Golfing with PaR nz Golfing Holidays, New Zealand’s leading golf tour company with nine international tourism awards. 2025 tours already heavily booked, so looking ahead to 2026, showcasing Australia, Canada, Greece, Italy, Japan, Morrocco, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, The Open, Vietnam and Wales. Take your pick!
Be on the 2026 VIP invitation list – contact denise@parnz.co.nz or kim@parnz.co.nz.
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Wales, Celtic Manor
Spain, Valderrama
Morrocco, Fairmont Royal Palm
Greece, Costa Navarino
Hoiana Shores
BRG Danang, Norman Course
Golden Bridge, Ba Na Hills, Vietnam
Ba Na Hills
THE DANANG SIXES 2026
21 - 30 March 2026
Xin chào
Championship Golf
Unique Vietnamese Pairs Golf Tournament hosted in the city of Danang featuring a line-up of six championship courses designed by some of the greatest names in golf.
• Ba Na Hills by Luke Donald
• BRG Danang by Greg Norman
• BRG Danang by Nicklaus Design
• Laguna Lang Co. by Sir Nick Faldo
• Hoiana Shores by Robert Trent Jones II
• Vinpearl Nam Hoi An by IMG
• All play in carts with caddies
5 Star Accommodation
• 6 nights at the 5-star Marriott Resort on Non Noc Beach (Ocean View rooms)
• 3 nights at the 5-star Hoiana Hotel & Suites (Deluxe Ocean Suites)
Sightseeing
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Hoi An
• My Son UNESCO World Sanctuary
• Ba Na Hills and the Golden Bridge and,
• Fun at a Vietnamese Cooking School
Add on Tours
• Cambodia with 4 nights in Phnom Penh and 4 nights in Siem Reap with golf at the Garden City Golf Club managed by IMG, Chhun On Golf Resort – the latest golf course in Cambodia designed by Brian Curley, Angkor Golf by Sir Nick Faldo, and Phokeethra.
• Excursions and private tours to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Halong Bay.
or
Special Add On To Cambodia 11 - 19 March 2026 Visit our website: www.parnz.co.nz Contact denise@parnz.co.nz or kim@parnz.co.nz for more details and to reserve your place.
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Duration 11 Days
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Red wine and tapas in Palma de Mallorca. Admire the architecture of Valencia and Cartagena’s ancient ruins. Relax with an overnight in Malaga. Sip tea in British Gibraltar. Bask in romantic Casablanca, and shop in the souks in lively Tangier.
NEW YORK TO MONTREAL
9 Ports / 2 countries
Departure 02–13 Sep 2025
Duration 11 Days
Silver Shadow
Spectacular fall foliage with the excitement of iconic cities. Boston and Maine for an explosion of the east coast’s famous autumnal colours. Halifax on the Atlantic coast, and the fjords and wildlife of Saguenay. Overnight in French-influenced Quebec City.
TOKYO TO TOKYO (YOKOHAMA)
10 Ports / 2 countries
Departure 09–23 Apr 2026
Duration 14 Days
Silver Nova
Bookended by Tokyo, overnight in Osaka to explore it’s fun, food, and history. Sense the human resilience in Hiroshima. Discover the rich culture of Fukuoka. Witness the natural splendour of Busan. Uncover Kanazawa, Hakodate and Miyako.
What a year this has been for Lydia Ko, now confirmed as one of the true greats of the game. In January she won the Tournament of Champions in Florida. Then there was the brilliant gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Two weeks later she took out the Women’s British Open at St Andrews. Her 30th professional victory came at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Ohio – and the season’s not over yet…
I first laid eyes on Lydia at Auckland’s North Shore Golf Club many years ago. I was on the tee and this young girl (maybe 13 years old) was practising chipping onto the putting green while her dad fed her the balls.
I stood watching for 10 minutes or so. Every chip was perfect, rolling to within one or two feet of the hole. Some went in. I had no idea who this young girl was, but after I’d played the first nine I was back beside the same practice area and the same girl was in exactly the same place – hitting more perfect chips onto the green.
Some time later I discovered this wee girl was the soon-to-be superstar Lydia Ko, who in 2013 – at just 15 – became the only amateur to win two LPGA Tour events with back-to-back titles at the Canadian Women’s Open. The rest is history for our LPGA Hall of Famer. And more accolades will surely come Lydia’s way before she’s done.
The message for all golfers is clear: practice makes perfect! And we have plenty of tempting suggestions for courses to play, tournaments to watch, hosted tours and golf-themed cruises to make your golf even more enjoyable: check out our Golf Diary for 2025.
The more adventurous might be inspired by our features on golf in Vietnam and Canada’s marquee courses.
The opinions expressed by contributors to THE CUT WORLD GOLF magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher.
Wherever you play, enjoy your golf this summer. And remember: practice makes perfect!
OUTPERFORM
30
BRENDAN TELFER BREAKING THE DROUGHT
Even for a teetotaller like Lydia Ko, eight and a half years is a long time between fizzy drinks. But that’s how long Lydia had to wait before nailing her third major championship title this year.
42 ASK STEVE OLYMPIC FIELDS
Of course golf should be an Olympic sport. But maybe there’s room for change.
THE CUT
PREVIEW
The 104th New Zealand Open, to be played at Queenstown’s Millbrook Resort at the end of February, aims to attract a stellar pro-am field – and the attention of the world.
36 IN THE BAG LYDIA’S GOLDEN CLUBS
We take a look at the gear that won Lydia Ko gold at the Paris Olympics.
48
FEATURE TIGER WOODS: G.O.A.T.?
Tiger turns 49 in December. He hopes to win again, but his age and medical history mean that just making a cut may be as good as it gets. Which doesn’t mean he isn’t professional golf’s greatest asset.
56 INTERVIEW PRIME POSITION
How did a Kiwi kid from Masterton end up in a Las Vegas bunker with Bryson DeChambeau? Ben Campbell’s journey from fairways of Martinborough to the Champagne-soaked stage of LIV Golf is a path few would have predicted.
72 SIR BOB CHARLES THE TOOLS OF HIS TRADE
Golf club design has changed hugely since Bob Charles won his first New Zealand Open 70 years ago. Witness: the display of his clubs at the Sir Bob Charles Golf Centre at Clearwater, Christchurch.
86 BUILD A COURSE THE ULTIMATE SHORT COURSE
Tom Hyde picks his best par-3s from great courses around the world to imagine golf’s most spectacular nine-holer.
112 PRO SHOP AN OPUS WEDGE TO SUIT YOU
The new Opus wedges from Callaway.
THE CUT
62
CLASSIC GOLF TALES MAC O’GRADY: OFF THE WALL
Brilliant, colourful, cantankerous, mad: player-turned-coach Mac O’Grady has been called all these things and more. He certainly had his own way of doing things.
80 BRENDAN TELFER FEDEX FORMAT UNDER FIRE
FedExCup champion Scottie Scheffler is not happy with how the PGA’s richest tournament is run.
100 TOM LONG SHORT-GAME MASTERS
The gap between amateur and professional golfers is perhaps widest when it comes to the short game. Here are six great masters of golf’s par-saving art.
114 PRO SHOP KNOW YOUR DISTANCE
Garmin Approach® Z30 Laser Range Finder.
CUT
118 REVIEW HITTING THE SWEET SPOT
A colourful new book celebrates the best of New Zealand as it zooms in on 36 iconic golf courses.
128
154 GOLF TRAVELLER VIETNAM MAKES THE CUT!
Thanks to the high quality of its golf courses and accommodation, travel packages to Vietnam are now as good as anywhere in the world.
124 COURSE DESIGN THE MAKING OF TE ARAI LINKS
A new documentary follows the transformation of an abandoned pine forest into one of the finest golf resorts in the world.
GOLF TRAVELLER CANADA’S MARQUEE COURSES
Brian Kendall takes us on a coast-to-coast tour of Canada’s finest golf courses and resorts, from Newfoundland’s rugged Atlantic coast to the mountain valleys of Alberta and British Columbia.
166 PLAY & STAY MOROCCO BOUND
An oasis of relaxation and a choice of three scenic golf courses await beside the fabled city of Marrakech.
174 2025 GOLF DIARY
Mark your card with these must-watch golf tournaments, hosted tours and fabulous golf-themed cruises.
180 QUICK TIP RYAN FOX: GRIP IT & RIP IT!
Says Foxy: “A stronger grip and downswing sequencing give me my distance.”
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
THE 104TH NEW ZEALAND OPEN, TO BE PLAYED AT QUEENSTOWN’S MILLBROOK RESORT AT THE END OF FEBRUARY, AIMS TO ATTRACT A STELLAR FIELD – AND THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD. WORDS: TOM HYDE.
No single event on the New Zealand sporting calendar captures as much attention worldwide as our Golf Open. That’s partly because golf is far more universal than other sports, but it’s also a tribute to the organisers, who have corralled global television coverage, combined with the special setting that is Queenstown, the Southern Alps, and the first-class Millbrook Resort. For a viewer watching from afar, coverage of the New Zealand Open has that “wow” factor.
Just ask the players who compete around the world in myriad settings yet who continue to return to play the New Zealand Open because of top-shelf hospitality and a setting that altogether more than make up for a smaller prize purse than they might aim for elsewhere.
Or maybe not. This year the Open, presented by Sky Sport, has increased its total prize money to $2 million. As well, acknowledging the travel time and expense players must make to play in the tournament, those who do not make the cut will receive a subsidy of $1,000 toward their expenses.
CAN CAMPBELL ETCH HIS NAME ON THE TROPHY?
Queenstown local Ben Campbell is looking to make the most of his home-course advantage when the New Zealand Open, returns to Queenstown.
Campbell, who plies his trade across the LIV Tour and Asian Tour, has played some of his best golf at the New Zealand Open in recent years but has yet to see his name on the trophy and says he’s hoping to lean on his past experiences and local knowledge to gain a competitive edge over the rest of the field.
“It’s great having the New Zealand Open here in Queenstown. It’s my home, and it’s a real honour to be able to play in an internationally recognised event on my home course,” he said.
“I’ve gone really close on a few occasions, which has really helped push my game, mentally and technically, to the next level. It’s now about preparation and leaning on my knowledge of the course to hopefully be in the running once again.”
“There is always a good local crowd out supporting me and I am really looking forward to teeing it up again in 2025. The goal is to have my name as the next Kiwi on the trophy.”
Michael Hendry, the 2017 New Zealand Open champion. The last time a Kiwi won the title.
Tournament chairman John Hart says, “We have always aimed to ensure the balance between the New Zealand Open being a financially attractive tournament across our three tour partners, the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Asian Tour and the Japan Golf Tour, whilst also maintaining and securing the long-term future for the event.”
This year, 156 professionals will tee it up with 156 amateurs, a pro-am format originally adopted from the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. The pros will play the standard stroke play while the pro-am championship will be decided by each two-person team’s best ball. Amateur guests typically include celebrities and well-known names associated with other sports like cricketers Stephen Fleming and Ricky Ponting, and tennis player Ash Barty.
Last year’s Open winner Takahiro Hataji, the first player from Japan to win the title is returning in good form after recent wins in Japan. Josh Geary was the top finisher among Kiwis, two shots back. The last Kiwi to win it was Michael Hendry way back in 2017. Since then, the tournament has been dominated by Aussies. Nine of the last 11 winners were Australian, including Brad Kennedy, who won in 2011 and 2020. www.nzopen.com
Boutique Luxury in Queenstown
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The warmth of the team, combined with thoughtful touches such as nightly turn-down service, indulgent breakfasts, Bath Butler experience, and curated local recommendations, creates a stay that feels personal and utterly luxurious. Whether you’re nestled by the fireplace in the inviting Palm Lounge or relaxing on the veranda taking in the memorable landscape, Hulbert House offers an oasis of calm just moments from the vibrant heart of Queenstown.
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BRENDAN TELFER
BREAKING THE DROUGHT
EVEN FOR A TEETOTALLER LIKE LYDIA KO, EIGHT AND A HALF YEARS IS A LONG TIME BETWEEN FIZZY DRINKS. BUT THAT’S HOW LONG LYDIA HAD TO WAIT BEFORE NAILING HER THIRD MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE THIS YEAR.
aving bagged two majors while still a teenager, Lydia was being touted by some pundits to perhaps overtake Jack Nicklaus’ tally of 18 majors before she was finished playing. Unfortunately, no one yet – not even Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee – has devised a way of predicting how the fickle finger of fate might stymie the fortunes of even the game’s best players.
Does it get us any closer to understanding why a golfer so gifted as Lydia has had to wait so long for that third major? Probably not.
Her fate, if it can be put that way, is a fine example of how the brutalities of sport can hit you hard and haunt the game’s very best for years.
Lydia, it should be pointed out, is in fairly exquisite company. Take the lot of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, for example, both absolute legends. Yet so far this century, they have both been hobbled, tormented and probably internally depressed by the thought of never adding to their already
DOES
glittering records. (Apologies to Rory, who I hope can prove me an ignorant dolt by breaking his Lydia-long drought between majors very soon.)
Rory has now gone some 40 majors or thereabouts over 10 years without being able to clock up a fifth. Given his skills and the apparent ease he showed in winning his four big ones back in his early 20s, this drought is nothing short of mind-boggling.
However, if there’s anyone who now can inspire Rory to win another title, it must surely be Lydia Ko. He will be only too aware of how the difficulties and mental despair that have plagued his game have mirrored almost exactly Lydia’s travails through a similar barren stretch.
Lydia Ko celebrates after winning her first major title, the 2015 Evian Championship.
Sure, Lydia, ice-cool Lydia, never betrayed much, if any, outward despair while missing cuts and shooting high numbers. However, in recent times stories in the American press suggest that - within her tight family circle, she was hurting. One story had her crying on her sister’s shoulder. She appeared at her wits’ end trying to discover why, oh why, it was not happening anymore. What was happening to her game?
Golf demands an ability to remain calm in the face of wretched bad luck or after hitting a truly bad shot. How you react reveals much about your inner soul and mental state. One thing you never get from Lydia Ko is emotional fallout – something you could never say about Tiger Woods. His army of apologists will always find an excuse for his club toss or spit.
There’s no doubt in my mind that a significant factor behind Lydia’s double success in her 28th year has come from her enduring patience and disciplined on-
CLOSING IN: Lydia Ko launches her second shot into a blizzard from the 17th ‘Road Hole’ fairway on the Old Course at St Andrews during the last day of the 2024 AIG Women’s Open.
course equilibrium. It should be seen as a key part of her legacy.
One shot by Lydia at St Andrews on the last day of the Women’s Open championship in August illustrated for me why she will go down as one of the truly great figures in women’s golf.
Her second from the 17th fairway on the last day, the notorious road hole, was nothing short of extraordinary. From 200 yards or more into a howling wind and driving rain – while clinging to a one-stroke lead with the world’s leading player in the group behind her – Lydia calmly steadied herself and, oblivious to the storm swirling around her tiny frame, quickly decided for her second on a narrow line fraught with danger. If the ball deviated even slightly it would finish up in a deadly front left bunker. Even landing it on the left front of the green was a risk, given the slope down to that bunker.
But Lydia’s strike was clean and pure. She just nailed it: oomph! the ball landed in front of the green, ran up the slope and trickled down to within 20 feet of the pin. Moments later, Nellie Korda played her second into this green from a similar distance. She struck it well but it didn’t stay in that tiny channel to the fairway, rolling instead into that horrendous bunker and settled for a bogey five while Lydia made four. Then for good measure Lydia iced the cake on her final hole with her go-to club, her pitching wedge, dumping her approach six feet from the hole.
Right there, right now, she could put an end to that interminable, insufferable eight-year wait. Surely now her mind was racing and her heart pumping. Six feet must have seemed like 26! Putter in hand, Ko marched confidently on to the green and stroked the ball gently into the hole – and herself into history.
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GOLDEN CLUBS
WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE GEAR THAT WON LYDIA KO GOLD AT THE PARIS OLYMPICS.
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I KEPT TELLING MYSELF, ‘I GET TO WRITE MY OWN ENDING.’ I WANTED TO BE THE ONE THAT WAS GOING TO CONTROL MY OWN FATE.”
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GOLDEN FAIRWAYS
OF COURSE GOLF SHOULD BE AN OLYMPIC SPORT. BUT MAYBE THERE’S ROOM FOR CHANGE.
STEVE WILLIAMS
GOLF WAS REINTRODUCED AS AN OLYMPIC SPORT IN 2016 AFTER A 112-YEAR HIATUS AND NOW, FOLLOWING THE GAMES IN RIO DE JANEIRO, TOKYO AND PARIS, WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON GOLF AS AN OLYMPIC SPORT? GIVEN THAT ALL THREE MALE MEDALLISTS AT PARIS 2024, SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER, TOMMY FLEETWOOD AND HIDEKI MATSUYAMA, ARE MULTI-MILLIONAIRES, IS THE OLYMPICS AN APPROPRIATE VENUE FOR PROFESSIONAL GOLFERS OR WOULD IT BE A BETTER FIT FOR AMATEURS? AND WHAT ABOUT THE FORMAT? ARE YOU IN FAVOUR OF IT CONTINUING AS A TRADITIONAL 72-HOLE TOURNAMENT OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A TEAMS OR EVEN A MIXED TEAMS EVENT? ALSO, SHOULD THE CADDIES OF THE WINNING GOLFERS RECEIVE MEDALS TOO?
Golf as an Olympic sport divides opinion, with many believing the golf calendar is already saturated and that professional golf, with its major championships, doesn’t need to also be at the Games. For the majority of athletes, competing at the Olympics represents the pinnacle of their sporting careers, yet for professional golfers the major championships are their pinnacle – and that will never change.
While some believe having golf’s best amateur players compete at the Olympics is a good idea, the Games are about the world’s best athletes vying for medals. Which opens up the debate about professional versus amateur golfers competing. Given that golf appears to have cemented its place back in the Olympics, it seems
FOR PRO GOLFERS, WINNING AN OLYMPIC MEDAL IS UNDOUBTEDLY A PERSONAL HIGHLIGHT, BUT IT WILL NEVER CARRY THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WINNING A MAJOR.”
unlikely that amateur golfers will get to compete, but it would be interesting to know if the IOC ever considered giving amateurs the opportunity. For amateurs, competing at the Olympics would have undoubtedly been their golfing summit. And with all the talk about growing the game, it’s my opinion that having the world’s best amateur golfers at the Olympics would do more to grow the game than having professionals play.
Given the current qualifying criteria for Olympic golf, the field is not the strongest possible, and with the ongoing battle with LIV Golf and OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking), that’s looking increasingly unlikely to happen – yet having the best of the best competing at the Games is what the Olympics is all about. For pro golfers, winning an Olympic medal is undoubtedly a personal highlight, but it will never carry the significance of winning a major. And until you have the best possible field playing, that medal won’t carry the prestige it deserves.
As for the current 72-hole stroke-play format, it should be reviewed – absolutely. With the majority of tournaments throughout the world
having the same format, I’d have thought the IOC would have considered an alternative format to try to create more interest in the event. I believe there is talk about a possible change of format for future Olympics, which is great news. There are numerous options open to the decision-makers. How good would it be for the qualifying countries to have their best male and female pro along with their best male and female amateur playing together? Such a format could see the male and female professionals along with the male and female amateurs play alternate-shot one round and best ball one round. Round three could be a four-player scramble and the final round individual stroke play, with the overall team score deciding the medals.
Alternatively, you could pair the male pro with the female amateur and female pro with the men’s amateur to make it even more interesting. Either of those options would provide great viewing, and having the respective best of both amateur and professional men and ladies competing together would be unique. Also, to see a camaraderie among the team would be quite exciting. Imagine
2024 OLYMPIC GOLF MEDAL
WINNERS
GOLD
Scottie Scheffler
UNITED STATES
SILVER
Tommy Fleetwood
GREAT BRITAIN
BRONZE
Hideki Matsuyama
JAPAN
GOLD
Lydia Ko
NEW ZEALAND
SILVER
Esther Henseleit
GERMANY
BRONZE
Lin Xiyu
CHINA
if we’d been able to see Ryan Fox and Lydia Ko playing with our best amateurs? That exciting prospect won’t, unfortunately, ever happen now that Lydia has announced Paris was her last appearance at the Olympics. What an amazing way for her to bow out of the Games, winning a gold medal to add to her silver and bronze; an outstanding achievement. Her incredible journey from the fairways of New Zealand to major winner and Olympic champion, along with qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame, will continue to serve as an inspiration for youngsters.
As far as caddies getting a medal, I don’t think that should be an option. To compete at the Olympics in any sport requires immense dedication, years of training and preparation. And, not wishing to take anything away from caddies, training for them is optional and their preparation, compared to athletes, is minimal. There is no doubt that the player-caddy partnership is unique – you’re on the field of play and have a lot of input in the result – but if caddies got medals, so too should the coaches. And that would open a whole new can of worms for all other sporting codes.
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TIGER WOODS
G.O.A.T?
TIGER TURNS 49 IN DECEMBER. HE HOPES TO WIN AGAIN, BUT HIS AGE AND MEDICAL HISTORY MEAN THAT JUST MAKING A CUT MAY BE AS GOOD AS IT GETS. THAT DOESN’T MEAN HE ISN’T PROFESSIONAL GOLF’S GREATEST ASSET. WORDS: TOM HYDE.
Next year, Tiger Woods turns 50. If he stays healthy, he will light a fire under the Champions Tour, just as he did 38 years ago when he made his professional debut on the US PGA Tour at the Greater Milwaukee Open, where he electrified the gallery by scoring his first professional hole-in-one but finished T60.
But for now, we look back, not forwards and ask if he really is the greatest player ever. Golf writers and fans endlessly debate that question and for most it’s a two-way race between Tiger and Jack Nicklaus.
They typically argue the point with reference to one criterion: the majors. Nicklaus won the Masters six times, the PGA Championship five times, the US Open four times and the Open Championship three times, for a total of 18 major wins.
Tiger won five Masters, four PGA Championships, three US Opens and three Open Championships – for a total of ‘only’ 15. Nicklaus, therefore, must be the greatest of all time.
But the difference between ‘great’ and ‘greatest’, transcends numbers. Being the greatest at anything, I believe, has more to do with impact than wins and losses.
Both Nicklaus and Woods have had an extraordinary impact on golf. So did Arnold Palmer, and if their era is considered, why not argue for Old Tom Morris or Harry Vardon or Bobby Jones or, in our time, Frank Chirkinian, the legendary golf television producer who, in the 1960s, began turning millions (including this writer) on to golf through TV coverage – even if only those who worked directly with him knew the name.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘GREAT’ AND ‘GREATEST’, TRANSCENDS NUMBERS. BEING THE GREATEST AT ANYTHING, I BELIEVE, HAS MORE TO DO WITH IMPACT THAN WINS AND LOSSES. ” ‘‘
Impact. That’s the zone beyond numbers and money, although Tiger’s impact, to begin with, was both. Since turning professional, in 1996, he has won 106 tournaments worldwide, including 82 PGA Tour events, tying him with Sam Snead for the most wins.
Tiger’s wins include those 15 majors plus 19 World Golf Championships and two dozen tournaments elsewhere, like the Australian Masters, the Dubai Desert Classic, the Zozo Championship and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, which he won seven times.
At the 1999 World Cup of Golf, played at the Mines Resort in Malaysia, Tiger took out the trophy for the best total individual score after defeating Frank Nobilo by a record nine shots.
The two greats of golf, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
TOP: Tiger and Earl Woods at the Target World Challenge, 2004.
BOTTOM:
Massive crowds still flock to see Tiger Woods play.
Tiger beat everyone everywhere. Like Muhammad Ali before him, his social and economic impact transcends the sport.
He is the only player to win the US Junior title, the US Amateur and the US Open; and he achieved that feat three times.
His professional debut, noted above, was at the time the most hyped event in American sport. And the hype was justified. Just one year later he became the youngest player ever to win the Masters. He was only 21 and his otherworldly 12-shot margin of victory remains a Masters record – and one unlikely to be broken any time soon.
Woods is the youngest player to win a career Grand Slam – the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open and the Open Championship – wrapping up that accomplishment by winning the 2000 Open on the Old Course at St Andrews. He was 24 years old.
He holds the record for the largest margin of victory at a US Open when, in 2000 at Pebble Beach, he won by an unheard-of 15 shots. Fifteen!
EVENTS PLAYED
378 WINS
82 INTERNATIONAL WINS
12 CUTS MADE
record 11 times, PGA Tour Player of the Year a record 11 times and PGA Tour Money Leader a record 10 times.
He became the first player to hit US$100 million in earnings on the PGA Tour, and when he won the 2009 FedEx Cup, he became the first billion-dollar athlete. Take that, Michael Jordan!
Yet, money and records aside, the debate lingers: Tiger or Jack?
The G.O.A.T title in any sport cannot rest on just a single measure. It must also take account of the impact an athlete has on that sport in the widest possible way. And when we talk about players who’ve had a trail-blazing impact on golf, Arnold Palmer should be in the mix. Remember his (televised) 1960 Masters win that rallied ‘Arnie’s Army’? Golf had seen nothing like it before.
339OF378 RUNNER UP
Between 1998 and 2005, he made the cut 142 consecutive times, breaking the previous US PGA Tour record of 113 held by Byron Nelson.
‘Lord Byron’ set that record in 1945, when the field was depleted because of the war and the fact of professional golf’s relatively marginal status at the time. Tiger set his record when the field was stacked to the sky with young talent, all working overtime to knock him off his stride.
And when it comes to the majors, we note that Woods is the only player to win all four – like, back-to-back-to-back-to-back: the 2000 US Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship, followed by the 2001 Masters. It became known as the Tiger Slam.
He’s been named the PGA Player of the Year a
31 THIRD PLACE FINISHES 19
And yet it is Tiger, not the King or the Golden Bear, who has had the greater impact on golf above and beyond the number of majors and worldwide events he has won.
Take fitness, for example. As the accomplished golf writer Bill Pennington once wrote in the New York Times: “Years ago, more PGA Tour players probably smoked than worked out during an event. What changed? Tiger Woods turned pro in 1996, won the Masters a year later, and two months after that made the fastest ascent to No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings.
“Golfers back then were a hodgepodge of shapes, some with bellies that bulged over gaudy white belts. It was an image that perpetuated the notion that golf was not a sport. But [because of Tiger] there is a different look on the tour these days, and a short walk from the fitness trailers to the practice range would prove it.”
The current generation of stars, like McIlroy, Koepka and DeChambeau, have muscle tone
$120,999,166
and flat bellies and typically travel with or seek out gyms wherever they play. The Netflix series Full Swing captured players like Jordon Spieth and Justin Thomas pumping iron. Had someone suggested a gym routine to the great Julius Boros, he might have stuck his cigar up their nose.
Tiger’s pioneering dedication to fitness led to the notion of ‘Tiger-proofing’, that is, making courses longer and harder. Developments in club and ball technology have certainly played a part, but look at it this way: in the 1960s, the most fearsome, talked-about hole on the US PGA Tour was the par-5 16th at the Firestone Country Club, in Akron, Ohio. It measured 572 metres and, with a pond directly in front of the green, was known, appropriately, as The Monster.
Today, par-5s exceeding 550m (600 yards) are common and given the advanced engineering of golf clubs and balls (another Tiger influence), reaching a 550m green in two is not uncommon.
‘‘TIGER BEAT EVERYONE EVERYWHERE. LIKE MUHAMMAD ALI BEFORE HIM, HIS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
IMPACT TRANSCENDS THE SPORT.”
Today, the re-design of golf courses, once known as Tigerproofing, is needed for virtually every player on tour.
Or let’s talk money. When Tiger turned professional in 1996, total US PGA Tour prize money for a complete season was about US$101 million. By 2008 it had more than doubled to US$292 million.
Tiger’s winning share of his record-setting Masters victory in 1997 was less than US$500,000. His share for winning the Masters in 2019 – an historic comeback after injuries and other distractions – was US$2.07 million. Why? Because his career sparked unprecedented television ratings for golf, which in turn sparked lucrative sponsorship deals that attracted more money.
The greatest amateur player of all time, Bobby Jones, remained an amateur simply because there wasn’t enough
money in golf in the 1930s and 40s to justify turning pro. For winning the 1960 Masters, Arnold Palmer earned US$17,500.
After Tiger came on the scene, the economics of golf, impacting professionals and amateurs alike, grew so fast it could be hard to comprehend.
In 2018, for example, the PGA Championship was played at the Bellerive Golf Club in St Louis. Tiger was in contention on Sunday, battling it out shot for shot with Brooks Koepka. Koepka eventually won the tournament by two shots over Tiger, but the fact that Woods was in the hunt on Sunday, left The Economist (not your typical golf magazine) to report: “No individual athlete has as outsized an impact on the popularity of his sport as Mr Woods when he is in contention at a tournament. Nearly 8.5 million Americans tuned in to watch that final round. That was 73 per cent more viewers than for the same day a year ago, when Mr Woods did not take part.”
Or listen to Phillip Reid of The Irish Times reporting on the impact Tiger’s 2019 Masters victory had on Bridgestone’s social media platforms after Tiger switched to playing their ball:
“The coverage of that 2019 Masters on US television was the highest in over a decade [and] Woods’ win resulted in a 209 per cent increase in engagement on Twitter, a 400 per cent increase on Facebook and a more than 200 per cent increase on Bridgestone’s website. But the true bottom line was a huge increase in sales over the following months of the Bridgestone Tour B XS golf ball which Woods had used.”
Jon Rahm, who sadly defected to the LIV Tour, had it right a few years back when he said: “Every golfer on the PGA Tour owes him a lot, because everything we play for is because of him.”
That’s why Tiger was recently awarded the first Lifetime Achievement Exemption by the PGA and other tournament organisers for eight signature events plus the four majors.
In other words, his age and fitness may be in doubt, but his impact on the game has been so great that US PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and his coterie of tournament sponsors and organisers want Tiger there, teeing off as a competitor, not as an honorary starter (although that will come), regardless of the state of his game.
His numbers are extraordinary, but his impact on golf is greater still. There’s really no doubt about it: Earl Woods’ kid is still the greatest.
Tiger celebrates after sinking a four-foot putt to win his first Masters title at Augusta National, 1997.
Ben Campbell blasts out of a bunker at the New Zealand Open, 2024.
HOW DID A KIWI KID FROM MASTERTON END UP IN A LAS VEGAS BUNKER WITH BRYSON DECHAMBEAU? BEN CAMPBELL’S JOURNEY FROM THE TRANQUIL FAIRWAYS OF MARTINBOROUGH TO THE CHAMPAGNESOAKED STAGE OF LIV GOLF IS A PATH FEW WOULD HAVE PREDICTED. WORDS: REECE WITTERS.
Thirty-two-year-old Ben Campbell has battled through physical setbacks to find hot form, success and a strong chance of securing a permanent spot alongside some of the game’s greats as he looks to deliver in the prime years of his professional golf career.
Whatever tour grabs your attention, there’s no denying one of New Zealand’s brightest amateur talents this century is on the verge of something special. We caught up with Ben in the wake of his stunning International Series Morocco win to discuss his unique ‘reserve’ role on LIV Golf, where his current form ranks, his pathway to a permanent position on the global golf league and the inside scoop on what it’s like hanging with Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and the Gravy Gang.
CONGRATS ON THE BIG WIN IN MOROCCO IN JULY. HOW DOES THAT WIN PLACE AMONG YOUR GOLF ACHIEVEMENTS?
The Hong Kong Open is still my biggest win, as it’s been around for a long time. But it’s certainly a big win around a course like that in Morocco, too. It was a very tough track, so to hit some good putts under the pressure like that was a good feeling.
WHAT’S YOUR CURRENT STATUS IN THE LIV GOLF LEAGUE, AND HOW DID IT COME ABOUT?
The Asian Tour is a feeder into LIV. Automatic exemption was offered for the winner of the International Series Order of Merit – that was Andy Ogletree. David Pugh finished second, and because Pugh was already a contracted LIV player, I was granted the reserve spot (see sidebar)
TO PERFORM WHEN YOU GET THE CALL-UP FEELS GREAT. I SHOT FIVE UNDER WHEN I STEPPED IN FOR JON RAHM, WHICH WAS ACTUALLY ONE OF THE BETTER ROUNDS FOR THE DAY. THE MORE I SPEND TIME AROUND THE GUYS, THE MORE COMFORTABLE I FEEL.” ‘‘
YOU’VE PERFORMED WELL WHEN CALLED UPON; DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU BELONG OUT THERE NOW?
Yeah, definitely. I played well when I filled in for Cam Smith. To perform when you get the call-up feels great. I shot five under when I stepped in for Jon Rahm, which was actually one of the better rounds for the day. The more I spend time around the guys, the more comfortable I feel. If I didn’t think my game was at the level to be out here, I wouldn’t be playing golf.
WHO’S WORKING THE HARDEST OUT THERE?
It’s a misconception that it’s a big party out here. It’s really struck me just how hard the guys are working. I’m going to the gym now and I guarantee it will be full. It’ll be chocka later, too. Seeing how hard Phil Mickelson still works, it’s crazy – he’s near the
Ben Campbell tees off during a pro-am practice round during LIV Golf Nashville.
end of his career and still grinding. I finished up last night after 6pm and Bryson was still pounding balls. There’s still a lot of very hungry guys and that’s shown in the majors, too.
WHAT’S THE DEAL AS A NON-CONTRACTED PLAYING RESERVE? INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL WITHOUT GUARANTEED STARTS IS NOT CHEAP.
It’s a good gig. They cover all our expenses, flights, accommodation, food and everything for the week, and then we get paid on top. It’s definitely worthwhile.
WHAT’S IT LIKE UP CLOSE WITH SOME OF THE GREATS OF THE GAME?
It’s been great. One day I ended up hitting bunker shots next to Bryson in Vegas and talking about different shots. We were both struggling with the same shot. He was sharing different methods and insights. He’s amazing, I could just sit there and just listen to him talk, because it’s definitely not how I think about it. It’s a scientific point of view.
WHAT HAS THE EXPERIENCE OF PLAYING AS A RESERVE ON LIV DONE FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE AND GOALS?
I’ve always felt like my game is good enough to be a top player in the world. After all the struggles I’ve been through, I’ve always said if I lost that belief then I’d retire straight away. Going through those really tough injuries and things like that, I still believed I could get to that point. I’ve seen what it’s like out here and it feels a lot closer now, so motivation is definitely up.
YOU LOVE BACKCOUNTRY HUNTING AND THE OUTDOORS. CAN YOU TAP INTO THOSE PASSIONS ON THE ROAD?
I try to leave it for back home. I’m either all-in golfing or I’m all into that life when I’m home. I have times when I get back when I don’t touch the clubs for a couple of weeks and I just go outdoors. It’s not so much the hunting, it’s just getting out in the hills; no phones, just checking out. That’s probably why I like hunting more than anything.
YOU’VE PERFORMED WELL IN RECENT NEW ZEALAND OPENS, WHERE DOES GETTING YOUR HANDS ON THE BRODIE BREEZE TROPHY RANK?
It’s right up there. I’ve always had great support in Queenstown and at Millbrook. Finishing second twice has been a bit frustrating, but it’s definitely one tournament I’d love to win before I retire.
LIV ‘RESERVE’ STATUS
LIV Golf uniquely employs a group of alternates, or ‘reserves’ ready to step in if a contracted player is unable to compete. These reserves could be called upon for a single day or an entire three-day event, depending on the circumstances. As a ‘bench-warmer’ Campbell must travel and prepare as if playing every week, a situation that presents unique challenges and advantages.
At each LIV Golf event, three reserves are designated. Team captains select their preferences from this list, which the reserves don’t see. For instance, Jon Rahm might choose Ben Campbell or another reserve without
Campbell has stepped in multiple times, proving his worth. He noted that reserve was when a player tournament, allowing the reserve to compete for
Ben Campbell
CLASSIC GOLF TALES
MAC O’GRADY
OFF THE WALL
BRILLIANT, COLOURFUL, CANTANKEROUS, MAD: PLAYERTURNED-COACH MAC O’GRADY HAS BEEN CALLED ALL THESE THINGS AND MORE. HE CERTAINLY HAD HIS OWN WAY OF DOING THINGS. WORDS: GEOFF SAUNDERS.
In the modern game, most of golf’s superstars now travel with their own ‘team’. Prize-winners, when presented with their trophy, routinely pay homage to the various members that make up their own team: swing coach, short-game tutor, mental coach, caddie, and conditioning coach amongst them. The players of yesteryear must listen to some of these winning speeches, inwardly grimacing while enduring the jargon as they reflect on their own far simpler times on tour.
exposure to O’Grady’s multiple talents. Earlier this year Clayton reminisced about his European Tour days and his first memorable encounter with “Mad Mac”.
“In 1982 Frank Nobilo told me, ‘I have just played with the best player I have ever seen – Mac O’Grady’.” Clayton continues, “In 1982 Mac played the entire European Tour with eight clubs in his bag: a driver, a 3-wood, 3,5,7,9 irons, a sand iron and a putter. He finished third in the British PGA at Hillside behind Tony Jacklin and Bernhard Langer and eventually finished 42nd on the European Tour money list –playing with his half set.”
“IN 1982 MAC PLAYED THE ENTIRE EUROPEAN TOUR WITH EIGHT CLUBS IN HIS BAG: A DRIVER, A 3-WOOD, 3,5,7,9 IRONS, A SAND IRON AND A PUTTER.”
In the 1980s and 1990s, after modest playing careers, coaches such as David Leadbetter and Butch Harmon rose to prominence as the study of the golf swing flourished in both the United States and Europe.
No player-turned-coach was more colourful than Phil McGleno, known from the age of 26 as Philip McClelland (‘Mac’) O’Grady. O’Grady was the product of a brutal family upbringing. The youngest of seven children, he was homeless at various times during his teenage years. His mother died when young Philly, as he was known, was 16, leaving him resorting to sleeping periodically in the doorway of the Catholic church in Los Angeles where his late mother had attended Mass.
O’Grady’s time as a player is a study of the sublime and the ridiculous.
In 1982 a globetrotting young Australian pro, Mike Clayton, (now a world-class golf architect) had his own first-hand
Nobilo arranged a practice round for himself and an intrigued Clayton and O’Grady following the PGA. Clayton vividly remembers the 3rd hole of the practice round.
“The hole had a long green of about 40 yards – and I asked Mac, how come you are only playing with half a set? He showed me why. He teed the ball up with a 7-iron and hit it right on the front of the green. Taking another ball, he used the same club to hit his second ball into the middle of the green. And he finally landed the third one right on the back of the long green – with what looked to me like an identical golf swing. One shot went 140 yards, the next one 160 and the third one 180 yards – all with his 7 iron. He turned to me a said, ‘What do you want 14 clubs for?’.”
O’Grady’s colourful playing career in the US included a record 17 separate PGA Tour Q-School attempts from 1971 before finally obtaining his card 11 years later. His solo celebration of winning his card at 31 as the Tour’s oldest rookie was bizarre, even by O’Grady standards. Gary McCord, player-turned commentator and longtime friend of O’Grady, contested the same Q-School in late 1982 at Sawgrass. Both players gained their coveted PGA Tour cards that year, with McCord suggesting the pair celebrate by
having dinner together. O’Grady declined, saying he had something else he needed to do. McCord told Adam Schupak, of Golfweek, in 2023, he’d eventually found out how O’Grady had celebrated.
“Mac told me he went down to the sporting goods store and bought 17 baseball bats, got a Sharpie, and wrote the date and location of every time he failed [Q-School], waited until dark, went behind the second green at the TPC and broke all 17 of those bats against a pine tree. He said, ‘I got rid of the demons’.”
The demons were not vanquished, as O’Grady’s tumultuous time on tour unfolded.
In 1984 he became involved in an altercation with a female tournament volunteer and was fined US$500 for allegedly calling her a bitch. His ongoing dispute with then Tour Commissioner Deane Beman rapidly escalated. After engaging in a sustained series of attacks on Beman, he was eventually fined US$5,000 and suspended for six events in 1986 for “conduct unbecoming a professional golfer”. He had labelled Beman a “thief, with a capital T” for deducting the original $500 fine from one of his tournament cheques. O’Grady unwisely and unsuccessfully sued Beman in the Federal Court.
The cantankerous O’Grady was also ambidextrous. While on tour in 1985, he comically tried to enter the two-man Chrysler Team Championship as two players, with the intention of competing lefthanded with one ball and right-handed with the other.
THE CANTANKEROUS O’GRADY WAS ALSO AMBIDEXTROUS. WHILE ON TOUR IN 1985, HE COMICALLY TRIED TO ENTER THE TWO-MAN CHRYSLER TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP AS TWO PLAYERS, WITH THE INTENTION OF COMPETING LEFT-HANDED WITH ONE BALL AND RIGHT-HANDED WITH THE OTHER.”
Clayton recalls, “I stayed with Mac for a week in 1983 and if you watched Mac hit balls, by just watching the ball flight it was impossible to tell if he had hit the ball left-handed or right-handed – his flight was identical from both sides!”
Unsurprisingly, O’Grady’s entry to the team event was declined by Tour officials, who plainly did not share the player’s sense of humour. Clayton comes down firmly on O’Grady’s side on the Tour’s decision. “That shows just how stupid the Tour can be at times; what a brilliant marketing stunt that would have been!”
IN A 1997 POSTSCRIPT, AT A US OPEN QUALIFIER WHILE UNSUCCESSFULLY TRYING TO REVIVE HIS PLAYING CAREER, HE CHALLENGED HIS PLAYING PARTNER TO A FISTFIGHT, ALLEGING POOR ETIQUETTE.”
One of O’Grady’s early coaches, Walter Keller, is quoted as saying, “That boy could do anything. He could’a been the greatest trick-shot artist ever.”
By 1989, no doubt to the considerable relief of Beman, serious back problems and a bad case of the yips forced O’Grady off the Tour. He had enjoyed some success on tour, winning twice, including the 1987 MONY Tournament of Champions (beating, among others, Greg Norman). In 1985, despite his lack of putting skill, he finished in 20th place on the PGA Tour with a healthy US$223,808. In 1988, Golf Digest described O’Grady the player as “a lean, long-hitting oddball with the slightly cracked heart of a poet”.
In a 1997 postscript, at a US Open qualifier while
unsuccessfully trying to revive his playing career, he challenged his playing partner to a fistfight, alleging poor etiquette.
Playing days over, in 1993 O’Grady established Mac O’Grady Golf Schools in Palm Springs and developed his MORAD (Mac O’Grady Research and Development) project. He enjoyed success as a coach of tour players such as Chip Beck, Jodie Mudd, Steve Pate, Steve Elkington and Kiwi Grant Waite.
Clayton underlines O’Grady’s credentials as a coach: “Mac worked with several top players and transformed their games, once showing me a film of Beck’s swing before and after he worked with him; he was no good at all, but within a
year Chip was transformed and had developed a good action under Mac.”
Clayton observes that O’Grady “eventually fell out with everyone. His pupil Jodie Mudd won the Players Championship in 1990 and made the mistake of thanking Dean Beman in his speech. Mac refused to teach Jodie ever again. That was it!”
O’Grady was heavily influenced by the theories of Homer Kelley, who wrote the cult 1969 instruction book The Golfing Machine. The book was aimed at a target market of experienced golf teachers rather than at their pupils and relied heavily on physics. Homer’s challenging theories are still followed by 225 Golfing Machine Authorised Instructors (AIs) coaching around the world. The theory is complex and relies on a model of 10 segments, each with their own 10 subsections – not for the faint-hearted student of the ancient game.
The 1991 Open winner, Ian Baker-Finch, recalls becoming interested in the teachings of O’Grady while he was searching for his own swing. “Mike Clayton and I regularly discussed the swing and how it worked, and I really enjoyed the time I spent with Mac O’Grady. I remember once, we debated the merits of the long thumb and the short thumb in relation to the grip and swing, and we ended up sitting on the floor of the locker room for two hours discussing this one aspect of golf.”
Later in the career of Severiano Ballesteros (around 1994) O’Grady was enlisted to help the fast-fading Spaniard genius. The relationship ended badly, with O’Grady labelling Seve as “emotionally bankrupt” and “a black hole”. He later told the Los Angeles Times, “I finally met someone more neurotic than me.”
In 1997 O’Grady also fell out with former pupil Waite, who is now a coach in his own right and readily acknowledges O’Grady’s genius. Waite incurred his coach’s wrath by finding spending 13 hours a day with his coach too demanding, but after their split Waite graciously praised O’Grady’s “intelligence and passion”.
O’Grady may have become reclusive in recent years but has arguably left his mark on golf coaching through successors such as David Leadbetter – whom O’Grady has accused of stealing his ideas – and ex-pupils like Waite.
The last word goes to Mike Clayton: “Mac was a genius and was the best teacher in the world at the time, by a streak. I think Mac has forgotten more about the golf swing than most of his contemporaries ever knew.”
As a coach, Mac O’Grady (right) was heavily influenced by the ‘Golfing Machine’ theories of Homer Kelly. O’Grady’s pupils included tour players Chip Beck, Jodie Mudd, Steve Pate, Steve Elkington and Kiwi Grant Waite.
PERFORMANCE THAT STANDS ALONE
The new Apex® is the first players’ distance iron ever to combine a forged body with a forged Ai Smart Face™. Which means it’s capable of creating outstanding spin consistency for pinpoint distance control—all while delivering incredible distance and feel. Simply put, the performance of the new Apex® has no precedent.
SIR BOB CHARLES
THETOOLS OF HIS TRADE
GOLF CLUB DESIGN HAS CHANGED HUGELY SINCE AN 18-YEAR-OLD BOB CHARLES WON HIS FIRST NEW ZEALAND OPEN 70 YEARS AGO. WITNESS: THE DISPLAY OF HIS CLUBS AT THE SIR BOB CHARLES GOLF CENTRE AT CLEARWATER, CHRISTCHURCH. WORDS: GEOFF SAUNDERS. PHOTOS: PETER VAN EEKELEN.
Dating from 1958, Sir Bob’s clubs evoke memories of a time when driving the ball long and straight was perhaps the game’s greatest challenge. Many an elite player from the 1960s through to the 1990s subscribe to the theory that, in the current era, driving has gone from being the hardest part of the game to the easiest.
Golfing history is littered with major champions who struggled with their driving until they found that elusive perfect driver. Ben Hogan was plagued by the dreaded duck hook in his first 10 winless years as a professional from 1930. During this time, ‘Bantam
Ben’ went broke more than once as his drives flew uncontrollably to the left. Hogan and other players such as Sam Snead would not prosper in the game until they finally found a driver to suit them.
In 2024, even an average golfer can walk into a golf shop or fitting facility with a realistic prospect of ‘buying’ a long, straight drive.
The selection of Sir Bob’s clubs on display at Clearwater has historical value in illustrating an era of tiny sweet spots and short shafts, well before the present era of 46-inch driver shafts, large, forgiving faces and 460cc driver heads made from space-age material.
DRIVING CHANGE: From 1958
1958 WILSON TOP NOTCH WOODS
In 1958 the young Bob Charles travelled to San Francisco, where his mentor (and ex-test cricketer), Ian Cromb, arranged for him to buy a set of Wilson Staff irons and wedges paired with a budget set of woods. The full cost: a grand total of US$158.
“They were basically a cheap set of Wilson clubs, because I did not have enough money in those days to afford anything better,” Sir Bob recalls. The original 1958 woods in the Wilson bag at the Sir Bob Charles Centre have laminated heads rather than the solid and more expensive persimmon heads available at the time. However, they were good enough for the young Kiwi to play with in the 1958 Masters and later that year in the inaugural Eisenhower event at St Andrews (where New Zealand finished in a creditable fourth place). Looking at them today, the wood heads are about the same size as the modern rescue club.
1960s DUNLOP IRONS
After turning pro, the rookie professional travelled the world using mainly Dunlop irons and woods. A selection of these irons is on display, but the actual clubs that won the 1963 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes are displayed in The Charles Gallery at Sir Bob’s spiritual home – Christchurch Golf Club.
WILSON STAFF TOUR BLADE
Sir Bob’s well-used custom-grind wedges sit in the striking red tour bag. The ‘JP’ stands for Joe Phillips, who was a legendary club designer for Wilson for 40 years. Phillips negotiated Wilson’s endorsement deals with numerous PGA and LPGA professionals but was particularly interested in designing wedges for players like Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. Phillips was the forerunner of present-day specialist wedge designers such as Roger
“These clubs are the first metal clubs I used around 1988-1989,” Sir Bob says. “These had the original rifle shafts with no steps in them. I used these on the Senior Tour and won a few tournaments with them.” (Which is an understatement: Sir Bob won 23 times on the Senior PGA Tour.) He remembers being in Ely Callaway’s office signing a contract with him at the same time as a young Swedish girl was similarly
Wilson driver with laminated head to metal-headed Callaway, Sir
One of Sir Bob’s customgrind Wilson Staff Tour Blade wedges designed
Sir Bob’s first metal driver, a Callaway Big Bertha, which he used on the Senior Tour with great success in the late 1980s.
ODYSSEY DUAL FORCE ROSSIE II PUTTER
Interestingly, this putter was never used by Sir Bob in competition but was pivotal in bringing about the end of his relationship with Callaway. Ely Callaway passed away in 2001, ending the strong personal relationship between the two men. The company then heavyhandedly imposed the requirement that in future all contracted Callaway players had to carry 14 Callaway clubs in their bags. That edict summarily ended the Charles/Callaway relationship as Sir Bob was never going to abandon his trusty ‘Bullseye’ putter.
THE TRENDS IN EQUIPMENT MAY HAVE CHANGED IN THE LAST 70 YEARS, BUT TIME HAS NOT DIMINISHED SIR BOB’S SKILL WITH HIS CLUBS – OLD OR NEW.”
TITLEIST
Titleist became Sir Bob’s post-Callaway brand of choice. There is a full set of relatively recent Titleist models on display in the range centre’s building. What is surprising about these clubs is the weight and comparative stiffness of the shafts Sir Bob has played so effectively with into his 70s and 80s. Remarkably fit at 88, Sir Bob’s current handicap index is 3.3.
ACUSHNET BULLSEYE CENTRE-SHAFTED PUTTER
You might get to see Sir Bob’s classic putter – one of four identical models purchased by him in 1963 – in action if you catch the golfing great practising on the huge tournament-quality green by the entrance to the Sir Bob Charles Centre.
The trends in equipment may have changed in the last 70 years, but time has not diminished Sir Bob’s skill with his clubs – old or new.
Verity and Bob Charles, Jim Scoular and Phil Rodgers toast the Acushnet Bullseye putter that won the 1963 Open Championship.
FEDEX CUP CHAMPION SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER IS NOT HAPPY WITH HOW THE PGA’S RICHEST TOURNAMENT IS RUN.
According to the Golf Channel, Scottie Scheffler’s winnings this year on the USPGA Tour totalled US$62.2 million, which included US$25 million for winning the FedEx CUP.
So how can a guy who’s just won US$62 million for hitting golf balls be unhappy with his sport?
Well, Scheffler made it very clear he is unhappy – very unhappy – with the present FedEx Series format and would prefer to see it revert to its original format, which doesn’t seem to me to be much different from the one presently being used.
BRENDAN TELFER
I guess too much money in your back pocket doesn’t always do wonders for the mind.
Like Scheffler, I too have reservations about the FedEx series. For starters, I didn’t win $US62 million this year. But I can live with that, just. What I’m struggling with, however, is this crazy handicap scoring system they now use in this, the world’s richest golf tournament.
In order to find a FedEx Cup winner, the brains trust at the USPGA hit on the stultifying dumb idea of handicapping the 30-strong field.
Yes, putting a handicap on every player in the field.
Sorry, but no professional sport, whatever it is, should ever be using handicaps to determine how prize money is allocated.
MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO COME UP WITH A MORE BIZARRE GOLFING SKIT THAN THIS.”
Golf has a wonderful handicapping system, used in every club in every country, but it can and must apply only to the amateur game. Its beauty is that it equalises players. Scottie Scheffler, for example, could come to my club and take on a 20-handicap mate of mine and the match could go right down to the last putt
on the 18th hole. That’s the beauty and fairness of the handicapping system: it evens out the playing ability of all players competing in strokeplay, matchplay, foursomes or singles competition. It works superbly because it gives everyone in the comp a chance to take home a meat pack or a sleeve of golf balls.
Once you leave the amateur ranks, however, you leave behind this ancient much-loved relic of the amateur game.
The professional game, by comparison, has a delightful brutality about it. Here, nicety goes out the window and in comes the dosh – and plenty of it. If you’re any good you will be well rewarded; with a bit of luck you might even take home US$62 million for a year’s work. If you’re not that flash, you’ll probably end up picking up golf balls on some out-of-the-way driving range or, heaven forbid, trying to sell houses.
So why in the name of sanity would you introduce a handicapping system into the richest tournament on the planet? But wait, there’s more. Adding to this folly, the USPGA then decides to flip the basic fundamental principle of handicapping by giving the top players the biggest handicaps and the least-ranked players the smallest ones. So, Scottie Scheffler, the FedEx points leader going into the final, started the 72-hole strokeplay event at 10 under par even before he had hit a ball off the first tee. Xander Schauffele, second on the points ladder, had to give Scheffler 2 shots, starting at eight under. The handicaps shrank the further down the points table you went. The poor blokes who ranked 26th to 30th, who’d only just sneaked into the top 30, didn’t even qualify for a handicap. Their only friend on the first tee was a bloke called Even Par.
So, this unfortunate group comprising Chris Kirk, Tom Hoge, Aaron Rai, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Justin Thomas teed off on Day 1 knowing they were already 10 shots behind Scottie Scheffler.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus would be hard pressed to come up with a more bizarre golfing skit than this.
Who was it who said, “Money is the root of all evil”?
THE ULTIMATE SHORT COURSE
TOM HYDE PICKS HIS BEST PAR-3s FROM GREAT COURSES AROUND THE WORLD TO IMAGINE GOLF’S MOST SPECTACULAR NINE-HOLER.
It may be reflective of an ageing golf population and a desire to bring a new generation to the game but, around the world, 9-hole par-3 short courses, are increasingly popular. Leading golf destinations like Bandon Dunes in Oregon, Cabot Links in Nova Scotia, Pinehurst in North Carolina and Streamsong in Florida are examples of firstclass resorts that have added short courses to their golfing menu. To get some idea as to how attractive a short course can be, check out Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri, a layout designed by Jack Nicklaus that even the pros cannot resist.
Why the growing popularity of short courses? They take less time to play, are appealing for families and group outings, are less intimidating for beginners, and green fees are cheaper, while adding income for the resort. They are good for the environment, too, because they require less water and chemicals.
With that in mind, we considered the best par-3 holes in the world and imagined what our ultimate short course might look like. Our selection does not include gimmicky par-3 holes like the Cecil Peak near Queenstown, reached by helicopter, or even the best par-3s in this country, like the fabulous 7th hole at Kauri Cliffs. Here, our ultimate short course imagines re-creating iconic par-3s from major championships in the US and the UK.
THE 7th AT PEBBLE BEACH
This hole plays from an extremely elevated tee down to a pear-shaped green with a deep bunker in front and others on the sides and at the back. The green is less than 100 metres from the tee, one that sits 12 metres above the green, but because it faces the ocean and is subject to radically changeable conditions – namely, wind – players have been known to use anything from a sand wedge to a 3-iron and, in the case of Sam Snead, facing headwinds in one US Open, his putter.
THE 12th AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL
It’s hard to write about the 142m 12th at Augusta National without recalling Jordon Spieth’s nightmare in the 2016 Masters, a bad dream that likely still haunts him today. Spieth’s career was on a roll. The year before he had won both the Masters and the US Open. And then came the quadruple bogey in the final round, handing the Green Jacket to Danny Willett and proving once again that Jack Nicklaus was right when he described this hole as “the hardest tournament hole in golf”.
THE 16th AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL
This 155m hole produced what many believe is the greatest shot in Masters history: Tiger Woods’ long chip shot in 2005, using the slope of this famous two-tiered green to roll the ball toward the cup, just enough that it dropped dramatically into the hole, with the flagstick still in, sending golf fans the world over into pure euphoria. Tiger was leading the tournament at the time, but this other-worldly birdie did not seal the deal. He bogeyed the last two holes and only won his fourth Green Jacket in a playoff with Chris DiMarco. This hole has produced 24 holes-in-one, the last by the Englishman Tommy Fleetwood in 2021. Tiger’s chip so transcended the emotion of a hole-in-one, it left him and caddie Steve Williams struggling to perform a simple high five.
THE 17th AT TPC SAWGRASS
The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Florida is not a major, but it might as well be. It is the richest golf tournament in golf, with a total purse of US$25 million. For the gallery, the most popular viewing spot is overlooking the 125m 17th hole’s island green. The island green was the idea of Alice Dye, the wife of architect Pete Dye. Since the Players began, in 1974, there have been 14 holes-in-one, the latest earlier this year by Ryan Fox. For the record, the 17th is the original island green in the PGA Tour’s TPC (Tournament Players Club) network, but it is not the first island green. That honour goes to the 9th hole at the Ponte Verde (Florida) Golf Club, created by Herbert Strong in 1932.
THE 4th AT ROYAL COUNTY DOWN
Royal County Down Golf Club (1889) has never hosted an Open Championship (although it has hosted three Senior Opens). That The Open has not been played here may have to do with a seaside landscape that doesn’t lend itself to large galleries. Located on the Irish Sea less than an hour’s drive south of Belfast, anyone planning a golf holiday in Northern Ireland would be crazy not to book a tee time here. Just as one would be crazy to play the 4th hole from the elevated 229m championship tee, which plays down to an amphitheatre green with high dunes, bunkers and gorse all around. To have more fun and save on balls lost, stick your ego back in the bag and play from the red tees (159m), because this is one of the very best long par-3s in the world and will challenge you no matter which tee you choose.
THE 8th AT ROYAL TROON
We were reminded about this celebrated short hole by the most recent Open Championship, won by Xander Schauffele. That it’s only 112m long from an elevated tee and only 8m wide (for which it was described as a “postage stamp” by golf writer Willie Park Jr in 1880) is only part of what makes it special. The elongated bunker on the left of the hole is not called The Coffin for nothing. Yet the green is approachable for players of all handicaps and ages. In 1932 the legendary Gene Sarazen became the oldest player to score a hole-in-one here. He was 71. This par-3 is fun but not too difficult if you can hit the ball straight. The stroke rating is 18 and the average score in the recent Open was 3.09.
THE 16th AT ROYAL PORTRUSH
The 2025 Open Championship will be played at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. We can only hope the wind and rain off the North Sea will be less dodgy than it was in 2019 when the hearty Irishman Shane Lowry won by six shots and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy effectively ended his quest with a quadruple bogey on the very first hole in round one. For Rory it was a calamity, which happens to be the name given to the 215m 16th hole that features a 70m drop on the right into a bush-clad hellscape that typically forces players to tee up again. Years ago, we played this hole in wind and rain from the shortest tee (152m) and ‘escaped’ with a double bogey.
THE 13th AT MUIRFIELD
Multiple sources have described this hole as “the best at Muirfield”. What makes it so? Possibly because any dream of winning the Open Championship can be shattered here. The hole plays 191m uphill to a sloping green with a false front and roll-back of 30m or more. It features waist-high pot bunkers on the left and right; the latter right in the flight path off the tee. The long green plays slightly right to left, making this a shotmaker’s par-3. A fade can be disastrous, a draw perfect – if not too long. All Nick Faldo had to do in 1989 to win his first of two Opens (the second in 1992) was par the hole, which he did. Club members still talk about Ernie Els’ escape from a left-side bunker here to win his first Open, in 2002.
THE 11th AT THE OLD COURSE, ST ANDREWS
No imaginary short course would be complete without tipping our hat to the birthplace of the game. The 11th hole on the Old Course is only 160m – nothing exceptional – but its two legendary bunkers and the sloping, undulating green mean that when the Claret Jug is up for grabs, the best players in the world are happy scoring par and moving on. The head-high ‘Hill’ bunker on the left of the green is also known as the Bobby Jones Bunker, after the greatest amateur player who ever lived failed to get out of it in the 1921 Open Championship. He tore up his scorecard and walked off. This par-3 may look benign but there’s a reason it’s sometimes called the shortest par-5 in Scotland.
SHORT GAME MASTERS
THE GAP BETWEEN AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL GOLFERS IS PERHAPS WIDEST WHEN IT COMES TO THE SHORT GAME. HERE ARE SIX GREAT MASTERS OF GOLF’S PAR-SAVING ART. WORDS: TOM LONG.
ompiling a list of six ‘short game masters’, past and present, was no easy task. As such, I have little doubt I’ve left out players you feel should be included – not least the Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus.
Why not feature Jack here? Well, the fact is, throughout his career he was so consistent in hitting greens in regulation he didn’t have to rely on freak recovery shots to win tournaments.
Jack aside, here is my selection of the game’s greatest short-game exponents:
GET IN THE HOLE!
Luke Donald chips in on the 18th hole during the final round of the 2011 Masters.
LUKE DONALD
European Ryder cup captain Luke Donald’s smooth and beautifully balanced golf swing doesn’t generate the same power as many of his fellow professionals. This means he has had to rely heavily on his short game to remain competitive. To become the world’s number-one player in 2011 – and hold that ranking for 56 weeks – was testament to his short-game mastery. Donald has holed numerous recovery shots throughout his career, but the facet of the short game in which Donald truly excels is his bunker play. He led the European Tour in sand saves for three years from 2010 to 2012, managing to get up-and-down from more than 70 per cent of greenside bunkers he found himself in. He also topped the PGA Tour’s sand-save rankings in 2009 and 2010.
UP-AND-DOWN FROM GREENSIDE BUNKERS
2010 TO 2012
LEE TREVINO
Trevino won 29 times on the PGA Tour and claimed six major championships during his career. He was a master of improvisation and possessed the skills to escape from almost any predicament. Trevino is without question one of the finest short-game artists to have played the game.
He perfected the ‘Texas wedge’ – putting from off the green on firm playing surfaces – a skill he displayed regularly at The Open Championship. But he was perhaps most famous for his ‘burning wedge’ shot, a low, fizzing pitch that would skip a couple of times on the putting surface before spinning to a halt.
TOM WATSON
Watson’s strategy from short range was to play the percentage shot over the spectacular. Whenever possible he favoured a chip shot that released on the green, rather than a full-blooded flop shot or hardspinning pitch.
In his prime, Watson was one of the game’s best scramblers. He would spend hours practising the most difficult approach and chip shots he thought he might come across in a particular tournament. He was so adept at saving par from off the green that people referred to up-and-downs as ‘Watson pars’.
Perhaps the most famous shot of Watson’s career was on the 17th hole during the final round of the 1982 US Open at Pebble Beach. Tied for the lead with Jack Nicklaus with two holes to play, Watson’s tee shot to the short downhill par-3 finished in the thick rough to the right of the green.
From the tangled grass and with little green to work with, he accelerated through and under the ball, popping it up to land it quickly on the putting surface. It rolled out and dropped for birdie. Watson’s reaction was to point at his caddie before setting off on a lap of honour around the green. He followed that birdie with another on the 18th hole to win the tournament. You don’t win eight majors without a great short game!
PERHAPS THE MOST FAMOUS SHOT OF WATSON’S CAREER WAS ON THE 17TH HOLE DURING THE FINAL ROUND OF THE 1982 US OPEN AT PEBBLE BEACH.”
GARY PLAYER
The ‘Black Knight’ dedicated an enormous amount of time to perfecting his all-round short game but it was from bunkers that Player truly excelled. He is widely considered one of the greatest bunker players of all time.
Once, when practising in Texas, a local in a Stetson hat stopped to watch. The first bunker shot Player hit went into the hole. The onlooker said, “You get $50 if you knock the next one in.” He did. Then, “You get $100 if you hole the next one.” In it went. As the Texan paid up he said, “Boy, I’ve never seen anyone so lucky in my life.” Player responded, “Well, the harder I practice, the luckier I get!”
The nine-time major champion is one of only five players in the post-Masters era to have achieved the career grand slam.
BOY, I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE SO LUCKY IN MY LIFE.” PLAYER RESPONDED, “WELL, THE HARDER I PRACTICE, THE LUCKIER I GET!” ‘‘
PHIL MICKELSON
‘Lefty’ is a genius around the greens. His creativity has produced some of the most memorable shots of the last 20 years.
His skill, imagination and sublime touch enable him to execute escape shots other professionals can’t see. Countless chipins, miraculous escapes and wonderful displays of spin control have seen him win 45 times on the PGA tour. Mickelson holds the record as the oldest player to win a major championship when, at 51 years 11 months, he won the 2021 US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.
Mickelson is synonymous with the flop shot. His aptitude with lofted wedges has set a benchmark for professional golfers in recent years.
SEVE BALLESTEROS
‘The Matador’ was one of golf’s most charismatic and naturally gifted players. In my opinion, no man has ever shown such creativity and deftness of touch around the greens as the late Severiano Ballesteros.
Seve’s creative shot-making remains unrivalled within the modern game, helping him to five major championship titles and more than 70 tournament wins worldwide.
His skills were honed from an early age. He taught himself the game on the beach at Pedrena, Spain, using the rusty head of a 3-iron with a stick for a shaft and pebbles for balls.
His imagination around the putting surfaces and his ability to choose and execute the correct shot were second to none. Seve’s arsenal of short-game shots meant he could see shots other players couldn’t.
The first indication of his shortgame genius came at Royal Birkdale in the 1976 Open Championship. From a seemingly impossible position on the final hole, he played an audacious chip that ran through a narrow gap between two bunkers and ended just a couple of feet from the hole.
TIGER WOODS
Tiger Woods had a different mind-set to all of his peers: on every chip shot he faced, he wasn’t just trying to get it close, he was trying to hole it. This intensity and belief enabled him to produce unfathomable shots when the pressure was at its most intense.
His ability around the greens and with the flat stick would create a highlight reel that would play longer than any other player’s in history.
Everyone will remember the phenomenal chip-in on the 16th at Augusta back in 2005, but don’t forget the incredible pitch-in at the Memorial Tournament of 2012 – a shot Jack Nicklaus described as “the most unbelievable” he had ever seen? And then there was that ridiculous chip-in on the final hole of the 2001 World Cup that forced a playoff… Enough said?
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15th green at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club. PHOTO: Arno Gasteiger
SWEET SPOT HITTING THE
A COLOURFUL NEW BOOK CELEBRATES THE BEST OF NEW ZEALAND AS IT ZOOMS IN ON 36 ICONIC GOLF COURSES. WORDS: TOM HYDE.
As visitors from overseas typically note, the best thing about New Zealand is its natural beauty. The seascapes, the emerald hills, the pristine lakes and noble mountain peaks can take your breath away. Embedded in those landscapes and reflecting their beauty are more than 100 of the country’s golf courses.
Rex Gould captured some of this in his pictorial Top New Zealand Golf Courses (1989) and so did photographer Niels Schipper in his Fairway to Heaven: Beautiful New Zealand Golf Courses (2004).
Surveying more than 100 New Zealand courses myself for a book years ago, I was struck how even the most modest of the traditional clubs offered guests unique, eye-catching features, such was the character of the land over which they were built: the par-4 12th hole at Rangatira, for example, or the par-5 8th at Chisholm Links.
Those courses feature in the latest rendition of New Zealand golf photography, Sweet Spot: 36 Iconic Golf Courses that Celebrate the Best of New Zealand, by writers Michael Donaldson and Phil Hamilton with photography by Arno Gasteiger. It’s designed by Alan Deare & Dave McDonald of Area Design.
“THE AUTHORS HAVE DONE A GREAT JOB AT PROVIDING AN INFORMATIVE STROLL AROUND NEW ZEALAND’S GOLF LANDSCAPE AND, WHEN COUPLED WITH INSIGHTFUL PHOTOGRAPHY AND AN HISTORICAL CONTEXT, THE OUTCOME IS A REAL TREAT.”
– FORMER PROFESSIONAL GOLFER AND GOLF COURSE DESIGNER GREG TURNER.
Guarded by boulders, the 2nd hole at Roxburgh Golf Club, Central Otago. PHOTO: Arno Gasteiger
TOP: The 12th at Waverley golf course.
BOTTOM: The 6th at Nelson Golf Club.
PHOTO: Arno Gasteiger
Michael Donaldson may be best known as the “craft beer man”. He is the author of Beer Nation: The Art and Heart of Kiwi Beer and publisher and editor of Pursuit of Hoppiness, the country’s only magazine dedicated to craft beer. Yet he also co-authored caddie Steve Williams’ bestselling biography, Out of the Rough, and he chronicled the rise of Lydia Ko in Lydia Ko: Portrait of a Teen Golfing Sensation
His text for the photographic exploration of New Zealand’s rural golf courses, Country Courses of New Zealand, might be understood as a prelude to Sweet Spot, only this time around he and co-author Phil Hamilton selected 36 of the country’s finest courses – 18 from the North Island and 18 from the South.
Sweet Spot is as much about great photography as it is well-written course descriptions. The images were shot by Gasteiger, a man with an international reputation, known locally for his work at New Zealand Geographic
The three amigos made a good team, and the result is a fresh take on New Zealand golf courses. With an introduction by former touring pro and now a leading course designer Greg Turner, Sweet Spot is, as its testimonials underscore, a perfect gift for the mad-keen golfer among us. Moreover, I’d be surprised if the book did not achieve its fair share of international sales.
As the blurb says: “From the sunbaked turf of Kaitāia to the reclaimed riverbed of Tīeke, the undulating sand dunes of Paraparaumu to the jagged schist of Roxburgh, the deceptive might of Waitara to the sprawling glory of The Hills—the essence of New Zealand golf is found in the bones of the land.
“Walking across this astonishing geography, searching for the quintessential New Zealand golfing experience, Michael Donaldson and Phil Hamilton encountered an array of fascinating people, places and history. Sweet Spot is the result—a careful selection of their very best courses, exquisitely captured by renowned landscape photographer Arno Gasteiger.
“A landmark publication, Sweet Spot celebrates the art, beauty and design of New Zealand’s breathtaking golfing terrain like never before.” Hear, hear!
www.sweetspotgolfbook.com
THE MAKING OF
TE ARAI LINKS
A NEW DOCUMENTARY FOLLOWS THE TRANSFORMATION OF AN ABANDONED PINE FOREST INTO ONE OF THE FINEST GOLF RESORTS IN THE WORLD. WORDS: TOM HYDE.
The North and South courses at Te Arai Links were designed by Tom Doak and Bill Coore respectively, but they were the inspiration and vision of American businessman Ric Kayne and managing director Jim Rohrstaff.
From the start, not long after Kayne came to New Zealand for the first time in 1996, the two men had the foresight to record the construction process that from start to finish took more than 10 years. Director-producer Reuben Pillsbury captured it in The Making of Te Arai Links. And for anyone wondering what
it took and who was involved, his documentary is as informative as it is compelling to watch, from the moment Kayne first lays eyes on the property from a helicopter.
Kayne had the money to get it done, though his commitment and passion for the total project, beginning with Tara Iti, was never about making money. He was driven by his love of golf and knowing the magic that can emerge from seemingly useless coastal land – a lesson learned, perhaps, from Bandon Dunes, the now-revered course on the coast of Oregon. Kayne and his team got it done. The Making of Te Arai Links shows you how.
What I found especially interesting was hearing two legends in course architecture, Tom Doak (Cape Kidnappers) and Bill Coore talk about their work as they walked the property. The film will leave you scratching your head and wondering how in the world they managed to see a golf course while weaving their way through a dense forest. At one point agronomist CJ Kreuscher gets lost.
Trees were felled and shapers arrived from overseas to do what amounted to minimal earthworks, for as Rohrstaff suggested, the natural landscape, dunes and all, speaks louder than heavy equipment. All this was done in such a way that Te Arai Links stands out today as a successful venture in conservation, too. Native birds are breeding where possums and other predators once ruled.
TREES WERE FELLED AND SHAPERS ARRIVED FROM OVERSEAS TO DO WHAT AMOUNTED TO MINIMAL EARTHWORKS, FOR AS ROHRSTAFF SUGGESTED, THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE, DUNES AND ALL, SPEAKS LOUDER THAN HEAVY EQUIPMENT.”
The entire project had the blessing of Ngati Manuhiri. For Ric Kayne, clearly moved by their spiritual sense of place, building Te Arai Links was a profound “personal journey”.
The best line in the film, however, goes to a non-golfing elder who thought having Te Arai Links was “a shitload better than having a pine forest!”.
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CANADA
BRIAN KENDALL TAKES US ON A COAST-TO-COAST TOUR OF CANADA’S FINEST GOLF COURSES AND RESORTS, FROM NEWFOUNDLAND’S RUGGED ATLANTIC COAST TO THE MOUNTAIN VALLEYS OF ALBERTA AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Banff Springs Golf Course, Alberta.
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TWIN RIVERS GOLF COURSE NEWFOUNDLAND
The remote splendour of its location is both the great strength of Newfoundland’s Twin Rivers Golf Course and the far-flung factor that has kept this dramatic oceanfront layout from greater prominence.
Situated at the southern end of Terra Nova National Park, 223 kilometres west of provincial capital St John’s, Twin Rivers boasts a wild and woolly natural setting rivalled by only a handful of Canadian courses. Two whitewater salmon rivers define a 6,546-yard layout that skirts the Atlantic Ocean before winding through a coniferous forest teeming with moose, bald eagles and other wildlife.
Designed by Canadian architects Doug Carrick and the late Robbie Robinson, who each contributed nine holes, Twin Rivers presents golfers with one idyllic vista after another. Especially unforgettable is the 18th, a 175-yard par-3 played through the mist rising above a waterfall to a small green nestled in the forest.
Eagle Creek, a short nine-hole course designed by Newfoundlander Robert Walsh, and the 82-room Terra Nova Park Lodge, are also found on the property.
www.terranovagolfnl.com
MARQUEE COURSES
THE LINKS AT CROWBUSH COVE
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Acclaimed as one of North America’s best new courses when it launched in 1994, the Links at Crowbush Cove ignited the golf industry in Prince Edward Island, Canada’s smallest province. More than a dozen new courses opened in its wake, while annual revenues from golf tourism jumped to a high of around US$80 million ($96m), compared to about US$17m in the mid1990s.
Set beside the rolling dunes of a whitesand beach, the Links at Crowbush Cove features nine water holes, eight holes that skirt the lee side of the environmentally sensitive dunes, wide and undulating fairways, and green sites that are often severe, full of bumps and hollows and protected by deep-set bunkers.
But the most difficult obstacle to scoring well at this design by Canadian Tom McBroom is the almost constantly howling wind. On a really blustery day, even low handicappers can struggle to break 90 at a seaside layout that has become synonymous with golf on Canada’s East Coast.
www.peisfinestgolf.com/crowbush
‘‘ON A REALLY BLUSTERY DAY, EVEN LOW HANDICAPPERS CAN STRUGGLE TO BREAK 90 AT A SEASIDE LAYOUT THAT HAS BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH GOLF ON CANADA’S EAST COAST.”
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CABOT CLIFFS AND CABOT LINKS NOVA
SCOTIA
Few golf properties in the world can match the one-two knockout punch of Cabot Cape Breton on the Nova Scotia island of Cape Breton.
Cabot Cape Breton’s older course, Cabot Links, won rave reviews from the world’s golf press when it launched in 2012. And even before its official unveiling in 2016, Cabot Cliffs had already been named one of the world’s top-20 courses by leading golf publications.
Designed by Canadian Rod Whitman, Cabot Links sprawls along a windbuffeted shoreline that trails down into the dunes along the ocean and then back to higher ground near the main street of Inverness town. It is Canada’s only true links and one of just a handful in North America.
Even more spectacular is the bluff-top setting of the aptly named Cabot Cliffs. No fewer than eight holes offer endless views of the Gulf of St Lawrence at this Ben Crenshaw-Bill Coore design. The inland holes sweep through sculpted dunes and woodlands before returning to the sea. Absolutely unforgettable is the 16th, a par-3 chiseled into a jagged, towering cliff.
The worldwide fame of Cabot Cape Breton sparked the growth of a chain that now includes Cabot Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, Cabot Citrus Farms in Central West Florida, Cabot Highlands in Scotland and Cabot Bordeaux in France.
www.cabotcapebreton.com
FAIRMONT LE MANOIR RICHELIEU GOLF CLUB QUEBEC
Spectacularly situated on cliffs overlooking the mighty St Lawrence river, Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Golf Club is one of the jewels of Quebec’s popular Charlevoix tourist region, east of Quebec City. Pristine lakes, verdant Laurentian Mountain valleys and evergreen forests define Charlevoix’s astonishingly diverse landscape. The region is a
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renowned culinary destination, with restaurants and hotels focused on serving locally sourced cuisine.
Opened in 1925, the original 18-hole Le Manoir Richelieu Golf Club has been extensively renovated in recent years. Nine new holes were added, several of them affording commanding views of the St
Lawrence. Also new is a cliff-top clubhouse, from which diners can often see whales swimming in the water far below.
Next door to the golf course is the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, a Normandy chateau-style grand hotel featuring 405 guest rooms and a lively casino.
www.fairmont.com
MARQUEE COURSES
TPC TORONTO AT OSPREY VALLEY ONTARIO
Set to host its first Canadian Open next year, the North Course is the headline attraction of the three standout 18-hole layouts at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, sitting amid rolling countryside about an hour’s drive from Toronto.
Originally designed by Canadian architect Doug Carrick, the North has recently been toughened up for the PGA Tour pros by Carrick’s former associate, Ian Andrew. Fairways have been lengthened and narrowed, bunkers repositioned, and tightly mown run-offs added to the green complexes at a parkland-style layout expected to become a frequent host of the national championship.
Like the North, TPC Toronto’s two other Carrick-designed courses, Hoot and Heathlands, are picturesque and walkable. Hoot is a sand wasteland-style course in the style of Pine Valley, while Heathlands, the most scenic of the three, is a links-style layout with raised greens and elevated tees.
Due for completion in time for the 2025 Canadian Open are two new clubhouses, as well as luxury lodge-style accommodations. www.ospreyvalley.com
MARQUEE COURSES
WHIRLPOOL GOLF CLUB ONTARIO
Drawn by thundering Niagara Falls, perhaps the most breathtaking of all the natural wonders of the world, 14 million travellers annually visit an Ontario tourism region that also offers award-winning wineries, War of 1812 battlefields, an acclaimed summer theatre festival – and more than 35 golf courses.
At the aptly named Whirlpool Golf Club, the Niagara River whirlpool and gorge provide a stunning backdrop to a brilliant 18-hole design by Canada’s greatest golf architect, Stanley Thompson. Opened a short distance downriver from the falls in 1951, Whirlpool was one of the last courses built by the ‘Golden Age’ designer of such iconic Canadian courses as Highlands Links in Nova Scotia and Banff Springs in Alberta.
Thompson’s gently rolling parkland layout features evergreenlined fairways, his trademark linked bunker complexes, and greens left open at the front in the classic style. A handful of tee sites are elevated, with views that demand golfers tee it up from the tips, even if the rest of their round is played from the forward tees.
‘‘DRAWN BY THUNDERING NIAGARA FALLS, PERHAPS THE MOST BREATHTAKING OF ALL THE NATURAL WONDERS OF THE WORLD.”
Owned by the Niagara Parks Commission, Whirlpool is currently undergoing a multi-year restoration by architect Ian Andrew aimed at restoring tee boxes to their original locations and eliminating bunkers and side mounds not part of the original design. Happily, Thompson’s masterwork will remain open throughout the changes.
www.niagaraparks.com
MARQUEE COURSES
JASPER PARK LODGE GOLF COURSE ALBERTA
Fans of this iconic golf resort watched in horror this past northern summer as a massive wildfire destroyed much of the nearby town of Jasper and then crept onto Stanley Thompson’s golf course. But the good news is that the resort’s main lodge, clubhouse and key cabins were spared, and that Jasper Park Lodge Golf Course is certain to reopen for the 2025 season.
One masterful hole flows into the next at a Rocky Mountain valley design that startled the world with its brilliance – and made its architect’s reputation – when it opened in 1926. Thompson cleared gaps through the forest of fir and spruce to point golfers toward greens aligned with distant mountains, while whimsically patterning his bunkers after the snow formations on their peaks. In choosing a circular course path that flowed with the natural contours of the land, Thompson made the most of the glacial-blue beauty of Lac Beauvert by setting three holes against its shores.
Thompson’s genius – and mischievous personality – was best seen at Jasper’s ninth hole, Cleopatra, one of Canada’s signature par-3s. The 231-yarder plays downhill to a steep-sided and heavily bunkered green framed by the backdrop of distant Pyramid Mountain. Inspired by the mountain’s name, Thompson painstakingly moulded the ninth’s green-side bunkers into the voluptuous form of the ancient Egyptian queen. Unamused by Thompson’s gag, hotel officials ordered the architect to return and mask Cleopatra’s charms.
Thompson’s groundbreaking design in Jasper established a template for mountain courses followed around the world to this day. www.jaspermountaingolf.com
MARQUEE COURSES
BANFF SPRINGS GOLF COURSE
ALBERTA
Designed in the late 1920s by Stanley Thompson, the Banff Springs Golf Course and the Fairmont hotel that looms like a fairytale castle on the cliffs overhead have become totemic symbols of the Canadian game, recognised by golfers around the world.
The course, the first anywhere to cost more than US$1 million, includes Canada’s most celebrated hole, the par3 Devil’s Cauldron, which Thompson set beside an almost surreally picturesque glacial lake in the shadow of looming Mount Rundle.
Wherever he could, the Toronto-born architect left nature alone, taking his routing through tunnels of fir trees, while bringing into play the Spray and Bow Rivers. Never does Thompson’s layout at the Banff Springs impose itself on the perfection of the natural setting. Rather, he created with the subtle strokes of a painter, bringing the artistic elements of balance, harmony and proportion to his work. In Banff and elsewhere, Thompson pushed the frontiers of the designer’s craft.
Following his artistic triumphs, first in Jasper and then Banff, Thompson took his place among the top architects of golf’s Golden Age.
www.fairmont.com/banff-springs
MARQUEE COURSES
TOBIANO GOLF COURSE
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Described by one commentator as a “moonscape with turf”, Tobiano Golf Course is a must-play attraction in the Thompson-Okanagan tourist region of British Columbia, home to award-winning vineyards and more than 30 golf courses.
This visually stunning – and intimidating – 7,367-yard Tom McBroom design plays through starkly beautiful desert canyons overlooking Kamloops Lake, a short drive from the city of Kamloops. The property was once home to Six Mile Ranch, a cattle station renowned for its Red Angus breed.
Wide views of the lake’s cobaltblue waters and the surrounding mountains are on display from every hole at a layout full of daunting tee shots over gaping canyons to infinity greens which, especially on shimmeringly hot days, appear to float in mid-air over the lake.
Beware, especially, the par-5 eighth, the number-one stroke hole, where the testing tee shot might give even Tiger Woods the shakes. Best to tee it forward to the 6,200-yard Spur/Lake combo tees and enjoy your day at what might be the most thrilling course in Canada.
www.tobianogolf.com
MARQUEE COURSES
FAIRMONT CHATEAU WHISTLER GOLF COURSE
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
Unlike most mountain golf courses, which roll relatively tamely across valley floors, Chateau Whistler Golf Club is renowned as a true alpine design. During the opening three grinding, uphill holes alone, golfers face an elevation change of more than 300 feet (90m).
Carved through the lower slopes of Blackcomb Mountain by Robert Trent Jones Jr, Chateau Whistler Golf Club is a summertime highlight in a world-famous
resort town that boasts three top golf courses within a five-minute taxi ride of the bustling downtown.
Creeks, ponds and granite outcroppings confront golfers throughout Jones Jr’s constantly exhilarating design, closely following the natural contours of the rugged terrain. Typically fearsome is the signature 8th hole, a 212-yard par-3 playing downhill to a green guarded in front by a pond, and to the rear by a massive wall
of granite notorious for bouncing errant balls into orbit.
Just a short walk or shuttle ride away is the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, a luxuriously modern take on a European-style ski chalet, which quickly became the preferred place to stay in Whistler following its opening in 1989.
www.fairmont.com/whistler/golf
MARQUEE COURSES
THE RIDGE AT PREDATOR RIDGE
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Located just outside the city of Vernon, the 1,200-acre Predator Ridge Resort and real estate development offers a dramatically scenic landscape of clear lakes, fast-rushing mountain streams and wheatgrass meadows. There’s a central lodge, two- and three-bedroom cottages, and two renowned golf courses. The older course, Predator, is a marvellously scenic Les Furber design that received a US$3.5 million refresh by Doug Carrick in 2018.
But the real star is The Ridge, a Carrick creation that launched in 2010. Carrick’s 7,190-yard design seamlessly blends eight completely rebuilt holes of Predator Ridge Resort’s old Peregrine course with 10 spectacular new holes carved through robust mountain terrain affording cliff-top tee shots and panoramic views of Okanagan Lake far below. Though visually intimidating, The Ridge’s fairways are wider than they at first appear, with dramatic mounds and slopes to help funnel errant shots back into play.
Part of the genius of The Ridge is the careful attention Carrick paid to his forward tees. Golfers playing from up front enjoy many of the same thrilling elevated lift-offs and stunning mountain vistas as their longerhitting partners at the tips.
www.predatorridge.com
MARQUEE COURSES
GREYWOLF GOLF COURSE
BRITISH COLUMBIA
From the moment of its unveiling in 1999, Greywolf Golf Course’s par3 Cliffhanger became the most ballyhooed Canadian golf hole since Stanley Thompson’s Devil’s Cauldron in Banff.
Cliffhanger is the star attraction of a drama-filled Doug Carrick design, located next door to the Panorama ski and golf resort, near the town of Invermere. Tree-lined fairways, mountain views on every hole and almost 500 feet of elevation change are the hallmarks of Carrick’s acclaimed design.
But it’s the par-3 signature hole that leaves golfers awe-struck. Cliffhanger demands a long, gut-churning carry over the sheer drop of Hopeful Canyon to a green perched along the edges of vertical rock cliffs. Rugged peaks tower in every direction, evergreens strain toward the sky, and from the green, golfers can see for kilometres down an incredibly beautiful mountain valley.
All that’s missing from this picturepostcard setting is a red-clad Royal Canadian Mountie standing on guard at the tees.
www.greywolfgolf.com
VIETNAM MAKES THE CUT!
THANKS TO THE HIGH QUALITY OF ITS GOLF COURSES AND ACCOMMODATION, TRAVEL PACKAGES TO VIETNAM ARE NOW AS GOOD AS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. WORDS: TOM HYDE.
The newest additions to Vietnam’s 80 golf courses are drawing a tonne of attention because of their stunning, innovative designs and because they are close to, and associated with, leading hotel brands.
As an industry, tourism in Vietnam is still relatively new and golf tourism is even newer. But this sector of the country’s economy is growing faster than Rory McIlroy’s swing.
The investments are huge and, as hosts, the Vietnamese go out of their way to be helpful and make you feel welcome. Ask anyone on the street and they will happily direct you to the best pho (iconic Vietnamese soup) joint in town.
One way to organise a golf holiday to Vietnam is to think of the country as three regions: the Southern Region, with Ho Chi Minh City as its hub; the Central Coast, based around Da Nang; and the Northern Coast and mountains, where Hanoi rules.
All three regions have stunning new golf developments to boast about. But for, say, a 10-day itinerary, we think it’s better to focus on one of those regions rather than trying to cover the entire country in a mad dash, especially if you want to enjoy a relaxed round of golf or two along the way.
For our part, we chose Da Nang and the Central Coast, a region that stretches from the funky tourist hotspot of Hoi An, a short drive south of Da Nang, to the historic Citadel and Imperial City at Hue, about a two-hour drive north of the city.
We applied online for a visa then flew direct from Auckland to Da Nang via Singapore. Our brief stopover in Singapore,
going and coming, was fun because Changi is the best intransit airport in the world.
After the nearly three-hour flight to Da Nang (a new Vietnam Airways Airbus A321), we caught a taxi to a hotel on My Khe Beach, certainly one of the best beaches in the country and one known to soldiers during the Vietnam/’American’ war as ‘China Beach’.
Da Nang has a handful of new city hotels, but why not make the most of it? Before your first round of golf, relax for a night on the beach or by the pool. Pullman, Marriott, and Hyatt Regency are among the five-star hotel brands there.
When you are ready for some fairway action, take a taxi 15 minutes down the road to Montgomerie Links.
MONTGOMERIE LINKS
This Colin Montgomerie design is a suitable course for getting the kinks out. That’s because the course is less a links as we usually think of it – windswept, rugged vegetation, lots of places to lose a ball – and more parkland, with wide fairways and generous greens, all impeccably maintained.
Montgomerie Links is user-friendly (if any golf course can be described as such) and the facilities are first-rate. Change into your playing gear at the club, have a shower after your round and relax over a pint of Saigon (beer) with a bowl of prawn pho at Birdies, the café that overlooks the 540-metre par-5 18th – the longest hole on the course.
Montgomerie Links.
Montgomerie Links.
Laguna Lang Co.
LAGUNA LANG CO
The next morning, your pre-arranged driver turns up, with bottled water and snacks, to take you an hour up the coast to Laguna Lang Co, where Sir Nick Faldo set down the golf course: par-71, 6,400m from the back tees and playing along the coast and inland among rolling, forested hills.
The course features massive red-sand bunkers, small lakes, streams, exposed rock formations and boardwalks over rice paddies, where, if you’re lucky, you’ll spot a water buffalo.
Laguna Lang Co is popular for private functions because its beachside accommodations and restaurants are top-shelf.
The Angsana Lang Co, with its four restaurants, 300m lagoon pool and villas with private plunge pools, is designed for families. The stunning Banyan Tree resort next door, overlooking the South China Sea, with its exclusive pool villas by the beach, is more secluded.
HUE
After golf and a solid sleep at Laguna Lang Co, your driver is back the next morning to chauffeur you north to Hue, another hour away, for a tour of the country’s ancient capital and its world-famous heritage sites –foremost, the Citadel and, within its medieval walls, the Imperial City.
Other tour stops here include the Thien Mu Pagoda, the ornate tombs of past emperors and, if you wish to take the time, a dragon-boat cruise up the Perfume River, so-called because, long ago, orchids from a farm upstream floated down, bringing their fragrance with them.
If you wish to spend a night in Hue, the Azerai La Residence is a converted 1930s French colonial art deco mansion with new wings and 122 rooms and suites. Its swimming pool is the perfect place to cool off in at the end of a hot day. We enjoyed ricepaper spring rolls and a bowl of vegetable pho for dinner.
After your tour of Hue, your driver can return you to Da Nang, where you can kick back with a cocktail and watch the sunset by the pool. The next morning you are taken 30 minutes west of the city into the hills to play the award-winning Luke Donald-designed course at the Ba Na Hills Golf Club.
Laguna Lang Co golf course.
Water buffalo at Laguna Lang Co.
THE COURSE FEATURES MASSIVE RED-SAND BUNKERS, SMALL LAKES, STREAMS, EXPOSED ROCK FORMATIONS AND BOARDWALKS OVER RICE PADDIES WHERE, IF YOU’RE LUCKY, YOU’LL SPOT A WATER BUFFALO.”
–
LAGUNA LANG CO GOLF COURSE
Laguna Lang Co
Play under lights at Ba Na Hills.
The circular clubhouse at Ba Na Hills Golf Club.
Ba Na Hills Golf Club.
BA NA HILLS GC
Ba Na Hills was named one of the best new golf courses in the world when it opened in 2016. In 2023, the World Luxury Travel Awards upheld that claim.
As it’s in the high country, the daily average temperature tends to be cooler. But if not, this golf course’s 18 eye-popping holes are illuminated for play after the sun goes down. Does a golf ball fly farther in night air? Play here under the lights and find out.
The forested hills, placid lakes, gentle streams, and waste bunkers that seemingly go on forever, altogether make Ba Na Hills among the most beautiful golf courses in Asia. The par-3 16th hole has an island green that plays 210m from the back tee. Check out the website for stay-and-play packages and, once again, the locker room here is top notch, so take a change of clothes and make a day of it.
HOI AN
A tourism must-do in the Central Coast region, Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s a short drive south of Da Nang and the place to shop for all the souvenirs and gifts to bring home. The town is like an outdoor mall of small shops selling all manner of things, some of them specialising in tailor-made clothes, many of those fashioned in silk.
Hoi An is a charming place to spend a morning wandering about, followed by lunch at one of its many cafés or – on the right night, perhaps after a day of golf – dinner followed by the monthly Lantern Festival.
The point being that, however you choose to spend your time, Hoi An can be seen and explored on the same day as a round of golf at, say, the stunning Hoiana Shores Golf Club just minutes from town.
HOIANA SHORES
No other golf resort along the Central Coast better suggests the direction Vietnam is headed when it comes to tourism and golf than Hoiana Shores. This is a full-package resort with a story to tell that’s greater (and grander) than we can cover in this brief report.
Here are seaside hotel rooms and suites, residences, restaurants of all shapes and sizes serving traditional and modern cuisine (and very good pho, no doubt) and a casino, if you’re the wagering type.
For players who take their game seriously, the highlight of the entire development is the spectacular Robert Trent Jones Jr golf course – his first in Vietnam and one that’s been described by critics who have played it as a masterpiece.
Built over sand that was once a wasteland, Hoiana Shores was in development during our visit but is now open. Denise Langdon and Kim Buckley of PaR nz Golfing Holidays are taking a group there later this year. Hoiana Shores is a genuine links course that, from the photos, reminds us of Tara Iti.
This massive golf estate and its classy facilities are not exclusive, however, and when added to an itinerary with the other hotels and courses noted in this report, saving for a golf excursion to Vietnam is unquestionably worth the effort.
BRG DA NANG GC
Which leaves you with still more options. A day off doing nothing but lying by the pool with a book? Nah. How about more golf? The BRG Da Nang Golf Club is just back along the road from Hoiana Shores towards Da Nang, next door to Montgomerie Links. It’s a wonderful links and we fell in love with it.
BRG is a Vietnamese property company, among other businesses, that has taken over the original Greg Norman-designed Da Nang Golf Club. This might be Norman’s best course in Asia, and it is now one of two courses that make up the BRG Da Nang Golf Resort. The other is the BRG Da Nang Nicklaus course, an immaculate parklands-style course with pot bunkers, lakes and streams that intersect with the Coco River.
Hoiana Shores golf course.
BRG Da Nang.
STAY & PLAY
MOROCCO BOUND
AN OASIS OF RELAXATION AND A CHOICE OF THREE SCENIC GOLF COURSES AWAIT BESIDE THE FABLED CITY OF MARRAKECH.
Marrakech – three syllables that evoke heat-hazed lazy days savouring Moroccan delicacies in the cool of a sandalwood-scented courtyard. Amanjena resort is every bit that ideal, and more.
Mere minutes by car from the city’s UNESCO-protected Medina, Amanjena embodies the verdant parks, palm-lined courtyards, olive groves and rose-coloured clay edifices of the fabled Red City.
Amanjena (meaning ‘peaceful paradise’) is part of the Aman collection of luxurious resorts dotting the globe.
Set in five hectares of lush gardens with a backdrop of
the Atlas Mountains and designed to evoke the opulence of a Sultan’s palace, guest accommodation is in spacious standalone Pavilions and Maisons.
Guests are treated like royalty and the décor reflects this ethos: Hispano-Moorish pisé pavilions in red clay, ornamental gardens, gazebos, fountains, arabesque archways, polished marble and zellij mosaic walls, brass lanterns, Berber rugs and a serenity that’s hard to find in the imperial city of Marrakech.
The 32 air-conditioned Pavilions include a bedroom-living room, which features a soaring domed ceiling, king-size platform bed and open fireplace, an en suite and dressing
area. Each pavilion has a private courtyard, pillared minzah (gazebo) and fountain.
The six two-storey Maisons are a contemporary interpretation of the Moroccan townhouse. The living area on the main floor features an arc-cut fireplace, zellij wall fountain and bathroom, as well as a guest bedroom with full bathroom, double change areas and separate courtyard entrance. Upstairs, the main bedroom includes a king-size bed and divan, and a splendid bathroom adorned with marble columns, domed shower and a pillared, greenmarble bathtub. Maison guests also enjoy private heated six-metre swimming pools, garden, fireplace and minzah.
To please the palate of every guest, Amanjena’s dining repertoire covers all bases. For souk-inspired flavours, the Moroccan Restaurant celebrates the diversity of the region and its richly influenced food – a blend of Berber, Andalusian and Mediterranean cuisines. A soundtrack supplied by local musicians adds to the authenticity. Guests can also order from an Italian menu by Aman’s signature restaurant, Arva.
Japanese fare is served poolside at Nama (‘Aman’ in reverse), while the Pool Terrace & Olive Grove offer a classic club menu of salads, ceviche, burgers and wood-fired pizzas, complemented by a drinks menu of cocktails, champagne and wine.
Amanjena Resort, Morocco.
Private dining experiences can be arranged in a host of “atmospheric” locations on and off the property.
Amenities on-site include two clay tennis courts, spa with hammams, fitness centre and private trainers for yoga instruction or training sessions.
Dedicated to personal wellness, Amanjena’s spa facilities are timeless and tranquil, designed to calm, soothe and rejuvenate while expert therapists work on restoring optimal wellbeing. Treatments include massages, facials scrubs and wraps, manicures and pedicures.
DESIGNED
MOUNTAINS.”
– ASSOUFID GOLF CLUB
Next door is the 27-hole Amelkis Golf Course, surrounded by olive groves and with sweeping mountain views, while not far from the resort are two equally picturesque and challenging courses, Royal Golf Marrakech and the awardwinning Assoufid Golf Course.
The 27-hole Royal Golf Marrakech, the second oldest in the Kingdom, exudes classic elegance. One hundred-year-old manicured gardens with more than 15,000 trees, and its famed ‘Brigitte Bardot’ par-3 15th hole (named by decree of His Majesty King Hassan II for its enticing curves), are only part of its allure.
Assoufid Golf Club, established in 2014, is an award-winning 18-hole course laid out over naturally undulating terrain. The first golf course project from Scottish designer and former European Tour player Niall Cameron, it’s a desert-style 6,440-metre, par-72 course designed to look and feel as natural as the native landscape it occupies, taking full advantage of breathtaking views of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains.
So, beside the dream-like retreat of Amanjena, golfers are well catered for. The resort offers a three-night golfing escape, including your choice of rounds at either the Amelkis Golf Course or Royal Golf Marrakech, and a round at Assoufid GC, with green fees and transfers included, breakfast each day at the resort restaurant, plus a 60-minute spa treatment for two.
The Denarau Women’s Golf Classic is a women’s pairs tournament, open to all ages and with a maximum course handicap limit of 36. The three official rounds of the Denarau Women’s Golf Classic will be hosted on the Denarau Golf Course playing Foursomes, 4BBB and Combined Stableford formats. The opening day is a fun teams Ambrose Format. Daily fun prizes are awarded as well as overall winners prizes.
2025 Sheraton Fiji Villa Teams Challenge
The Villa Teams Challenge is a 4-person teams competition. You can make your team up with any combination of men and / or women. If you don’t have a team, we can find you one. Maximum course starting handicaps apply, 28 for men and 36 for women. The competition is played over four rounds where each player’s daily score contributes to the overall team score. Points are scored under the PaR nz Points System™. Daily fun prizes are awarded as well as overall winners prizes
We are proud to be hosting our two long-standing golf tournaments in partnership with the Sheraton Fiji Golf & Beach Resort
Sunday 21 September – Friday 26 September 2025 Visit our website: www.parnz.co.nz
Contact denise@parnz.co.nz or kim@parnz.co.nz
DIARY 2025
MARK YOUR CARD WITH THESE MUST-WATCH GOLF TOURNAMENTS, HOSTED TOURS AND GOLF-THEMED CRUISES.
BEST OF NEW ZEALAND
DEPARTS 16 JANUARY, 2025
Ponant, a world leader in luxury expeditions, has unveiled a premium golf experience departing 16 January that transforms this nine-night cruise into the ultimate golf trip. From Auckland to Lyttleton, guests are invited to embark on an immersive voyage aboard Le Jacques-Cartier, exploring the majestic landscapes of New Zealand’s east coast with the opportunity to add a premium golf package that includes transfers to and from the courses, tee times, green fees and carts. Courses include Summerhill Estate GC (Papamoa Hills), Poverty Bay (Awapuni Links) and spectacular Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay.
Email: info@cruiseworld.co.nz or visit www.cruiseworld.co.nz
Summerhill Estate Golf Course.
Poverty Bay Golf Course.
Cape Kidnappers Golf Course.
CRUISE
UK AND IRELAND
DEPARTS 23 JUNE, 2025
This once-in-a-lifetime voyage with Regent Seven Seas Cruises will be hosted by Annika Sörenstam – considered the greatest female golfer of all time – aboard the new Seven Seas Grandeur, a round-trip cruise from Southampton, England. During her 15year Hall of Fame career, Sörenstam has amassed more than 95 victories, including 11 major championships, and is the only woman to break 60 in an official event, earning her the nickname “Ms 59”. Combining luxury travel and competitive golf, this spectacular cruise will visit golf’s most iconic destinations, with the opportunity to play on six prestigious courses, including past British Open venues Royal Lytham & St Annes in England and Turnberry’s Ailsa Course in Scotland, plus The Strand course at Portstewart GC in Northern Ireland. Onboard, guests will enjoy personalised service from a friendly and professional crew, a range of specialty restaurants and alfresco dining venues, fine wines and spirits, world-class entertainment, unlimited internet access, free valet laundry, pre-paid gratuities, transfers and pre-cruise hotel packages for guests staying in concierge-level suites and above, all as part of Regent’s all-inclusive fare.
Email: info@cruiseworld.co.nz or visit www.cruiseworld.co.nz
Ailsa Course, Turnberry, Scotland. Royal Lytham & St Annes, England.
SHERATON FIJI DENARAU WOMEN’S CLASSIC
14-19 SEPTEMBER, 2025
This is a women’s pairs tournament, open to all ages and with a maximum course handicap limit of 36. Players will stay at the Sheraton Resort. The three official rounds of the Denarau Women’s Golf Classic will be hosted on the Denarau Golf Course playing Foursomes, Fourball and Combined Stableford formats. The opening day is a fun teams Ambrose Format. Daily fun prizes are awarded at daily lunches as well as overall winners prizes. Also included is a souvenir polo shirt and cap. www.parnz.co.nz
SHERATON FIJI VILLA TEAMS CHALLENGE
21-26 SEPTEMBER, 2025
Make up your team with any combination of men and women, or, if you don’t have a team, the organisers will find you one. Maximum course starting handicaps apply: 28 for men and 36 for women. The competition is played over four rounds where each player’s daily score contributes to the overall team score. Points are scored under the PaR nz Points System™. Daily prizes are awarded as well as overall winners prizes. You’ll stay at the Sheraton Resort. www.parnz.co.nz
BARFOOT & THOMPSON BAY OF PLENTY
5-COURSE CLASSIC 20-24 JANUARY, 2025
This tournament includes five rounds of golf at the Mount Maunganui, Omanu, Omokoroa, Tauranga and Te Puke courses, plus entry into the Titleist Pro V1 2s competition, a Barfoot & Thompson gift, complimentary morning tea at registration, and a light lunch at prizegiving, where the prizes are valued at more than $24,000. Prizes are awarded for daily winners, closest-to-pins and total individual Stableford winners. www.parnz.co.nz
MORA
MILLBROOK MASTERS 16-20 NOVEMBER, 2025
Four nights’ accommodation with breakfast at the five-star Millbrook Resort, three rounds of golf with carts at Millbrook’s Coronet and Remarkables courses, and Jack’s Point, with a welcome function sponsored by MORA wines, a polo shirt and cap from Titleist/Footjoy, player gifts and prizegiving. Format is pairs competing in 4BBB. www.parnz.co.nz
TRINITY HILL HAWKE’S BAY 4-COURSE CLASSIC
2-7 NOVEMBER, 2025
Courses include Cape Kidnappers (with cart), Hastings, Maraenui and Napier. Registration (with wine tasting) will be at the Trinity Hill winery on 2 November, a welcome lunch after round one and prizegiving at the same location on the last day. Lunch with wine is included after your round at Cape Kidnappers. Daily prizes and a player gift pack included. Scoring will be gross and Stableford by gender and multiple handicap divisions as well as teams. www.parnz.co.nz
2025 EVENTS
MEN’S MAJORS
THE MASTERS
10-13 April
Augusta National GC, Georgia
PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
15-18 May
Quail Hollow GC, Charlotte, NC
US OPEN
12-15 June
Oakmont CC, Oakmont, Pennsylvania
THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
15-21 July
Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland
WOMEN’S MAJORS
CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP
23-27 April
The Club at Carlton Woods, Texas
US WOMEN’S OPEN
29 May-1 June
Erin Hills GC, Hartford, Wisconsin
KPMG WOMEN’S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
19-22 June
PGA Frisco, Texas
AMUNDI EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
10-13 July
Evian Resort, Evian-Les-Bains, France
WOMEN’S BRITISH OPEN
30 July-3 August
Royal Portcawl GC, South Wales
NEW ZEALAND OPEN
29 Feb-3 March
Millbrook Resort
Queenstown
RYDER CUP
26-28 September
Bethpage Black, New York City
DC: Europe
QUICKTIP
RYAN FOX
GRIP IT &RIP IT!
‘A STRONGER GRIP AND DOWNSWING SEQUENCING GIVE ME MY DISTANCE’
STRONGER GRIP MAKES IT EASIER TO SQUARE FACE
I’ve got a little bit of a strong grip, but most of the longer guys tend to have a stronger grip. It lets me square the clubface up, so I don’t have to flip it with my hands too much. It almost holds it off through impact and I feel a lot better through the ball doing that than wanting to chase it with the right hand. If I have a neutral grip, I feel like I have to work so hard to square the clubface up.
LONGER SWING INCREASES TIME FOR ACCELERATION
My golf swing is long and I certainly go past parallel at the top. This enables me to generate more speed because the clubhead is moving further, but you need to be able to control it in the downswing. I’ve always had a really good sequence in the downswing. I can uncoil the hips quickly and then everything else kind of catches up. It’s the same motion as throwing a ball.
CLUBFACE A LITTLE SHUT, KEEP THE BODY TURNING
When the shaft is parallel to the ground in the downswing, I want the clubface to be slightly shut (matching the stronger grip) and on or a little outside the hands as you look down the line so it’s tracking a little left. Brooks Koepka gets into this position really well. This enables you to have a really passive clubface through the impact zone, but your body has to keep turning to square it up.
CLUBHEAD TRACKS LEFT OF TARGET FOR A LITTLE FADE
If I’ve got the club in a decent place when it’s parallel to the ground in the downswing then I’m generally pretty good at delivering it into impact from there. If it’s not in a good place there then you’re obviously fighting it into impact. The clubhead tracking slightly left at impact enables me to hit a little fade, which has made me a lot more consistent over the last couple of years.
