Golf Digest July 2020

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Old Shane Lowry

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PANDEMIC POSITIVES

WHAT NOW FOR MIDDLE EAST GOLF?

Tee Sheet 07/20

how to play. what to play. where to play.

Features cover story 24 Old School Short Game by shane lowry

30 COVID Comeback How golf in the Middle East has reacted to the pandemic. by kent gray

34 Business as (un)usual Troon International President Mark Chapleski sees upsides for club golf in the COVID era.

38 Classic Reactions Simon Corkill is rolling with the punches as he preps for the Saudi Ladies International and OMEGA Classics. by kent gray

The Starter 08 The Belfry European Tour golf returns to the famed Ryder Cup venue. by kent gray

Play 10 Your Turn Power and accuracy are bedfellows of a good backswing rotation. by mike kinloch

12 Butch Harmon Always nail the simple chip.

16 David Leadbetter Knowing the pressure points of a perfect grip.

18 Par Patrol ▶ My 10 rules for putting from off the green successfully. by phil kenyon

20 Undercover Caddie How pros took care of us (or didn’t) during the break.

42 Seeking Joy It’s not easy being a mini-tour player at the best of times. It’s even more eye-opening in the worst of times, says two-time MENA Tour winner Luke Joy. 46 Stinger!

I’ve been working on this shot my whole career. Here’s the book on how to hit it. by tiger woods

with joel beall

22 Golfers We Like Trump Int. Golf Club Dubai member Richard Charlesworth beats the heat for charity. by kent gray

52 Disregarded Artist We play a duller game since architect Jim Engh went out of style. by derek duncan

14 Tour Technique Stronger sand play through club selection.

66 Last Shot A lesson from Mouse.

◀ 60 Couch to Course Better golf without leaving your house.

by justin thomas

by jerry tarde

by mike bender

4 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

Cover photograph by Walter Iooss Jr.

fossil trace: braden hanson/premier aerials • lowry: walter iooss jr. • fleetwood: stuart franklin/getty images • bender: illustration by zohar l azar

▶ lost opportunity We don’t understand how Jim Engh’s golf course architecture went out of style. 52

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Editor’s Letter

Timely Reminder KENT GRAY kent.gray@motivate.ae • Twitter: @KentGrayGolf / @GolfDigestME

HAT A WEIRD, worrying and wonderful time this is for golf.

Stick with me on that last bit.

Our old-timey cover unwittingly encapsulates the former reality.

When Shane Lowry agreed to dress up like Old Tom Morris, the coronavirus pandemic had already put the kibosh on his defence of the claret jug at Royal St George’s, this year at least.

“I suppose there’s a bit of a novelty factor, and it’ll be nice to have the jug on my Christmas table again, although I would’ve preferred to be Open champion for two years in a row the right way,” Lowry told our Golf Digest comrades in the U.S. where the cover was shot.

Contemplating July without the Open Championship, a tournament only previously postponed by the two world wars, is indeed bizarre. Thankfully all is not lost; you’ll have to wait until next year for a preview of the 149th Open on the Kent coast but you can immediately benefit from the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year’s oldschool short game tips by turning to our cover feature on page 24.

The PGA Tour’s return over the past month, meanwhile, has been equal parts reassuring and alarming. The golf, sans fans, has been ridiculously good with regular scores in the low 60s and a lot of focus on brawny Bryson DeChambeau. I’m still not sure we’re ready for a spectator-less Ryder Cup (postpone it till 2021 already; the PGA Championship without fans will be weird enough) but it has been fun having live golf back on the small screen.

It sure was better than the alternative no golf at all. But is that just being selfish?

As the spread of coronavirus worryingly gathers (or regathers) momentum in other parts of the world, the PGA Tour hasn’t been immune. As we went to press, the number of players and caddies forced to

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withdraw from The Travelers Championship due to positive tests or close contact with someone affected by the virus started an unofficial scoreboard that garnered more headlines than the actual leaderboard. It seemed only the Incredible Bulk – DeChambeau just in case you haven’t been following along – got more online airtime.

They played on in Connecticut but PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, indeed all involved in the delivery of pro golf, will continue to walk a perilous line between the human and financial welfare of their respective tours for a while yet.

Here’s hoping they can keep a lid on things in the U.S. and that the European Tour’s return, first in Austria from July 9 and then with the six scheduled ‘UK-swing’ events, has more luck. Why luck? Simply because of the varying degrees of government guidance/public compliance in other parts of the world which makes it seem like potluck will be a form of defence if we rush back to the airport and that semblance of normality we all crave. For pessimists (or realists, depending on your point of view) the positive PGA Tour tests were a worrying trend, for others just the way life is going to be until (or is that if ) the world finds a vaccine for this invisible enemy.

What we’d give to wind back the clock to a simpler time. Perhaps not as far back as the era Lowry temporarily modelled, just a few months ago when the world was ‘normal’.

Mind you, maybe golf, and those fortunate enough to play it in these extraordinary times, will come out of the COVID era strangely better for the almighty upheaval.

At the elite level, don’t be surprised if a PGA-European Tour merger is fastforwarded. That will have ramifications for all but the biggest European Tour events but having the best players compete against each other more often, and those outside

the new top-tier desperate to reach the big time, will add a fresh new narrative.

Perhaps the most pleasing outcome will be seen on ‘normal’ fairways around the globe. There has been a heartening uptick in amateur rounds as many countries have eased out of lockdown and cooped up humans look for a safe opportunity to get outdoors. It’s a trend the likes of the Emirates Golf Federation, Troon International and Dubai Golf rightly herald in our look at Middle East golf in the age of coronavirus from page 30.

This is a peculiar and uncertain time.

But it also presents a wonderful opportunity for the game to replenish from the

“Maybe golf will come out of the COVID era strangely better for the almighty upheaval.”

Editor-in-ChiEf Obaid Humaid Al Tayer Managing PartnEr & grouP Editor Ian Fairservice Editor Kent Gray art dirECtor Clarkwin Cruz Editorial assistant Londresa Flores PhotograPhEr Mustufa Abidi instruCtion Editors Mike Kinloch, Euan Bowden, Tom Ogilvie, Alex Riggs ChiEf CoMMErCial offiCEr Anthony Milne PublishEr David Burke gEnEral ManagEr - ProduCtion S. Sunil Kumar assistant ProduCtion ManagEr Binu Purandaran THE GOLF DIGEST PUBLICATIONS ChairMan & Editor-in-ChiEf Jerry Tarde intErnational liCEnsing dirECtor Edward Klaris intErnational Editor Ju Kuang Tan GOLF DIGEST USA ChairMan & Editor-in-ChiEf Jerry Tarde Editorial dirECtor Max Adler ExECutivE Editor Mike O’Malley, Peter Morrice gEnEral ManagEr Chris Reynolds Managing Editor Alan P. Pittman dEsign dirECtor Ken DeLago Playing Editors Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas

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grassroots, for generations (often from the same family) to stay reconnected in our great outdoors over 18 holes, or maybe just a quick nine. It’s a time to trumpet all the physical and mental health privileges the game affords and that it is only a good walk spoiled if you allow it to be. Walking. Now there’s a novel idea (when the temperature allows, of course).

In the Middle East at least, it’s parti­ cularly heartening to see the game’s decision­makers not only running with the new norm, but implementing a long­ overdue relaxation of some of the game’s stuffy old traditions. Check out the inter­ view with Troon International President

Mark Chapleski (from p34) and his reve­ lation about how they’re doing things at The Track, Meydan Golf for context.

There’s a reason it’s hard getting a tee time at the 9­holer nowadays.

Indeed, if anything good comes out of COVID from a golf standpoint, it will be a new generation of golfers and those once disenfranchised with the game falling in love with it all over again. At least the newbies and the returnees don’t have to dress like Old Tom, as much as we think Lowry’s vintage clobber is a wonderful reminder of why golf will endure, and perhaps prosper, from this weird and worrying time.

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The Belfry Hotel & Resort The famous Ryder Cup venue is blessedly back on the European Tour schedule

8 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

t has been the scene of four epic Ryder Cups, including Europe’s historic breakthrough in the biennial matches against the United States in 1985. Who can forget Seve Ballesteros’ swashbuckling drive onto the 10th green (pictured) that year, Sam Torrance’s putt to seal history or Christie O’Connor Jr’s brilliant two-iron over the water to 18 to edge Fred Couples and help Europe retain the Samuel Ryder Trophy with a 14-14 draw in 1989? The legendary Brabazon Course is sure to deliver more drama when it hosts the UK Championship from Aug. 27-30, the sixth and final event of the European Tour’s new COVID-19 inspired UK Swing. It will be the first time the tour has returned to the leafy Wishaw, Warwickshire layout since Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño won the British Masters in 2008. Whether the English Classic, the English Open, the B&H International Open or the British Masters, The Belfry has a stellar roll call of champions from its previous 16 European Tour stops, Ballesteros, Greg Norman, José María Olazábal, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood among them. It will be fascinating to see who joins them at the tree-lined par 72 layouts designed by the late Welsh tour pro/ architect Dave Thomas and the “voice of golf’, Englishman Peter Alliss, and opened in 1978.

— kent gray

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Photograph by David Cannon/Getty Images

Play Rotation with Michael Kinloch

“Toptracer Range adds a fun dimension to practicing at the Creek.”

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WATCH THE VIDEO ▶ Mike brings this lesson to life at golfdigestme.com

Your Turn Power and accuracy are bedfellows of a good backswing rotation F YOU ARE struggling for distance or hitting consistently wayward shots, poor rotation could be the cause. This is often triggered in the backswing where many amateurs move away laterally, almost as if they are sliding off the ball. This can be seen in the image right where my right hip has pushed into the vertical stick next to my right foot. You can see the correct positioning of the vertical stick in images 2 and 3.

If I rotate and spiral my body correctly, my right shoulder and chest will not slide to the right.

Instead, it will turn around, up and behind me. This in turn will move the hip back and around slightly. Instead of hitting the vertical stick, the correct rotation of the body will maintain a gap between the hip and stick (image 4).

In these series of images, I have placed a second stick in the belt loops of my shorts. As I make my practice swing with a good rotation of the body, I should see the stick at my waist turn in slowly towards the ball normally up to about 45 degrees from its start position which is parallel to the target line. When the top half of the body performs the correct, strong spiral in the backswing, the hips will need to turn to allow that backswing

toptracer range ▶ At the Peter Cowen Academy at Dubai Creek, we are now fortunate to have Toptracer range at our disposal, the same ball-tracking technology used to track the shots of the world’s best players on TV. With the help of cameras mounted around the range and 21-inch monitors in each hitting bay, the technology offers amateurs some very useful data during practice sessions. It’s not uncommon to see players improve their ball speed by five miles per hour based on a stronger and more full turn away from the ball, a data point Toptracer monitors on every shot. That’s immensely gratifying for the player and us as teachers, as are the Toptracer Range games and modes suited for all ages and skill levels.

The system is amazingly accurate and great fun to use. In virtual golf, you can take on friends over a selection of world-famous courses, challenge them to nearest the pin competitions or longest drive challenges. Serious golfers can use the practice module to hone their skills, keep track of their distances and upload data to their Toptracer profile. It will really add a fun dimension to practicing at the Creek”.

mustufa abidi

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to be completed. Trying to keep the hips still in the backswing will not help to produce power and will almost always result in an incomplete backswing.

Another use for the stick in the belt loop is to help understand how the body should rotate back to the ball. With the stick rotated about 30/45 degrees behind my toe line (image 1), this is a great feel for a powerful impact position and one that we should look to replicate during some

slow-motion practice swings.

You can hit balls with the stick in the belt loops but start slowly and try to replicate the posed position at impact. This is a great way to feel the legs and lower half of the body initiate our move back to the ball.

Michael Kinloch is Head Professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai. For more information, visit dubaigolf.com

Play Tee to Green by Butch Harmon

“Get yourself pre-set for a crisp, downward strike.

HE BASIC CHIP from just off the green is such a simple shot, yet so many amateurs have no confidence hitting it.

I can see why. They don’t play the ball in the right place, and they stand too far away from it. Let’s get these two problems fixed.

First, check your ball position. Most golfers play the ball too far forward on chip shots. You want to hit down on it, so put the ball back in your stance as I’m demonstrating (right). Try my setup routine for chipping: Set your back foot across from the ball, aim the clubface where you want the shot to start, then step in with your front foot. Before you swing, lean your weight toward the target. Now you’re pre-set for that downward strike.

Next, stand the correct distance from the ball. The common mistake is gripping the club at full length and extending the arms away from the body, like you’re about to hit a longer shot. From there, the club will swing back to the inside with the face rotating open. That’s a lot of movement you’ll have to undo before impact. Instead, grip down a few inches, and get very close to the ball, setting the shaft more vertical.

You’ll make a straight-back, straight-through swing (right), with the face looking at the target the whole time.

You get the result you want from a good setup.

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y three brothers and I learned to play golf from our dad, Claude Harmon (below), who was the longtime pro at Winged Foot. But Dad’s focus was just as clear on teaching us to be gentlemen.

I was a hothead as a junior golfer, but my youngest brother, Billy, was even worse.

One time, Billy was in the semifinals of the Westchester Junior and missed a short putt with some members from the host club watching.

Billy slammed the putter against his golf bag and stormed past the members.

Billy won that match, and during the break before the final, in walked Dad. He told Billy he’d heard from the club pro how Billy had acted. Dad told Billy, “I hope you lose every hole this afternoon, but if you win, that trophy will never come into our house. Billy won, and none of us ever saw the trophy.

And we never forgot the lesson: Being a respectful person is far more important than winning any golf tournament.

augusta national/getty images

Chipping 101 Revisit your setup to make this shot easy

the trophy that never made it home

butch harmon is based at Rio Secco Golf Club, Henderson, Nev.

12 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

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Play Tour Technique

by justin thomas

’m hitting my sand shots closer now than in years past.

Before the break, I was leaving them inside seven feet on average— and I was converting more, too. I think the improvement comes from the way I work on these shots, and my approach to club selection and technique. ▶ I’ve found it super useful to randomise practice.

One ball, one shot—then move on to another situation. It really makes you focus and simulates what you face on the course. ▶ As far as club selection, I know most amateurs use only one club in the sand. But depending on my lie and how far I need to hit it, I’ll use anything from a lob wedge down to a pitching wedge. For shorter shots from fluffy lies, a wedge with a lot of bounce (at least 10 degrees) is the play. For packed sand or to carry longer distances, a wedge with less loft and bounce makes sense.

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cliff hawkins/getty images

Stronger Sand Play A few simple changes can help

“It should feel like you’re smacking the sand with the backside of the club.”

That way, you can make roughly the same swing every time, letting the club deal with the lie. It’s my philosophy about golf in general: Keep things as simple as possible.

When you set up for a greenside bunker shot, don’t forget that you need to stand with your feet a little wider than normal, some flex in your knees and your weight favouring your front foot. And when you swing, you have to stay in this setup. That keeps you in position to strike the sand about an inch or two behind the ball. The best part: You don’t have to be precise to get a good result.

As for technique, I tend to fan the club wide open in the backswing and keep the clubface pointing toward the sky through impact. You can see that in the photo on the previous page. It should feel like you’re smacking the sand with the backside of the club behind the ball. That’s a good swing thought. The only time I won’t do that is if I want the ball to roll out. Then I’ll hit a chunkand-run, letting the clubface close as it strikes the sand.

Two things I work on from time to time depending on how I’m playing: I’ll shallow my backswing to take less sand and spin it more.

And my dad [Mike Thomas] reminds me sometimes to turn my chest forward in the through-swing. It’s another way to avoid fatting it. You don’t want to swing all arms, which is something I see a lot of amateurs do. A good swing thought: Finish with your chest facing the hole like you see me doing here.

Generally, your goal with bunker shots is to get the ball to check up quickly. Do that, and you can land the ball much closer to the hole, instead of guessing how much roll you would need to get the same result. That takes a lot of pressure off the putt.

—with ron kaspriske

july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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Play BioGolf by David Leadbetter

“Tour players use only three fingers to control the club.”

Under Pressure What science reveals about holding the club t’s kind of ironic that in this era of golf, when practically every facet of the game can be scientifically measured for optimal performance, very little research has dealt with our only connection to the golf club—the hands. How hard should you hold the club when you swing? Should that grip pressure change during the swing? Where should the shaft lie within the hands?

These are all questions that have been answered countless times by countless instructors.

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Yet, the advice almost always has been anecdotal. For example, Sam Snead famously said you should hold the club no tighter than if you had a baby bird in your hands. It’s a great metaphor—especially if you understand that Sam didn’t want you to crush the bird; nor did he want you to hold it so loosely that it could fly away. But when it comes to grip pressure, we no longer have to be ambiguous.

Using proprietary sensors, testing done by biomechanist J.J. Rivet and some of his col-

leagues in France revealed several interesting things about how to grip the club— and how hard. The first is that when swinging, professional golfers grip the club 12.5 to 20 percent of their hardest squeeze. But more important was that the pressure was consistent from address through impact. There was no noticeable increase or decrease.

Conversely, amateurs gripped the club with inconsistent pressure, typically squeezing much harder at address and at impact.

Also revealed from the testing is where in the hands pressure is being applied. Tour players rely on the thumb and forefinger of the dominant hand and the pinky finger of the other hand to control the club. As you might guess, the

middle and ring fingers and the palm of the dominant hand are a lot more involved in the swings of poorer players. Relying on those fingers restricts movement of the club, making it harder to square the face and create adequate clubhead speed.

The takeaway from this is to pay attention to where you’re applying pressure to the club with your hands when you practice—feel it in the thumb and forefinger of your dominant hand and pinky of the opposite hand. And make swings holding on just hard enough that the handle doesn’t move around in your hands as you swing.

—with ron kaspriske david leadbetter is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional

before you swing . . . ▶ Here’s a great way to make sure you’ve got a good hold on the club. When you set up to the ball, make sure one of the last things you do before you swing is feel the tension in your forearms release. Don’t take the club back until your forearms feel as relaxed as if you were lying in a hammock on some white-powder-sand beach. That way, even if the shot doesn’t work out, you’ll still have that great image of the beach to enjoy.

(Kidding.)

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Photograph by J.D. Cuban

THE HOME OF STORYTELLING IN THE MIDDLE EAST

“I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT BOOKS” THOMAS JEFFERSON

“There are no pictures on a scorecard, so don’t be ashamed of this play.”

stuart franklin/getty images

Par Patrol

Play

1

Always think first, Can I putt it? When there’s no rough or obstacle between you and the hole, it’s probably your best option.

2 Focus on speed more

The 10 Rules for Putting from off the Green Remember them, and you’ll save 3 a bunch of strokes

than the break. A putt that misses the mark but stops pin-high is a good effort.

You’d certainly take a chip that finished there, right?

by phil kenyon

Read the part of the putt that’s on the green first.

That’s your baseline to judge speed. Then add to the length of your stroke depending on how much ground the ball has to cover before getting to the green.

4 Leave the pin in.

Even before the pandemic, this was the smarter choice.

5

Bigger heads are better.

Putters that are more stable on slightly off-centre hits are more effective. That’s usually a mallet style instead of a blade.

6

Play the ball a little forward in your stance, but don’t let the handle move with it.

You’ll likely need a slightly higher launch by hitting up on it to get it off the grass, out of an indentation, or if you’re into the grain.

7 Focus on good contact

more than anything.

If you don’t hit it solid, it might not even reach the green.

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Make a healthy backswing.

Take it back too short, and you’ll be tempted to thrust at the ball in the through-swing, which can cause you to mis-hit the putt.

9

Downhill or uphill into the green shouldn’t change your effort. Always putt with even pace.

The only thing that should change is the length of the stroke.

10 There are no pictures on a

scorecard, so don’t be ashamed of this play. In any aspect of golf, it’s function over form. Some of the greatest golfers in history have called upon this shot to win.

phil kenyon, one of Golf Digest’s Best International Teachers, works on the short games of top pros, including Gary Woodland, Justin Rose, Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood (left).

july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

19

Play On Tour

didn’t pay me during the sabbatical but did give me a significant cut of the $52,000 distributed to each player competing at the Players Championship. Other caddies aren’t so lucky.

in touch with—players and caddies—are mostly OK with the tour’s restart plan. But not everybody, including a close caddie friend. He thinks we should shut down for the summer, is petrified about a second, fiercer wave hitting the country during the transition back. He’s also not young, and to be frank, not a cat who will be entering marathons in the near future.

He’s also tied to a pretty good player at the moment. They have a solid

to Detroit. We’re going to be exposed to COVID-19—or worse, be carriers of it. And yet I’m willing to do it.

The reason I do what I do is the lifestyle. For the love of sport, yes. But it’s more than that. Even though we’re at the golf course for eight hours a day, there’s plenty of time to immerse yourself in a town’s culture. I’m big into visiting tourist sites and local shops.

I can walk 18 in the heat and still go out for a hike. Huge foodie—will travel an hour if

With kids, homes and divorces, guys were already living pay cheque to pay cheque before the pandemic hit. The tour has the Caddie Benevolent Fund for hardship cases, but be it pride or worry that word will get out, I know of four guys who are hesitant to put in the request.

Two of them have worked landscaping in the interim to pay bills, another was on maintenance at his childhood course. I shudder to think what might happen if there’s a problem with the restart.

About that: Most of the people I’ve been keeping

relationship, and the player has already said he doesn’t have to return right away if he doesn’t feel safe. But my friend knows if the player has success while he’s at home, well, time to polish the résumé. And he might not get a bag as good as this ever again. I can tell the decision is weighing on him; his hair is graying by the Zoom call.

Me? Yeah, I’m worried about catching the coronavirus, no matter what type of bubble they’ll have us in. You’ve seen the revised schedule; you’re not driving from Fort Worth to Hilton Head to Hartford

the joint is worth it—and as you can tell by the stomach, I’m not a teetotaler. The parties, the women . . . it’s a rush, compadre.

And, sure, some of that won’t be the same on our return, at least not right away.

(That said, no matter what protocols are in place, if there’s a golf tournament taking place, there will be parties and women.) But that break I wanted? Hell, man. This pandemic has taught me one thing, and one thing only: For 15 years, every day on tour has been a vacation.

Undercover Caddie Dealing with a forced break from tour life BLAME MYSELF. Over drinks at La Quinta this year, a group of us were sharing our goals for 2020. After 15 straight seasons of nonstop work, I said all I wanted was a vacation. Let that be a lesson: Never speak things into existence.

In my defense, I wasn’t embellishing. I’ve spent half my time hauling a bag, the other half helping my dad and brother with their businesses.

Mostly with accounting— what can I say, caddies are good with numbers—but the occasional physical labour as well. Between tour life and those gigs, there’s been zero me time, to the point where I sold my condo five years ago. It’s been the road or crashing at their houses, nothing in between.

So, for a week or two after the coronavirus shut things down, I welcomed the plop on my father’s Barcalounger to decompress. But that recliner has quickly turned into my prison. I’m a man of action.

Need it; got to have it. No wonder I’ve been in perpetual motion—lounging around drives me nuts.

Doesn’t help we’re in an area where golf courses were closed for a long time. To get my fix, I turned my pop’s tool shed into a range. An old rug is the hitting surface, two mattresses are dampening panels. The ricochets come in hot; got a bruise on the right kneecap to prove it. Still a better practice facility than they give us at Torrey Pines, though.

For the moment, I’m fine with money. We’ve had a profitable season, and we’re targeting six to seven starts before the playoffs. My man

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—WITH JOEL BEALL

headshot: delihayat/getty images • golfer and caddie: phil inglis/getty images

With kids, homes and divorces, guys were already living pay cheque to pay cheque before the pandemic hit.

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Play Golfers We Like

For Dad

One mid-summer round is more than enough for most Middle East amateurs. Unfazed, a Trump Dubai member just played four in a day.

22 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

“I just wanted to get round so wasn’t really thinking of the scores. There’s a lesson there…” ad introduced me to golf when I was eight and whenever I’m on a course, I am reminded of him.” ▶ Richard Charlesworth had more time than usual to remember his father last month when he endured temperatures in the high 30s and strength-sapping humidity to complete 72-holes in a day at Trump International Golf Club, Dubai.

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The 49-year-old, Dubai-based Englishman was participating in the Macmillan Cancer Research Longest Day Challenge in honour of Thomas Charlesworth who lost his battle with the disease in 2017.

“I’ve known about it for a few years and wanted to do it. However, in the UK it’s light from 4.30am to 9.30pm in summer so you have enough time to walk four rounds as a four-ball. Here it had to be carts as it was over 30 even in the morning and high 30s during the day, with humidity that’s mid-40s, and not enough time to walk all four rounds.

“I was very lucky that there was a breeze and it wasn’t as humid as it had been two days previously when people were stopping after nine holes and I looked as though I had thrown myself into a swimming pool fully clothed. Besides changing clothes every round, I was very conscious to keep drinking water after every shot and put on the sun cream regularly. I also did some back, glute and hamstring stretching.”

Charlesworth set out on his charity adventure at 6.24am, Trump Dubai’s first tee time, and played the first 18 with friends from the British Dads’ Dubai Golf Society. Thereafter the Business Development Director for IHS Markit went it alone. As a former marathoner, Charlesworth unsurprisingly didn’t leave his prep to chance.

“Was it challenging? Yes. However, since gyms were closed in March I’ve been doing my own circuit-style sessions in my garden four to five times a week in the mornings. Over the last month, even the early mornings have been very hot and humid – over 30 degrees but feeling over 40. So I’ve got used to the heat somewhat.

“I also had four complete sets of spare

clothes to change into, sports drinks, electrolyte tablets, Vaseline, sun cream, towels and a plastic bag to put all the sweaty clothes into. Thankfully there are water coolers every few holes and there’s a food/beverage cart on course.”

So how did the career-low 6.4 handicapper play, given the heat and the need to keep his pace up to ensure enough daylight?

“We played a four-ball better-ball match in the first round and then my scores were 82, 79 and 79. Oddly, I improved as I was trying to swing very easy to prevent injury, play easy recovery shots if necessary and, during the fourth round, I was starting to stiffen up.”

Impressively Charlesworth only missed four fairways in the final 54 holes although he would have liked more than his two-birdie return.

“The highlight was a birdie on 12th, a short par 4 which is drivable at 268 yards.

Great drive, was only eight feet from the hole but missed the putt for eagle. I doubled the 3rd twice, a par 3, by pulling the ball into water. That lake has plenty of my balls from other rounds as well.

“I was playing carefree and just wanted to get round so wasn’t really thinking of the scores. There’s a lesson there that I should take into future rounds.”

Talking of future rounds, will you attempt 72-holes in a day again?

“I would like to do it walking at my home club, Upton-by-Chester. It’s the course where I learned to play and had so many rounds on with my Dad. Whenever I play there I can hear his voice telling me his golfing adages and where to aim.

“He was Club Captain in the early 90s so his picture is up in the clubhouse and I always go in to check it’s still there.” —kent gray july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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gutter credit tk

OLD SCHOOL OLDSCHOOL

Photograph by First Lastname

SHORT GAME

by Shane Lowry

W

HEN I’M PLAYING IN a pro-am or an outing for a sponsor, I usually struggle to explain my short-game technique if I’m put on the spot.

I stand there and have to think really hard about what I do. People say I’ve got all the shots around the green anyone could ever need, but I’ve been hitting them over and over since I was 10. The motions are second nature. But I still want to be helpful, so I’ve figured out two main things I can say about my chipping. ▶ First, I’m trying to hole every chip shot. That might sound silly, but that’s the mind-set golfers should have when they walk up to their ball to take a look—even a beginner. It focuses your attention and gets you seeing the slopes and how the grass is growing all the way to the cup. You’ll be thinking about what you want the ball to do rather than the club. When you’re under pressure and thinking about the club, it rarely turns out well. At least that’s the way it is for me. ▶ Second, I’m a big believer in doing things the way you’re most comfortable.

I hit 99 percent of greenside shots with my lob wedge, which is a 58-degree with 6 degrees of bounce. Americans come over for the Open Championship and think they ought to start chipping with longer irons. But if a bump is a new shot to them, that isn’t the one they’ll see under the gun. I’ve heard countless pros claim their method for a shot is the best, but if I’ve learned anything in my career, it’s that there are a lot of ways to play this game. As long as your technique is halfway decent, you can play great.

(Which is why I recommend taking one lesson from an instructor to get some fundamentals right. And sorry, I’m not your man for that.) ▶ Try to hole the shot with the technique you find most comfortable—that’s my whole chipping philosophy. Beyond that, I’ve got a few tips on some basic short-game shots—just little things I’ve learned that work for me. They might just help you, too. —WITH MAX ADLER july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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TOUGH LIES

I

live in florida now, and it took me a while to get used to this Bermuda rough.

It’s grainy, and even if it’s cut short, the ball can nestle low and be difficult to control.

The mistake is to stand open and cut across it. An out-to-in swing path works great on rye or bentgrass, where you can slow down around impact and let the ball pop up.

But do that in Bermuda, and the club sticks in the ground. You’ve got to keep your speed up with Bermuda. That’s why I like to set up square, or even a little closed, and feel my hands trying to hit a draw. You might not see a draw in the short flight of a chip, but the way the ball bounces and releases forward lets you know that you’ve done it right. If you need the ball to stop quickly after it lands, you can still think, draw. but purposefully hit it a tad heavy like a bunker shot. You’ll take a good divot, and the ball will come out softly and settle.

Photographs by Walter Iooss Jr.

“

WITH BERMUDA ROUGH, YOU’VE GOT TO KEEP YOUR SPEED UP. SLOW DOWN, AND THE CLUB STICKS IN THE GROUND. SO TRY TO HIT A LITTLE DRAW.

PRACTICE

M

y coach, Neil Manchip, is also the coach for the boys and girls of the Golfing Union of Ireland. He has dozens of skills tests he gives these kids— games where you can’t advance until you hole a shot, or you’re forced to use a variety of clubs to hit the same shot, etc. Neil gives me the same tests, and we’ll have a bit of fun placing small wagers. I particularly like a game where I must hit nine chips from several spots before using up 30 feet.

How it works is, if I hit the first chip to 10 feet from the cup, I have 20 feet remaining.

But if I hit the next chip to a foot, I then have 19 feet remaining. We’ll do a mix of shots of reasonable difficulty. The best I’ve ever done is still having five feet left at the end. One of these days, I’ll do even better.

The takeaway is, variety is the key to practice. Even trying shots you’d never use in competition has tremendous value.

You won’t see great short games from guys who just drop a bag of balls in one spot and hardly move.

HIGH AND SOFT

I

f you tend to butcher the delicate shots, mind your grip. My routine is two parts: First, I like to hold the grip in my right hand only and let the clubface fall open. For a full-on flopper, I’ll get the clubface looking directly at the sky like a spatula. For a mid-trajectory shot, something between a standard chip and a flop, I let the clubface fall open just a few degrees to add some loft. Second, I place my left hand on the grip. I want the back of it pointing to the target, so the most I see on that hand are two knuckles. This ensures a weak grip, which is key for soft shots. Finally, I make sure I’m not squeezing the handle tightly. We all tend to hold the club harder when we get nervous, which makes chips come out fast and hot. july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

27

BUNKER

I

n my opinion, Padraig Harrington is the best bunker player in the world.

Three years ago, I was in a hotel and flicked on the tube, and there was Padraig doing an instruction program. He talked about keeping weight on his left side during the entire bunker shot, backswing and through-swing. I’d always favoured my right leg, hanging back perhaps to make sure the club entered the sand a couple inches behind the ball. The next morning, I tried Padraig’s way, and everything clicked. Instead of coming in shallow, I felt like I was coming more over the top to strike the sand. Ever since, I’ve been able to do whatever I want with bunker shots.

Funny how life works out.

You’ll notice in these pictures that I stand square to the target line with my left foot flared. I think edging those front toes more toward the flag encourages the clubhead to release smoothly past the wrists through the sand. But that’s just me.

28 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

“

TRY TO HOLE BUNKER SHOTS, TOO. THERE’S NO HARM TO HOPE, UNLESS YOU’RE IN REAL TROUBLE. IT’S WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT ONLY GETTING IT CLOSE THAT YOU GET SLOPPY. a quick word on plugged lies: My way is to close the face so it’s pointing a hair left of the target, then really chop down on it, feeling like I’m exploding the ball out with the heel of the club. Then, as you can see from my ball mark, I just hope for the luck of the Irish. july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

29

What HOW HAS GOLF IN THE MIDDLE EAST COPED WITH THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC? AND WHERE DOES IT GO FROM HERE? KENT GRAY INVESTIGATES. GOLF IN THE COVID ERA IS DIFFERENT, NO QUESTION. We’ve played in ‘bubbles’, socially distanced ourselves from our playing partners, even socially distanced our hands from the bottom of the cup. Who’d have ever thought there would be an under-ground OB added to the rules of golf? We’ve used our feet to rake bunkers, golfed with the humble flagstick in – or with no pin at all - and at times, golfed with masks on. And it seems we’ve taken it all in our stride and golfed and golfed and golfed some more. ▶ If there is an upside emerging from the global pandemic, it’s that we’ve all had pause to remember how lucky we are to play a game that even epidemiologists agree is about as safe a public pursuit as any in this new world in which we live.

30 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

N w?

After a cataclysmic drop off in April, the number of scores posted to the U.S. Golf Association’s Handicap Information Network rose 22 percent (month-on-month) in May. Shares in Titleist and FootJoy owner Acushnet Holdings Corp. gained 67 percent from a March 23 low as investors looked past supply-chain disruptions and retail-store closures to a brighter future. The leading sports retailer in the U.S., Dick’s Sporting Goods, saw a 250 percent increase in golf-related e-commerce sales in May and a particularly pleasing spike in

junior sets flying off the shelf.

USGA CEO Mike Davis calls it “a boom right now” and across the Atlantic in the UK, where tee times are hard to come by and membership forms are being thrust into the hands of increasingly busy managers, there is optimism the influx of new and rejuvenated golfers can sustain itself.

There are equally encouraging signs in the Middle East where golfers have rushed back to the course after retail outlets quickly sold out of at home practice equipment such as nets and indoor putting mats during the lockdown. In

IN MAY AND JUNE THERE HAVE BEEN 15 AND 20 PERCENT INCREASES IN ROUNDS RECORDED BY THE EGF COMPARED TO 2019 AND THE ENCOURAGING UPWARD TREND SHOWS NO SIGN OF ABATING. 32 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

a b o v e : m i n i -t o u r p l ay e r s l i k e l u k e j oy s t i l l h av e no concrete pl ans. b e l o w : a p p s h av e h e l p e d make booking and handicap s e r v i c e s c o n ta c t l e s s

April, rounds registered with the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) plummeted from the 2019 mark of 16,756 to just 2694 this year – a 74 percent decrease - as stay at home orders hit clubs hard. But in May and June there have been 15 and 20 percent increases respectively compared to 2019 - and the encouraging upward trend shows no sign of abating.

“UAE golf was one of the first activities opened after the lockdown and seeing a spike in rounds registered from 2019 to 2020 is no surprise," says EGF operations and marketing manager Robert Fiala. "The last four months, golf in the UAE has been at the forefront when it comes to sports and leisure COVID-19 precautionary measures. Using crisis management resources from around the world, the EGF continues to work closely with the UAE Ministry of Sport, clubs, and sports councils' in order to keep the golf industry financially stable while keeping golfers safe and healthy.”

What next?

T

roon International, who manage 10 clubs across the UAE and others in Oman, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have helped their facilities negotiate shutdowns lasting between 10 and 95 days. It estimates some clubs lost as many as 4000 rounds in April but sees positives in our golfing habits since reopening.

“I truly believe golfing families will become a core part of the golf club communities moving forwards,” Troon International President Mark Chapleski said. “We have cherished this extra time spent together and this will be held in high regard. Golf is one of the only sports where you can play as a family, or even as three generations together.

“The golf industry must continue to embrace and welcome new players to the game. With this comes new

customer desires and we will be as flexible with our strategies as ever. The new generation of golfers enjoy relaxed dress codes, on course entertainment systems and quick rounds of golf. The Track, Meydan Golf has incorporated all of these – you can play in two hours listening to your favourite tunes from your golf cart in relaxed attire. This is great for the game and needed for us to continue to develop with the times.” Hallelujah, Troon International. Hallelujah.

It’s not all warm fuzzes of course. Abu Dhabi-based Englishman Luke Joy, a twotime winner on the MENA Tour, is just one of a catalogue of mini-tour players at a major career crossroads courtesy of coronavirus. Likewise, there are ever-shifting goal posts Simon Corkill and his team at Falcon and Associates will have to overcome to deliver the inaugural Saudi Ladies International and the OMEGA Classics.

Still, out of great adversity there is a genuine sense of optimism as clubs happily scramble to meet pent-up demand.

“Membership interest has been very positive and we have seen a huge spike in member rounds, up over 55 percent when compared to May and June of last year,” said Chris May, CEO of Dubai Golf which manages Emirates Golf Club, Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club and Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Golfers and non-golfers alike are quickly returning to F&B outlets and other club facilities such as gyms and pools. Since late last month, when curfew was lifted, Dubai Golf kept the floodlights on at the Faldo (page 31) until midnight (Sun-Wed) and 10pm (Thurs-Sat) to meet demand

golf clubs are ahead of the curve when it c o m e s t o h e a lt h a n d safety practices

THE GOLF INDUSTRY MUST CONTINUE TO WELCOME AND EMBRACE NEW PLAYERS... for after work (and slightly cooler) tee-times.

“The golf academies have been doing very well with lessons and coaching packages selling at record levels for this time of year as many residents find themselves staying in the city for either the whole summer or certainly a longer period than normal,” May said. “International rounds are obviously impacted and will be for some time until airlines and airports return to some normality. However, we have been in touch with many of the large European Tour operators who are optimistic about bringing golfers back to Dubai in late 2020 and early 2021, which will be assisted by the exposure of the professional golf tournaments in the region which are held at that time of year. Dubai is working hard on a number of initiatives to ensure that when golf tourists are ready to travel, a trip to Dubai is right at the top of their 'to do' list.”

In the following pages we hear from Troon International, Falcon and Associates and Joy on the challenges and opportunities that have arisen from COVID-19. The way things are trending, it seems international tourists might find it a little tougher to get a tee time due to increased domestic demand. And that, not withstanding the huge human and financial toll this invisible enemy has left in its wake enroute to triggering a renaissance in the game, is no bad thing.

july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

33

Business as (un)usual DUBAI-BASED TROON INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT MARK CHAPLESKI DISCUSSES THE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS ON CLUB GOLF IN THE REGION AND HOW THE DISRUPTION HAS PRESENTED UNFORESEEN OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE GAME w ith K EN T GRAY

❉❉❉ we suspect you won’t have experienced anything in business quite as challenging as the covid-19 pandemic? Coronavirus has impacted all of our properties across the world in a variety of manners. At one stage we only had two courses open in our International Division (in Australia) as we adhered to local Governmental and Golf Federation regulations. All of our courses are now open with the exception of The Allegria in Egypt and we were pleased to see Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Saudi Arabia open on June 21. The data tells us that COVID-19 may have a more dramatic overall impact on the world than 9/11 and the Financial Crisis of 2008. However, we believe that the golf industry is in a unique position to come out of this in a stronger position than before the crisis started. It has certainly been one of the positive green shoots, due to the inherent nature of how golf is played and operated, in almost every region of the world, as places are emerging from lockdowns. As a game, golf is naturally a social distanced sport and offers families a sport that they can enjoy together outside in the fresh air. ❉❉❉

how challenging, from a staff welfare and financial standpoint, was the immediate shutdown period for the clubs under troon international’s umbrella?

As a company, our priorities always centre on protecting our associates (staff ), financial performance and the assets of our owners. We were able to ensure our agronomy teams maintained the golf courses with precautions such as split teams (to ensure work continues even if one team member gets infected) and re-housing associates onsite (including at The Track

Meydan Golf in Dubai). Our Regional Corporate Agronomy leaders have been assisting our superintendents with best practices on maintaining our golf courses during these difficult times, when there are various limitations, not only on staffing but also the delivery of materials for example. We were also quick to minimise our costs to reduce the impact on our P&Ls whilst doing everything in our power to protect our associates, who do a phenomenal job day in, day out.

Our property leaders also did a phenomenal job in keeping our associates engaged throughout

34 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

the lockdown periods, regularly providing updates and training and ensuring regular communication with them was maintained to keep them motivated. It was a really tough time during the lockdown for us all and we are thankful for technology which has allowed us to keep connected throughout. ❉❉❉

what measures were put in place to assist clubs as lockdowns were announced, and then when partial re-openings were rolled out? We currently

operate in 33 countries and to

take a positive from this crisis, we have been able to follow the migration of COVID-19 and continuously work with our property leaders and teams to share the lessons learned, best practices and relaunch strategies.

Ironically, the shutdowns that COVID-19 created worldwide, created an opportunity for our corporate office and our executives at the facilities to communicate in a manner that we had not fully utilised prior. We began over communicating to our property leaders with guidance, global trends, motivation and proven best practices whilst engaging with them on a personal level to help guide them through the crisis. Video calls twice a week, with up to 20 properties at a time, became the norm.

It was fantastic to see the engagement from the field, but also for our senior associates to be engaged with one another on a regular basis in that much more personal video-call setting.

This situation is new to the world and there is no magic wand. However, by doing the right thing and being kind, we are highly confident our properties will come out of this in a positive manner.

Photograph by Kristina Nabieva

issue x . 2020 | golf digest

00

ya s l i n k s a b u d h a b i ( u a e ) ; a l z o r a h g o l f c l u b ( u a e ) ; a l l e g r i a g o l f c l u b ( e gy p t )

what role did troon international play in lobbying governments to begin re-opening courses?

Our International office is based here in Dubai and we have been in the region since our engagement with The Address Montgomerie in 2001.

As we manage 10 of the golf clubs here, this allows us to provide a voice from a large portion of the golf industry.

I have to thank our industry counterpart, Chris May, for all of his efforts to work with government entities as well.

From our long tenure we have a strong relationship with the Emirates Golf Federation who did a great job in communicating to all the UAE golf clubs since mid-March, and continue to do so. We must thank Sheikh Fahim, Adel Zarouni and Robert Fiala for their continuous support to the industry. In regards to other regions, Troon had several comprehensive documents gathered from resources around the globe that were also used by our teams in Australia, Cyprus, Spain, Bahrain, Malaysia and India to lobby the local governments in an effort to get golf facilities open as soon as possible. We shared these documents with other non-Troon facilities too, as we saw it as an industry initiative as well as being the right thing to do given the circumstances.

what is troon’s role in the future direction of the game given the ‘new norm’ in which golf now operates? We are blessed to be

partners with 475+ golf courses in 33 countries through our family of brands and companies under Troon. This provides us the opportunity to continue to grow the game of golf on a global scale, encouraging participation through our Troon Programs such as TroonFit, Troon Family Golf, and Troon Values Your Time. ❉❉❉

what strategies are you most proud of to help get clubs back up and running?

Even during the pandemic, the wheels were in motion to make sure we are prepared for the now but also for tomorrow.

Part of the now was the creation and global launch of our Moments Matter initiative. This content-led resource for our clubs, associates, members, and guests was a key tool and one that helped to educate, inspire, and entertain along the way. We have had Q&A’s, Live Golf Clinics and Messages of Hope from Team Troon members including Justin Thomas and Cheyenne Woods.

We have also shared many other resources internally to our property leaders including ‘Relaunch Strategies’ and ‘Crisis Revenue Management’.

Our technology partner has

been advancing our Troon International App to reduce the physical touchpoints a golfer has when he visits a Troon facility in the region. We are continuously working hard on corporate led initiatives to assist our properties through the COVID-19 epidemic while working with each club on their relaunch strategy.

The Troon Executive Card is a perfect example in this region; Our frequent player program provides cardholders with the best green fee rates at our facilities and many more benefits. In response to COVID-19, we launched the TEC Summer Pass with added value from our partners at Callaway.

Again, best practices coming from our leaders around the globe are a key tool for each of our clubs to implement at their local level. ❉❉❉

has there been any unforeseen upsides to the temporary closures brought about by the pandemic? Golf is in a great

place due to it being seen as a safe sport compared to many other activities or sports. In golf, you have natural social distancing. Since the easing up of lockdowns, we have definitely seen an increase in participation. We did foresee this happening here in the UAE following trends in other reopened markets and therefore

our clubs here limited the first stage of re-opening to members only. Our clubs also stayed away from the popular ‘summer pass or full summer memberships’ to protect our members who, due to the restrictions in travel, will be spending more time in the UAE than past summers.

The Track, Meydan Golf and Royal Golf Club Bahrain have seen a huge spike in participation from people coming back to and taking up the game. This is great news and we must welcome people who unfortunately are unable to play their usual sports in a bid to keep them in our great game for the long-term. ❉❉❉

how big has the financial impact been for clubs in the middle east?

There has been revenue impact, but due to the necessary precautions being taken in expense management, this impact has been mitigated at the bottom line. We have seen average dollar per round strengthen after re-opening as we were cautious to do any “reactionary” discounting.

Our thought was that there would be a lot of golfers in the region wanting to play golf as it was safer. Also, we felt it was irresponsible to fill the golf course up with discount golf when our members, who would typically leave during the summer months, remained here.

WE FELT IT WAS IRRESPONSIBLE TO FILL THE GOLF COURSE UP WITH DISCOUNT GOLF WHEN OUR MEMBERS, WHO WOULD TYPICALLY LEAVE DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS, REMAINED HERE. 36 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

vat ta n a c g o l f r e s o r t ( c a m b o d i a ) ; r oya l g r e e n s g o l f & c o u n t r y c l u b ( s a u d i a r a b i a ) ; r oya l g o l f c l u b ( b a h r a i n )

how many lost rounds have you estimated during the lockdown and due to the restricted tee times since the partial re-openings?

The National Golf Foundation estimate 20 million rounds were lost to the virus in the US alone. Our facilities experienced anything from 10-day closures to 95-day closure periods! So to answer the question more specifically, if one facility was closed for 30 days during April in the UAE, we would have lost 4,000+ rounds.

Yes. With other sports having a tougher time adjusting to the potential cross contamination challenges that COVID-19 presents, golf is definitely seeing an increase in uptake as parents see the inherent safety of the game. Hopefully, golf also gets a boost within the physical education/gym programs at schools. It has never been a focus of school PE programs in the past, but it should be, for multiple reasons.

will become a core part of the golf club communities moving forwards. We have cherished this extra time spent together and this will be held in high regard. Golf is one of the only sports where you can play as a family, or even as three generations together. The golf industry must continue to embrace and welcome new players to the game. With this comes new customer desires and we will be as flexible with

❉❉❉

what benefits do you think clubs and members of troon clubs have been lucky to experience during the pandemic? I hope that

❉❉❉

what are the immediate, short and long-term challenges facing golf in the “post” covid-19 era?

Until there is a vaccine, it is anticipated that some of the COVID-19 restrictions will stay in place, along with social distancing guidelines.

I do think that through this time, we will see leveraging of technology and this will remain after COVID-19. For example, we are asking for rounds to be booked through the Troon International App, to keep our associates safe from being exposed to potential crosscontamination of answering the phones. Now that people are using the app more frequently, I don’t see them looking to make phone reservations in the future. It is just too easy to use.

We are also not far from having auto check-in once a pre-paid golfer comes thru a geo-fence area, then he will simply need to scan a barcode when he comes into the golf shop. ❉❉❉

there is evidence of an uptick in junior interest globally. are you seeing this in the middle east?

are actually ramping up for several new projects, such as The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Some of the major hotel companies have gone on record as stating that they don’t see the tourism numbers returning to preCOVID-19 numbers until mid 2022. I am not that pessimistic and believe that the tourism realm will be in a very good place by next year with pent up demand, in perfect time for the Dubai World Expo opening.

❉❉❉

what can clubs do to future proof their businesses in light of the lessons learned from the outbreak? Embrace

technology, ensure cleanliness is paramount to what they do, and continue to train and develop their associates. ❉❉❉

in what way do you think the pandemic will reshape the game, from the casual player, to club golf and up to the professional level?

Although many parents are excited for the return of school following this long period of home-schooling , I know I am, I truly believe golfing families

our strategies as ever. The new generation of golfers enjoy relaxed dress codes, on course entertainment systems and quick rounds of golf. The Track, Meydan Golf has incorporated all of these – you can play in two hours listening to your favourite tunes from your golf cart in relaxed attire. This is great for the game and needed for us to continue to develop with the times. ❉❉❉

what impact will covid have on new course builds / major course renovations?

New builds have certainly slowed down and have been slower worldwide over the past five years. However, some areas

they are appreciative of the professionalism that our associates bring to the club.

In times like these, having strategies and the ability to implement them quickly and correctly are extremely important. The Moments Matter content certainly gave us the opportunity to continue to communicate with our members and guests during the pandemic. There have been daily Live Golf Clinics throughout April and May so hopefully our members picked up some tips. We have also been fortunate to have direct communications for our members through recorded video or live video from Team Troon Members Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, Gary Woodland, Matt Kuchar, and Cheyenne Woods.

Ultimately, we are somewhat blessed to play and be involved in the game of golf as it is a passion with Troon. As Simon Sinek says “know your Why”.

Why? Because we love the game and all that it stands for.

july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

37

Classic

Reactions

OMEGA DUBAI CLASSICS TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR SIMON CORKILL IS ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES IN THE SUDDENLY COMPLEX NEW WORLD THAT IS GOLF TOURNAMENT ORGANISATION

by KEN T GRAY FEW DAYS EITHER SIDE of captivating victories by Daniel Berger and Webb Simpson at the Charles Schwab Challenge and RCB Heritage respectively, Nick Watney and Cameron Champ tested posotive for coronavirus. Then, in a blink, Graeme McDowell and Brooks Koepka, like Champ, withdrew from the Travelers Championship in Connecticut after their respective caddies returned positives tests. Simpson and Chase Koepka scratched themselves hours later out of an abundance of caution. Cracks had suddenly appeared in the PGA Tour’s travelling bubble with fears it might burst, leading to another indefinite shutdown. ▶ Trying to navigate his own COVID-19 conundrum – namely how to get back to Dubai after being caught in Australia with the family when travel restrictions were imposed – Simon Corkill watched the drama unfold with a deeper interest than most. ▶ Like the rest of us, the return of top-flight golf, even without spectators, was heartening. Indeed, the golf was exceptional at times, Berger, Simpson and co. showing few signs of ring rust. But as the Executive Tournament Director for Falcon and Associates, the positive tests on the other side of the world must have felt disconcerting close to home for the Englishman.

I’D LIKE TO THINK EVERYONE WHO COMES TO THE DESERT CLASSIC IN 2021 WON’T NOTICE ANYTHING DIFFERENT APART FROM IMPROVEMENTS.

There is still a way to go before Corkill will assist at the inaugural $1 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International (rescheduled to Oct. 8-11) and oversee Dubai’s own Ladies European Tour stop, the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic from Nov. 4-6. There’s longer still until the European Tour’s OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic returns to the Majlis course in late Jan. All going well, spectators will be allowed at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City and at Emirates

Golf Club for both the women’s and men’s events in Dubai. But the first fortnight or so into the PGA Tour’s return showed elite golf and those tasked with delivering it are walking a wobbly health and safety tightrope. Above an equally scary business knife edge.

“Yeah, it’s had its challenges,” Corkill admits.

“We’ve spent the last few months looking at contingency plans for all our events, scenario A, B, C and D and even E on everything and it changes daily with the news.

“That stands us in good stead though. We already had emergency plans for all sorts of things but this has refocused everyone’s time. It’s interesting. There are seminars and talks going on at the minute about sports events [in the COVID era] but we’re well ahead of that because we’ve been living and breathing it since February when we were talking about it with the Saudi Ladies event [originally planned for late March].

While sagely planning for every conceivable eventuality (who saw a global pandemic coming?), Corkill insists the outlook for the Middle East events is positive. While the Desert Classic is in a “strong position” with all the event’s sponsors still on board for now, other European Tour events aren’t so fortunate.

Corkill won’t be surprised if more fall by the wayside but is hopeful replacements will pop up in their place.

As European Tour chief Keith Pelley has said, the circuit will look radically different going forward, perhaps even with a PGA Tour twist with rumours of a takeover still swirling around the financially troubled European Tour. Only time will tell what the global golf landscape looks like post COVID but the impact, fingers crossed, mightn’t be so noticeable in the Middle East.

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“The Desert Classic fits in where it has always been. It’s been one of the long-standing events on the European Tour, 31 years, the heritage is all still there and it will still be one of the best events on the tour,” Corkill said when asked where the Old World tour’s longest-running event outside continental Europe will fit in what is already a new-look European Tour.

“The talk of prize funds being reduced and courtesy cars not happening and different things, unless there are serious restrictions with COVID, that’s not going to happen. We are in very healthy shape as an event. We want to build on the success of the last few years and the event will be as good, if not better, than last year.”

Falcon and Associates will, of course, be guided by the

Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and the Dubai Sports Council at the two upcoming events.

The Moonlight Classic will serve as a smaller scale testbed for the seemingly inevitable player and patron testing and social distancing measures set to be in place at Emirates G.C. in January. Corkill has vowed to share learnings from the Moonlight with the team tasked with

THE TALK OF PRIZE FUNDS BEING REDUCED AND COURTESY CARS NOT HAPPENING AND DIFFERENT THINGS, UNLESS THERE ARE SERIOUS RESTRICTIONS WITH COVID, THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. delivering the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in December.

“I think there will be a number we will be restricted to have on-site [for the LET Moonlight Classic] but with a golf course, it’s very big, we can work around those restrictions.

As you look forward to bigger numbers [at the Desert Classic], yeah there is going to be restrictions but I think they’re going to be manageable. We can be creative with zones and things, how many people go in each area. Yes, there is going to be challenges around 18 [the hospitality chalets and spectator stands] but let's be positive and think by the end of

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January, we’re in better shape.

“I think there will be social distancing elements around the golf club but that’s the norm anyway. The golf clubs have been fantastic in how they’ve adapted to this, they’re all geared up for it already, way ahead of a lot of businesses in the way they are dealing with it.”

Corkill insists the bullish attitude is rooted in lashings of real-world reality.

He knows the region, as financially robust as it is, isn’t immune to any further global disruption caused by COVID. It’s a matter of being nimble, Corkill says, able to react swiftly and call on plans B, C, or D. Maybe even plan E. “We’ve got to be prepared if we get something from left field that causes us to change things. If we get a second wave of COVID, then the whole world is going to change but we’ve prepared for everything.

We’ve prepared for player safety, patron safety and it will be a fantastic event.

“The restrictions they [European Tour members] would have played in throughout the next six months, they’re driving to venues, and they’ll be staying in these bubbles, I don’t think we’ll be in a position where they’ll have to stay in bubbles. But if we have to create one, go to JA Resorts, we

put them in a bubble, they come off flights and they go there, then so be it. But I don’t think we’ll be in that situation.”

Approaching his second Desert Classic in charge, Corkill could never have

clo ckwise from top: fa n s c o u l d b e m a r s h a l l e d around the majlis in c o v i d - f r i e n d ly z o n e s ; t h e s a u d i l a d i e s i n t e r n at i o n a l has been rescheduled for o ct; spaniard nuria iturrios is the defending m o o n l i g h t c l a s s i c c h a m p.

imagined how his role (Falcon & Associates have also been appointed to assist with the delivery of rugby’s Dubai 7s) has changed so quickly.

He’s thrilled with how his team have quickly adapted to the new norm that is online meetings but couldn’t wait to get back to Dubai and back to business, with all the new complexities confronting sports administrators the world over “Yeah, there’ going to be challenges, there’s no two ways about it, we are going to have to look at ways and think

about how can we do it all a bit more efficiently,” he said.

“But the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic is going to give us a great launching pad for the Desert Classic.

What we really want to do for the Desert Classic is [show] Dubai’s back, it’s 2021, this is Expo year, we’re back, we can run a world-class event with everything that has been thrown at us. I’d like to think everyone who comes to the Desert Classic in 2021 won’t notice anything different apart from improvements.”

Here’s hoping.

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J O Y

g n i Find

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HAS HAD A HUGE IMPACT ON MINI-TOUR PLAYERS LIKE TWO-TIME MENA TOUR WINNER LUKE JOY. HERE, THE ABU DHABI-BASED ENGLISHMAN SHARES HIS LOCKDOWN STRUGGLES AND HOPES FOR AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE t is safe to say the past three months have been a bit of a learning curve for us all. My last event was on the MENA Tour in Jordan. At the time I was excited about returning back to Abu Dhabi and the prospect of playing events in the UAE before heading to the UK for a full summer schedule. That all ended abruptly when I received an email on March 4, after the final round in Jordan, stating the MENA Tour had decided to postpone the five remaining events until the pandemic had calmed down. Cue the domino effect. Within a week all other tours had followed suit and it left me and fellow professionals in absolute limbo. I still believe it was the correct decision, 100 percent, but that doesn’t change the fact it has left my future up in the air.

The true impact coronavirus will have on the game, the economy and our day to day lives is still emerging even now.

For myself and others working towards the bigger tours, the financial implications are huge.

We don’t have an option of being furloughed. We are in a 100 percent commission-based, performance-based business and you still have to cover all expenses for that opportunity to play and earn.

Our way of earning money was cut overnight. When tours don’t pay us the prize money earned, which unfortunately has been the case this time

around, it leaves us in a very poor financial situation from which I’m sure some players won’t recover. As we have got further down the road and more information has come to light, the worst news was that of [European Tour] QSchool being cancelled this year. To have the opportunity to progress taken away was probably the biggest hit while in quarantine.

That's what my team and I have been striving towards for the past six months. Another year on the mini-tours is going to be a tough battle and probably not just financially.

STRUGGLE ST.

L

ockdown has been a mixed bag of emotions.

The first day was actually nice as I got to slow down for once, rest and enjoy a socially acceptable sofa day. Day two was pretty similar. I bought some airflow golf balls, set up a net in the lounge - which consisted of a bathroom towel hung over a stretching pole and started practising. After 15 minutes, I was already getting sick of being stuck 17 floors up and, as I gazed out the window, realised my practice was pretty pointless. I started longing

for some grass to play from.

My wife, Lauren, wasn't overly impressed with the amount of abuse her new rug was getting either so golf inside ended after all of a week.

After a few days of feeling sorry for myself, I was determined to be in a better mood. I started to look for part-time/temp jobs so put a CV together and decided I would finally use that business management and insurance degree I earned in the United States. After looking at the job market for a few days, my mood didn’t improve. It became clear that finding work here in

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my enthusiasm for indoor practice didn't l ast long. nor would h av e l a u r e n ' s n e w r u g if i'd carried on.

than others), started making Granola (random) and have come to terms with my mild coffee addiction.

LOCKDOWN UPSIDE

I WE DON’T HAVE AN OPTION OF BEING FURLOUGHED. WE ARE IN A 100 PERCENT COMMISSION-BASED, PERFORMANCE-BASED BUSINESS... the UAE, or anywhere for that matter, was going to prove very difficult as more people were losing jobs than finding them.

Fortunately, Lauren has been a rock star. After recovering from surgery in December and getting back to full health, she has been able to work from home over Zoom to cover us. If I didn’t have her by my side, like many others in this crisis, I would be faced with the horrible decision to leave this beautiful place we call home.

If this time away from the game has taught me anything, is that I don’t do well doing nothing. I need a routine.

It started to take its toll after only a few days. When the highlight of your day is walking to the supermarket, sweating in a face mask, you realise you're not in a good place mentally.

The cascade of thoughts, of

the unknown, was literally crippling me. Each day I would wake up with what felt like little to no purpose. To think it was only a few weeks prior that I was in contention to win a golf tournament in Jordan.

It was crazy how quickly life had changed.

During lockdown, I wanted to make sure I didn’t waste the time off. Sitting down and being lazy is just not my personality.

I wanted to make the best of a bad situation and I can say I've definitely kept myself busy.

When Yas Links was shut I took the time to recap some stuff from university and I’m currently halfway through a financial analyst course online.

I just completed a month long mindfulness course (randomly interesting), have been learning to cook (some meals more successfully

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t’s been a few months of learning, an opportunity to do things I never had time for when I was competing.

Best of all, I got to spend three months with my wife. I’m not quite sure Lauren feels the same way but I have never been in one place, let alone home, this long before. It’s had its challenges, of course, but also its rewards.

I’m very lucky to be able to share this surreal time with Lauren and hopefully this period will allow us to look at our worklife balance a little more and improve it going forward.

I hadn’t quite realised how much I missed the game and how it affected my mood until the courses in Abu Dhabi finally reopened.

The guys at Yas Links and Troon Abu Dhabi have been fantastic in keeping members and guests safe and even though I have not been competing, it’s been amazing to be around the club, playing with different members and personalities which my busy schedule would normally never allow. I really want to thank the clubs here and especially Yas Links as I couldn’t think of a safer place to be. Being outside in the fresh air is something I doubt we’ll ever take for granted again and with golf you get plenty of that.

NEXT MOVE

S

o what does the future have in store? As the weather heats up and the virus seems to be calming down, I'm looking at the option

of flying back to the UK to play a few events and to visit my family. I am still very wary though. As much as I want to compete, I also feel this is something we could be dealing with for quite some time so I’m taking a cautious approach.

I also have to weigh up the financial side of things. The smaller events away from the main tours are so expensive and if I’m honest, if you’re not on TV at the moment as a professional golfer, chances are you’re not making a living from the game. The prize funds will be very small in relation to the field size.

I will monitor the situation over the next few weeks and try and make the best decision for me and Lauren. The MENA Tour has proposed a six-week, five-event stint in Jordan and it makes a lot of sense to be in one spot for a period of time.

But as awesome as it would be to get back to competitive golf, and as much as I like Ayla Golf Club, six weeks is a long time to spend playing the same course.

They always take good care of the players down in Aqaba but time will tell if it materialises in the current environment.

These have been and will continue to be testing times for us all. Massive thanks goes out to all those frontline workers, and the golf clubs, who are keeping us safe. We owe you.

My goal, as always, is to use this opportunity to get better, fitter and stronger. So far, I feel I have used my time wisely. I have a great team behind me in Mike Bolt and Ali Parlane up in Dubai at the Claude Harmon 3 Performance Golf Institute and Karl Morris back in the UK. With help and guidance from them all, I’m sure I will come out of this situation better than I went into it and ready for whatever regular life will be when the time is right.

Until then, stay positive, stay safe and hopefully we’ll see you out on the golf course soon.

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STIN 00 golf digest | issue x . 2020

Photograph by First Lastname

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by Tiger Woods

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I

stand a little closer to the ball than normal. That allows me to cover it better, meaning a through-swing where my chest stays more on top of the ball. Remember, you don’t sweep this tee shot, you hit down on it a little.

I play the ball farther back in my stance than usual, too, but not as much as I used to (above).

Just enough to take some loft off the trajectory.

My main thought for the backswing is to keep my weight centreed (left).

Unlike a normal drive where you feel weight increasing in your back foot, the stinger feels like I’m staying more on my front side. That’s key for the attack angle.

gutter credit tk

T there’s one shot I hit that gets crowds more amped than any other: my stinger.

I developed this lowflying tee shot in the late ’90s to make sure I could compete in any condition.

The stinger would give me an advantage on windy Open Championship days, when you really can’t control anything that flies too high.

It wasn’t an easy shot to master. I had to get stronger, particularly in my forearms, to be able to cut off the swing just after impact to hit this shot. After a ton of range work, I felt comfortable bringing it out in competition. And it’s been a trusty constant—with slight variations—throughout my career and all my swing changes. ▶

BACKSWING

DOWNSWING

T

his might sound contradictory: You have to hit down on the ball . . . but not too much. If you’re really steep, you’ll put too much backspin on the ball, and it can balloon if there’s any kind of breeze in your face.

Another thing to remember is, from the top of the swing (right), you have to start getting your left side out of the way quickly, because you’re closer to the ball than normal. I’ve always snapped my left knee straight on the downswing, which you’ll see when you turn the page. That snap helps clear the space for the club to move freely through.

“

YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL NOT TO HIT DOWN ON THE BALL TOO MUCH.

▶ Here’s something you might not know: I didn’t come up with the name “stinger.” This very magazine gets the credit.

Back in 2000, Golf Digest asked me to demonstrate the shot for an article. The photographer (Stephen Szurlej) was crouched about 10 yards in front of me and asked me to hit the stinger over his head. I don’t think he realised how low this ball comes off the face. He was on the ground, but I hit one that couldn’t have missed his head by more than a few inches.

The whizzing sound quickly prompted him to take the rest of the photos operating the shutter by remote. The first shot, with the ball still in the frame, ran in the magazine alongside the headline, “Tiger’s Super Stinger.” To my knowledge, that’s the first time anyone referred to it as a stinger—but the name stuck.

Some of the photos from that shoot are included in this article, so you can compare them with how I play this shot two decades later. It’s impossible to overstate how crucial it is to have a go-to ball off the tee—a shot you can july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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trust to find the fairway when you really need to. I’ve always felt I have more control over a shot when I’m hitting down on it. That’s why, when I need to get one in play with the driver, I usually turn to a slappy cut. It might not go as far as a regular driver, but I can control it.

I’ll switch to the stinger if it’s really firm and there’s nothing to carry, It’s just easier to keep something lower on line. You give up some distance, but the shot is so reliable. At the 2006 Open Championship, where I hit one driver all week, I used the stinger countless times and won by two shots.

Back in the late ’90s, I used a 2-iron almost exclusively to play this shot. Then the design of 3-woods improved, and I could flight it down with that club. Because I don’t hit a 2-iron or 3-wood as far as

photographs by steven szurlej (2000) and j.d. cuban (2020).

IMPACT

E

verything feels stacked on the same vertical plane as the club approaches the ground. My lower body is clearing out, but my chest is still on top of the ball (left). That’s what “covering it” looks like. Also, notice how my hands are nearly over the top of the ball in this same photo, but the clubhead lags way behind. It stays that way until the last millisecond, then it catches up and compresses the ball from a delofted position.

Although my pants were a little baggy back in 2000 (below), I can assure you that my left leg was snapped as straight at impact as it appears here (left).

FINISH

T

he club stays quite low to the ground after impact. That’s evidence I wasn’t too steep into the impact zone.

Another key to the stinger is cutting off the followthrough as quickly as possible. I feel like I’m stopping my hands immediately after impact, even though these photos show momentum has taken my arms and the club well past that point (above and right). It takes good forearm strength to control the club like this, but it’s necessary. The lower I want the ball to fly, the faster I’ll stop the swing.

To recap: Stand closer, cover the ball, and cut off the finish. That’s how you sting it.

“

YOU NEED STRONG FOREARMS TO CUT OFF THE FOLLOWTHROUGH AND KEEP THE BALL DOWN. I used to, I now sometimes hit the stinger with a driver to pick up some extra yards.

My technique for this shot has changed slightly throughout the years, but many of the basic principles are the same, as you can see from the recent photos of me in the black shirt and the ones from that article in 2000. It’s good to know that after all this time, it’s still a reliable friend.

—with daniel rapaport

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R * d i s r eg a r d e d WE PLAY A DULLER GAME SINCE ARCHITECT JIM ENGH WENT OUT OF STYLE by der ek duncan

Photograph by Rajah Bose

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I

Engh had spent the day in the woods, hiking several hundred acres of property for a potential client interested in building a large golf resort. Now, tired and slightly afraid, he simply wanted to return to the safety of his hotel. These were “cowboy days” in Eastern Europe, says Engh, who at the time oversaw design and construction for an arm of Mark McCormack’s London-based IMG Developments. The fact that he’d been forgotten and left to hitchhike back to Riga led him to believe this exploratory project was likely going nowhere. Before departing, however, Engh returned to

54 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

the site and quickly “designed” a course, hurriedly marking out the holes.

“I basically did the 54-stakes-in-the-ground thing for them—here’s a tee, here’s the landing area, here’s the green. Repeat,” he says. “I said, ‘Here’s your golf course—go mow it, cut a hole.” He laughs. “Who says I can’t do minimalist?”

The joke, of course, is that Engh would later gain fame for building golf courses that were aggressively non-minimalist. He became known as an impresario of golf visions, an artist who admits to pushing the boundaries of creativity. His courses look and play like Candylands decorated with steep slopes and bowls, soaring elevated tees and squiggly lines. Trees often stand in the middle of fairways—or in bunkers. Greens can appear to be moving, sliding down terraced landforms like emerald goop. Fairways expand like pregnant

brian oar

n the late 1980s, Jim Engh found himself stranded on a country road in Latvia, in a territory still under Soviet control, waiting for a ride that wasn’t coming.

ally missed a fifth win. In 2003, Golf Digest gave Engh its inaugural Architect of the Year award, and for several cycles, three of his courses were ranked by our panelists among America’s 100 Greatest Courses.

Engh rode the momentum and parlayed one success into another. “Jim can be a super-fun guy to be around—clients really liked his energy, and he was passionate,” says Mitch Scarborough, who worked as Engh’s associate from 1999 until 2016. “You could just feel it. It may not be the easiest site in the world, but they knew he was going to turn it into a unique golf course.”

“For years and years, Jim was attracting the clients who wanted headlines in Golf Digest,” says fellow architect Rick Phelps.

“They wanted the pictures spread all over the place, which they were. His courses were extremely photogenic, and that led to more press coverage.”

“We didn’t really have any courses during that time that didn’t get some type of recognition,” Scarborough says.

In 2007, Engh opened The Creek Club at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Georgia, and Four Mile Ranch in Colorado, two acclaimed courses that he considers perhaps his best work, the fullest realisation of his design ideals. But in the 13 years since, he has completed only two courses in the United States, and none since 2015, a stunning turn of events considering how prominent he was. A number of factors have played into his relative disassociation from American golf-course design, including the recession of 2008-’09 and the scarcity of new course development, but simple answers don’t adequately explain: What happened to Jim Engh?

abdomens, then cinch suddenly into insect waists. He has pumped waterfalls through actual erosion fissures found in rock escarpments, melding artifice with nature. He once built an entire golf course with no bunkers, an idea that, over a decade later, is suddenly on trend. He once constructed a hole with three greens.

Clients and golfers—at least many golfers—loved it.

From the late 1990s through the late 2000s, Jim Engh was arguably the hottest golf-course architect in the

‘

world. He ran a small operation out of his office near Denver and typically had only one or two projects under construction at a time. Remarkably, 11 out of the 16 full-size courses he opened from 1997-2007 placed on Golf Digest’s Best New Courses lists.

In 1997, Sanctuary Golf Course, in Colorado, was named the best new private course. He then won first place three more times in different categories, consecutively, with The Club at Redlands Mesa (2001), Tullymore Golf Club (2002) and The Golf Club at Black Rock (2003). Another course, Fossil Trace, fraction-

georgia beauty The par-4 fifth at The Creek Club at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga.

TRYING TO EVOKE AN EMOTION

d

’

evelopers didn’t hire Engh because he built great golf courses—they hired him because he built some of the most extraordinary, original courses ever conceived. His designs were unmistakable, orchestral bursts of Seussian triumphalism. In a profession that usually plays follow-the-leader, with shapes and styles derived from the day’s popular movements or, as is currently in vogue, the past, Jim Engh’s courses seemed to come out of nowhere, other than his imagination.

“We wanted that from him,” says Bob Mauragas, who was vice president of golf operations at Reynolds Lake Oconee when july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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enough to fabricate Ireland’s wild dunes and grasses, nor was it practical on the rocky sites he was getting.

He could simulate the bounce and run with exaggerated contour, yet that was only a part of it. The missing ingredient was something more psychological.

“I finally understood—I’m trying to invoke an emotion, not the specific structural features,” he says. His designs attempt to deconstruct the total sensorial intake—the colors, the smells, the feelings of success and failure and even fear—and reassemble them into a 360-degree package of stimulation humming on 18 distinct frequencies. The golf would appear nothing like Carne or Enniscrone, but it might produce the same rush. “It became a much, much bigger picture than just a 200-acre golf course,” Engh says.

Spectacle and disorientation are integral to the experience, but the emotion comes most consequentially

Engh was hired there. “We wanted that sexy, really dynamic-looking course. . . .

Something that was really, really cool. Jim Engh designed the Tesla of golf courses before anybody ever thought of it.”

In instructional terms, Engh owned his swing. The vernacular he created was personal, riven with sculpted banks, flowing lines and his patented “muscle bunkers”—deep gashes with knobby grass walls aligned like knuckles. Holes could be “weird” or “goofy,” to use his words, or full of whimsy: Behold a green nestled in a bowl of rocks above a reflection pond; behold tall sandstone “fins” protruding from the fairway, ready to ping golf balls like an arcade game.

“My ultimate goal is to make people giggle,” Engh, now 61, told me. “That’s what inspires. To get into someone’s heart and into their soul, you have to make them laugh.”

From early on, his architectural motives were driven by a desire to replicate the physical and spiritual highs he got from playing links courses in Ireland. But it took years for Engh to figure out what caused these particular sensations—sensations he found nowhere else—and why. It wasn’t

56 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

fun with fossils Above: Golf Digest named the par-5 12th at Fossil Trace in Colorado among the most fun golf holes in America. Right: Engh at The Golf Club at Black Rock.

from not knowing how the ball is going to react when it hits the ground, and waiting to see where it ends up once it does. Fairways have concave edges that nudge errors back on line. Blind shots are typically followed by joyous reveals. And bowled greens feed the ball dramatically toward the hole—or past it, up an opposite bank and back close again. Once players are willing to inhabit this mind-set, to think theatrically and allow the ground to do the work, the golf can be thrilling.

“That’s the top of the mountain for me,” Engh says.

“Everything I do revolves around trying to re-create a feeling like that in other people.” ▶

Braden Hanson/Premier aerials

my ultimate goal is to make people giggle. that’s what inspires me. . . . you have to make them laugh.

BOSE RAJAH

d

evelopers did hire Engh because he was able to construct golf efficiently, often on difficult or mountainous sites, for surprisingly low costs.

(Scarborough says the majority came in between $3 million and $4.5 million.) Engh drafted highly technical line drawings and plans that anticipated every on-site construction maneuver. Though he moved much less earth than his courses suggest, or that his peers often assumed, his ability to detail expenses—from cuts and fills to cartpaths—mitigated costly change orders. (He designed his cartpaths, a rarity in the business, using them as continuously falling sluices that channel water away from the course during rainstorms.)

Though he had returned from Europe in 1991, Engh continued to work abroad, building three courses in China and Thailand. His first solo design in the United States, Sanctuary, was for a private client, David Liniger, co-founder of RE/MAX realty. It was one of the industry’s most audacious debuts. “I came out of nowhere,” Engh says. “I was a big nothing burger until Sanctuary hit the scene. Then everyone was going, What a fluke.” Even though Engh, Liniger and their families had been close friends for years before Sanctuary’s conception, a perception formed that Engh was “just a kid who talked a rich guy into letting him [build the course] as a hobby, a kindness.”

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Liniger told me he always intended to hire a “name” designer for the course, and he interviewed six of the top firms in the country. Each looked at the beautiful but severe site south of Denver and said golf there would be too expensive or too impractical. In addition, Liniger says, “I just didn’t like ’em. They were . . . snobbish. Full of themselves.”

Liniger decided to give the job to Engh.

He says Engh “watched the project like a hawk” and came in on time and under budget, for less than half as much as the other architects’ projections. “Best decision I ever made,” Liniger says, “Some people will go, ‘That was lucky as hell,’ ” Engh says. “And I say, ‘Absolutely it was.’ But I had prepared myself to be ready for that situation when it arose.”

His contemporaries looked at the newcomer with interest, and curiosity. “You had to be respectful of the kinds of commissions he was getting,” Tripp Davis says.

“The opportunity to do a course at Reynolds is a good gig. The project in Phoenix [Blackstone] was a really good gig. Most everything he did had some high-profile nature to it. He was getting really good clients.”

As Engh’s career began to skyrocket, a different architectural current was taking shape. In 1999, Mike Keiser opened an authentic seaside links at Bandon Dunes Resort on the coast of Oregon, built by another relatively unknown designer, David McLay Kidd. Bandon, and later Pacific Dunes, enthralled the public in the opposite way Engh’s courses did, with subtle, low-profile holes that blanketed the sandy contours of pristine oceanside properties.

In retrospect, it was a fleeting but refreshingly diverse period in American design, when new courses by Engh, Bill Coore, Jack Nicklaus and others could be equally considered and evaluated in their own contexts. Since then, architects and major developers have moved slowly but inexorably toward Bandon-style naturalism and historical replication. Whereas Engh’s ideas arose from his id and a desire to evoke—and even provoke—emotion, prevailing views now insist the greatest attribute a hole can boast is that it was “found” in the land rather than built. Even when courses need to be manufactured, they’re often disguised in prairie-style brush strokes with faux-eroded bunker edging, or formations popularised 100 years ago. Engh’s expressionism came to be seen as gratuitous.

“He was an outlier because he was there all by himself doing something pretty radical compared to what everyone else was doing,” Phelps says.

“If I was really honest, I think it was his style of architecture,” Kidd says. “It’s ex-

Cyrus MCCriMMon/getty iMages

A SUCCESS . . . THEN AN OUTLIER

tremely engineered, and that extremely engineered look has fallen to the wayside the last 20 years.”

At the same time, the entire industry was slowing. Davis suggests that clients looking to develop projects after the economic collapse had more conservative outlooks. “The perception might have been it was smarter to do things that were a little bit more classic in nature, a little bit more substantive instead of just simply unique artistically.”

“Jim was running at a time when everyone was firing from the hip,” Mauragas says. “It was all go-go-go, and then somebody pulled the plug out of the bathtub.”

In 2009, with few domestic prospects, Engh and Scarborough placed a bet on Asia.

For several years they traveled the continent to cultivate relationships, and eventually landed three jobs in China, on truly Engh-ian sites. (The designs were “fictional novel kinds of things,” he says.) But when the government began shutting down facilities and construction projects in 2015, Engh came home with nothing but paychecks to show. “It was heartbreaking,” he says.

In the meantime, he refused to seek out remodel and renovation work—the lifeline of almost everyone else in the industry— which he finds creatively limiting after working freely on such grand scales. He also feels an obligation to not compete with younger architects for whom these jobs are more vital. This unwillingness to compromise principle, while noble, abdicated the possibility of keeping his name and material fresh in the eyes of potential clients.

In 2011, Engh completed Awarii Dunes, an actual minimalist but little-seen design on the edge of the Sand Hills in Nebraska, followed four years later by Minot Country Club in his birth state of North Dakota.

And though he has built two courses in South Korea and Vietnam during the past five years (and has one in construction two hours southeast of Mexico City), there has been little interest or interaction from American developers.

Toward the end of many hours of discussion, I asked Engh what he was going to do after he finished Cola de Lagarto, the Mexico project.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe I’ll get on a horse and ride into the sunset.”

Could you really not do another golf course again?

“I think so.”

How is that possible?

“Like the mantra that I live by in this business, I always want variety and change.

I like seeing different things and doing different things.”

Wouldn’t you at least like one more big project, to go out with a bang?

“I started with a bang.”

i came out of nowhere. i was a big nothing burger until sanctuary hit the scene. then everyone was going, what a fluke.

He mentioned he might like to be a scuba-diving instructor, but I was reflecting on something he’d said another time, about the need for different experiences in golf: “That’s the beauty of the game—all the variety. To restrict variety is a little narrow-minded.

To say that golf has to be done here and here, and not here, I don’t know. When you embrace the fact that there are many different kinds of golf courses, that’s the real beauty of it.”

Most golfers know this, and crave variety. They’re open to experience and want options on the menu. Yet elsewhere, tastes have contracted to the point where there’s little oxygen, or tolerance, for divergent points of view. Influential actors—architects, developers, media—might hold deep convictions that historicism and naturalism best translate the game’s highest aspirations, and perhaps they are correct, but pursuing this as an ideological inevitability comes at the cost of ingenuity and exploration. At that point, golf design is a monoculture where adventurous-looking courses are actually venturing nothing creatively. It’s difficult to imagine, in that environment, a Jim Engh ever getting another opportunity, or that ambitious, nontraditional artistry such as his could again be enthusiastically supported to any meaningful degree. If that’s the case, it is a darkening on architecture, not enlightenment.

“We should not be turning into automatons.”

That’s not Engh talking, but David Kidd: “There has to be diversity in any creative pursuit, and if you lose that, the creative pursuit dies. The art in it dies. Everyone can’t be the same.”

As different as their approaches are, “I absolutely respect [Engh’s] body of work,” Kidd says. “People love playing his golf courses. His golf courses are still out there. You can’t say to me that, well, he’s no good. His body of work is right there doing just fine. Just because you don’t like it, plenty of other people love it.”

And isn’t that intrinsic to the point of art?

i

FEELING THE THRILL

Left: Engh, in 2004, at one of his creations, Red Hawk Ridge Golf Course in Castle Rock, Denver, Colorado.

played golf with Engh, once, years ago. It was before the opening of Four Mile Ranch, a course that creeps up and down bare, arid foothills in southern Colorado, and that required almost no earth-moving except in the wildly expressive greens. I brought my father along, and after two holes I could sense his deepening frustration after watching his ball continue to drift off into unfriendly places around the greens.

Engh, a scratch golfer at the time who plays fast and with bravado, noticed as well, and on the third green, a multilevel phantasm saddled between two outcroppings, he intervened as my father was lining up a long, strange putt. “Dick,” he said, “try playing it up over there.” Engh pointed toward an embankment far out to the left. Dubious, my father followed the advice and watched the ball travel up and over a slope, take a hard right turn, circle around and stop 12 inches from the cup.

My father gazed at the ball with something like bewilderment, but from that point on, Engh became his personal caddie, excitedly telling him where to aim drives and on which exotic line to stroke every putt. Dad began to read the course, to see it, and by the end of the round he was playing shots he’d never tried before, never imagined before, firing over rock ledges and bumping putts and chips into the deep funnel shapes and waiting eagerly as the ball rose and fell and swirled and nestled. I remember looking at Engh, and how he was smiling, proud. As we were walking off the last green, I put my arm around my dad and noticed something else—he was giggling. We were all giggling. july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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COUCH TO

00 gdme 60 golf digest | july 2020 | issue x . 2020

Photograph by First Lastname

O COURSE BETTER GOLF WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR HOUSE

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BY MIKE BENDER

Photograph by First Lastname

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00 golf digest | issue x . 2020

Photograph by First Lastname

W

hen you’re trying to make your swing better, the only thing that matters is that it looks right. You learn technique first, and then you learn what that technique feels like.

Most golfers think the process is the other way around. A lot of times they think they’re doing something right based on feel, but their technique is way off. I once showed a golfer her faulty swing on video, and she denied it was her.

“I don’t swing that way,” she said.

Let’s flip things around. I’m going to teach you proper golf-swing technique using five drills, so you can compare how each exercise feels with what you normally sense when swinging the club. I’m guessing some of them—or maybe all of them—will feel pretty strange. If they do, you’ll know what to work on. The best part is, you don’t need to leave your living room to do these drills. Think of this like an athome workout. Let’s get started with this one (left) that syncs your swing. gutter credit tk

—with ron kaspriske

Photographs by Jensen Larson

1 sequencing drill ▶ Hold a 7-iron with your lead arm fully extended.

Grab a couple of rolled up socks and hold them in your trail hand. Now mimic a through-swing, letting your trail hand pass under the lead arm and release the socks toward the wall on a level line of flight. Note how the side of your body closest to the target feels braced as your trail side rotates toward the wall. This drill promotes proper sequencing in the through-swing.

july 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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2 backswing drill ▶ Holding a 7-iron, get into your address posture so your butt is lightly touching a wall. Now make a backswing hinging the club vertically and stopping when your hands gently brush the wall. Hold this position for a few seconds. Note the feelings of the right side of your butt gliding along the wall toward the target, and your arms taking the club back vertically—not inward toward the wall. This drill teaches the turn, depth and width of a good backswing.

“ without worrying about striking a ball, you might find it so much easier to improve the

3 downswing drill ▶ Get into your address posture with your lead foot braced against the wall and your hands behind your back. Then mimic a backswing.

Next, using your hands to push, thrust your lower body toward the wall as your hips rotate.

There should be space between your upper body and the wall, and your head should remain steady, looking down as if a ball were there.

Note the feeling of thrusting toward your target with your hips in the downswing. This drill improves lower-body movement.

Illustrations by Zohar Lazar

4 impact drill ▶ Place a water bottle against a wall that represents a golf ball.

With your lead foot braced against that wall, make a backswing with a 7-iron, stopping when the clubhead lightly touches the wall. Now swing down slowly, letting your lead hip shift into the wall while the club strikes the back of the bottle. Note the feeling of shifting your lower body toward the target while your upper body remains back. Also, note how the club’s shaft leans forward at impact, compressing the bottle into the wall. This drill trains you to consistently hit solid shots.

look—and feel—of your golf swing. practicing indoors helps you stay focused on the process.”

5

power drill ▶ Stand in a doorway in your address posture (no club). Although your upper body should be tilted away from the target, check that your eyes are relatively level with the ground. Now mimic a swing with your arms continuing until they are parallel to the ground in the followthrough. Keep your head steady throughout. Note the feelings of extension in your arms and having swung around a fixed pivot. This drill teaches you to stay back and put more mass into the shot, rather than lunging. You’ll pick up 10 yards without leaving the house.

mike bender is one of golf digest’s 50 best teachers in america. his golf academy is in lake mary, fla.

Last Shot

Please Hold for a Call (and a Lesson) From Bob Toski by jerry tarde / Editor-in-Chief

took my first lesson from Bob Toski more than 40 years ago in a Golf Digest School near his home in Boca Raton, Fla. My most recent lesson was a phone call this morning. He wanted to talk about the skins game at Seminole. “That boy [Dustin] Johnson, he’s going to have arthritis before he’s 50, the way he shuts the clubface at the top. Hogan said you never see a good player with a closed face. And the kid [Matthew Wolff]—that swing won’t last.” Toski says watching the match reminded him of an exhibition he played with Sam Snead in Kansas City.

I

“This was back in the ’50s,” says Toski, now 93, 5-7 and 145 pounds. “I hit a low, slinging drive down the first hole.

When we got to it, I was only about five yards behind Sam, who was a long hitter.”

“Hey, Mouse,” Snead said, “how’d you hit it so far?

I thought you were doing a high jump off the tee.”

Toski said, “I was on my toes, but I never left the ground.”

“What kind of book you reading?” Snead said.

“A good one,” Toski returned.

That’s why Bob was calling: “Do you notice the pros keep the left heel planted on the backswing? In the modern swing, it’s anchored to the ground. Almost all tour pros today play with the left heel down.”

That’s a bad image for the average golfer, was his lesson.

It makes sense for a pro who’s young, big and athletic. It’s more consistent—one fewer movement to account for.

“They think about turning the hips instead of moving the legs, knees and feet, which the average golfer needs to generate clubhead speed,” Toski says.

Because Toski has seen so much—imagine, he was the leading money-winner on tour in 1954—a phone call with him shifts seamlessly from one era to another. “Jack Grout taught Jack Nicklaus as a teenager to ‘reach for the sky,’ ” he’s recalling now. “If you reach for the sky, the force of your arms stretching pulls your left heel off the ground.”

Nicklaus’ left heel lifted probably as high as anyone on the backswing—and planting it, Jack often said, signaled the start of the downswing. Toski swung the same way, with even more foot movement and very active hands.

66 golfdigestme.com | july 2020

Bob and I wrote a forgettable instruction book together in the 1980s. Unforgettably, he once bit a student, leaving teeth marks, to make a point— “Can you feel that?” We’ve played many rounds over the years as partners, and I’d say pound for pound he was the Sugar Ray Robinson of golfers.

On the phone, I tell him, one time we played against Snead and another writer, Don Wade, at The Country Club outside Boston. We won the match, and Sam was so hot afterward, in the locker room, Snead threw his $20 bill on the floor for Toski to pick up. “You remember that?” I ask Bob. “No,” he says.

I was interrupting his lesson.

“I’ll give you a case in point,” he continues. “A few years ago, I was talking to Nicklaus in his office. He said, ‘Watch me walk across the room.’ And then he got up from his desk and walked naturally, heel to toe, heel to toe. Then walking back, he said, ‘Now I’m going to keep my heel down. What do you see?’ I said he was shuffling.

Jack said, ‘Exactly! I don’t know why they teach that way.’ ” Toski’s point—and it’s a critical one—is that most of us aren’t as athletic as a tour pro to keep our feet flat to the ground. Our body is tighter.

We have tension and anxiety, and it only gets worse as we get older and the swing gets shorter. Tour pros start the downswing with a hip turn.

Tiger used to have flash speed with his hips—it probably led to some of his injuries. The average golfer would be better off swinging the hands and arms, in sync with the lower body, allowing the left heel to come off the ground, building extension and arc and ultimately clubhead speed.

How do you get that feeling?

I ask. Toski says, “We used to teach the step-in drill. Put your feet together. Swing back, and step in as you swing through the ball.”

I ask him if he’s still teaching. “I’m down to one patient,” he says. “I’m like a doctor; I refer to my students as patients.

But I sing one night a week at Arturo’s restaurant in town, classical music—not bad for a little Polish kid who went to Catholic school. Listen to this,” he says, bursting into a rich baritone of “How Great Thou Art.” He says on a 6,000-yard course, he plays to a 5-handicap today. “On a firm fairway, I hit it 230.” He lives at home by himself, still in Boca.

“Come see me. You’d be surprised at how many people come by every day to talk golf,” he says, before a goodbye.

I don’t think we’d be surprised.

This mouse will live forever.

US PGA TOUR viA GeTTy imAGeS

‘Put your feet together.

Swing back, and step in as you swing through the ball.’

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