Golf Digest Middle East - April 2022 by Motivate Media Group

MASTERS PREVIEW THE #1 GOLF PUBLICATION

LEARN HIDEKI’S REAL MAGIC MOVE (IT’S NOT THE PAUSE)

AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF

AUGUSTA NATIONAL

FAIRWAY & RESCUE WOODS HOTLIST 2022

APRIL • 2022 A MOTIVATE PUBLICATION AED20 KD1.7 OR2.1 SR20 BD2.1

Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority

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APRIL / 2022

QUIET NOOK Augusta National’s 12th green, the apex of Amen Corner, offers players a moment of solace before the frenetic finish.

12 Masters Mentality How to play Dubai Creek’s answer to Augusta National’s famed par-3 12th.

by kent gray

by matthew brookes

14 Rap Report Inside the PGA Tour’s upcoming Netflix series

8 Safaa Golf Club Where education and golf happily co-exist.

10 Undercover Caddie Why working the Masters is so stressful for us.

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46 Season Prep Start getting golf fit now.

26 An Alternate History of Augusta National Early club plans offered a very different vision for the home of the Masters. by david owen

50 What’s in My Bag Collin Morikawa. 66 The Loop Masters victory calls we passed on.

36 Learn Hideki Matsuyama’s Real Magic Move Hint: It’s not the pause at the top.

by coleman bentley

by david leadbetter

by jerry tarde

Features

Hot List

18 Jim Nantz A look back at my call of Tiger Woods’ Masters victory 25 years ago.

22 By Georgia The tears flowed after Georgia Hall secured the Saudi Ladies Int.

53 Rescue Me The fairway woods and hybrids listed here encompass lofts of 11 to

by dan rapaport

Mind / Body

with keely levins

by ron kaspriske

The Starter

with joel beall

20 Journeys Ireland’s Leona Maguire

16 What Unites Today’s Big Three Nicklaus, Player, Watson share a unique kinship.

april 2022

34 degrees in an array of sizes and shapes. in short, you have options. Choose wisely. 54 Fairway Woods The longest clubs you hit off the ground have new high-launching technology to make it easier than ever. 60 Hybrids The horsepower of our top picks will have you reconsidering your long irons—and middle irons.

Part 3

cover photograph by peter yang

dom furore

6 Editor’s Letter The Tennessee Vols now count a MENA Tour prodigy among their number.

EDITOR’S LE TTER

Freshman farewell

editor-in- chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer managing partner & group editor Ian Fairservice editor Kent Gray art director Clarkwin Cruz editorial assistant Londresa Flores instruction editors Luke Tidmarsh, Euan Bowden, Tom Ogilvie, Matthew Brookes, Lea Pouillard, Alex Riggs chief commercial officer Anthony Milne publisher David Burke gener al manager - production S. Sunil Kumar assistant production manager Binu Purandaran

Players, and pages, the Middle East can be proud of

By Kent Gray

OW GOOD IS IT TO SEE Josh Hill secure a scholarship to the University of Tennessee. It’s no coincidence the Vols (as in Volunteers, the state’s nickname) are building one of the most ambitious U.S. collegiate golf programmes around the Dubai prodigy. The 17-year-old follows in the footsteps of Oklahoma State University Cowboy Rayhan Thomas as a shining example of what can happen when you mix serious talent and tireless dedication with the opportunities presented by Middle East golf’s fiscal might, weather and agronomy miracles and elite level playing opportunities. By making his first DP World Tour cut on the bubble in Abu Dhabi in January, knowing he had to come back after bad weather and birdie three of his final four holes, the Trump Dubai amateur proved to himself he has the intestinal fortitude to mix it at the highest level. He also knows kinks still need to be ironed out and what better place to do that than in golf’s ultimate finishing school – the NCAA. The state famous for country music, whiskey, Graceland and Elvis likewise know they’ve got a goodie in Hill, a senior England International. The headline on VolsWire, an extension of USA Today, spelt it out: ‘Josh Hill, who beat Brooks Koepka at 15, signs for Tennessee’. That was in a nine-hole practice round with the then world No.1 in Abu Dhabi two years ago. Don’t forget Hill is also the owner of the world record as the youngest winner of an OWGR event, the MENA Tour’s Al Ain Open in 2019. The reserved teen has been one of the constants in my five and a half years and 62 editions at the helm of Golf Digest Middle East. I had envisaged eclipsing Robbie Greenfield’s 91 issues in charge but sadly a pandemic has put the kybosh on that century ambition. Still, it’s been a pleasure while it lasted and especially so charting the rise and rise of Hill who might just be the youngest player ever to grace the cover of Golf Digest, a feat he achieved inside a week of his world record win at 15 years, six months and 27 days old. Other highlights? There have been more than a few, like any time I had the chance to tee it up on Yas Links, undoubtedly the best

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course in the land (honourable mentions to the Majlis, Al Mouj, Saadiyat Beach, The Els and Al Zorah). Kudos to fellow Kiwi Corey Finn and his agronomy team for indeed making the links “great again”. A regret is that I haven’t had the chance to Topgolf in Dubai, undoubtedly the most important development since golf first met grass in the region at Emirates Golf Club in 1988. Mostly though, it’s the relationships forged that I’ll treasure. There’s too many good sorts to list here but Simon Payne of Tower Links fame earns the ‘Best Character’ and ‘Outstanding Host’ gongs, all despite being an Aussie. Dubai Golf’s Chris May, still the gold standard when it comes to golf administration in the UAE, is a gentleman in every sense of the word. The unsung designer of these pages, Clarkwin Cruz, is another humble achiever I hold in the same esteem. Now firmly ensconced back in NZ, the land of Ras Al Khaimah Classic champion Ryan Fox, temporarily diminishing rugby stocks, flightless birds and countless sheep, I’ll keep a watching brief on all things Middle East golf. It will be fascinating to see where the Asian Tour’s new International Series fits into the region’s eco-system and if Greg Norman can lure big names (perhaps any names) to the LIV Golf Invitational Series. It’s critical the MENA Tour is revived so future Rayhan Thomas’, Josh Hills’ and Toby Bishops’ have somewhere local to cut their teeth. Perhaps Saudi riyals are the answer to all of the above? With that, I’ll hand you over to Matthew Smith, the title’s lucky third guardian. I wish the now former Gulf News Sports Editor the best of British. It’s an honour to represent the Golf Digest brand and privilege to have had you, Dear Reader, along for the ride. Thank you and happy golfing.

T H E G O L F D I G E S T P U B L I C AT I O N S editor-in- chief Jerry Tarde director, business development & partnerships Greg Chatzinoff international editor Ju Kuang Tan GOLF DIGEST USA editor-in- chief Jerry Tarde gener al manager Chris Reynolds editorial director Max Adler executive editor Peter Morrice art director Chloe Galkin managing editors Alan P. Pittman, Ryan Herrington (News) chief pl aying editor Tiger Woods pl aying editors Phil Mickelson, Francesco Molinari, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Tom Watson

head office: Media One Tower, PO Box 2331, Dubai, UAE Tel +971 4 427 3000; Fax +971 4 428 2270 dubai media cit y: SD 2-94, 2nd Floor, Building 2, Dubai, UAE Tel +971 4 390 3550; Fax +971 4 390 4845 abu dhabi: PO Box 43072, UAE Tel +971 2 657 3490; Fax +971 2 657 3489

london: Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER, UK, E-mail: motivateuk@motivate.ae

GOLF DIGEST and HOW TO PLAY, WHAT TO PLAY, WHERE TO PLAY are registered trademarks of Discovery Golf, Inc. Copyright © 2021 Discovery Golf, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Volume 72, Issue 2. GOLF DIGEST (ISSN 0017-176X) is published eight times a year by Discovery Golf, Inc. Principal office: Golf Digest, 1180 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y., 10036. Discovery Golf, Inc.: Alex Kaplan, President & GM; Gunnar Wiedenfels, Chief Financial Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and at additional mailing offices.

golfdigestme.com kent.gray@motivate.ae @kentgraygolf / @golfdigestme

/GolfDigestME photograph by getty images

Safaa Golf Club

Education and golf mix within the confines of this co-educational research university located adjacent to the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

ocated within the boundaries of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Safaa Golf Club was opened in August 2009. Since then, Mohawarean Specialized Golf Services (MGS) has maintained and operated this private club. Created by European Golf Design, Safaa Golf Club provides golf instruction delivered by PGA professionals, ranging from a junior academy and introductory adult tuition to lessons for more advanced members. The club is a bio-diverse environment that is in the process of obtaining GEO Certification. That accreditation would be a Saudi first. Safaa Golf Club also hosts groups from the university campus and schools for environmental awareness education, bird watching and walking groups when the course is closed for play. For more information please contact Rory Heath Mob: +966-56-789-8828, Email: rory@mgs.sa

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april 2022

photograph courtesy of safaa golf club

MIND / ON TOUR

Undercover Caddie Why the Masters is the most stressful tournament we work all year

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april 2022

Y KIDS SAY THAT FOR ONE of my favourite weeks of the year, I don’t seem to enjoy the Masters very much, and my wife says I’m unusually curt and anxious. They’re right, of course, but they don’t have to figure out the wind at Golden Bell. I love the Masters. It’s the Holy Grail of American golf. If you’re there, you matter. But there’s also a reason why Harbour Town, where most of us head afterward, is beloved on tour; it’s the first time we can exhale in a week. Caddies are generally a loose bunch, but everyone is wound a little tight at Augusta National. Conversations are more formal, and we stick to our job. The club and its members treat us well, and we want to reciprocate, but we always feel like we’re being watched when we’re on the property. We know one slip-up could send us packing. It’s just hard to be comfortable, and, no, I’m not talking about the white overalls we have to wear. (For the record, I really dig them, although I’ve had toaster ovens that didn’t run as hot as those suits.) What’s at stake also plays into the tension. I never get used to a missed cut there. I don’t necessarily expect my player and I to win, but it still hurts to walk away without that green jacket. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t make it to Saturday or were a shot out. That’s why every year I meet with an Augusta National caddie a few weeks before the tournament. I pepper him with questions about the changes he has seen to the course or how it’s playing. You would be surprised how many alterations occur each year that aren’t announced. Our meetings began with me picking up a bar tab; now it’s dinner, and I bring him a good bottle of wine. I usually leave with a half-dozen tips, most of which my player and I would have figured out during a practice round. But the Masters will make even the non-religious turn to prayer asking for the tiniest bit of help. Having intel that others might not is a shot of confidence.

This is also the event where caddies are leaned on the most, which might surprise you considering the Masters is the only major played at the same course annually. But those greens— no matter how many times you have played them, no putt is ever the same. It’s like trying to figure out an equation, but the variables keep changing. Bubba Watson once told me nothing in golf confounds him like those greens—and he has won the green jacket twice.

The secret to reading Augusta National's greens? Mention the creek first, not last. That’s why players are more dependent on us at Augusta than at any other venue; the more voices trying to figure out how to get the ball in the hole, the better. A veteran caddie gave me this advice: Respect Rae’s Creek, but don’t give it outsize influence. Everyone has heard that putts break toward the creek. I’ve seen enough evidence to know this gravitational pull is real. However, rather than factor that into the putting formula, some players think it’s the only factor and disregard the beautiful, chaotic matrix of the green. The secret? Mention the creek first, not last. If you note where it is last, that is the last thing going through your player’s mind, and it will sway the putt. Note it first, and the creek’s location will merely be an influence. The first year I used that advice, my player finished in the top 10 after missing the cut the previous year. A lot has been made about the roars of Augusta, and the course always has a palpable buzz no matter where you walk. What’s rarely discussed is the silence. Patrons are on their best behavior, so the moments when they’re supposed to be quiet can be eerily quiet. Those stretches of silence can be just as pressure-packed as hearing an explosion of

cheers coming from another part of the course because the player realises everyone is watching him. Players are just as uncomfortable as we are. The best advice I’ve received about working the Masters is this: Slow down. The player, whether it’s his first Masters or 15th, will be jittery on Thursday. That’s OK; if you’re not nervous, it means you don’t know what you’re playing for. Still, you have to regulate those feelings. My approach is to simply walk slower. It gives the player a chance to catch his breath, to get the heart rate down. Augusta National is one of the harder walks of the year. You can physically wear yourself out if you don’t pace yourself. Players talk about the importance of blocking out noise during Masters week, and the same applies to us. I avoid social media, and if a number pops up on my phone that’s not a saved contact, I delete it because it’s likely someone looking for an extra badge to get on the grounds. When I’m away from the course, I’ll make sure the TV isn’t on the Golf Channel because you need to excuse yourself from the circus. Don’t misunderstand me. This is the best course we play and best conditioned. There is no parallel to how well everything is run. Augusta has no jerks in the crowd; there’s just a collective happiness to the place. It can be hard to appreciate in the moment, but I do get small windows to look around and realise, Oh yeah, I’m at the Masters. My favourite part is the 13th tee during a practice round. No patrons back there: just you, your group and serenity staring down the most famous hole in golf. The tournament, and all its possibilities dance in your head. I never forget to remind myself, How good is this? Because it doesn’t get any better. —WITH JOEL BEALL Undercover Caddie likes to sneak pimento-cheese sandwiches into his player’s bag.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BEN WALTON

BODY / CO URSE MANAGEMENT

WATCH THE VIDEO ▶ Scan the QR Code to watch Matt bring this lesson to life.

MASTERS MENTALITY How to play The Creek’s answer to Augusta National’s famous par-3 By Matthew Brookes

The 14th has water defence around the front and right side of the green with three bunkers dotted up the left to the back of the putting surface, leaving very little room for error. The wind predominantly plays slightly into and from the left-to-right, bringing that water into play and even more so if you slightly miss hit your tee shot. My advice is to favour the left side of the green when picking a target line. This portion of the green plays much 3:01 PM so you have a larger area to hit. deeper,

Another reminded is that when it’s breezy, swing easy! Don’t feel stupid picking a club or two more, which will launch the baller lower and with less spin, thus helping that ball travel straighter with less effect from the wind. Good luck and enjoy the battle for the green jacket. matthew brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

joachim guay

I LIKE TO THINK of the 14th hole here at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club as the sandwich in our version of ‘Amen Corner’. The testy par-3 is a taste of what the 12th hole at Augusta must be like and especially when the breeze is swirling around The Creek. Throw in the tricky par-5 13th with the island green beforehand, and the par-4 15th hole after with no space to go left, and it is a stretch of holes that can be a scorecard deal breaker towards ai16481196819_swing catalyst.pdf 1 3/24/22 the end of your round.

MIND / RAP REPORT

Golf Is Finally Ready for its Close-up

Behind the scenes of the PGA Tour’s new Netflix docuseries

By Dan Rapaport

HE IDEA CAME TOGETHER on the golf course, naturally. Chad Mumm, head of entertainment at Vox Media Studios and a self-described golf sicko, pitched his vision to Chris Wandell during a round at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas: a behind-the-scenes documentary following golfers throughout a season. This had been Mumm’s dream project for a half-decade, confined to the “one day” category until a confluence of fac14

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tors turned Wandell, the PGA Tour’s vice president for media business development, into an intrigued listener. Deep-pocketed streaming platforms had shown a willingness to invest in premium sports documentaries. A generation of 20-something stars had shown an eagerness to share their lives with fans on social media. Crucially, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was intrigued by the benefits of presenting golf less filtered. Wandell knew

they needed a third party to do that, and through years of friendship he had grown to trust Mumm and Vox, so they presented the idea to Monahan. Monahan was in if the players were. That job fell to Mumm, who spent the next two years pitching guys on the idea of letting cameras follow them inside and outside the ropes for free. Rickie Fowler came aboard first, shrewdly sensing an opportunity to reach a new demographic and form deeper bonds with fans. Tony Finau and Cameron Champ signed on shortly after. So did Justin Thomas, a massive fan of HBO’s NFL docuseries “Hard Knocks.” “[Fans] might see a picture or video on Instagram of me hitting balls or me working out but maybe not through an entire clubfitting or a session with my

dad,” Thomas says. “Just me drinking beer with my buddies and watching football—there’s a lot of different aspects to show that will give people a better understanding of who we are and grow our brand a bit.” Mumm and Wandell secured commitments from each of the four major championships, which meant convincing four separate governing bodies to grant someone else’s cameras unprecedented access. “It’s about the characters, not the tournaments,” Wandell says. The last piece, then, was finding a platform to fund and distribute the project. Vox and the tour presented to almost every streaming service, both sports-centric and not, but Netflix emerged as the front-runner because of the success of “Drive to Survive,” a

Netflix docuseries on Formula One rac- to Survive’ did is allow us to interview ing. The average age of a Formula One and capture things on camera where fan dropped from 36 in 2017 to 32 last the drivers were relaxed because they year, an attractive number for advertis- didn’t feel like they were doing it for the ers and a great harbinger of sustained tour or a sponsor or a brand. This show popularity. Call it the Netflix Effect. The was about giving them the opportunity PGA Tour’s average fan, as you might to be themselves. That’s what resonated with the golfers, and I think that’s guess, skews significantly older. Netflix green-lit the PGA Tour’s proj- what will resonate with fans.” The PGA Tour has ceded final editoect and connected the tour with Box To Box Films, the group behind the slick rial say to Netflix. Whereas the tour has production of “Drive to Survive.” Paul tried to gloss over controversies in the Martin, co-head of Box To Box, joined past—it doesn’t publicize fines and has the show as an executive producer, and tried to downplay rules disputes—the David Check, a 25-time Emmy-award Netflix show will ostensibly lean into winner, will serve as the showrunner. that type of spicy drama. “People have this misconception that The creative forces behind this show— and the platform on which it will air— golf is a bunch of country club, silverare all essentially newcomers to golf, spoon rich kids who are boring,” says Mumm, a 35-year-old low-handicapper. which is kind of the idea. “If we do this right, there will be a sig- “But that’s not who’s on tour right now. nificant number of new fans who have None of the characters in our cast really come from that type of backnever watched live golf who ground. These are grinders. get to know guys like Collin Dan Rapaport A lot of them came from Morikawa and Jordan Spiwould gladly nothing. Golf is such an ineth,” Wandell says. welcome a dividual sport, and with the Other big names signed Netflix series mental side, it’s almost like on include Dustin Johnson, about his life as a psycho-drama. When you Brooks Koepka, Viktor Hova golf writer. dive deeper into the profesland, Xander Schauffele, sional game, the dynamics Tommy Fleetwood, Bubba are richer than even I could Watson and Sergio Garcia. have ever imagined.” Notable non-participants— Filming began at the Tiger Woods, Phil MickelFarmers Insurance Open in son, Rory McIlroy and Jon January and will continue Rahm—can be counted on one hand. The show will also in- through the Tour Championship in clude lower-ranked players with huge August. Producers plan to learn the personalities, like Joel Dahmen and rhythm of filming tournament weeks as they go and are confident they’ll build Harry Higgs. From a show perspective, Formula trust with players—and thus get more One has inherent advantages over the access—as the season goes on. Caddies PGA Tour—there are complicated team will be involved, too; there is also hope dynamics in racing that golf doesn’t that players not participating in season have (yet). The Grand Prix doubles as one will succumb to the fear of missing a congregation of extraordinary wealth out and eventually agree to take part, and weeklong parties conducted at just as Formula One megastar Lewis breathtaking (and yacht-friendly) Hamilton did. As with “Drive to Survenues: Monaco, Barcelona, Southern vive,” the show will not air until months France, Northern Italy. There’s also the after filming wraps. That golf’s powerbrokers have united whole fast-cars-rounding-corners-atdeathly-speeds thing. But mostly, the behind such an ambitious project— success of “Drive to Survive” is because with significant financial incentive, of of its characters and storytelling, not course—signifies some self-awareness. Trotting out the same content on the the glitz. “Formula One, similar to golf, had same channels will not appeal to the created this environment where play- new eyeballs the game covets. After deers didn’t feel like they could really be cades of carefully controlling its image, themselves,” Martin says. “What ‘Drive pro golf is pulling back the curtain. ILLUSTRATION BY KYLE HILTON

MIND / THE NEXT ONE'S GOOD

What Unites the Big Three

This year’s honorary starters share a unique kinship

By Jerry Tarde

he best of the Masters traditions begins Thursday morning at about 8 when the honorary starters gather on the first tee. The patrons are still rushing up the hill from the gates, breathless and straining to see golf’s living Mount Rushmore. It reminds me of the Third Stage of Man: The first is Youth, impression on me. In his prime, he liked the second is Middle Age and the third to wake up on the morning of the last is “You’re looking well.” Gary Player, round of a major and look out the win86, Jack Nicklaus, 82, and Tom Watson, dow to see the wind blowing, the rain 72, are all looking well on this first full pelting down, the temperature dropweek in April. ping. He knew half the field would give My recurring Masters dream goes up under those conditions. Half of the back to when Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead rest didn’t know how to play in weather and Byron Nelson were the honorary like that. Most of the remaining were starters, who in those days not only hit mathematically out of contention. That the opening tee shot but played out the left fewer than a handful of players to first hole and then were carted back to beat, and Jack liked his chances. It sums the clubhouse for breakfast. In my noc- up Nicklaus’ Germanic view of competiturnal imagination, Byron hit a good tion—arrive early, take the high ground, drive, then a 4-wood onto the green and prepare better than everyone else. made the putt, whereupon Gary Player’s attitude was he decided he might as well different, the product of an Jerry Tarde play the second hole, the inner drive and intensity to once went to an downhill par 5. His third shot prove himself, maybe deamusement park clanged against the flagstick rived from his diminutive with Nicklaus but and dropped in the hole for size and remote homeland. has only played an eagle, and at three-under The ultimate Gary story golf with Player through two he was off and is the one his late teacher and Watson. running. How far he got dePhil Ritson told of rooming pended on when I woke up. together at a junior tournaIf such a thing were to ment in South Africa when happen in real life, today’s Player was 16 years old. Big Three have the chutzpah Ritson said he woke up to pull it off. They are men one morning to find Player of indomitable spirit, vastly standing in front of a mirror different in personality, but telling himself, “I’m going sharing that same character trait. to be the greatest golfer in the world. I give you Jack Nicklaus, first among I’m going to be the greatest golfer in the equals. I remember reading in my youth world.” Dozens of times he said it. Just something said about Jack that left an recently I heard Gary tell a similar story 16

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ALL TOGETHER

Watson, Player and Nicklaus have won 35 pro majors combined.

about staring in the mirror, slapping himself and demonstrating: “Don’t feel sorry for yourself.” Slap. “You’re going to have bad holes.” Slap. “Take it like a man.” Slap. That’s the essence of Gary, even if you think it’s an act. He’s been doing this act his whole life. As Herbert Warren Wind once observed, “Underneath the fake tinsel lies the real tinsel.” Tom Watson was a choker who became a champion. He always brought exuberance to high-risk situations— those five-foot downhill putts that he rammed in sometimes ended up six feet past the hole. He knows success and failure and treats them equally as brothers. There was neither a greater high in U.S. Open history than his chipin on the 71st hole at Pebble Beach, nor a deeper low in the Open Championship than the bogey he took from the edge at Turnberry two months shy of turning 60. He came from behind as Ryder Cup captain to win heroically in 1993—and then lost embarrassingly in 2014. Occasionally unpopular, but never uncertain, he knows no fear. If you want to increase your success rate, Watson likes to say, double your failure rate. Nicklaus’ confidence, Player’s ambition, Watson’s resilience—no matter the age, these indomitable men are the Masters. And maybe, just maybe, one of them will birdie the first hole, eagle the second and keep going. PHOTOGRAPH BY DOM FURORE

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MIND / THE VIEW FROM PEBBLE BEACH

‘A Win for the Ages’

Twenty-five years ago I had the honour to call one of the greatest moments in sports

By Jim Nantz “There’s a new day about to dawn at the most magical setting in golf.” That day was Sunday, April 13, 1997, when Tiger Woods changed the game of golf forever. For the hundreds of us at CBS who had the honour of broadcasting the tournament, it was the biggest assignment of our careers. “A place where legends are made, where dreams have been realized . . .” These were my words for the opening of the show, known in TV parlance as a “tease.” I narrated the script against the grand yet reflective musical strains of “The World of the Heart,” the title track of the movie “DragonHeart.” It replaced another tease we had in the can for Sunday. Producer Chris Svendsen and I had dubbed it “Triumph and Tragedy,” and it outlined the many heartbreaking losses at the Masters, like Greg Norman’s the previous year. But after the third round in 1997, we decided to ditch that concept. “Svennie” disappeared into the CBS compound and emerged at 4 a.m. with his showopening masterpiece.

“Where the royalty of the game have driven Magnolia Lane to find their golf kingdom . . .” The 1997 telecast was the first Masters production without the guiding hand of legendary CBS producer and director Frank Chirkinian. Frank’s four-decade career had ended at the Presidents Cup the previous fall, and his longtime understudy, Lance Barrow, was now sitting in the producer’s chair. Steve Milton, a director Frank had groomed for a larger role, was making his Masters debut cutting the show. It also marked the first Masters for CBS Sports president Sean McManus. His father, Jim McKay, had been one of Frank’s first golf anchors, even calling the Masters until 1961. 18

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“Men like Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead . . .” Perspective was an important part of our storytelling that week. On Friday, when Tiger holed an eagle putt at the par-5 13th hole, I said, “Let the record show, a little after 5:30 on this Friday, April the 11th, Tiger takes the lead for the first time ever at the Masters.” I just had a feeling the moment should be marked. “Where Arnold Palmer stepped into the world to embrace his Army . . .” I arrived in Augusta after a thrilling Monday night NCAA men’s basketball national championship game in Indianapolis, where Arizona had upset Kentucky in overtime. My vocal cords were raspy and stretched from trying to cut through crowd noise. A few days later, after inhaling a high dose of the spring pollen, my voice was shot. A visit to the doctor and a steroid shot in my backside restored my voice for the weekend. “Where in 1965 Jack Nicklaus’ performance was so singular, he won by nine . . .” By Saturday night Tiger had a nine-shot lead. From the Augusta home of Frank and Eleanor Barbee that CBS had rented for my colleagues Tom Spencer, Brandt Packer and me, we sat around the kitchen table discussing storylines to be told the next day. “In 1976, Ray Floyd ran away from the field. He had an eight-shot lead through three rounds, a margin many thought would never be matched.” On Sunday morning, Barrow assembled the announcing team in his CBS compound office. The crew consisted of Peter Kostis, Bobby Clampett, Jerry Pate, David Feherty, Sean McDonough, Peter Oosterhuis and Ken Venturi. To start the broadcast I was in

our makeshift studio on the lower level of Butler Cabin. “But little did they know, four months earlier a golf prodigy was born. While Seve was winning his first green jacket, 4-year-old Eldrick Woods was beginning a journey to one day be a champion golfer.” Eventually I scurried with my head down over to the 18th tower. Suddenly I was stopped by an old friend. It was Lee Elder standing between the 10th tee and putting green. He looked fatigued and overwhelmed by it all. He had driven through the night to Augusta to witness a day that he had paved the way for. In 1975, Elder became the first Black golfer to play in the Masters. “The fundamentals of youth have transformed into the Tiger of tomorrow.” As Tiger played 18, tens of thousands of patrons gathered for a glimpse of history. Dozens more stood beneath the CBS towers as our camera operators turned their viewfinders around so that the patrons could see what was happening through a six-inch screen. “With a power and grace like the game has never seen before.” Earl Woods had arrived behind the 18th green for the last hour of the round. He stood near our Bob Welch, who was providing sweeping images from his crane-like jib camera. Bob thoughtfully turned his viewfinder into a program monitor to let Earl watch his son play the incoming holes. “Today all of Augusta’s legendary records are in danger.” When Tiger hugged his father after leaving the green—one of the richest moments seen in sport—a CBS rookie, Eric Leidel, was there with his handheld

camera to capture those precious seconds. Twenty-four years later, Leidel would provide another Masters classic—Hideki Matsuyama’s caddie, Shota Hayafuji, bowing out of respect to Augusta. “As 21-year-old Tiger Woods is poised to make history in the final round of the Masters!” The narrative that ac-

companied the final putt would be one of the most important short sentences I would utter in my life. An announcer’s final call is best when it is spontaneous, but the inevitability of Tiger’s victory— and its historical impact—required more permanent framing. As Tiger knocked in his final putt, the only way I knew to describe it was, “There it is, a win for the ages!” A quarter of a cen-

tury later, Tiger’s conquest at Augusta remains ageless, a gift to the sporting world that will be shared forever. Jim Nantz hopes to host the Masters on CBS through 2036, the 100th playing of the tournament.

PHOTOGRAPH BY TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

MIND / JOURNEYS

Leona Maguire blazes a path for Irish women After a stellar amateur career, the former Duke All-American took the more scenic route to the LPGA Tour With Keely Levins

had these plans that I would go straight from college to the LPGA Tour, and it would all go so smoothly. It didn’t. I spent 135 weeks as the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, but when I turned pro, I didn’t make it through Q school.

From the beginning, I had a built-in Some of our toughest battles were practice partner. My twin sister, Lisa, at Duke qualifying—our lineup was and I grew up minutes from our local that strong. No matter how many course. We started with three clubs times I won, coach Dan Brooks made each when we were 9 and added clubs, me qualify. He always challenged us. shoes and a coach as we got older. My ● ● ● dad read golf books and I made it through second taught us as much as he stage of LPGA Q school leona maguire could. When my sister as a junior, in 2017, but lpga tour and I were 12, he realised pulled out of third stage age 27 that we needed help. to return to Duke. I felt I born cavan, ireland I’ve worked with Shane was good enough to play lives orlando O’Grady for 15 years now. on the LPGA Tour, but I ●●● made commitments to my team and Golf can be lonely. Being a golfer coaches. I didn’t want to let them down. in Ireland means practicing in the I have no regrets, even when I didn’t wind, rain and cold. Lisa and I were make it through Q school the next time. lucky to have each other. We brought ● ● ● each other along without realising it. I graduated and turned pro in 2018 Dad reinforced that it didn’t matter but struggled at LPGA Q school. who won as long as we did our best. I was horribly disappointed. Friends ●●● got their cards and made it look easy. Lisa and I used to dress the same. Why couldn’t I? I didn’t dwell on it; I One time we were in the final match went to the Ladies European Tour [LET] of the Irish Ladies Championship. and then Symetra [now Epson] Tour. One of the referees said to our mom, ● ● ● “We’re not sure we’ll be able to tell the I went from college, where everydifference. I need to know who has won thing is set for you, to pro golf where each hole. Can one of them change?” you’re on your own. Symetra is a ●●● grind. I’d never played eight events in a Our parents are school teachers, so row before. It’s easy to spend more than academics were important. Duke was you make. Entry fees were $500 a week; the best of academics and golf. It was a then you have to get there and find a big adjustment. There was no going place to stay. I was lucky to find host home on the weekends like our friends families and a few sponsors, so I wasn’t in Ireland. We moved halfway across the worrying about being able to afford gas world with two suitcases and our clubs. for my car or the next week’s entry fee,

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like other girls were. Lisa turned pro at the same time but retired soon after. She’s now a player manager at Modest! Golf, the company that represents me. ●●● I finished high enough on the money list to get my LPGA Tour card for 2020. I realised quickly that I needed to learn how to go low. You have to get so comfortable doing it that it becomes habit. I’m getting a sense for it, especially after Evian, where I shot a finalround 61, tying the record for lowest round at a major. That was an incredible day, but the Solheim Cup is the greatest moment of my career so far. ●●● My teammates warned me how nervous I’d be on the first tee, saying I’d be lucky to make contact. The crowds were so loud. To stand up and hit a drive straight down the middle, it set the tone for the rest of the week. I didn’t expect to set the record for most points scored by a rookie, but once I got going, the momentum didn’t stop. ●●● I went to assistant captain Suzann Pettersen for advice all week. I’ve always admired her determination and competitiveness. She said not to do anything differently, to trust what got me there. That reassurance from her and captain Catriona Matthew gave me a lot of confidence. ●●● After the Solheim Cup, they had a parade for me at home. I rode in a gold convertible BMW, my 94-year-old grandmother was in the passenger seat waving at everybody with me. People were out with flags and banners, cheering. It was like St. Patrick’s Day. ●●● I was the first Irishwoman to play in the Solheim Cup. I wouldn’t have qualified if I hadn’t gotten LET status. I wouldn’t have gotten LET status if I’d breezed through Q school. The confidence I gained from that experience helped me get my first LPGA Tour victory—and Ireland’s—in February. Growing up I watched Irish guys like Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy succeed on the PGA Tour. I hope my win will inspire girls in Ireland that the same can be possible for them. PHOTOGRAPH BY JENSEN LARSON

ISSUE X 2022

GOLF DIGEST

KELLY WHALEY PRODUCED THE FINAL ROUND HIGHLIGHTS BUT NO ONE WAS GOING TO CATCH BATTLED HARDENED GEORGIA HALL 22

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IVEN HER ONLY OTHER WIN on the Ladies European Tour came at a major championship, you may have expected Georgia Hall to take her Aramco Saudi Ladies International victory in her stride. But as soon as the 25-year-old Englishwoman was greeted on the final green by Solheim Cup pal Emily Kristine Pedersen, herself a two-time Saudi champion, the waterworks flowed. “I was fine after 18, and then Emily started crying, and it made me cry. I was just really proud of the way I played today,” the world No.25 said. “It's fantastic to win in March, so early in the season. I really love this place and love the golf course.” The 2018 Women’s British Open champion produced a measured final round 71 at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club to waltz away with a $135,547 share of the $1million Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by Public Investment Fund prize purse. Hall eventually won by five strokes, the advantage she started Sunday with at King Abdullah Economic City.

Georgia PHOTOGRAPHS BY TRISTAN JONES/LET

rounds of 69-6968-71 for a winning total of 11-under; Kelly Whaley with her course record equalling - and LET historic- final round scorecard.

IT'S FANTASTIC TO WIN SO EARLY IN THE SEASON. I REALLY LOVE THIS PLACE AND LOVE THE GOLF COURSE. 24

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Hall’s one-under-par round started with two birdies in the first three holes to extend her overnight lead to seven shots, from where she never really looked back. “That was the plan in my head,” said Hall. “The front nine is a little bit easier, a little bit less wind than we've had, so I tried to take advantage and hit some really good shots on the front nine to get me further ahead, and that kind of settled me.” Despite four bogeys – on the 5th, 10th, 15th and 16th - the chasing pack never got closer than four shots. Hall – a runner up at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International in 2020 – sealed things with a birdie three on 17, rolling in a 15-foot putt. “To lead all week is very special. I think the first round (69) really was very important for me. I played incredible that round. It really set me up for the rest of the week. Sometimes it's not always easy with a five-shot lead into the last day, it's a little bit more pressure on you, but I was really happy with the way I conducted myself today.” Joint second place went to Swede Johanna Gustavsson and the former Czech Republic international footballer cum LET rookie Kristyna Napoleaova. It was fairytale stuff for 25-year-old Napoleaova, who was competing in only her second event as an LET professional. “To be honest, it's kind of like a dream,” said Napoleaova who had shared the halfway lead with Hall. “I didn't expect even to get into the event. Golf Saudi provided me with an invite, which was incredible. What happened this week is like a fairytale. It’s been an absolutely incredible week. I'm so grateful to have been here and can't wait to come back again.” Napoleaova picked up $75,000, a cool $71,300 more than her maiden LET event. “To be fair, I had no idea what the prize money was. I’m glad I didn’t look because then I would have been like slightly nervous on the last hole, which I was anyway, so better not to know!” april 2022

The best round of the day came from breakout US golf star Kelly Whaley (above), who set a new LET record with an incredible eight birdies in a row, to finish joint sixth. The 24-year-old’s streak ran from the 4th to the 11th and set up a course equaling score of 63. It was the first time a player has bagged more than seven consecutive birdies in a regular-season LET event. “It is the best round I've ever had in a tournament,” said Whaley who turned pro in 2019 and was competing in her first event outside the United States. “My whole goal today was to just enjoy it and have fun, being my first international professional event. I've never had eight birdies in a row. That's something memorable for anyone. “Once I made about four or five, I said, ‘Okay, you're in it now – you can't stop’. So, I just kept giving myself opportunities and it was a lot of fun. I think in these situations pressure can get to you, and it becomes almost daunting, but I really approached today trying to just enjoy every shot and find something about every hole that I loved, whether it be the view or just something else. It was just a really memorable day.” And another thoroughly memorable week for Golf Saudi and the women’s game in the Kingdom.

(3) TRISTAN JONES/LET

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Hall carded

GOLF & LANDSCAPE

DESIGN - CONSTRUCT - MAINTAIN

‫مالعب الجولف والمسطحات الخضراء‬ ‫ صيانة‬- ‫ بناء‬- ‫تصميم‬

Mohawarean Specialized Golf Services (MGS) info@mgs.sa

Golf Data Arabia LLC. (GDA) info@golfdata.co.za

Suite 603, Sixth Floor, Diyar Al Bahr Tower, Corniche Road, Ash Shatee District, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 23613

Welcome to Georgia National An alternate history of the home of the Masters By David Owen

Illustrations by Violet Frances for Bryan Christie Design

9 3

HEN BOBBY JONES and Clifford Roberts conceived of the golf club that became Augusta National, their plans were ambitious: two 18-hole golf courses, one for women; tennis courts, a pool, outdoor squash courts and a bridle trail; an extensive real-estate development with at least two dozen large building lots overlooking the course; and 1,800 members, more than a few of them from overseas. In the spring of 1931, in Augusta, Ga., they found the ideal property: a defunct commercial nursery, which, Jones wrote later, “looked as though it were already a golf course.” Jones and Roberts, however, had the misfortune to undertake their project at the outset of the Great Depression. They were able to raise only a fraction of the money they needed, and, in three years of conscientious, nationwide marketing, they signed up just 76 of those 1,800 members, even though dues were attractively low: $60 a year for men and $15 for wives and children. They did build one golf course,

G E O R G I A

N AT I O N A L

K E Y

Magnolia walking path

Larger clubhouse

Bet-settler 19th hole

Bridle path

Women’s course

18-hole short course

Hall of Fame building

Homes

Tennis & swimming

The Clubhouse

America’s most recognisable clubhouse was completed in 1857 by Dennis Redmond, an Irish immigrant and agricultural reformer who had moved to Augusta from Utica, N.Y. Redmond hoped to prove that farmers in the South could economically grow fruit instead of cotton. He viewed his house, which he designed, as a demonstration project as well: a model “southern country house” with concrete walls a foot and a half thick. When Jones and Roberts first visited the property, the house was a wreck. It had no kitchen, no plumbing and no electricity. It had 14 rooms, but they were tiny and dark, and they were too damp to be used even for storage. The building was also small. It looks large in photographs, but much of its apparent bulk comes from its porches, which are nine and a half feet deep, and from wings added later. It was obvious to all that making the house even minimally habitable would require a total renovation. An engineer who inspected it at Augusta National’s request concluded that the members “would probably be better satisfied in a modern building with all modern conveniences.” 28

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Rather than trying to salvage Redmond’s house, Jones and Roberts planned to spend $100,000 on a new building several times its size, and they hired Willis Irvin, a local architect and developer. Irvin got as far as drawing plans. The building he designed had two large wings, an exterior of whitewashed brick, a slate roof and a vast neoclassical portico supported by four tall columns. Inside were two large locker rooms, one for men and one for women. The men’s locker room contained 400 lockers, some single and some double. Picture windows overlooked the course, and at numerous small sitting areas, members could play bridge, eat lunch and watch others putting out on the 18th green. The Augusta Chronicle published a detailed description of his plan, along with an artist’s rendering of the façade. A few early Augusta National members argued that the original house was worth preserving, but the issue was moot: The club lacked the money even to repair what was there. At Georgia National, though, Jones and Roberts have plenty of money. They tear down the Redmond house and build Irvin’s ambitious design in the same location. The building becomes a popular gathering place for members and their families. Dances, banquets and holiday parties are often held in the large dining room. Because Irvin sites the building so that the large windows in the men’s and

AUGUSTA NATIONAL

but even before it was completed, they were deeply in debt—so much so that in 1935, eight months after Gene Sarazen hit “the shot heard round the world” at the second Masters, the club’s creditors foreclosed. Then—just as Augusta National was beginning to recover financially—the world went to war. Shortly after the 1942 Masters, the club and the tournament shut down for the duration. The fact that Augusta National and the Masters exist today is mainly a credit to the stubborn single-mindedness of Roberts, who was determined, against the odds, to create an enduring monument to Jones. But what if things had turned out differently? What if the booming economy of the 1920s had continued into the 1930s? What if Jones and Roberts had been able to raise all the money they needed to fully execute their original plan? What if the world had somehow remained at peace through the 1940s? What if Jones and Roberts had named their club Georgia National (as they almost did anyway because Roberts believed that, with the state’s name in the name of the club, Georgians would be sure to support it)? What would Georgia National be like today?

W A L K

T H R O U G H

T I M E

Visitors to Augusta National drive slowly down Magnolia Lane to soak in the experience. But in a different world they would proceed even slower. Original plans would have kept the dirt entrance to Fruitland Nurseries (left) as a walking path and paved a new driveway to the club 135 yards to the southeast on Washington Road. At fictitious Georgia National (above), we imagine that stroll today.

women’s locker rooms face the course’s original 18th green (which is now Augusta National’s ninth), Jones and Roberts never change the routing of the course (as they actually did in 1935, between the first Masters and the second). Georgia National’s first hole is the one that course designer Alister MacKenzie, in his final routing, intended it to be: the hole that’s now Augusta National’s 10th. Georgia National’s par-4 second, par-3 third and par-5 fourth are terrific holes, but no one ever calls them Amen Corner.

Magnolia Lane

The magnolia trees that line Augusta National’s driveway were planted from seeds before the Civil War. By 1931, the

trees were fairly large, and the dirt path between them was known locally as Magnolia Avenue or Magnolia Lane, but Jones and Roberts worried that there wasn’t enough space between the rows for cars to pass safely. They thought at first that the club’s main entrance would have to be situated 135 yards to the southeast, along a curving driveway that still exists, to the west of the Par-3 Course. In the end, after some judicious pruning, they realised that Magnolia Lane really could be used as a driveway—soon to become the most celebrated entrance in all of sport. At Georgia National, however, Magnolia Lane is used by pedestrians only. The club’s main entrance is where Jones and Roberts really thought they might have to

The most famous entrance in sports almost ended up a simple strolling path.

A Z A L E A

R E A L

E S T A T E

Early club plans allocated space for two dozen residential lots bordering the course. Land on the south edge of the property was designated as “area for future development.” In our parallel universe of Georgia National, a home behind the green of the famous par-5 13th hole would offer perhaps the most compelling backyard view in all of sports. Further, becoming part of the U.S. Open rota would have meant red USGA flags.

place it, at the intersection of Washington Road and what’s now called Eisenhower Drive. Georgia National members love Magnolia Lane, but they use it as a strolling path, not a driveway. One of its most frequent functions is as a backdrop for family photographs taken at the wedding receptions of members’ children. It also plays an important role in the club’s annual Easter egg hunt.

The Golf Courses

Jones and Roberts originally planned to build a second 18-hole golf course, for women, as soon as the club’s membership passed 1,000. Roberts wrote, “Most all of the men who go to Augusta have families and in most cases, the wives and daughters play golf. If an invitation to join the club is to be favorably considered, there must be an appeal to the ladies. The construction plans should therefore include a second 18-hole course to be made relatively easy.” Augusta National’s original construction budget included $200,000 for the championship course, to be designed 30

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by MacKenzie, and $140,000 for the women’s course. A possibility that Jones and Roberts considered for the women’s course was to buy the Lake Course, the second golf course of Augusta Country Club, Augusta National’s neighbor to the south. However, they came nowhere near raising enough money. They built the championship course for $100,000, half the original goal, but they managed that only by failing to pay many of the contractors and suppliers in full— MacKenzie included. At Georgia National, Jones and Roberts have a large cash surplus, and in 1932 they do buy the Lake Course, which is situated on the far side of Rae’s Creek, near the southeastern corner of the club’s property. (The lake it is named for is Lake Olmstead, into which Rae’s Creek flows.) MacKenzie shortens and reconfigures most of the holes, with help from his friend Marion Hollins (who really did consult with MacKenzie briefly during the construction of Augusta National). Hollins won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1921 and served as the captain of the

Jones and Roberts had planned to build a second 18-hole course for women.

first American Curtis Cup team in 1932. She was a founder and co-designer of Women’s National Golf Club on Long Island, which opened in 1923, and she was responsible for bringing MacKenzie and Jones together in 1929 for an exhibition match at her club, Pasatiempo, which MacKenzie also designed. Hollins also was the developer of Cypress Point and was credited by MacKenzie with conceiving its most famous hole, the par-3 16th. At Augusta National, MacKenzie originally wanted to build a third course, a nine-hole “approach-and-putt” layout that could be played with irons and a putter—like a shorter version of Augusta’s actual Par-3 Course, which was built in 1958. In 1933, MacKenzie drew plans for a longer short course: an 18-hole layout that would have measured 2,460 yards. (The longest hole would have been 190 yards; the shortest would have been 60 yards.) In addition, he wanted to add a 90-yard 19th hole to the championship course in the space between the first tee and the 18th green—a sloping area once used for practice—because, he wrote to Roberts, “Bobby Jones and some of the other directors thought it might be interesting to have a real 19th hole so that the loser could have the opportunity of getting his money back by playing double or quits.” But there was no money for any of those ideas. Georgia National, however, has funds to spare, and it does build MacKenzie’s 18-hole approach-and-putt course, mostly where the Par-3 Course is today. It also builds a 19th hole on the men’s course, modeled on a par-3 hole that Jones really did admire and once drew a sketch of—the ninth at St. Annes Old Links, next to Royal Lytham, in England. Members sometimes play it during cocktail hour, even when they don’t have a bet to settle.

AUGUSTA NATIONAL

Real Estate

Jones and Roberts hoped to finance Augusta National in part by selling building lots around the perimeter of the course— as Marion Hollins had also done at Pasatiempo. (MacKenzie and his wife bought one of the Pasatiempo lots.) Augusta National’s original site plan—prepared by Olmsted Brothers, a distinguished landscape architecture firm in Brookline, Mass.—included two dozen large building lots, plus several areas reserved for “future development.” Difficult though it is to believe today, in 20 years of active marketing Augusta National found only one buyer: Montgom-

BEST LAID PLANS

ery Harison, a member, who bought three adjacent lots and built a large brick house overlooking the first green. Roberts later regretted the entire real-estate plan and eventually managed to buy and demolish the house that Harison had built. One of Roberts’ final acts before taking his life in 1977 was to walk to the first tee so that he could assure himself that the old house really was gone. At Georgia National, though, the realestate sale is a success, and houses the size of Harison’s are built on many of the lots. Freeman Gosden (who was Amos of “Amos ’n’ Andy” and a close friend of Roberts as well as an early Georgia National member) builds a large house on two lots overlooking the 11th hole (which is the second hole in Augusta National’s routing). A wealthy member buys the house from Gosden’s widow in 1995. He doubles its size and adds a heliport to the roof.

The Golf Hall of Fame

The Baseball Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, N.Y., opened in 1939. The PGA of America responded by creating its own Hall and inducting several legendary golfers, Bobby Jones among them. But

A map prepared by the Olmsted Brothers firm in 1932 shows proposed home lots and a main entrance that were never built.

Bobby Jones wanted a 90-yard 19th hole near the 18th green to settle bets.

the PGA’s Hall had neither a building nor a plan for one. Roberts loved the idea of a golf Hall of Fame, and he believed that Augusta National would be the ideal place to build it. His preferred location was on one of the building lots that the club had been trying to sell, unsuccessfully, for eight years: a six-acre parcel 250 yards east of the 10th green. Visitors to a Hall situated there 32

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would have good views of the course, Roberts wrote to Jones, and members playing the course “would have a good view of an attractive building.” Roberts had many ideas for the project. “The more I think about it,” he really did write in 1941, “the more I feel that a building that houses a few plaques or a few bronze busts and that offers nothing else to the public would prove to be a

F O R E

L E F T

T O

H I S T O R Y

Augusta National co-founder Clifford Roberts was, for a time, rather enthused about erecting a golf Hall of Fame. He thought the knoll to the left of what’s presently the championship tee box of No. 11 would be a fine location. At Georgia National, casual golfers deal with the buzz of excited visitors to the Hall. Tournament players must contend with the feeling of history bearing down on them.

Clifford Roberts loved the idea of a golf Hall of Fame.

dull, worthless type of project, having no excuse for its existence except to attempt to glorify the leaders of golf. And I doubt that very much would be added to their fame.” One wing of the building, he continued, could contain “automatic movie machines,” which, for a quarter, would show instructional films by the game’s great teachers. Another wing could serve as a library and a bookstore. Visitors

would be able to buy souvenir booklets, postcards depicting the Augusta National course, and “popular-priced copies” of some of the books in the library. Roberts also wanted to construct “a miniature Augusta National course surrounding the Hall of Fame that would be a practical pitch-and-putt course and could be made a most attractive part of the landscaping scheme.” The holes would be scaled-down replicas of the holes on the big course. He proposed a fee of 25 cents per round. He also suggested building an “especially attractive” public driving range based on a plan that Jones had come across and thought highly of, but the war intervened, and by the time it ended, Roberts and Jones had lost interest. At Georgia National, though, the project does go forward, beginning in late 1939, and it’s all done exactly as Roberts described it. It’s financed by a new member James Middleton Cox, a newspaper publisher who years earlier had served three terms as the governor of Ohio (and whom Roberts really had been planning to tap for a major donation, partly to deter Cox from his original idea, which was to erect an immense statue of Jones). Golf-playing tourists love the Hall, and sometimes catch glimpses of Jones playing on the big course. The Hall is a still lively tourist attraction today. The most popular feature is the immense World Tour building, in which visitors can play all of Alister MacKenzie’s greatest courses—Cypress Point, Lahinch, Royal Melbourne and Georgia National among them—on state-of-the-art simulators with wraparound screens.

The U.S. Open

Jones’ original dream was to build a course that could host a U.S. Open, which had never been played farther south than Illinois. In early 1933, he and Roberts invited Prescott Bush, the chairman of april 2022

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Not enough funds existed to greenlight the larger clubhouse designed by architect Willis Irvin (top). The first two PGA Seniors’ Championships were contested at Augusta National in 1937 and 1938. The club considered providing a permanent home to the event.

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the USGA’s tournament committee, to visit Augusta National. Bush played two rounds. He liked the course but concluded that it wasn’t ready for an Open. In addition, he pointed out that any Open at Augusta National would have to be played in late March or early April, when the weather was at its best and the local resorts still had guests. That was almost three months earlier than the Open’s usual dates, and to accommodate the change the USGA would have to upend its system of sectional qualifying. Herbert Jaques, the USGA’s president, wrote to Jones and Roberts that “whereas we are all favorably inclined to this move in the near future, we do not think it is practical to attempt in 1934.”

DRAWING: BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES • AUGUSTA NATIONAL

EARLY YEARS

But Augusta National couldn’t wait. The main reason Roberts was in a hurry was that he knew an Open would catch the attention of potential members, which the club desperately needed. He decided that if the club couldn’t get the Open, it should conduct a tournament of its own. The first Augusta National Invitation Tournament was played in late March of 1934. It was officially renamed the Masters in 1939. At Georgia National, though, Prescott Bush’s visit is an unqualified success. He loves the course, and he and Jaques happily make the necessary changes in the USGA’s qualifying schedule. The Open is played in Augusta in the spring of 1934, instead of at Merion, and it returns roughly once a decade after that. The U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Open are often played at Georgia National as well. One consequence of playing the 1934 Open at Georgia National is that Jones can’t make his much-anticipated return to competition. The USGA ruled in 1930 that by signing contracts with Spalding and Warner Bros. he had ceased to be an amateur, and he was unwilling to compete as what he once called “an uneducated club servant”: a golf professional. Roberts finessed that issue with the first Masters by making no distinction, in the tournament’s programs and other materials, between amateurs and professionals, but the USGA would never have done the same. At Georgia National’s first U.S. Open, Jones is a gracious host and honored spectator. Another consequence of holding the 1934 Open at Georgia National is that Olin Dutra, who won the actual Open that year at Merion, isn’t in the field. The reason (as he really did explain to Roberts, in a letter declining his invitation to play in the first Augusta National Invitation Tournament) is that at that time of year he was unable to take time off from his job as the head pro at Brentwood Country Club in Los Angeles: “My duties at my home club compel me to remain at home, and you may rest assured that I must and do rescind your kindly invitation with reluctance.” The winner of Georgia National’s first U.S. Open is Gene Sarazen (who really finished second to Dutra by a stroke at the Open at Merion. Sarazen also skipped the first Augusta National Invitation Tournament because he and Joe Kirkwood were doing exhibitions in South America, but Kirkwood, who planned the trip, would not have scheduled it to conflict with an Open).

D O U B L E

O R

N O T H I N G

Alister MacKenzie planned to install a 19th hole, a 90-yard par-3 between the ninth and 18th holes, for settling tied matches. His model might have been the ninth of St Annes Old Links, a hole Bobby Jones liked. Would future tournament committees have chosen this hole for playoffs, shaking the course of history and moments like Larry Mize’s chip-in or Bubba Watson’s hooked gap-wedge? To be sure, it would have affected the flow of patrons.

The Masters

At a meeting in a hotel in Augusta in 1937, a committee of older professionals established a senior division of the PGA and voted to hold a national championship for players 55 or older. Augusta National offered to host the tournament, and the inaugural PGA Seniors’ Championship took place that year on the last day of November and the first two days of December. Alfred Severin Bourne, who had been one of Augusta National’s founding members and was now its vice president, donated $1,500 for a silver trophy and promised to cover the competitors’ bar tab. “It was a delightful occasion, and it did one good to see these old fellows enjoy the sport,” Allie Berckmans, the club’s general manager, wrote shortly afterward, in a letter to a member. “They didn’t give a rap about the prize money; all they wanted was to try to win the cup donated by Mr. Bourne and have a good time.”

The winner was Jock Hutchison. The tournament returned to Augusta National the next year, when it was won by Fred McLeod, who beat Otto Hackbarth in an 18-hole playoff. In 1939, the Seniors’ Championship found a regular sponsor and moved to Florida. In 1963, Hutchison and McLeod became the first “honorary starters” of the Masters. At Georgia National, the Seniors’ Championship is such a success that the PGA accepts an offer from Jones and Roberts to make the club its permanent home. Jones serves as the tournament’s honorary chairman until his death in 1971. He also hosts a barbecue for the competitors, and, as long as his health permits, plays a practice round with the previous year’s winner. The Bourne Cup is displayed on a pedestal in the soaring entry hall of Willis Irvin’s clubhouse. In 1939, the competition is expanded to 72 holes, and Jones and Georgia National officially give the tournament its permanent name: the Masters.

A public driving range and miniature pitchand-putt course were also proposed. april 2022

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BY DAVID LEADBETTER PHOTOGRAPHS BYYURI HASEGAWA

WITH THE MASTERS TOURNAMENT approaching, attention will likely turn to defending champion Hideki Matsuyama and his distinctive swing. Broadcasters, podcasters, bloggers and such will undoubtedly point out the obvious—that he briefly stops at the completion of his backswing before starting down. How unusual is this move at the tour level? You have to go back to the 1950s to find another great player who did it—three-time major champion Cary Middlecoff. Although Matsuyama’s pause isn’t as prolonged as it once was, it’s still the part of his game everyone highlights. However, a closer inspection of his swing reveals

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april 2022

that there is something else going on, something that actually should be considered his signature action. It’s not as noticeable as the stop-and-go move, but it helps explain why Matsuyama is often regarded as an elite ball-striker. With the help of my good friend, sports biomechanist J.J. Rivet, I’m going to share with you our in-depth analysis of Matsuyama’s swing. If you stay with it until the end, you’ll find out how he’s able to hit 300-yard drives by creating energy very much like the ace on your favorite baseball team. I hope that piques your interest. Let’s start logically at address—the very stable, structured setup you see him in here (below, left) is worth noting. His wide stance with the driver reminds me of the Eiffel Tower, and it’s a precursor to the rock-solid, lower-body action that is a hallmark of his swing.

This look of strength and stability also plays a key role in the elasticity of his body during the swing, which I will explain later. Matsuyama has a great first move away from the ball, which amateurs would do well to copy. It’s the correct way to start—using the abdominal muscles to get the imaginary triangle formed by the arms and shoulders moving in one piece (below, right). If you stood behind Matsuyama on his target line, you would see his clubhead path staying outside the path of his hands (opposite page) until the shaft gets parallel to the ground. This first move away, which is a common swing trait among tour pros, is something many amateurs don’t do. They instead jerk the club too far inside the target line. A good thought to get things started right is, Hands in, club out.

STABLE AND WIDE Hideki Matsuyma’s driver swing begins from a wide, stable base (below, left), says David Leadbetter, one of Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America. He then starts his swing by using his core muscles to get the triangle formed by his shoulders and arms moving together (below, right). This wide move off the ball is one any golfer can copy to get the swing started correctly.

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THE TWINHOUSE

In reviewing a swing as good as Matsuyama’s, it’s hard to be overly critical, but one adjustment I would encourage is the way his right arm functions in the backswing. For many years, one golfswing theory for better ball-striking is that the right elbow (for righties) should stay tucked to the rib cage for as long as possible. Players with great shoulder mobility, such as Ben Hogan and Vijay Singh, could easily keep that elbow pinched in all the way to the top. But for most players, that position is not attainable. Matsuyama keeps his right elbow pinched in until about halfway back, but then it “flares” as he approaches the top (right). If he let it flare far earlier in the backswing, where the right arm would appear on top of his left halfway back as opposed to being underneath it (top, opposite page), the distance his arms travel would shorten—and that’s really important for efficiency. Looking at the top of his swing (bottom, opposite page), notice how far his arms travel back. If he adjusted the position of the right elbow as it reached the top (ideally it would match his spine angle), it would restrict his arm swing. He would still be fully coiled, with a lot of power stored, but shortening the distance the arms travel would sync his swing better, eliminating some excess motion. His current arm swing is probably the subconscious reason he pauses at the top—he does it to re-sync his arms and body.

SHORTEN THINGS UP If there was one thing Leadbetter would like to see Matsuyama adjust, it’s the length of his backswing. Matsuyama keeps his right elbow tucked to his rib cage until about halfway back, and then lets it flare as he reaches the top of his swing (right). If he didn’t try to keep it tucked for so long, it would restrict the distance his arms traveled in the backswing. Currently, he gets the club past parallel (bottom, opposite page). Ideally as he swung back, he would have his right arm above the left when it was level with the ground, unlike what you see here (top, opposite page). This would restrict his arm swing and make it more efficient. Any adjustment that makes a good swing easier to repeat is one all golfers should make, Leadbetter says.

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april 2022

HIDEKI’S DRIVER(S) Hideki Matsuyama’s past three wins on the PGA Tour have come with two different Srixon drivers. The reason for switching is to match his driver’s performance to the course he’s playing, he says. At last year’s Masters, Matsuyama used Srixon’s ZX5 model, which promotes a higher ball flight with a draw bias—helpful at Augusta National, which has seven holes that favor a right-toleft tee shot. At the 2021 Zozo Championship in October, Matsuyama had the ZX7 (left) in the bag. He also used it while winning this year’s Sony Open in Hawaii. The ZX7 has an eight-gram weight in the toe and a four-gram weight in the heel for a neutral flight. It also has a lower, more forward centre of gravity than the ZX5. This design promotes a more penetrating, lower-spinning trajectory that is easier to control. Although it might not be practical to toggle between drivers, you could invest in an adjustable model and experiment with the settings to better match the courses you play. Whether it’s changing shot shape or trajectory, get the most out of your equipment—like Hideki. —E. Michael Johnson

Back to the positives in Matsuyama’s swing: Remember earlier when I spoke of the look of stability in his lower body at address? Well, as J.J. Rivet and top golf-fitness trainers will tell you, the more stable you are, the more flexible you can be. You might not think at first glance that the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Matsuyama would be super mobile, but the camera doesn’t lie. The flex he maintains in his legs as he swings down into the ball is tremendous, and it helps him recover beautifully and get the club in 42

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a perfect position halfway down. I also love that after impact his left arm and shaft are in line, resulting in great extension in the follow-through. If you’ve made it this far, I appreciate your patience in waiting to find out how Matsuyama’s swing is similar to a pitcher’s mechanics. In J.J.’s analysis, he noticed that unlike many power players in golf, Matsuyama doesn’t really squat into the ground in the downswing to create more clubhead speed. Instead, he gets his energy from something J.J.

calls “linear drift.” I’ll let him explain it. “Look at his right leg and how it’s moving laterally toward the target (above),” Rivet says. “He’s drifting and rotating toward his target like pitchers do when they push off the mound. He keeps the flex in his right knee and has a tremendous amount of pressure out in the front of his right foot. That pressure is helping to generate rotational energy. He uses it to create a catapultlike relationship with his body and club, getting the driver to really pick

up speed through the hitting area.” Although other players, such as Dustin Johnson, also have a noticeable linear drift with the right leg, what makes Matsuyama’s move very unusual is that he doesn’t have to drop down to hit a big drive. He might not hit it quite as far as Johnson—Matsuyama averages 300 yards off the tee—but staying at roughly the same height makes it easier to control the strike, which leads to a more reliable driver swing. —with Ron Kaspriske

HOW HE SMASHES IT If you look at this sequence of downswing photos, it’s obvious that Matsuyama lets his right leg move inward, Leadbetter says. Sports biomechanist J.J. Rivet calls this a “linear drift,” and it’s the way Matsuyama generates power for his tee shots. Unlike many big hitters, Matsuyama doesn’t really squat into the ground to create swing speed. Instead, he mimics the leverage pitchers use when they push off the rubber on a mound. He might give up a few extra yards by not making a pronounced squat, but by maintaining a consistent posture, he has the created the best of both worlds—power and reliability.

april 2022

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The royal treatment SPONSORED CONTENT

Wh wit line ma I ha and – th cou bes I not mo of t and her

From golf clubs to perfume to movie production, president of The Royal Lifestyle Corp, Jack Charles, explains why he’s bringing his multifaceted company to the UAE

The royal treatment

haveproduction, a rich career president history that From golf clubs to perfume to You movie includes engineering, and of The Royal Lifestyle Corp, Jack Charles, explainsgolfing, why he’s acting.toHow this path prepare you to bringing his multifaceted company thedid UAE form The Royal Lifestyle Corp? I went to college and played golf, ran on the track team, and studied engineering ou have a rich career histo- from my engineering days that energy and drama. I also played in several ry that includes engineer- is magnified as it comes out through stage plays while in college had fun the surface of the bearingand – like hitting ing, golfing, and acting. creating different then myself. a nailcharacters with a hammer. How did this path prepare interested things wereafter a I named thishow line of clubs you to form The Royal Lifestyle I was made, andIafter I worked in and movie wrotecollege called John Jumano, Corp? I went to college and played our driver infour this years line ofand clubs – named golf, ran on the track team, and studied engineering for loved it. The Only One – isengineer, fast getting a reputaengineering and drama. I also played in While working as an I played as and one after of thework world’s several stage plays while in college and golf tion before andlongest at the hithad fun creating characters different ting golf clubs. weekend, this helped keep my golf game then myself. in very good shape. I was interested how things were Why have you set your sights on got tired ofclubs working the UAE with these and other made, and after college I worked in I eventually indoors all the time and decided such engineering for four years and loved it. business lines? What makestoittry professional golf. This was for fun,your but Icomjust an appealing market While working as an engineer, I played pany? have out made or five so trips to golf before and after work and at the got tired of Iliving of four a suitcase the UAE and beenan impressed each weekend, this helped keep my golf decided to try to have become actor, writer time – this place is just amazing. game in very good shape. and producer. So I set off to HollywoodThe to I eventually got tired of working in- golf courses are the best, the hotels are see what would happen. doors all the time and decided to try the best, and the people are just the best. Because of my golfing and acting professional golf. This was fun, but I ability, I wrote and hosted several just got tired of living out of a suitcase TV commercials for various auto so decided to try to become an actor, companies, and was invitedto to played writer and producer. So I set off to HolI would love lywood to see what would happen. as a celebrity, in charity golf tournaments expand Because of my golfing and acting all over the US. here in the

UAE, not just with the golf clubs, but also the movies I different to those already on the have written. The market? Among your business ventures, UAE some of If you are an has actor, you had better you have designed and launched a range of golf clubs. What makes have something else to do, because the best filming your clubs different to those already you are not going to work all the time. on the market? If you are an actor, you in the world So I studios decided to design a line of golf had better have something else to do, because you are not going to work all and I would love to the time. So I decided to design a line44 / F E B . 2 0 1 9 produce the films of golf clubs, using the ball-bearing as the main selling point. I remembered here in the UAE ability, I wrote and hosted several TV commercials for various auto compaAmong your business ventures, you nies, and was invited to played as a cehave designed and launched a range lebrity, in charity golf tournaments all of golf clubs. What makes your clubs over the US.

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april 2022

I would love to expand here in the UAE, not just with the golf clubs, but also the movies I have written. The UAE has some of the best filming studios in the world and I would love to produce the films here in the UAE.

Wh Life str yea My Pec per Cor in t to g com Eur I The com pro ens

What are your ambitions for The Royal Lifestyle Corp? What is your growth strategy for the coming months and years? My wife is a Roman Countess, Donatella Pecci Blunt. She has developed a super perfume fragrance Diable AuICorps, which would love to expa clubs, called using the will be very popular here in the UAE. in the UAE, not just ball-bearing As well as being ready to go in this part the golf clubs, but a as the main of the world, the TV commercials are selling point. I movies have writte produced to run in Europe, and the IUS. remembered from UAE has some of th I would like very much to make The my engineering Royal Lifestyle a super profitable comfilming studios in th daysWe that energy pany. have no debts, all the products and I would love to are developed and is magnified as ittested to ensure they the films here in the are itemsout people love. comes through Assurface well as of the movie scripts being the ready to go into production, the golf the bearing – like hitting a nail with a W club commercials are all produced hammer. and and broadcast ready. With our promonamed this of clubs after a kee tionI abilities, thisline product should be one I wrote inv ofmovie the top in thecalled worldJohn in theJumano, next year and our driver in this line of clubs – Life or two. With all theOnly major work done, a named The One – is being fast getting wo and our offerings to go, Ilongest am reputation as oneallofready the world’s sta keen to speak with potential partners hitting golf clubs. Du and investors to really help take The Royal Lifestyle to the next level. For those who would like to meet with me, I will be staying at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Dubai from February 6-16.

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From 100 yards to the pin - Our combo Gap I named the No.2 Driver, “The Only One” Wedge/Sand Wedge made with dots & score because there’s no other club like it! lines, will make the ball stop “now!” ~ Jack Charles, Designer Low Handicapper, Producer, Actor

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BODY / GOLF DIGEST SCHO OLS

GETTING INTO GOLF FITNESS

You’ve got to start somewhere. This is where By Ron Kaspriske

with golf season on the horizon, it’s not a bad idea to start prepping your body for better performance, says Kevin Duffy, one of Golf Digest’s 50 Best Golf-Fitness Trainers in America. “Not only will it make it easier to get your body used to making golf swings again, you’ll greatly reduce your chance of getting hurt,” says Duffy, who helps golfers at his gym, Rotational Power Strength in Acton, Mass. Here Duffy offers five exercises to get you started on your quest for a healthier body and better golf performance. Do this workout three to five times a week for three to four weeks before you get out on the course again, he says. “We’re talking basic stuff that wakes your body up, but I think you’ll feel the difference—especially if you tend to get off to a slow, achy start each golf season,” Duffy says. “For equipment, all you’ll need is a golf club and an elastic resistance band. You can do this workout without leaving your living room. 46

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split-stance, banded row

three sets, 12 reps, each arm To improve your golf posture and stability when you swing, get in a staggered stance and pull a resistance band to the side of your torso with the same-side hand as the trail leg (above). Keep your torso upright and still as you pull, and focus on the retraction of the pull-side shoulder blade.

reverse lunge and twist

three sets, 12 reps, each side To maintain good balance as you make a powerful golf swing, grab a club at both ends and hold it in front of your chest. Then step back into a lunge while rotating your upper body toward the forward leg (above, right). Try to hover the knee of your trail leg just above the ground for a moment before standing back up.

3 single-leg assisted deadlift

three sets, six reps, each leg To train for the proper weight shift during the backswing and through-swing, grab a club for balance, and then bend forward from the hip joints with your torso while extending one leg behind you (left). As you bend, keep your hips from rotating and don’t lock the posted leg’s knee. photographs by adam glanzman

BODY / GOLF DIGEST SCHO OLS

5 single-leg squat to box

three sets, eight reps, each leg To increase your ability to use the ground for leverage for powerful drives, balance on one foot and sink back and down toward a box, couch, chair, bed, etc. (below). Initiate the movement with the hips, not the knees. If this exercise is too difficult initially, perform the move on two feet instead of one.

4 cross-body, banded row

four sets, eight reps, each arm To help keep you from hitting fat and thin shots because of a loss of posture, stand with one foot pulled back and a resistance band anchored to the opposite foot. Pull the band up and across your body as you rotate your torso slightly in the same direction (above). Keep your hips from turning as you pull up, and hold the extended band position for a beat. 48

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BODY / EQUIPMENT

WHAT'S IN MY BAG : COLLIN MORIKAWA DRIVER

AGE

SPECS TaylorMade Stealth Plus, 8.5°, Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX shaft, 45.125 inches, D-3 swingweight.

LIVES

Las Vegas

The red face caught my attention, but it only took 10 shots to feel comfortable with it. I hit a little cut, so I like a driver that I can aim down the left side of the fairway, and it’s not going to go farther left. This driver does that.

STORY

Winner of five PGA Tour events, including the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship.

FAIRWAY WOODS

FREE ADVICE

Although there are different levels of amateur players, I see too many playing smaller clubheads or lessforgiving clubs than they should. Most amateurs would benefit from more loft, weaker shafts and new grips. Many times new grips can greatly improve how the club feels in your hands.

SPECS TaylorMade Stealth Plus, 14°; TaylorMade Stealth Plus, 19°; Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX for both.

—WITH E.

IRONS SPECS TaylorMade P•770 (4-iron), TaylorMade P•7MC (5-6), TaylorMade P•730 (7-PW); True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts; Golf Pride ZGrip Cord grips.

driver

290

For the face, the smaller the better. Other irons have more forgiveness, but I’m not able to work them as much. The blades make me focus and match what I see and want to do with iron shots.

3-wood

260

WEDGES

5-wood

238

4-iron

222

SPECS TaylorMade MG3 (50, 55 degrees), TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 (60 degrees); True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts.

5-iron

208

6-iron

194

7-iron

182

8-iron

168

yards*

155

140

50˚wedge

125

55˚wedge

112

60˚wedge

I use a Milled Grind 2 lob wedge but go with the Hi-Toe on courses with long rough or tough bunkers. The tall face and long grooves give me the sense that I can elevate the shot better. LEAVE A MARK

PUTTER SPECS TaylorMade TP Juno, 34.75 inches, 2 degrees loft, Lamkin EBL grip.

I used a mallet for a while but felt like I was always adjusting my body and hands. Blades tend to sit really nice at address. I’m more comfortable aligning it, and having the longer neck makes it behave like a face-balanced putter. It has a mallet-like feel but with a blade look.

* carry distance

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PENCIL HOLDER

This pouch is from the 2018 World Amateur. I had about 100 pencils from courses in there, but I’ve gotten it down to 15. I have great memories from representing the United States.

april 2022

This ball marker is from the Fugawi event at Chevy Chase Country Club in California. I never played in it, but I use this marker. It’s the perfect size. I can see it from anywhere on the green.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER YANG

morikawa: luke walker/getty images

9-iron

I mark my TaylorMade TP5 with a line, but I don’t use it for putting alignment. A good ball is about spin, control and hitting the proper flight window, especially with the irons.

Big hitters want 3-woods that don’t go as far as possible, but I want as hot of a 3-wood as I can get. The 5-wood is the opposite. I don’t want a 5-wood shot that goes farther than I’m expecting.

MICHAEL JOHNSON

club

READY FOR LAUNCH

in association with

the fairway woods and hybrids listed here encompass lofts of 11 to 34 degrees in an array of sizes and shapes. in short, you have options. choose wisely april 2022

gdme hot list

woods

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“It has a sound that connotes power, like you’re always hitting it well even on slight mis-hits. The distance is there for me, and the turf interaction is exceptional.”

c a l l away

RRP AED 1,750

ROGUE ST MAX/MAX D/LS

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“It feels compact through the swing, like every molecule of the club is going into the ball—a real thumper at impact.”

demand

★★★

cobra

LTDx/LS/MAX

RRP AED 1,395

what it does: Callaway has used its computer-driven, machinelearning platform to improve the “jailbreak” internal support structure in its woods for years. That system stiffens the body, directing more flex into the face. But high-speed computers are relentlessly smart, so the structure has been updated. Rather than two bars joining the crown and sole directly behind the middle of the face, the new frame is pushed to the extreme heel and toe. This frees up the centre of the wraparound cupface for better flexing where most hits occur. The carbon-composite crown and an internal, forward tungsten weight produce a low centre of gravity for higher launch with less spin. The internal weighting is used to produce three versions: the ultra-forgiving Max, the high-launching, slicer-friendly Max D and the low-spinning LS for players trying to flight their fairway woods down. why we like it: The new jailbreak system is smart, and so is making fairway woods that launch high without excessive spin. Even smarter: 14 lofts across three versions. This includes a 20-degree model with a 4-wood shaft. So beloved was it by legendary founder Ely Callaway that his name for it has stuck, the Heavenwood.

what it does: All three models use a tungsten weight slug low and forward in the sole to reduce spin and increase ball speed for more distance. The carbon-composite crown reduces weight on top so that more mass is free to create three performance characteristics. The standard LTDx offers forgiveness with an extra weight chip in the rear, the Max includes more mass in the heel to fight any slice tendencies and the LS is the lowest-spinning option with front heel- and toe-weight ports to tweak fade or draw preferences. why we like it: That each design produces less spin without sacrificing off-centre-hit forgiveness is no small feat. But the special thing about Cobra’s fairway woods for decades has been the sole rails. They are hollow to help improve the way the face flexes, and they have been removed on the 3-wood, which generally requires a more sweeping stroke in which the rails aren’t as effective. Also clever: The LS model, which is for better players, features a large 3-wood (best as a backup driver), and the 5-wood, which is mostly hit off the fairway, is the most compact head across the entire line, just what the better players targeted by the LS prefer.

lofts 15, 16.5, 18, 20, 21, 24, 27 (max); 16, 19, 22 (max d); 13.5, 15, 16.5, 18 (ls)

lofts 15, 18.5, 22.5 (ltdx); 15.5, 18.5, 22.5 (max); 14.5, 18.5 (ls); adjustable

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

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april 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The finish and minimalist alignment go hand in hand. Sharp looking with a nice low profile. The LST is perfect with a boring trajectory and powerful sound.”

ping

G425 MAX/SFT/LST

RRP AED 1,750

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“It has ample forgiveness with serious length, and the club does it without being loud. Cushiony feel and quiet, almost like the clubhead is covered in a down blanket.”

pxg

RRP AED 1,745

0341 X/XF (GEN 4)

what it does: Ping’s three-model fairway-wood family includes the Max (the most forgiving in the line for the broadest set of golfers), the anti-slice SFT and the low-spinning LST 3-wood. All of the clubheads feature Ping’s first wraparound face design, which is made of highstrength maraging steel to produce faster ball speeds. The Max uses a rear tungsten weight to create high stability on off-centre hits, but the smaller size on the LST means the tungsten weight results in spin reduction. The SFT is the largest, and the weight chip favours the heel side to make it easier to square the face at impact. why we like it: Sometimes it’s the barely seen enhancements that can produce visible change, like the microscopically forgettable curvature of the face from top to bottom, known as roll. Past fairway woods have featured a more symmetric roll in which the bottom of the face would have naturally less loft than the centre to reduce spin, but these woods cut that decrease in loft in half. That allows shots to launch with more speed and loft yet with less spin. This produces more consistent results for centre shots and mis-hits, which, of course, should be very easy to see.

what it does: PXG reduced the movable sole weights from three to two, but call this addition by subtraction. The dual weights are now more functional, allowing for precise fitting options and giving players a simpler choice between less spin or more draw bias. The change also frees up the two models to fulfill two distinct orientations: The X model targets better players with its more compact size and emphasis on low spin, and the XF, larger with a taller face, focuses on forgiveness with its turf-gliding sole rails. Both models use a thermoplastic-elastomer honeycomb pad inside to improve sound and feel by minimising unwanted vibrations. why we like it: PXG is among the growing number of companies using a carbon-composite crown in fairway woods, but PXG’s approach is a little different—and it’s not just the unique two-tone color scheme. The carbon composite is in that lighter-colored middle section, specially strengthened with aluminum vapor, like some high-end shafts. By flanking the carbon composite with steel sections on the heel and toe, the crown is more rigid to direct more energy into the high-strength steel alloy in the face.

lofts 14.5, 17.5, 20.5, 23.5 (max); 16, 19, 22 (sft); 14.5 (lst)

lofts 13, 15, 18, 21 (x); 16, 19, 22 (xf)

Demo this club at eGolf Megastore, or buy online at egolfmegastore.ae

april 2022

gdme hot list

woods

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Great proportions from heel to toe and front to back. The tech is there without yelling at you. A sledgehammer at impact, adding launch and speed without effort.”

tay l o r m a d e

RRP AED 1,575

STEALTH

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“A lightweight yet aggressive feel through impact. The clubhead easily slid through the turf. Impact was like a soft trampoline with incredible spring.”

tay l o r m a d e STEALTH PLUS

RRP AED 1,975

what it does: Fairway woods aren’t like drivers. You can’t just make them larger to create a more forgiving head. The larger they are, the harder they can be to hit off the ground, which is, after all, where fairway woods are hit the most. But this design upgrade actually keeps the heads more compact than current models and still maintains the same high stability on mis-hits. The key differences are a carbon-composite crown that now wraps around the toe to save more weight to redistribute elsewhere and a flatter sole shape to keep the centre of gravity low. The cut-through slot in the sole, the company’s most aggressive design, creates more flexibility in the face, especially on low-face impacts. why we like it: When they hear the word “compact” and “fairway wood,” many average golfers—for whom this club is designed for (see the 9-wood loft)—think “unhittable.” But these actually feature a lower CG and more mis-hit protection than some of TaylorMade’s recent larger models. Making the club even easier to hit is a sleeker V-shaped sole pattern, a softer leading edge and a nifty laser-etched topline that makes the face angle at address more apparent.

what it does: The first attempts at titanium fairway woods a generation ago were only about half right. Titanium can produce better face-flexing for distance, but unlike drivers, bigger isn’t better in fairway woods. That’s why a couple years ago TaylorMade focused on a compact titanium model—the SIM Ti—that accomplished the goal of a faster face with a special titanium alloy, combined with a lightweight composite crown and a heavy steel sole to lower the centre of gravity. This made for faster ball speeds and a high launch with low spin—a complete distance recipe with a steroid garnish. why we like it: The Stealth Plus represents a step forward in several small ways. First, a larger, lighter carbon-composite crown creates even more discretionary weight, and a larger face with a flatter leading edge makes it even more user friendly. So although this club generally favours average to above-average speeds and skills, that shaping shift has made it more playable. This latest version also reshapes that steel soleplate for a lower, deeper CG and better heel-to-toe stability so that the moment of inertia is almost 20 percent higher than it was with the original SIM Ti.

lofts 15, 16.5, 18, 21, 24

l o f t s 1 3 . 5 , 1 5 , 1 9 ; a d j u s ta b l e

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april 2022

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in association with

summit snapshot: let the big dog loose Clubhead options and shafts galore make the right fit easier

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The head is a perfect pear shape. That clean finish just looks classy. It has that full feel and nice luscious sound. Gives you a feeling of power.”

▶ without question driver-testing day is one of the most anticipated by our Hot List player panelists. Not only do they get a chance to swing the big stick, but they get to swing some 20 of them, including many that won’t be seen by the public for several months. It’s one of the reasons each panelist must sign a non-disclosure agreement. Manufacturers are entrusting Golf Digest, and by extension, our panelists, not to dish on any of the clubs they see or hit at the Hot List Summit. That means no talking to friends, no talking with media and certainly no posting photos or information on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or any other social media site. As for testing, manufacturers are

encouraged to send as many models, lofts and shafts as they feel necessary to cover the array of launch conditions possessed by our players. Often that means bagfuls of clubs and shafts. What you see in this photo are clubs and shafts for a single driver family. To help our testers in their navigation of that matrix, we have two fitters present— Chris Marchini and Garth Murszewski from Golf Galaxy. They’re keenly aware that the club-setup needs are going to be different for longtime tester Paul Ianniello (below), a 60-year-old, smoothswinging 5-handicapper and Jason Guss, a professional whose swing speed with a driver exceeds 110 miles per hour. —emj

demand

★★★★

titleist

TSi1/TSi2/TSi3

RRP AED 1,450

what it does: A great fairway-wood lineup finds a way to make the ball go farther, whether you’re a tour player or a grandfather. Titleist handles the distance part by cutting a channel in the front portion of the sole. This helps the face flex better (more distance) and results in a higher launch, especially for impacts lower on the face (where most fairway-wood strikes occur regardless of your skill level). For golfers who aren’t exactly tour level, Titleist offers three models, including the lightweight TSi1 version, which is almost 50 grams lighter than standard models and features a 23-degree option. why we like it: The construction of that channel in the sole is lighter than before. This means the head can be lighter in the TSi1, and the TSi2 can use that saved weight elsewhere in the head to make it more forgiving. The TSi3 can use it to add an adjustable weight track in the sole. The latter is especially well-conceived because not only does it move 12 grams among three settings heel to toe, it hides flush within the sole to keep turf interaction smooth. If you can’t find one of these that works for you, look again. There are 13 separate lofts in the family, and each is adjustable 16 ways. lofts 15, 18, 20, 23 (tsi1); 13.5, 15, 16.5, 18, 21 (tsi2); 13.5, 15, 16.5, 18 (tsi3); adjustable

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gdme hot list

woods

performance

★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The thin profile of the face gives it a compact look and feel despite the larger head. Easy to keep shots straight and high. Sonically pleasing at impact.”

clevel and

RRP AED 1,145

LAUNCHER XL HALO

performance

★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★

mizuno ST-X 220

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“A hot metallic sound. A little louder, but it doesn’t bother me. It’s announcing its presence. Great turf interaction. Consistently gets the ball up.”

AED TBC

what it does: Like Cleveland’s drivers, these fairway woods show that the best way to make a hotter face is to look beyond the face. By alternating stiffer and more flexible sections in the crown and sole, the club’s body returns more energy to the ball. The rails on the sole help in the same way, especially for average golfers who tend to swing up with their fairway woods. That type of swing can make contact with the ground before reaching the ball, which results in less speed at impact. The rails here counteract those chunked shots, and the club maintains its velocity as it moves into the ball. why we like it: A larger size improves stability on off-centre hits for better overall distance, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easier to hit. (Driver off the deck, anyone?) Instead, these heads exude being larger and more forgiving than ever by having a lower face height than their immediate (and smaller) predecessors. That, combined with a stepdown-crown feature, results in a lower centre of gravity, which means an easier launch to go with that forgiveness. Also, the low toe and heel sit closer to the ground so that there’s more face area low where average golfers need the most help.

what it does: Not all fairway-wood lofts are used in the same way. Specifically, for a lot of players, the 3-wood essentially serves as a second driver instead of a club used for approach shots. That’s why the 3-wood here is treated more like a driver. It features a larger size and an all-titanium construction. (The 5-wood and 7-wood, however, use steel for a more compact footprint.) The 3-wood incorporates the same high-strength beta-titanium alloy that gives the Mizuno drivers extra pop. A wave structure at the front of the sole on all lofts helps increase ball speed as well. why we like it: You don’t have to be a tour player to need a backup driver in your bag, but the clubs that often fill that role in the market aren’t always designed with forgiveness in mind. This more forgiving 3-wood also features a slightly heelward centre of gravity. That makes it easier to square the face at impact and provides a little more draw spin for those who fight a slice. Also, whether titanium or steel, both feature a waffle pattern on the interior of the crown. This makes it thinner and lighter to allow more mass to be shifted low for reduced spin and higher launch.

lofts 15, 18, 21

lofts 16, 18.5, 21.5

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Coming soon to eGolf Megastore

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april 2022

listed alphabetically

in association with

performance

★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★

mizuno ST-Z

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Carbon-fiber look is cool, and it feels stable through the swing. Performs above its weight class in size, with a rising trajectory and a real ripping sound at impact.”

RRP AED 1,495

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Very modern looking. It’s a little triangular, which makes it look compact. The ball comes off hot with a lowish sound to it— powerful without even seeing the shot.”

s r i xo n

RRP AED 945

what it does: Better players are the target for this fairway wood. Although its two lofts are an early obvious sign (highly skilled players aren’t clamoring for 9-woods), there are subtle elements here that will appeal to low-handicappers. Those include a flatter lie angle and a more open-face angle at address (better to ward off unwanted hooks). Another key element is the adjustable hosel, which lets these two heads accommodate a range that runs from 13 to 20 degrees, or the full gamut that any better player would prefer. why we like it: Better players aren’t going to be impressed with lofts, lies and face angles if they’re not accompanied by some serious ball speed. Toward that end, Mizuno supplies a highstrength steel alloy in the face that is the thinnest in company history. It also has re-engineered the wave structure in the front part of the sole. By making it thinner and more compact, additional weight can be moved to the back for maximum energy return on off-centre hits. An ultra-thin carbon-composite crown saves even more weight. That creates a lower centre of gravity so that those solid, high-speed strikes come free of distance-robbing high spin.

what it does: Making a fairway-wood face flex like a driver is more than having a thin face. A metal wood with its multiple connected parts is a system. Srixon’s team discovered with its ZX drivers that one way to get that face to propel the ball more efficiently is to focus elsewhere. So these fairway woods change the stiffness patterns of the sections around the face. Immediately adjacent to the face is a region that’s as much as 43 percent thicker than on past models to stiffen and concentrate more flex in the face. But that stiffer section is surrounded by more flexible regions in the crown and sole, which in turn flow into stiffer sections. This arrangement of flexible/stiff/ flexible/stiff aims to return energy more efficiently to the ball at impact for extra speed and, ultimately, distance. why we like it: Of course, a fast face, no matter how you achieve it, isn’t enough. The internal weight pad is forward in the sole to provide a low centre of gravity to reduce spin (even lower on the low-lofted 3-wood with its carbon crown). The pad is shaped with a little overhang. This allows the thin region of the sole to give more at impact, helping the face to flex better on low shots.

l o f t s 1 5 , 1 8 ; a d j u s ta b l e

lofts 13.5, 15, 18, 21

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april 2022

gdme hot list

hybrids

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The Pro is my favourite. Just evokes confidence because it’s so nice and square to the target. It gives you a feeling of control with that compact head.”

c a l l away

RRP AED 1,349

APEX/APEX PRO

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★★★★

c a l l away

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Straight ball flight. Never have any trouble getting it into the air. Super stable and incredibly easy to hit. I don’t get any dragging through the turf.”

ROGUE ST MAX/MAX OS/MAX OS LITE/PRO

RRP AED 1,395

what it does: Good golfers and less-skilled golfers play very different games when it comes to hybrids. Less-skilled players need hybrid shots to fly high and stay left, and good players need shots to fly low and, well, not go left. Hence, these two versions of Apex are as different as a bogey is from a birdie. However, whether you’re a tour pro or you only watch them on TV, these two siblings share all the technology that helps propel strikes farther. The forged 455 steel cupface is designed with variable thicknesses that came by way of artificial intelligence and internal “jailbreak” bars that join the crown and sole to provide better all-around flexing on the face for extra oomph on those impacts that aren’t flushed. why we like it: Like Long Island Expressway, the previous Apex hybrid was something of an oxymoron: a hard-to-hit hybrid. Callaway heard from average players and responded with its latest Apex to serve golfers across the handicap spectrum. The Pro’s smaller profile targets better players with low launch and more spin. The larger Apex has an adjustable hosel to tweak launch angle and uses tungsten in the back to enhance forgiveness.

what it does: This family, with four versions and a loft range that stretches to the 8-hybrid, is all about chasing speed and distance. Callaway says the new Rogue ST goes an extra 3.5 yards compared to the company’s Mavrik. It accomplishes these feats thanks to an enhanced “jailbreak” technology, a construction that uses heel and toe braces within the head and directly behind the face. Those braces join the crown and sole to concentrate more flexing across a wider portion of the face. There’s also room now for 18 grams of tungsten to be placed in the toe to improve overall stability on off-centre hits. why we like it: Whether it’s underwhelming Dwayne Johnson action movies on Netflix or the menu at The Cheesecake Factory, too many choices is a very modern problem for consumers. More options are better with this line, the largest of any company in the business. The Pro has a fairway-wood shape and a shallow face to allow for workability; the Max has the same slightly stronger lofts but extra forgiveness for those who need a bit more distance, and the Max OS and Max OS Lite provide the most benefits for golfers with moderate swing speeds in terms of launch and distance.

l o f t s 1 9 , 2 1 , 2 4 , 2 7 ( a p e x , a d j u s ta b l e ) ; 1 8 , 2 0 , 2 3 , 2 6 ( a p e x p r o )

lofts 18, 20, 23, 26 (max/pro); 19, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36 (max os/max os lite)

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performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★

cobra AIR-X

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Might not look so mighty, but everything was easily long and high. Couldn’t believe the distance and pop it had with each swing—and forgiveness.”

AED TBC

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“With those rails, I could hit it from the rough or divots without worrying about the face shutting. Ball flight never had a lot of unwanted curve.”

cobra

RRP AED 1,045

LTDx/ONE LENGTH

what it does: Cobra might be as attuned to the needs of golfers who value hybrids as any company in the club business. The Air-X has three simple objectives: promote maximum clubhead speed and carry distance for players with moderate to slow swing speeds, help launch the ball into the air, and make sure the ball doesn’t slice. If you need a hybrid to do less, then this isn’t your club. If you need a hybrid to do more, then perhaps it’s time you practiced walking and chewing gum at the same time. why we like it: The Air-X is like a loyal spouse—accepting you for the imperfect person you are and strengthening your painfully obvious weaknesses. In the case of the Air-X, that’s swing speed, trajectory and direction. To help generate speed, the Air-X is eight grams lighter than its predecessor, the F-Max. It uses a thinner face to create ball speed and better launch. (There’s even a 7-hybrid.) Any discretionary weight is pushed low and to the club’s back perimeter to increase stability on mis-hits and create more dynamic loft for higher flight. For those who live in fear of the banana ball, the gently offset hosel keeps the ball from slinging out-of-bounds.

what it does: An intricate internal-weighting system positions weight low and forward to produce fast ball speeds, forgiveness and low spin for enhanced distance. It’s not just centre strikes that produce fireworks. A face designed with the help of artificial intelligence uses 15 “hot” zones with strategic thicknesses to increase smash factor and ball speed across a wider area on the face. The thinner face, which wraps around the sole like a backward letter “L,” works with the sole to deliver more speed. Also, the rails are hollow, allowing the face to more easily deflect at impact than solid rails would. why we like it: Applaud this hybrid for its singular focus on the two types of golfers: Those seeking more distance and bald-faced liars. Every element to these hybrids is in search of extra distance. That L-shape face moves the weld line back to the sole so that impacts low on the face perform better. The company’s signature Baffler sole rails have been abbreviated in size but not in effectiveness, helping the club glide through uneven lies to reduce loss of ball speed. The One Length version’s 7-iron-length shaft is designed to provide more solid contact with added accuracy.

lofts 19, 22, 25, 28, 31

l o f t s 1 7 , 1 9 , 2 1 , 2 4 , 2 8 ( lt d x ) ; 1 9 , 2 1 , 2 4 ( o n e l e n g t h )

Coming soon to eGolf Megastore

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april 2022

gdme hot list

hybrids

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Easy to hit, like it has a homing device. The club is very forgiving. Even when I hit a few shots on the heel and toe, the ball works back toward the target nicely.”

mizuno

RRP AED 950

CLK

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★½

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The contrasting lines effectively frame the ball. Clean and classic. Centre hits feel like a sledgehammer delivering energy through the ball. Compact head easily cuts through the grass.”

ping G425

RRP AED 1,575

what it does: The CLK is on the compact side, but its adjustability extends from 14 to 27 degrees in four heads that get progressively larger the lower the loft. One of the club’s more effective attributes is a flex-friendly maraging-steel alloy face that gives ball speed a boost. By compressing more freely than previous models on the lower part of the face—a common impact area—this new face design improves where the hybrid most often makes contact with the ball: low. A wave-shaped structure on the front of the sole gives the club even more juice on impact and has a solid, tour-preferred sound. why we like it: Hybrids are supposed to fill the void between fairway woods and long irons. Too often, though, they perform like a scaled-down fairway wood (instead of the best of both), which can create gapping and utility issues. That’s not the case here. Like a good character actor—think of J.K. Simmons in . . . well, anything— the CLK knows its role better than other hybrids know theirs. The smaller profile would seem to suggest it’s mostly for better players, but with eight settings on each head to tweak lie and loft, players of any skill level will find it gives them all they need.

what it does: Ping’s hybrids have always been reliable and efficient—a worthy replacement for the long iron in your bag that doesn’t work anymore. The G425 is still those things but with new heat. A high-strength maraging-steel face wraps around the sole and crown. This allows the top and bottom of the face to be thinner and more flexible to increase distance. There’s also less curvature low on the face to combat excessive spin. A three-dot alignment aid on the top of the crown offers ample guidance at address. why we like it: Distance is like a trusty fastball: It doesn’t matter how hard you can throw if you can’t throw hard consistently. Luckily the G425 brings the heat every time, even on off-centre hits. The key is a tungsten back weight that creates a low and deep centre of gravity to tighten that distance window. That CG is tuned to each loft to better match with the type of player expected to use it. Better players gravitate toward the lowest lofts, so those have a neutral bias. Less-skilled players use the higher lofts, so those have more anti-slice bias. An adjustable hosel and a 7-hybrid increase the overall loft range from the mid-teens to the mid-30s.

l o f t s 1 6 , 1 9 , 2 2 , 2 5 ; a d j u s ta b l e

l o f t s 1 7 , 1 9 , 2 2 , 2 6 , 3 0 , 3 4 ; a d j u s ta b l e

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april 2022

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performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★½

pxg

0317 X/0317 XF (GEN4)

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“The deep face gives you confidence at address. Love the ‘X’ for alignment. The sound resembles a gun with a silencer. Trajectory is high and true.”

RRP AED 1,595

performance

★★★★½

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★½ demand

★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“It lets me deal with shots from mediocre lies. The word is ‘premium.’ Some will get it or they won’t, but the good players will know what you have in your bag.”

s r i xo n

RRP AED 845

what it does: The two hybrids here try to do a lot of the same things (distance, forgiveness, adjustability), but they differ in a key way. The X enhances solid hits, and the XF smooths out your blunders. Of course, what’s most noticeable is a crown that sandwiches a carboncomposite wedge between heel and toe sections made of steel. This increases the structure’s stiffness for faster ball speed and enhances the high-strength stainless-steel face. Two adjustable ports in the sole—one heavy, one light—allow for a range of customisation for spin and draw. A honeycomb TPE internal insert improves sound and feel. The XF is slightly bigger to make it easier to hit, but maybe its smartest mistake-fixer is a set of sole rails that prevents the head from digging into the ground on turf-heavy strikes. why we like it: This is a company that favours the bold, but that crown is more than just an aesthetic. It’s emblematic of the brand’s search for an alternative from the usual way of doing things. Not any old carbon composite, the use of aluminum vapor in the carbon-composite material adds strength and reduces mass up top to lower the club’s centre of gravity for better ball flight and stability.

what it does: Compact hybrids like this one haven’t always featured a lot of distance technology. Companies have assumed the players gravitating to this look would bring all the energy required. But Srixon knows that nobody is refusing more of anything these days. Thanks to a high-strength steel alloy, the face is 5-percent thinner than previous models to create more rebound at impact. Srixon has encircled the areas outside the face with stiff and flexible zones. Alternating the stiffness in the transition areas of the crown and sole helps to enhance energy transfer by intensifying the face deflection for both on- and off-centre hits. A step-down design in the crown lowers the centre of gravity and gives the user optimal trajectory without too much spin. why we like it: The Porsche 356, Barry Sanders, Sonic the Hedgehog: Sometimes the smallest packages pack the most power and speed. The compact look can make it seem imposing to higherhandicappers, and make no mistake, this is a club that is big on workability. Still, this is not a players-only club. With lofts at 25 and 28 degrees, it plays just fine even if you’ve never seen the back tees.

l o f t s 1 7 , 1 9 , 2 2 , 2 5 , 2 8 ( x ) ; 1 9 , 2 2 , 2 5 , 2 8 ( x f ) ; a d j u s ta b l e

lofts 16, 19, 22, 25, 28

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april 2022

gdme hot list

hybrids

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★ demand

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“Everything just comes hot off the face. Maybe a higher flight than what I expected, but I didn’t lose any distance. That means a soft landing on the green. I’ll take that.”

tay l o r m a d e

RRP AED 1,375

STEALTH PLUS/STEALTH

performance

★★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★★

look • sound • feel

★★★★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“I like the easy adjustability. Tour-like trajectory: lowrising, nice medium height with a soft landing. Great distance on slight mis-hits.”

demand

★★★★

titleist

TSi1/TSi2/TSi3

RRP AED 1,385

what it does: If hybrids are some kind of mix of fairway wood and what it does: There are three models, each focusing not so much iron, consider the Stealth Plus to be sprinkled with iron-like aura, and on a different flight but on different players. TSi1 is lightweight— the Stealth working as a fairway wood’s spirit animal. The Stealth 20 grams lighter than standard—for those who need to generate Plus+ is a traditional all-steel, compact construction built for speed, more swing speed with the same amount of effort. The larger profile workability and a flatter flight. The larger Stealth features a carbon- uses a deep and low centre of gravity to create a higher launch and composite crown to relocate seven grams to the rear perimeter. This extra stability. TSi2 is built to deliver all-around forgiveness, an boosts the moment of inertia (stability on off-centre hits) 15 percent “everyman” club for those whose hybrid swing is more of a sweep than higher than TaylorMade’s Sim Max hybrid. Both models benefit a slash. Its larger front-to-back measurement is for more stability, from the company’s famous slot in the sole. It helps the face deflect especially on off-centre hits. The TSi3 is a players club, providing more at impact, especially for shots hit lower on the face. iron-like trajectory. The TSi3 has an adjustable weight track, similar why we like it: Some hybrids are merely stripped down drivers to the TSi3 fairway wood, with heel, toe and neutral settings. or fairway woods, which can compromise the ground game hybrids why we like it: We all need help, but the help we need is not alike. have to play. Sure, the Stealth and Stealth Plus+ have the look of The TSi family’s range hears all of our pleas, not just with three TaylorMade’s other woods, but they are all their own. The empha- models but a SureFit hosel that adjusts for 16 lie and loft settings. sis on forgiveness throughout the line is important because when a Altogether, the line accommodates 144 possibilities. But every hybrid is called, dirty work is to be done. The V-shaped sole on both one of those options offers speed in uncompromising ways. This models contributes to this mission, keeping weight low and using includes aerodynamic shaping and a thin, fast-flexing, highheel and toe relief to allow these hybrids to power through any lie. strength steel alloy face in the TSi2 and TSi3. l o f t s 1 7 , 1 9 . 5 , 2 2 ( s t e a lt h p l u s , a d j u s ta b l e ) ; 1 9 , 2 2 , 2 5 , 2 8 , 3 1 ( s t e a lt h )

lofts 20, 23, 26, 29 (tsi1); 18, 21, 24 (tsi2); 18, 20 (tsi3)

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in association with

summit snapshot: the numbers game Two launch monitors at each station gathered vital data

performance

★★★★

i n n o vat i o n

★★★★½

look • sound • feel

★★★★ demand

★★

p l ay e r c o m m e n t

“David Hasselhoff would pull this out of Knight Rider. Just a cool look. You can float it and hit it high or jump on it, and it won’t even think about ever hitting a snap-hook.”

cobra

KING TEC

▶ what’s better than having a launch monitor to help guide you? Having two launch monitors. At this year’s Hot List, each fullswing hitting station featured a Foresight Sports GCQuad that every player, such as rookie tester Alejandra Bedoya (below), could reference after hitting shots for feedback on things like ball speed, carry distance and spin. The data analysis didn’t end there. Behind each player was an iPad collecting information from Rapsodo’s MLM (Mobile Launch Monitor)—a device that not only tracks shot data, but captures video of each swing (retaining up to 100 swing videos) and shot-tracer lines of each shot struck. Golf

Digest gathered all the shots recorded from the Rapsodo MLM to further inform our decision-making on this year’s Hot List. Of course, that begs the question: Why does it just inform the decisionmaking and not make the decision for us? The answer to that is straightforward. Launch monitors don’t buy golf clubs. Real golfers, like you—and Alejandra—buy golf clubs. When a player reports “that was my longest one of the day,” we want the player to have the data to confirm that. Look, sound and feel, however, are another strong consideration in the purchase process. No launch monitor, or two, is going to give us numbers on that. —emj

AED TBC

what it does: This muscular hybrid not only ratchets loft up and down, it offers three discrete weight positions—rear, toe and heel— that allow golfers to fine-tune performance on flight, distance and spin based on their swings. The weight savings of a thin-ply carbon crown (versus a traditional steel crown) lowers the centre of gravity and frees up discretionary weight. This also mitigates the extra mass devoted to the club’s adjustable hosel. Power comes from a new L-shaped face insert that wraps around the sole to provide better flex, especially on lower face hits. The oversize shape adds forgiveness with a larger face area for better all-around face deflection. why we like it: The high-speed steel face provides muscle consistently across the hitting area. But the versatility in the hosel and weight ports is where this club shines. The hosel adjusts to eight settings (plus/minus 1.5 degrees), meaning every single head is 24 heads in one. Though we tend to label all hybrids as “rescue” clubs, those rescue missions change depending on the course, the day or how we’re playing. Using the wrench rather than putting another club in the bag makes this a formidable golfing Swiss Army Knife. l o f t s 1 7 , 1 9 , 2 1 , 2 4 ( a d j u s ta b l e )

Coming soon to eGolf Megastore

april 2022

gdme hot list

THE LOOP

Masters Victory Calls We Passed On Finding the perfect phrase for when the final putt drops is hard. Trust us, we tried . . .

By Coleman Bentley

ABRAHAM ANCER

“Abraham answers the bell at Augusta National!”

BROOKS KOEPKA

CHESSON HADLEY

BEAU HOSSLER

RORY MCILROY

“Brooks was here, finds a ‘Shawshank Redemption’ of his own!”

“Chesson not checkers Hadley is your 2022 grand master!”

JUSTIN ROSE

“A rose blooms among the azaleas— a Justin Rose!” BRYSON DECHAMBEAU

“Finally, science we can all agree on! DeChambeau wins!”

“A rising tide lifts all Beaus! Hossler wins!” VIKTOR HOVLAND

“From Norway, a new way to victory!”

“From the Emerald Isle to an emerald jacket, Rory has it easy being green!”

CAMERON SMITH

“Business on the front nine, party on the back. Cameron Smith is your Masters champion!” XANDER SCHAUFFELE

“X marks the spot! Schauffele digs deep for an Augusta treasure!”

KEVIN NA

“Kevin Na, na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye!” MATTHEW WOLFF

“Matthew Wolff leads the pack at the Masters!”

golfdigestme.com

april 2022

ILLUSTRATION BY NEIL JAMIESON

A SPECTACULAR ADDITION TO THE ABU DHABI GOLF SCENE, SITUATED WITHIN THE HEART OF YAS ACRES.

The new nine-hole course is complemented by a clubhouse with three YLZ[H\YHU[Z H Z^PTTPUN WVVS HUK Ä[ULZZ MHJPSP[PLZ ;OL UPUL OVSL NVSM JV\YZL ZWHUZ OLJ[HYLZ HUK PZ KLÄULK I` P[Z JVU[V\YZ long holes and a low, meandering ridgeline that runs through its centre. A SHRL HUK Z[YLHT Z`Z[LT ÅV^Z [OYV\NO [OL LU[PYL JV\YZL Z\WWVY[PUN UH[P]L desert plants and vegetation. With the largest driving range in all of Abu Dhabi, and an expansive short game area with two chipping greens, two practice bunkers and a large putting green, there is no better place to improve your game than Yas Acres Golf & Country Club.

Yas Acres Golf & Country Club Yas Island, P.O Box 131505, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates T: +971 (0)2 404 3004, E: reservations@aldarleisure.com

BIG BANG INTEGRAL White ceramic case with integrated bracelet. In-house UNICO chronograph movement.

Golf Digest Middle East - April 2022

Articles inside

Hybrids

Learn Hideki Matsuyama’s Real Magic Move

Season Prep

Fairway Woods

An Alternate History of Augusta National

By Georgia

Undercover Caddie

Journeys

Jim Nantz

Masters Mentality

Editor’s Letter

What Unites Today’s Big Three

Rap Report

Safaa Golf Club