a fourth course (after Del Monte, Pebble
interesting holes. Bayside opened in 2001 fairways and light, sandy rock formations Beach and Spyglass Hill), the sand here had
with views over Lake McConaughy from framing the strips of green, you’re probably more or less been mined out. Some small
almost every hole. The nearest good-sized picturing the incredible Wolf Creek GC on dunes remained though and more sand was
town is Denver, 220 miles away. the Nevada/Arizona border about 80 miles bought in, but the design was limited quite
north-east of Las Vegas. Wolf Creek opened severely by environmental considerations.
79 TETHEROW in 2000 and probably isn’t for minimalist or Those and the fact the original fescue was
BEND, OREGON Golden Age enthusiasts and may be a replaced by ryegrass not long after the
A beautiful, if tough, high-desert course course you play only once. But what an course had opened in 1987, meant Trent
with firm, sandy turf located just outside experience it is, and what an amazing Jones Jr, Tom Watson and Sandy Tatum’s
David McLay-Kidd’s adopted hometown accomplishment by first-time architect design was never quite what it could have
of Bend. Tetherow opened in 2008, nine Dennis Rider. been, but Spanish Bay is still a thrill to play.

84 RAMS HILL in 1966 and ’75. The long-time host of the 88 WE-KO-PA (CHOLLA)
BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA NEC World Series of Golf and WGC FORT MCDOWELL, ARIZONA
Rams Hill has had a fairly turbulent Bridgestone Invitational, Firestone South Coore and Crenshaw’s Saguaro Course gets
history. The original Ted Robinson design was always popular with PGA Tour pros most of the attention at this Sonoran Desert
opened in 1983 in the Anza Borrego Desert who liked its straightforward, ‘what you resort, 30 miles north-east of Phoenix,
and was very popular. By 2007, however, see is what you get’ layout. The club now which isn’t surprising given the near
it was in need of a revamp and Tom Fazio offers stay/play packages. celebrity-status of its designers. But it’s a
was hired to redesign the course, which mistake to disregard Scott Miller’s original
also changed its name to Montesoro Golf 86 REYNOLDS ON LAKE Cholla Course. It has a very different look
and Social Club. With sensitive desert OCONEE (GREAT WATERS) to its close neighbour but, some say, even
water rights rearing their very ugly and EATONTON, GEORGIA more outstanding holes.
expensive head, the effects of the economic Great Waters ranks among Jack Nicklaus’
downturn and the harsh desert climate in best resort courses – visually appealing and 89 THE BROADMOOR (EAST)
general, Montesoro lasted just three years plenty challenging with 11 holes affected by COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
and returned to seed. Three years later, the narrow, spiny Oconee, while offering Your first trip around the East Course can
however, the property was bought by a real the more modest golfer generous bailout be a little jarring as it features two very
estate investor who ploughed millions into areas. One of six courses at the 12,000-acre distinct design styles, so unlike each other
the course’s revival. It reopened in Reynolds resort community, Great Waters you wonder for a moment if you’ve jumped
November 2014 and has been attracting opened in 1992. courses by mistake. The original Donald
five-star ratings ever since. Ross design at the Broadmoor opened in
87 INDIANA UNIVERSITY 1918, but Robert Trent Jones Snr arrived in
85 FIRESTONE (SOUTH) (PFAU) 1948 to design nine more holes which
AKRON, OHIO BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA eventually became the 7th to the 15th of the
The first course at Firestone CC, built for Steve Smyers has been designing golf East Course (the nine remaining Ross holes
employees of the Firestone Tire and courses in the USA and around the world were added to nine more Trent Jones holes
Rubber Company, was designed by Bert for more than 40 years, and the wealth of to form the West Course in 1964). As you
Way and opened in 1929. Thirty years experience he stored up in that time was might expect, the Ross holes have a little
later, Robert Trent Jones Snr made put to good use in designing Indiana more nuance, romance and quirk while the
significant changes, while retaining the University’s Pfau Course, which opened Jones holes are in your face and typically
original routing, ahead of the 1960 USPGA in 2020. Named after a major benefactor challenging. In 2005/6, Ron Forse worked
Championship. It became the South and IU alumnus, the course replaced on restoring Ross’s features while adding
when the club added another Trent Jones- an outdated layout from the 1950s and Ross touches to the Jones holes. He did a
designed course (the North) in 1969, and has accommodates public play as well as
hosted two more USPGA Championships – high-calibre college tournaments.
Prairie Club (Pines), Nebraska

WE WANT
YOUR HELP
We’re compiling a Top 100 Courses in
GB&I Under £35 – and are keen to hear
any nominations. To be eligible, the
course must be playable on at least two
days of the week in summer and the sub-
£35 rate must not be a twilight or early
bird. Send your suggestions to chris.
bertram@bauermedia.co.uk

TOP
terrific job and the course certainly became
more harmonious than it had been, but
even the least architecturally-aware golfer
will be able to distinguish between the two
architects’ work.
90 PRAIRIE CLUB (PINES)

VALENTINE, NEBRASKA
Graham Marsh’s Pines Course at the
Prairie Club, opened in 2010, doesn’t have
its sister course’s (No. 32) sweeping prairie
views as half of it is tree-lined, giving the
Sand Hills resort a nice variety of courses.
A deep canyon formed by the Snake River
frequently comes into play and only adds
to the interest.
91 DIAMOND SPRINGS
HAMILTON, MICHIGAN Diamond Springs, Michigan
A year after his sensational Kingsley
Club opened, Michigan’s Mike DeVries got
another chance to design a course in his
home state, two and a half hours to the by undulating hills covered in wispy, rock and fairways lined (but not closely) by
south, outside the city of Grand Rapids. Sisyrinchium californicum, or ‘Yellow-Eyed White Pine Trees characterise this scenic
Though Diamond Springs has never Grass’, which turns the slopes an attractive challenge in the far north-east of the state
climbed Kingsley’s heights, it is another golden colour during late spring, summer known as the ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes’.
exceptional design that uses the natural and early autumn. Numerous highly-
ground superbly well. The property’s acclaimed courses take advantage 98 BLACK JACK’S CROSSING
main feature is a ravine that DeVries uses of the attractive topography and vegetation, LAJITAS, TEXAS
to give better players a chance to shine with Robert Trent Jones Jnr’s CordeValle There are plenty of remote courses on our
without forgetting higher handicappers among the very best of them. Private when list, but this 2012 Lanny Wadkins design
who have plenty of space to steer clear of it first opened in 1999, it is now part of an might be the most isolated of all as El Paso,
trouble. Humble, out of the way Diamond upscale resort. the nearest city, is 315 miles distant. Just a
Springs will never have the pull or glamour hundred yards or so from the Rio Grande
of many courses listed here, but its 95 SOUTHERN PINES and Mexican border, Black Jack’s Crossing
contoured greens and superb routing make SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA is a rocky, desert course where you can
it the sort of course you’d like to call home. As we saw at Mid Pines (No. 36) and Pine almost hear Ennio Morricone’s The Good,
Needles (No. 51) above, Kyle Franz does a The Bad and The Ugly whistle floating over
92 MAUNA KEA pretty mean renovation of Donald Ross- the fairways.
KONA, HAWAII designed Carolina Sandhill courses, and
A lot of people are familiar with the ocean- he excelled himself here, too, repeating the 99 BAY HILL
carry par 3 3rd at Mauna Kea, designed by successful formula of removing trees, ORLANDO, FLORIDA
Robert Trent Jones Snr and opened in 1965, adding width to fairways, rebuilding Architect Dick Wilson built the original
but not much else. The rest of the course bunkers and exposed sandy areas, and course over rough ground north-west of the
can’t touch the 3rd for excitement or expanding the greens while adding lost small town of Orlando in 1961, but after
memorability, but there are plenty of good contours and fine details. Even though Arnold Palmer fell in love with its location
holes – like the downhill par 3 11th with the the newly-renovated course reopened as after first visiting in 1965, it wasn’t long
deep, blue Pacific as its backdrop. recently as September 2021, word of its before changes started to happen. Palmer
return is getting out fast and it certainly took out a five-year lease with the option to
93 ARCADIA BLUFFS (SOUTH) deserves its place here. buy in 1970, and eventually assumed
ARCADIA, MICHIGAN ownership in 1975. The course had hosted
Dana Fry, a former shaper for Tom Fazio, 96 OLD TOCCOA FARM its first Florida Citrus Open in 1966, the
long-time design partner of Michael MINERAL BLUFF, GEORGIA event evolving into what is now the Arnold
Hurdzan and now in business with Jason As we’ve seen numerous times above, Palmer Invitational (via the Bay Hill Classic,
Straka has been a fan of C.B. Macdonald Bunker Hill’s Dan Proctor and Dave Bay Hill Invitational and numerous other
and Seth Raynor’s storied Chicago GC for Axland, along with their lead shaper Jack names). The course has grown in size and
as long as he can remember. So when asked Dredla, have a knack for building natural, stature over the years and benefited from a
to design Arcadia Bluffs’ second course on rough-hewn courses in arresting places that major, Palmer-led refit in 2009.
an expansive, exposed site a five-minute fit the land so beautifully while offering all
drive from the Bluffs Course, he went full the golf you can handle. Opened in 2015, 100 BLACK MESA
‘MacRaynor’, building a course with an Old Toccoa Farm is situated on a beautiful ESPAÑOLA, NEW MEXICO
entertaining assortment of geometrically- 125-acre property between the Cherokee Opened in 2003 to great acclaim,
shaped greens and bunkers that opened in and Chattahoochee National Forests, and Baxter Spann’s rollicking high-desert
2018. The South isn’t just about distinctive- epitomises everything Bunker Hill is about. layout, 25 miles north of Santa Fe, fell
looking bunkers, though; there is real on hard times around 2012/13, caused
strategy here which, coupled with some 97 WILDERNESS AT by a major disagreement between the
fairly strong winds, makes it a mental and FORTUNE BAY Santa Clara Pueblo, which owns the
physical challenge. TOWER, MINNESOTA course, and the company that leased it.
A year after Jeff Brauer’s astonishing Once the situation had been resolved
94 CORDEVALLE Quarry Course opened at the Giants Ridge and a new superintendent found,
SAN MARTIN, CALIFORNIA resort, the Texas architect’s follow-up, however, Black Mesa began rising
The area immediately east and south of the Wilderness at Fortune Bay, opened to rapidly in the rankings again and is
San Francisco Bay area is characterised similar fanfare. Big bunkers, lakes, exposed now back to something like its best.

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THE
L AS T Meghan MacLaren the world are, it’s where you
WORD
is a two-time want to be. It’s where you
winner on the want to belong. Each tour has
LET. Follow her
on Twitter and its own different pathway
Instagram @ to do that, but Q School is by
meg_maclaren. far the most brutal of those.
You can also It only comes around once
read her a year – or two years in this
latest blog at case, because of Covid (and
megmaclaren.com
longer for the European Tour)
– and if you fail, it’s back to
the drawing board. It’s expensive,
stressful and draining. I’ve reached the
final stage of LPGA Q School (itself quite
a difficult thing to do) on three separate
MEGHAN MACLAREN occasions and never got over that line.

It’s soul-sapping.
‘FOR THE BRUTAL REALITY

And yet the irony is, I could spend
this whole column writing about how
much better a player I was the second
time I got to that final stage, and then
again from the second time to the third
OF LIFE AS A PRO, HEAD

time. But Q School doesn’t care how
much better you are the next time you
arrive. Q School doesn’t care if you’ve
overcome some demons, or cemented a
STRAIGHT TO Q SCHOOL’
better takeaway move, or gained 30 yards
off the tee, or not three-putted for three
consecutive tournaments. Q School
doesn’t care if you’re ready. It only cares
if you finish inside the number.
W
Of course, the fall-back argument to
all these Q School musings is the same
hat do you think you would doing every day while still being one that my subconscious fights daily –
do if your future came down restless and dissatisfied. That’s the if you are good enough, you should be
to a two-week examination? nature of professional sport, in my good enough. To a certain extent, that’s
What would you do if a whole opinion at least. I understand that not true. If I want to play at the level I want
year’s – or career’s – worth of everyone wants to be the best in their to play at I clearly need to be better; and
work was either signed off or field, or constantly strive to be better – that will hold true for a lot of people.
thrown out the window, based but, for me, that’s what golf is about: But if you’re reading this, in a best-
on the results of one final examination? trying to fulfil your potential. selling golf magazine, possibly looking for
Q School is a strange place. It’s not fun, To that end, getting to the LPGA (or tips and drills and insights to make your
nor enjoyable – even if you’re someone PGA/European Tour) is the ultimate own game better, I don’t doubt you
who usually likes challenges. Because dream for many aspiring professional understand the fickle nature of golf.
if this particular challenge is a little too golfers. If it’s where the best players in How, on any given day, it can give and
much, or you’re just a little off, or your it can take away, before you’ve had time
body can’t quite catch up with your mind, to catch your breath. Golf spins you
you’re done. There’s no “try again next around so fast that sometimes you’re
week”. Your dream – your career – is on not sure which direction you started in.
hold for another year. At the same time, Over the course of eight rounds, with
you’re within touching distance of everything on the line, at the end of an
something you really want. You’re so close already draining year, it’s inevitable
you can feel it, smell it, taste it. It’s waiting you’ll get spun around a few times.
for you to reach out and take it after you Unfortunately this time I couldn’t
sign your name on your scorecard. But it’s straighten myself up quickly enough.
also a smokescreen. So, for now, I’ll have to wait a bit longer
That might sound a little melodramatic. for the LPGA. To be honest, though, even
Maybe it is. I hope it goes without saying if this time it hurts more than any other,
that being able to play golf for a living, I’m more motivated than I’ve ever been.
whatever kind of living that is, is a dream I’m not 100 percent sure on the path I’ll
come true for a lot of people, myself take in 2022 yet – but one thing is for
included. Not many people get to do certain; my goals aren’t changing. I know
what they love every day. But professional where I’m going, even if I don’t know
sport is also about more than just quite how long it’ll take me to get there.
enjoying yourself and having fun – you And to all of you, reading this, thanks for
can be appreciative at the same time as being a part of this crazy ride we’re all on
being determined, and disciplined, and Above Storm warning – the Q School of hard knocks has left in our beloved sport. Here’s to a better
driven. You can enjoy what you are Meg pondering her next step, but more determined than ever. 2022, for all of us.

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