Golf Digest - June 2022

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london calling

Centurion Club is the host venue for the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series event

12 The Chips Are Down Stability is the key to mastering the tricky art of chipping. by matthew brookes

by matt smith

26 The Best Bad Golfer Rowan McCarthy’s miraculous “holebatross.”

The Starter 8 Al Zorah Golf Club Work has begun on the state-of-the-art clubhouse at the Ajman resort.

by alex myers

64 Pivot Like A Pro Two drills to improve your backswing.

by matt smith

Features 14 Once Upon A Time Amelia McKee’s journey from Texas to Dubai and back as she makes the leap to pro status. by matt smith

20 LIV And Let Live Golf’s biggest talking point is all set for its curtain-raiser at Centurion in England. by matt smith

by tasha browner bohlig

Mind / Body 10 Undercover Caddie It’s better to not get too close to your player.

66 Game For The Ages Finding reward in cross-generational golf friendships.

with joel beall

by dan rapaport

by matt smith

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40 Go With The Flow Put some smooth into your game to get better through the bag. by cameron smith

by matt smith

32 More Than A Mullet Regular guy Cameron Smith has earned a spot in pro golf’s elite in a way all his own. by evin priest

46 What’s in My Bag Cameron Smith 48 That Old Feeling The US Open returns to The Country Club, a one-of-a-kind design brimming with history and mystique. by derek duncan

28 Home Is Where The Heart Is The Dubai Golf Trophy once again delivers a dramatic finale at EGC.

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30 Stepping Out Olivia Jackson stresses the importance of team and mixed events to promote the game.

60 Face The Facts Get the most out of your putter — the most important club you own. by matt smith cover photograph by michael schwartz

centurion: courtesy by the club • mullet: michael schwartz

6 Editor’s Letter The heat is on as we prepare for some of the biggest tournaments of the summer.

EDITOR’S LE TTER

Things are hotting up on and off course LIV Golf ready to make its bow after PGA Championship drama at Southern Hills and a thrilling Dubai Golf Trophy comeptition closer to home

By Matt Smith

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T HAS BEEN QUITE a month as the mercury begins to remind us that summer is upon us and the sprinklers are going into overdrive to prevent the fairways and greens turning brown.

Thankfully we have had a feast of golf to keep us entertained on the box in the luxury of our air-conditioned apartments.

Cream of the crop was the PGA Championship, where Justin Thomas barged his way through a pack of players who all seemed like they did not want to claim the Wanamaker Trophy at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Case in point was Saturday overnight leader Mito Pereira, who had one of those heartbreaking final-round collapses that get aired over and over every time the PGA comes around once again.

The 29-year-old JT, however, made experience count, and he drew on the memories of his PGA Championship victory in 2017 at Quail Hollow to hold his nerve and get his hands on the gargantuan piece of silverware once again.

The innovative Aramco Team Series has also made a welcome return — bigger and richer — with Bangkok making its bow on the Ladies European Tour team event.

Despite the wealth of local talent on show in Thailand, including Patty Tavatanakit and the Jutanugarn sisters Moriya and Ariya, it was Belgium’s Manon de Roey who claimed the individual title while Aussie Whitney Hillier and co won the team event.

These tournaments are a real welcome breath of fresh air to the golfing circuit, where four rounds of matchplay can sometimes get a little wearing week in, week out.

“While the heat can get unbearable in the UAE, it is prime time over in Europe and the US” 6

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Closer to home we had one of the most dramatic Dubai Golf Trophy tournaments in its 23-year history, with the Professional team just about holding their nerve to defeat the Amateurs by 16.5 points to 15.5 in the UAE’s flagship Ryder Cupstyle competition.

bigger and better Belgium’s Manon de Roey won the inaugural Aramco Team Series — Bangkok

It all came down to the final green and the final stroke, with Purna Sharma keeping it together to half his match with Barry Pavic and get his team over the line when it looked like we were heading for a draw, meaning the Ams retaining the trophy for an astonishing seventh year on the trot.

But, as it unfolded, it is Mike Major’s Pros who have finally reclaimed the crystal trophy and the bragging rights that go with it.

Not before time...

While the heat can get a bit unbearable in the UAE during the summer, it is prime time over in Europe and the States for some of the biggest events of the year.

While the dust has barely settled on the PGA Championship and JT has yet to plonk the Wanamaker back in his trophy cabinet, eyes are already shifting over to

The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, where one of the oldest courses in the States is preparing to host its fifth US Open.

Amid all the commotion over Tiger Woods’ return to action and Phil Mickelson’s self-imposed exile from the game, it really is anyone’s guess as to who will claim the trophy in the competition’s 122nd year.

And then there is the small matter of the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series event taking place at Centurion just outside London.

Greg Norman’s brainchild will finally get under way after months of sniping, threats and promises of wealth-of-a-small-nation prizes on offer. This is an event that is not short on controversy nor cash, and with plenty more Saudi-backed dollars on offer, this looks to be an intriguing and permanent addition to the golfing calendar.

With the likes of Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler expected to be in the field, there will be no lack of big-name stardust, despite both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour threatening to ban any of their players that opt to chase the big bucks.

There will be 48 players divided into 12 teams over eight events with a staggering $255 million on offer. There are no cuts, shotgun starts and 54 holes, guaranteeing every player a money-spinning three days’ work, regardless of how they fare. Nice work if you can get it. No wonder so many big guns are being swayed to play, despite any potential threats. A few of these tournaments could set you up for life.

Watch this space as this is one saga that will run and run.

Oddly, while the heat does continue to rise in UAE, there does not seem to be any lack in enthusiasm for the hardy golfers to get out and face the searing sun.

Notable by their absence this year are the summer membership offers that we usually see advertised all over town. As far as we can see, only Trump and Jebel Ali are offering any sort of summer promotions to drive numbers, with demand for tee times seemingly still sky high. Let us know if you have heard any different...

matthew.smith@motivate.ae @mattjosmith / @golfdigestme

de roey: tristan jones/let • thomas: sam greenwood/getty images

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editor-in- chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer managing partner & group editor Ian Fairservice editor Matt Smith 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 production manager Binu Purandaran 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

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major recovery Justin Thomas kept his cool to claim the PGA Championship at Southern Hils in Oklahoma

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.

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Al Zorah Golf Club

Work has begun on the state-of-the-art clubhouse at the Ajman resort

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onstruction work has commenced on the clubhouse at Al Zorah Golf Club, with the aim of transforming it into the leading tourist and golfing destination in the northern Emirates.

The world-class clubhouse will compliment the 18-hole championship course, set in the natural landscape and mangroves of Ajman. The clubhouse at the Troon-managed course will offer full leisure facilities, including a gym, golf shop, tennis courts and swimming pool, plus food and beverage outlets will offer visitors a choice to dine, socialise and relax within the club.

Mark Chapleski, Executive Vice-President, Troon International, said: “We are extremely excited about this next phase of the Al Zorah golf journey. It will be a huge step forward with this new state-of-the-art clubhouse sitting right above the 18th green.” –matt smith

photograph courtesy of al zorah gc

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MIND / ON TOUR

Undercover Caddie Sometimes it’s better to not get too close to your player

ILLUSTRATION BY CHLOE ZOLA

I

N OUR LIVING ROOM my wife and I have photos from our wedding. Among them is a picture of her with the bridesmaids. But there is nothing of me and the groomsmen.

That’s because one of the groomsmen was my former player, and I can’t stand the sight of him all dressed up next to me on the biggest day of my life. It’s just too painful.

That player was my first job on tour.

It ended with him firing me. I’ve had two bags since then; the current one I’ve been with for some time. Not to brag, but it’s one of the best gigs out here. It has made me more money than I ever thought I would get in this line of work. Yet I’m still not over that breakup because I made a mistake you cannot make as a caddie: I got too close.

I worked with him for seven seasons, but the relationship started well before that when we met on the mini-tours.

I didn’t last long as a player, less than three years, but during that time he and I became pretty tight. We would travel together, practise together, party together. That was a special time — when you are no longer in college, but the world still doesn’t look at you as an adult. I thought the bonds I made then were for life.

I had been away from the game for almost two years when he asked me to caddie for him on the then-Nationwide Tour. He was playing well but didn’t have a regular loop and wanted someone he could be comfortable with. I quit a good-paying office job to follow him, and as hard as it was to give up that financial security, it was harder getting myself back in the game. I was still gutted about my playing career not working out, and returning brought back some of that disappointment, but I did it because this was a chance to go into business with my friend. Looking back, that was part of the problem. Because we had this shared experience as minitour players, I viewed us as peers rather than employer-employee.

When I started working for him, the experience wasn’t the same as our mini-tour days. Gone were the late nights on the town; he had a girlfriend (who would become his wife) and was ultra-focused on his golf. Still, we enjoyed ourselves when we were at the course, and when his girlfriend wasn’t with him, we would always grab dinner.

At the end of our first year he earned

his PGA Tour card. During the next four years the dynamic didn’t change much, even as we both got married. If anything, I thought our friendship had deepened. We would go to ballgames and movies, and he got me into a Bible study group. Each autumn our families took a vacation together. People ragged on us that we were inseparable.

However, the next two years were different. He wasn’t in danger of losing his tour card and made decent money, but he had been a highly touted amateur who was failing to live up to expectations. Players in his age range — some of whom he had beaten in college — had surpassed him. He was, and still is, a nice, happy guy. But seeing others take what you think should be yours can calcify your insides. Playing no longer seemed like a joy to him, and given that I was the person most associated with his play, he no longer looked at me the same way.

Our relationship finally changed in our last summer together. He was in a rut, and his agent had not-so-subtly suggested that a new caddie might help things go in the right direction. Then, when I had zero room to do so, I made a mistake. On a Friday morning, we were near the cut line at a tournament that he normally played well. We faced a third shot at a par 5, and, long story short, I hadn’t done my early week homework, which led him to hit a poor approach.

We needed a birdie; we walked off with a bogey. We didn’t come close to making the weekend. He ground me up like a kid going to town on his first bubblegum stick, deservedly so. But I didn’t think I would be fired. It was my first big screw up, and the next week — while things were still edgy — it wasn’t like he hung it over me. But we missed that cut and the next one.

On Saturday morning, my guy called me. “We’ve been thinking about this for a few months,” he said. “We are going to put someone new on the bag the rest of the year. We hate to do this, but

you understand this is part of the business.” We? Who’s we? I thought he and I were we. Even with all the hints that this could happen, I never thought it would. I don’t think I said a word. I did not handle it well, cried that whole day, cried on the flight home, cried when I saw golf highlights a few days later. I felt duped. I felt betrayed. I felt sick and embarrassed at how much I hurt.

Here’s the crazy thing: A few weeks later I got a temporary job, and though it didn’t stick, I ran into the same agent who had prodded my firing, and he was looking for someone for a young player in his stable. I’ve been with that player ever since. We have reached the highest of highs together, which has allowed him the freedom to play less, which means I get to spend more time at home while making nearly double the pay. Happy ending, right?

I have been in therapy for more than three years trying to get over that breakup. It has broken some of my other relationships, even though I know there’s nothing transactional about them, at least not like a player-caddie relationship. I just find it hard to trust anyone other than my wife again. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve mentioned it to anyone, even my caddie buddies because I feel like such a rube admitting it affected me this much.

As you can imagine, I run into my old player a lot. Usually a nod, maybe a “Hey, man,” but that’s it. After all those years, all those battles, we’re reduced to that. Admittedly, I’ve taken pleasure in seeing him cycle through a number of caddies since he canned me. That’s another reason I’m in therapy; I hate that I responded that way to others’ misfortunes.

I have a good relationship with my current player. There’s an age difference, so we don’t have a lot in common — I talk more non-golf things with his dad — but it’s hard to argue with the results. Besides, I don’t mind the buffer.

I’ve learned the hard way that I need one. —WITH JOEL BEALL Undercover Caddie says the best way to get over a player break-up is a drink with friends.

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BODY / SHORT G AME SEQ UENCE

WATCH THE VIDEO ▶ Tap/click here to watch Matt bring this lesson to life.

THE CHIPS ARE DOWN Stability and control of the lower body are key to mastering the art of chipping

By Matthew Brookes

stand on your lead (left) leg and have the ball opposite the foot. Your trail foot should be on its tip toe slightly behind you. Once in position and balanced, chip the ball no further than five yards in the air and feel how the low body is limited in rotation. This is the feeling you want to take into the normal chip

Escape the heat, golf indoor this summer

and once the swing gets any longer than this the lower body should start to rotate that little more towards the target. matthew brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

Try the new and improved Golf Simulator at the Dubai Creek Golf Academy now that features a moving floor plate to simulate awkward lies and over 200 world renown golf courses at just AED 120 per hour.

Book now on 04 205 4666 or golf.academy@hyatt.com.

joachim guay

the final piece of the puzzle for chipping is regarding the short game sequence. Do look back at the first video on the Golf Digest Middle East website, where we covered gym exercises that’ll help improve your body’s ability to move in the correct manner and the second shoot on pressure points and head movement in the swing using the ‘Swing Catalyst’ motion plate to help master this technique.

This month’s edition is about having the correct sequence when chipping. This sequence is very different to the ‘Kinematic Sequence’ used in the full swing and is called the ‘Finesse Sequence’.

This sequence is vital to help produce enough bounce and to help deliver the club at the correct angle at impact.

Where in the full swing we start with the hips turning in the downswing, when chipping we should actually reverse this sequence and have the hips move last or certainly move a lot less.

Stability and control of the lower body is key to help with this movement.

A good drill to help you get this feeling and take it into the shot itself is the single leg chip. For a right-handed player

SHEIKH KHALIFA THE LEGAC Y LIVES ON REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF THE VISIONARY LEADER

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ONCE UPON A TIME AMELIA MCKEE’S FAIRY-TALE DREAM TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL GOLFER BEGAN IN A LAND FAR, FAR AWAY FROM HER HOME IN TEXAS

BY MATT SMITH

A GOLFING STORY THAT BEGAN MORE THAN A DECADE AGO has taken a major step closer to a fairy-tale ending as Amelia McKee graduated from college to turn pro. ▶ The 22-year-old said farewell to New Mexico State University and her ‘Aggies’ teammates following graduation on May 7 to set out on a new journey to fufil her lifelong ambition and become an LPGA professional golfer. ▶ But this tale is not like your usual ‘Girl Beats The Odds’ feelgood All-American yarn. It began in a land far, far away that was as much a stranger to young female golfers as Amelia herself was to this desert city.

Amelia and her family moved to Dubai from Houston, Texas, when she was just 10 years old after her father, Rob, took a job in the oil trade in the Middle East. As a youngster in a foreign land, Amelia stuck close to her parents and was often out tagging along with her dad at the weekends. As her father was recovering from surgery — he was a college tennis player in his day — he turned to the game of golf to help his recuperation.

Soon, Amelia was swinging her golf club alongside him and a love story began.

This was not a tale without adversity as, back then, Dubai had not yet set up an individual system or academy for female players and Amelia normally found herself contending with boys her own age rather than girls. Undeterred, she worked hard on her game and was soon catching the eye of professionals, who had never seen a young female excel in the UAE before.

“She loves the game and she’s got such a competitive spirit in everything she does,” Rob said back in 2010 ahead of the 10-year-old Amelia’s first big bow at the The Invitational hosted by Abdullah Al Naboodah at the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club.

Despite her age and diminutive size, young Amelia had shone at the Worldwide Golf Midweek Open played at Arabian Ranches Golf Club, shooting a net 65, gross 91, off a handicap of 26 to

earn one of only two Golden Tickets to play in The Invitational. Her round was an astonishing five shots clear of the nearest junior and four clear of the nearest adult.

That competitive spirit Rob referred to remained throughout her journey in the UAE. “After my dad’s surgery and when he turned to golf for rehab in Dubai, I fell in love with the game,” Amelia told Golf Digest Middle East. “I always wanted to do what dad was doing, so I was out on the course with him. Soon I was picking up a club myself and hitting balls.

“When we moved to the UAE, I quickly discovered that there was no such thing as a girl’s division in golf, so I was forced to learn the game in classes along with boys my age.

“While this was a challenge at first, it rapidly became a good thing as I got to be a part of changing this environment and open up opportunities for other young female players.

“The game became a passion for me and, I guess, I was given a lot of opportunities due to the fact I was a female. I was invited to compete in events and pro-ams, it was an amazing time.”

Her progress in the game while balancing her time with studies and social life took her to the Claude Harmon Academy at The Els Club, Dubai, where things began to get serious in terms of a possible career in the game. june 2022

ABOVE: During her time in Dubai, Amelia was rubbing shoulders with some of the finest golfers, such as Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose and Carling Coffing.

I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO WHAT DAD WAS DOING. SOON I WAS PICKING UP A CLUB MYSELF AND HITTING BALLS golfdigestme.com

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RIGHT: A scholarship

took Amelia to New Mexico State University, where she quickly became a key part of the ‘Aggies’ golf team.

BELOW: Amelia

picked up plenty of honours and trophies during her time at NMSU.

“When I began working with Claude, we focused as much off the course as on it. He began working on my agility, physicality and flexibility. Then came work on my distance because I was pretty much all the time competing with boys my age, so I would have to try to keep up with them on the fairway.

“Thanks to Claude and his team, I learnt the basics I needed that were specific to me and my game and

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that ultimately led me back to the States to take the next step on my journey.”

That next step was a scholarship at New Mexico State University, where Amelia quickly became a key part of the ‘Aggies’ golf team, with one eye on the pro circuit.

“I know it sounds strange but I had made my mind up when I was eight years old that I wanted to be an LPGA pro,” Amelia said. “Most parents might laugh and say ‘OK’ with a pat on the head and roll of the eyes, but my dad knew me and took me seriously. This was a real passion and ambition.”

If the task of balancing life away from home as a young freshman with studies, social life and a lifelong determination to become a pro golfer were not enough, Amelia is one of the generation who had to contend with the Covid-19 pandemic during some of the most crucial years of her young life.

“It has been an awesome few years, learning, playing and making new friends, but it was really difficult to contend with the pandemic at the same time,” she said. “We essentially lost a season of competing, which can really hurt you during your time at college.

“For this generation as a whole it has been so tough. We had to adjust from full-time at classes and on the course to going online.

“You really need to set out priorities at the best of times to balance social life, studying and then all the extra things like training and practice. It certainly has been hard at times to balance it all up.

IT IS DIFFICULT TO KNOW WHERE I WILL FIT IN AS A PRO, BUT I KNOW I WILL GET THERE AS I NEVER STOP TRYING AND NEVER GIVE UP

TOP RIGHT: Amelia

is aiming to get through Q-School next, while finding sponsors for her pro career.

BELOW: Amelia

found support and a strong bond with her friends and teammates at NMSU.

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“Mental health has to be looked after as well as sometimes you are out and about travelling and then you are cooped up, studying online. Freshman year was tough, where everyone has this new sense of freedom at college and starting a new chapter in life. Now as a senior and a graduate, it is easier and I have learnt a lot about how to get it all right.”

Even before moving to NMSU, a young Amelia had a lot of decisions to make about her future in the game.

“I had verbal agreements to go for a scholarship from about the age of 14,” she explained. “I knew it was where I was going but I was not sure how it all worked due to my time in the UAE and unfamiliarity with the sporting scene in the US.” The UAE golf scene has changed rapidly since her early days in Dubai, and Amelia is impressed at the growth, and also keeps in touch with her old friends.

“I know how much the UAE has changed since I was a kid as my mates from back then like Rayhan Thomas are now out here are college too and I always keep in touch with them,” she said. “We are still the best of friends and always keep up with developments back in the UAE through their families.

“Even when I was there, Dubai had such great courses like Emirates, Creek, Els, Monty… They had so many elite courses and facilities to help fine tune the game. And it is just getting better all the time.”

Amelia also recognises that full-time support is crucial if you are to get anywhere in the game.

“My fiancé, parents, grandparents have always helped me and supported me all the way, even when I am struggling emotionally after a poor game.

“Guys back in the UAE like Claude and your own David Burke are always following my prog-

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ress and giving me support. The parents of friends back there too are still cheering me on from afar on social media and continue to chart my progress.

“Then there is my ‘new’ college teammates, we have all made a lot of new friends to help support each other.”

Following her graduation in early May, Amelia wasted no time in getting set for the biggest step in her life — turning pro and contending with a whole new batch of competitors.

“It is difficult to know where I will fit in as a pro, but I know I will get there as I never stop trying and never give up,” she said.

“I first head on to Q-School (in Florida in August), and look for sponsors. One advantage is a lot of the events are in Texas and we will be based in Houston.

“I just keep going as I know I can reach the top. A lot of the girls that are now on Tour on the LPGA I know already as I have played against them during my time so far. I know how to play them and know I can compete.”

As the future awaits, Amelia has a simple message for any aspiring young golfers, male or female, and regardless of where you are based.

“Never give up on yourself,” she said. “It can be such an easy thing to do, especially in a game like golf, where you will have a lot of bad days. I can shoot an 87 one day and 63 the next, and the reason I can bounce back is because of the great team and people I surround myself with. You have to believe in yourself and surround yourself with others who believe in you more. They pick you up when you need them most and are crucial to help get you where you want and need to be.”

GREG NORMAN’S BRAINCHILD SERIES IS FINALLY SET FOR ITS BIG CURTAIN-RAISER AT CENTURION CLUB OUTSIDE LONDON

and let live

by Matt Smith

GREG NORMAN’S DREAM is finally about to become a reality as the LIV Golf Invitational Series tees off at Centurion Club, St Albans, just outside London this month.

A long time in the making, the former Super Golf League has been backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) and will come to fruition on June 9 in England for the first of eight lucrative three-round events with no cuts, shotgun starts, guaranteed payouts for all and a whopping $255 million purse.

With each event offering at least $25 million in prize money — dwarfing the amounts on offer in even the flagship events on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour — the LIV Golf Series has certainly turned a lot of heads.

Since Norman, the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, whose chief shareholder is the Saudi PIF, announced the launch of the series in March, the rumours and accusations have been flying. But one thing is for sure — it is happening, and in some style.

Back in March, a statement announcing the eight-event LIV Golf Series described the league as “100 per cent additive” to the pro game rather than a rival to the PGA and DP World Tours, with the “building blocks of a next generation golf experience”.

“I want golf to grow, players to have additional opportunities, and fans to have more fun,” said Norman.

“My mission is to help the game reach its full potential and we know the role of golf as an entertainment product is critical to overall participation in the sport. In many ways, we are a start-up. We have a long-term vision and aim to grow.

I believe we have a very bright and exciting future.”

Inspiration

Greg Norman was working as a commentator at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits when he had his epiphany. Team golf is such a fan favourite — why not make a series?

And so he began his journey, with team golf at the “heart of the new structure” with $5 million of the $25 million purse on offer at each of the first seven LIV Golf Invitational Series events going to top three placed teams.

There will also be a Team Championship grand finale, played in a match-play format for a whopping $50 million, at the conclusion of the series in late October in Miami.

With $20 million on offer for individual performances at each event, plus a $30 million bonus pool for the top three players after the seven ‘regular season’ events, the team spirit will add a fresh element to the sport.

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THE VENUE enturion Club in Hertfordshire is where it will all begin on June 9. The parkland course is nestled in a tall pine forest, with middle nine holes offering more open play after a wooded beginning.

The course only opened in 2013 but has firmly stamped its place as a favourite in the UK, having previously held the DP World Tour GolfSixes and Ladies European Tour Aramco Team Series events.

At over 7,000 yards from the back tees, the

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par-70 course near St Albans reflects the area’s links with its Roman history (hence ‘Centurion’), and each hole has been given a Latin name. The pine trees return on the final few holes, creating a dramatic setting for the finale.

With six par 5s, six par 4s and six par 3s measuring a total of 7,064 yards, there is a real mix of challenges. Raised tees offer clear views over the fairways on most of the holes, but the 80-odd bunkers and four major water features are sure to cause plenty of problems for the 48 hopefuls over three challenging days.

The Centurion clubhouse has been designed to reflect a mix of modern style and the Hertfordshire area’s Roman heritage, while offering views over the lake at the 18th hole.

HOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 OUT

NAME Prima Focie Silvestris Circa Agenda Per Se Nota Bene Pro Forma Ad Hoc Phobia

YDS 492 178 432 511 169 488 406 416 492 3,584

PAR 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 34

HOLE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 IN

NAME Ad Lib Bona Fide Hydro Alma Mater Caveat Maximus Hyper Mea Culpa Ad Infinitum

YDS 384 203 422 538 208 525 486 138 559 3,463

PAR 4 3 4 5 3 5 4 3 5 36

7,047

70

TOTAL

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photos courtesy liv golf / centurion club

HOLE-BY-HOLE

FAN VILLAGE he Centurion Club is going all out to make a big opening statement, with all tickets — starting from just over AED 300 — including access to all the activations over a fun-filled weekend.

Gates will open at 11am all three days of tournament play in advance of the 2pm shotgun start, so guests can enjoy and take part in all of the interactive activities onsite. Grounds passes will allow fans to walk the course, view the tournament from select viewing platforms and grant entry to the Fan Village, with Covent Garden-style street performers and a food and drink festival atmosphere inspired by the best of Borough Market.

A specially designed Kids Zone will also engage youth with children’s entertainers, face painting, soft play equipment for climbing, crazy golf putting challenges, and educational activations based on STEM lessons.

Also in the Fan Village, LIV Golf’s Performance Centre will feature professional coaches who will offer tips as guests test their skills on simulators and putting area. Meanwhile, gamers can deploy in the Metaverse Tent, where e-sports and virtual reality exhibits will take fans inside the game through friendly competition.

T

The Fan Village at Centurion Club will add to the entertainment at the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series event

WE WANT PLAYERS AND FANS TO FEED OFF A UNIQUE ENERGY RARELY ENCOUNTERED. THERE WILL BE SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE AT CENTURION.” –GREG NORMAN As part of the shotgun start, fans will enjoy an air show featuring The Blades aerobatic team, while London black cabs will transport the field of 48 players to their respective starting holes.

The event will also incude ‘Apres Golf’ entertainment from local artists and DJs and free concerts each day. “LIV Golf is about more than just hosting a new golf tournament. It’s about creating an event experience,” said Norman. “We want players and fans to feed off a unique energy rarely encountered through this game. From intense competition to entertainment, there will be something for everyone at Centurion.”

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HOW IT WORKS he 48 players will be split into 12 teams of four, with big-name stars taking on captain roles — much like in the Ladies European Tour Aramco Team Series — and those skippers choosing from a pool of available players.

The teams will tee off simultaneously around the course with a shotgun start, meaning all marquee players will be on course at the same time, so no need to wait for your favourite to tee off, with all the action crammed into a few hours rather than the sometimes arduous 10+ hours of golf we see on the regular tours.

Also keeping up the pace is the fact that, with no cut, each tournament will take place over three days rather than four, the 54-hole events running from Thursday to Saturday.

As mentioned, there is no cut, so you are guaranteed to see your favourite players all three days, even if they are having a stinker. That team factor also means players will continue to push even if they are out of the individual running as their team could still earn a title — and a tidy pay day.

There will be an eye-watering $255 million in prize money alone, and with Norman having been pledged a further $2 billion by the Saudi PIF, those purses are only going to get bigger, in the hope of luring the biggest names along the way — the carrot of a hefty signing-on fee also helps sweeten the deal.

Norman has said he’s keen to work with the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, despite both tours threatening players with bans if they compete in the LIV events.

Norman described the move as “anti-golf” and said several top players have told him they will play without a release.

“Sadly, the PGA Tour seems intent on denying professional golfers their right to play golf, unless it’s exclusively in a PGA Tour tournament,” said Norman.

“This is particularly disappointing in light of the Tour’s non-profit status, where its mission is

T

SCHEDULE June 9-11 Centurion Club (London) July 1-3

Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club (Portland)

July 29-31 Trump National Golf Club Bedminster (New Jersey) Sept 2-4

The International (Boston)

Sept 16-18 Rich Harvest Farms (Chicago) Oct 7-9

Stonehill (Bangkok)

Oct 14-16

Royal Greens Golf Club (Jeddah)

Oct 28-30

Team Championship (Miami)

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purportedly ‘to promote the common interests of professional tournament golfers.’

“Instead, the Tour is intent on perpetuating its illegal monopoly of what should be a free and open market.

“The Tour’s action is anti-golfer, anti-fan, and anti-competitive. But no matter what obstacles the PGA Tour puts in our way, we will not be stopped. We will continue to give players options that promote the great game of golf globally.”

What they said “We have 19 of the top 100 players committed to Centurion. We have five of the top 50, a success rate that a lot of people didn’t think we’d be able to achieve.”

–Greg Norman on the possible playing field in London

“Obviously we’re going to have difference of opinions, how he sees the tour, and we’ll go from there. He has his opinion on where he sees the game of golf going. You know, I have my viewpoint how I see the game of golf, and I’ve supported the tour and my foundation has run events on the tour for a number of years.”

–Tiger Woods on Phil Mickelson

“It is fine if what you’re playing golf for is to make as much money as possible. Totally fine, then go and do that if that’s what makes you happy.”

–Rory McIlroy on the big purses in the LIV Golf Invitational Series

DID YOU KNOW The ‘LIV’ part of the series’ name was inspired by the Roman numeral for 54 — the number of holes each player will play per event rather than the traditional 72. It also refers to the lowest score you could shoot were you to birdie every hole on a par-72 course.

CHANGE IN COMPETITION IS GOOD. IT SHAKES THINGS UP AND KEEPS EVERYBODY

The LIV Golf Invitational Series is sanctioned by the Asian Tour, meaning ranking points will be available during each competition The Asian Tour will be boosted by $300 million over the next 10 years for its participation.

$4 million

ON THEIR TOES AND TRYING TO IMPROVE THEIR PRODUCT.” –LEE WESTWOOD

What each individual tournament winner stands to earn — almost double that of each major champion. The last man in the field will still walk away with $120,000

$50 million

NORMAN , WOODS , MACILROY , WESTWOOD : GETTY IMAGES

The Team Championship has an additional $50 million earmarked, with $16 million going to the winning team and at least $1 million to the bottom team.

The LIV Golf Series is a standard strokeplay tournament but with a shotgun start.

No advantage for early-morning starters here. Same conditions for all.

WHO IS PLAYING? hile the final field is yet to be confirmed, those expected to appear include Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Richard Bland, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer.

Some of the world’s best amateurs are also expected to make an appearance, including Keita Nakajima, Pierceson Coody, Ludvig Aberg, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra Coto, Sam Bennett and Alex Fitzpatrick.

Bryson DeChambeau was also rumoured to take part, but after surgery on his hand, it seems unlikely he will be competing any time soon.

W

Five of the eight competitions will be played in the United States, with England, Thailand and Saudi Arabia making up the calendar

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M

MIND / THE FRINGE

The Best Bad Golfer

The story of Rowan McCarthy’s miraculous ‘Holebatross’

By Alex Myers

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yond Blue, an Australian mental-health support organisation, through a charity golf event he helps run with friends.

“A lot of people are saying I should have been a dairy farmer,” McCarthy says, “because I’m milking it so much.”

Milk away, Rowan, because according to DoubleEagleClub.org, which has tracked albatross-related feats for a quarter-century, McCarthy is only the 22nd person (a list that includes legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden) to officially record this rare double in one round. However, the site’s founder, Michael Christensen, says that McCarthy has by far the highest handicap — although he is down to a 17 — to pull it off.

“That’s absolutely amazing to think about,” McCarthy says. “But for me, golf is about the social aspect. I can play with people I’ve never met, and at the end of the round you’re best friends.”

Now, in me, he has met another friend from across the world, albeit a jealous one.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NEIL JAMIESON

rowan mccarthy

U

sually, I’m the one doIng all the research before an interview, but in this case, Rowan McCarthy had done his homework on me, and he knew to keep quiet.

Despite being an avid golfer for two decades, I’ve never made a hole-in-one, something I bitterly note in my Golf Digest writer bio. “I saw on your profile that you don’t have one,” McCarthy said as we were wrapping up our call. “But I decided to do the right thing and not say anything.”

Appreciate that, Rowan. Then again, the 32-year-old holds bragging rights over just about everyone who has ever played golf. Not even Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus have done what McCarthy did earlier this year. I’m not talking about installing commercial air-conditioning units like the mechanical engineer does at his day job. McCarthy in a Perth Golf Network event. Under didn’t just make a hole-in-one on the a modified Stableford format, McCarpar-3 12th (7-iron from 185 yards) at thy’s 39 points (his 84 was the third-best Perth’s Wembley Golf Course in Janu- score of his life) made him an easy winary — he added an even rarer albatross ner — in the B-flight, of course. three holes later at the par-5 Luck has always been on 15th (5-iron from 202 yards).

McCarthy’s side, from winAlex Myers The odds of pulling off ning raffles as a kid to claimhas never had such an unfathomable douing a big poker tournament a hole-on-one ble have been estimated in college. None of those and probably at 72 billion to 1, but that accomplishments, though, never will. doesn’t tell the full story. came with the notoriety of his You see, McCarthy did this “holebatross”. McCarthy says as a 20-handicap, a weekmore than 40 media outlets end hacker who picked up have contacted him. “People the game after moving from were ringing me to celebrate, Ireland to Australia five and I’ve been getting recogyears ago. He looked like one nised at pubs,” McCarthy making two triple bogeys and a double says. “When I went back to work, it was bogey during that magical five-hole the talk of the office. It was pretty cool.” stretch. Anyone can get lucky once.

McCarthy is trying to capitalise on (Well, other than me, apparently.) But his notoriety through an Instagram acto get that lucky twice? Within an hour? count “Shank Magic” that pokes fun at It’s nothing short of miraculous. his good fortune — he describes himself McCarthy’s feat — his friends refer to as “the world’s best worst golfer.” He it as a “holebatross” — even occurred also hopes to raise more money for Be-

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

PROS GET THEIR REVENGE ON THE AMATEURS AT DUBAI CREEK AND EGC AS DUBAI GOLF TROPHY DELIVERS TWO DAYS OF DRAMA

very year, just as the heat rises to remind us all that another summer of sweat is on the way, the finest golfers in the UAE gather for one of the most popular events on the calendar — the Dubai Golf Trophy.

Now in its 23rd year, the event sees the top 16 amateurs in the UAE and the finest professionals battle it out for the bragging rights in this Ryder Cup-style event. And 2022 carried more weight than usual as the ‘Ams’ were going for an unprecedented seventh consecutive triumph over the ‘Pros’.

Fans hoping for another gripping encounter — this tournament has served up many classic clashes over the years — were not disappointed as Mike Major’s Pros finally stopped the rot to reclaim the coveted prize from their rivals after six long years.

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Played over two days at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club (Sunday) and Emirates Golf Club (Monday) in Dubai, the competition closely follows the format of the Ryder Cup, with Day 1 seeing eight foursomes and eight fourballs matches, before 16 individual clashes on Day 2.

Chris May, CEO of organisers Dubai Golf, was on hand to watch the spectacle unfold. “It is such a privilege to host this great event that is steeped in UAE golf history,” he told Golf Digest Middle East.

“It raises the game and the standards of golf for the UAE. We are delighted to be involved in such an occasion.

“There used to be such a gap between the pros and the amateurs, but we have really seen that gap close up due to the competition and the quality of facilities and academies on offer in the UAE. In recent years we have seen a few kids come through like Josh Hill, Toby Bishop, Ahmad Skaik and Khalid

Yousuf. You see this flurry of quality come through as they push each other.

But they seem to be coming along more frequently after the likes of Rayhan Thomas, who has done very well and is now in the States. The others take inspiration from that, saying: ‘If he can do it, or she can do it, I can do it to.’

“The Dubai Golf Trophy really plays a key role in this as we get everyone together and they can really see how they compare, regardless of upbringing, race or even club. It is a really meaningful team format, and reflects how far the amateur game has come.”

While the pros held the advantage after the action at Dubai Creek — with the most slender of leads at 8.5-7.5 — they held their nerve when it looked like they might throw it all away.

Khalid Yousuf’s amateur team were so quick out of the blocks on Day 2 at EGC and had their noses in front

awarding: Purna sharma and Jackson BEll aftEr thE win: matt smith

BY MATT SMITH

when Yash Majmudar and Hugo Garcia thumped Michael Bolt and Steven Munro 6&4 and 4&3 respectively.

The other two early matches between Sujjan Singh and Max Burrow, and Jackson Bell and Craig Vance were halved, and the amateurs were scenting another victory.

But then came the blue wave of Pro scores as Graham Forbes thrashed Jay Mullane 4&2, Tom Buchanan denied Yousuf 2&1 and Thomas Ogilvie chalked up a 3&1 win over Ali Parlane.

History-making Olivia Jackson showed her mettle as the first ever female to play in the event as she saw out a see-saw battle against Sam Mullane to snatch a vital half-point.

“To see Olivia come through to become the first female to compete at this tournament is wonderful,” added May. “It is great for us all as she is our pro here at EGC, but she is such a great role model and inspiration for the next generation of boys and girls.

“She can definitely hold her own against the boys and I think she is going to play more competitively this summer in tournaments back in England, so she is only going to get better.”

Back out on the course, just when it was looking all rosy on the blue side for the Pros, the red army charged back as amateurs Toby Bishop (3&2) and David Guinee (2up) saw off Nathan Kernaghan and Jack Woods respectively.

Loius Gaughan (4&2 v Raghav Gulati) got the pros back on track, but wins for Tom Nesbitt (4&2 v Sam McLaren), and Jonathan Selvaraj (4&3 v Luke Plumb)

meant that the two-day epic came down to the last game and the last green.

Barry Pavic held a one-hole advantage with three to play, which would have meant a 16-16 tie and the amateurs retaining the trophy as defending champions. But up stepped Purna Sharma for the professionals, winning on 16 before halving the last.

That triggered a wave of celebrations from the Pros, and the Ams graciously accepted defeat 16.5-15.5 in one of the closest ever Dubai Golf Trophy clashes.

Amid a sea of buggies, Sharma was embraced by his teammates before going on to lift the trophy.

“That was the hardest two-putt in my life,” Sharma told Golf Digest Middle East just after coming off the final green. “I can’t believe I held my nerve there.”

It was quite the celebration to end a dramatic day. Major, the non-playing Pro captain reflected on a tumultuous weekend, having been on the receiving end for the past six years as a player.

“I guess we can take a hint. I don’t play and we finally win,” he joked, an ACL operation taking him out of this year’s playing capabilities. “But every player was tremendous today and every single one of them contributed points over the two days. For it to be so close shows you the quality on both sides of the ‘divide’. The Ams were brilliant but we managed to find that little bit more when needed … at long last. I must thank Dubai Golf for putting on such a great event, with both the Creek and the Majlis in impeccable conditions. It has been a long, long journey to get here this weekend and we are so glad to win.”

Losing captain Yousuf was gracious in defeat. “They were tremendous,” he said. “We thought we had a chance there at the end but they held on. It was a great two days but sadly we have to give up the trophy after six great years.

We will regroup. There is a whole new batch of youngsters coming through and we will see who will make the grade.

We are losing a few guys like Josh Hill, Toby Bishop, Yash and (non-playing UAE No.1 amateur) Ahmad Skaik. But as we have proved time and again, there are always more and more players coming through and, each year, the quality gets better and better. Congrats to the Pros, it has been a long time for them.”

WHAT THEY SAID Olivia Jackson, Pros “They will be hurting having lost.

Last year I was around the team even though I was not playing. We did not want to go out after the defeat. We just wanted to go home and I think they will be feeling the same. But we will all be friends again tomorrow and they will regroup as it was such a close thing.”

Toby Bishop, Ams “It was unfortunate to get the loss, but everyone tried their best. Obviously the pros got the win but it was a fun weekend and that was the main part.”

Tom Buchanan, Pros “The team spirit was fantastic out there and every player contributed to our points, showing how we were pulling for each other. The crowd at the last and the buggies everywhere shows you just what this means. A fantastic day once again.”

Khalid Yousuf, Ams captain “I have been part of this event for so long. It was nice to finally captain the team. We tried our best. We came up slightly short but it was nice that it came right down to the last match and the last shot. Shows you what it meant to everyone involved.”

Mike Major, Pros non-playing captain “It was great until the final hour. That was a horrible time as I was not playing so I couldn’t do anything about what was going on. It has been six years to get here and it is much down to the guys who didn’t play today, pushing up the standards, that has helped us finally win.”

Yash Majmudar, Ams “It was a great event, we were behind from the get-go yesterday, but each session was so close and a few things didn’t go our way — a few putts here and there. But I am really proud of how we performed.”

So now, the rebuilding process starts all over again, with new faces emerging and older ones bidding farewell ahead of 2023. Will the Pros or the Ams prevail? The Pros’ Buchanan perhaps explains it best. “It has been a long time coming,” he said. “It is always nice to play here and it was great to put on quite a show. Who knows who will win next time around, but this is the best weekend in UAE golf, bar none.” june 2022

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MIXED AND TEAM EVENTS ARE HELPING TAKE THE WOMEN’S GAME OUT OF THE SHADOWS, SLOWLY BUT SURELY, SAYS OLIVIA JACKSON

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the importance of mixed events such at the Dubai Golf Trophy in helping female golfers share an equal spotlight with their male counterparts.

Jackson is thrilled to see more and more mixed events such as the recent back-to-back Trust Golf events cosanctioned between the Asian Tour and Ladies European Tour, where male and female players contend for the same trophy and prize money.

Alongside this is the expanded Aramco Team Series, which is now up to five events a season — with a new venue and bigger purses — where female golfers compete in an innovative simultaneous team and individual competition format. Jackson believes that the changes are slowly being put in place to help the female golfers, and it is not before time.

•

livia Jackson, the Emirates Golf Club pro, had just stepped off the 18th green, where the Pros finally reclaimed the Dubai Golf Trophy from the Ams after six years.

“That’s what I am talking about,” she said with a huge grin after becoming the first-ever female to contend in the Ryder Cup-style event last month.

The two-day event at Dubai Creek Golf Club and EGC saw the 16 top amateurs take on the leading pros, with Jackson contributing to the latter’s points total in a nail-biting finale that came down to the last putt.

Stepping away from the celebrations, England’s Jackson spoke to Golf Digest Middle East to reflect on her landmark achievement and also stress

MAIN IMAGE : MATT SMITH

STEPPING OUT

LEFT : JACKSON WITH DUBAI GOLF TROPHY PRO CAPTAIN MIKE MAJOR : EGC

BY MATT SMITH

neville hopwood , paul lakatos : tristan jones / let

the right stuff: The Ladies European Tour has been leading the way in championing the female game through innovative events like the Aramco Team Series, and mixed competitions such as the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup — co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour — where male and female players competed for the same trophy and prize money

The ATS introduced four $1million tournaments to the LET last year, with some of the biggest names in golf contending and attracting millions of new viewers around the globe.

Now Bangkok has joined the party and teed off the 2022 series. It was a roaring success, with local heroes star Patty Tavatanakit, world No. 14, former world No. 1 and two-time major winner Ariya Jutanugarn and sister Moriya competing alongside some of the biggest global stars.

“The likes of the Aramco Series is great as it gives us more exposure,” Jackson told Golf Digest Middle East.

“We go into these new, innovative competitions to push the game forward and help inspire the next batch of hopefuls.

Sometimes they are put in the shade as the male game is on TV all the time, but these events show we can compete and entertain just as well, if not more so.

Jackson also points to the Trust Golf events in Thailand.

“We also have so many mixed events these days to show we really can mix it with the boys, just like the Dubai Golf Trophy, where I qualified on merit. The LET and Asian Tour just had two recent mixed events with male and female players going for the same trophy and I see that as the way forward to inspire the next generation of kids, both girls and boys.

“One hundred per cent we need more of these. It is becoming more equal and we just need more. It would be lovely to,

say, get a mixed DP World Tour and LET event. We have all the facilities right here in Dubai and it would be a great piece of entertainment.”

While there are hopes for the future, Jackson herself knows she is playing her part for change.

“I was really excited to play in the Dubai Golf Trophy as I play with the boys almost all the time and so to me mixed golf is commonplace,” she said.

“We just need to see more events — big and small — give female golfers of all abilities the chance to compete and give them the opportunity to take their game to the next level.

“The LET is proving it wants to lead the way to give players different experiences and increase popularity, both among players and viewers.

“Showing the young girls I coach, showing I can play against the boys and win against them will hopefully give them a little fire, a little drive, to show them what they themselves can do.”

With the summer upon us, Jackson is looking to play a few tournaments

“It would be lovely to get a mixed DP World Tour and Ladies European Tour event in Dubai”

back home in England, and she is aiming for the mixed events to prove that she can continue to hold her own.

“While the LET is doing its part, we need to see mixed golf at all levels,” she said. “I will compete in some mixed events in the 2020 Pro Golf Tour, which is great to see. Everyone has so much to learn from each other and the only way to improve is to play against the best and most varied opponents that you can.

Events like these 2020 Pro Tour ones in Yorkshire, and then more events all around England this summer will help provide the female golfers with more and more opportunities.

“In the past, women have not been allowed to play in certain tournaments, and I think I have played my part in helping to change that by qualifying to play in the Dubai Golf Trophy in my own right in the Order of Merit.

“I do not really see much gender difference when we are out there, these guys are all my friends first. And I know I can beat any of them on my day.

“This is another step on the journey.

I just wanted to get the points and help the team. I was just another match against another player. For me, the girls need to play against the boys without a glass ceiling or any patronising and that is the way it needs to be. We are all equals.

“The amateurs all need the same treatment. They are so many impressive amateurs and they can pit it easily against these guys. Easily. We just need more combined events for them to prove themselves. Emphasis and investment will help this journey but we still have some way to go.” june 2022

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REGULAR GUY CAMERON SMITH HAS EARNED A SPOT IN PRO GOLF’S ELITE IN A WAY ALL HIS OWN

BY EVIN PRIEST PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL SCHWARTZ

28, has no regrets. The Australian native is proud that even on the biggest stage, golf doesn’t consume him. “If we’d driven back to Florida and realised, halfway, that we’d forgotten the drinks, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself,” he says with a laugh.

WHEN DES SMITH INTRODUCED HIS

The hours leading up To sunday afternoon at the Masters can be stressful if you’re in the final pairing, but Cameron Smith’s only worry was forgetting to take home to Palm Valley, Florida, a six-pack of his favorite Australian coldies a friend from Down Under visiting Augusta, Georgia, had brought it over.

Smith packed the drinks inside a cooler of ice and left them at the front door of his rented house, ensuring he couldn’t leave without seeing them.

It was an unusual way to spend the morning before the biggest round of his life, during which he contended but ultimately finished T-3. (Masters winner Scottie Scheffler confessed he had cried with anxiety before the round.) Smith,

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son to golf as a toddler at Wantima golf course in the humble northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, he couldn’t have predicted Cameron would one day win the Players Championship and become a top-five player in the world. Des does remember a moment from Cameron’s junior golf days that signalled his boy was different. Brisbane is blessed with more than 280 days a year of sunshine so that golfers don’t rush to tee it up in rainy weather.

“I was the junior coordinator at our club, and we started running a ninehole competition,” Des says. “One day I had to call it off because of rain and storms. But Cam begged me to play. He said, ‘Dad, you can’t call it off. I play better in the rain.’ He wasn’t even 10 years old, and he saw bad weather as a challenge he could overcome.”

Des, a scratch golfer, knew his son could make a career out of golf when Cameron, at 12, broke par and beat his dad for the first time in the same round (69 to his dad’s 71). Cameron began working with his coach, Grant Field, around that time and started to soar through the ranks of Australian amateur golf, making the national team at age 16.

His teammates were big, strong lads in their 20s, and some were playing college golf in the United States. Smith was small and slim, so he developed cheeky trash talk to disarm older golfers.

Queensland’s state coach, Tony Meyer, remembers a funny exchange at the 2011 Asia Pacific Amateur in Singapore involving Matt Smith, a star at Texas Tech. “Matt was struggling with his swing, and I was watching him on the range,” Meyer says. “Cam was hitting balls next to us and calls out, ‘Hey, Matt! Watch this.’ Cam then hit a towering long iron and said, ‘See that? Just copy that.’ Matt was seven years older than Cam; it was hilarious.”

“I’ve always liked taking the mickey out of people,” Smith says. “Among my mates, if you weren’t taking the mickey out of someone, they were doing it to

you. But it has to be light-hearted.”

Smith turned pro in 2013, weighing 160 pounds and averaging 280 yards with the driver. Field urged Smith to start on the Asian Tour, and a hot season was highlighted by a tie for fifth in his PGA Tour debut at the cosanctioned CIMB Classic in Malaysia.

Smith met his longtime caddie Sam Pinfold at the 2014 New Zealand Open by coincidence. Pinfold, a Kiwi who CAST AWAY

When he’s not playing, Smith can usually be found fishing the coastal waters near his Florida home.

had previously worked for Ryo Ishikawa, Aron Price and Trevor Immelman, should have been in the United States caddieing for Brendan Steele, but visa problems in 2014 effectively ended that partnership.

“My first round with Cam at the New Zealand Open,” Pinfold says, “ he hit all 18 greens and shot 66.” Pinfold stayed in touch while Smith tried to secure his PGA Tour card, and Smith pulled it off in 2015 in a dramatic way. He birdied four of his last six holes at US Open qualifying in Columbus, Ohio, to

MY FIRST FEW YEARS ON TOUR, THE THOUGHT OF BEING NO. 1 SEEMED FAR-FETCHED. I ALMOST DIDN’T WANT IT BECAUSE IT SEEMED TOO HARD. BUT NOW MY MENTALITY HAS CHANGED.

book his place at Chambers Bay. There Smith needed a top-five result to secure Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour. On the par-5 72nd hole, Smith hit a 3-wood to tap-in range for eagle and a T-4 finish. “At the time

it was the coolest moment I’ve had in golf, and it didn’t sink in until I sat in the hotel room that night,” says Smith, who won $407,000 and went back to Australia for a month to celebrate. He also hired Pinfold full time.

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MOWING THE LAWN GETS ME AWAY FROM THE WORLD. I DON’T EVEN LISTEN TO MUSIC, JUST THE SOUND OF THE MOTOR AND GRASS GETTING CUT. was a caddie masterstroke as Smith won his first PGA Tour event. He teamed with fellow Australian Marc Leishman and won the event again in 2021.

Pinfold has been on the bag for all five of Smith’s PGA Tour wins and his two Australian PGA Championship victories. The pair hang out regularly in Jacksonville Beach. “To watch him grow as a person, as a human, as a golfer, I feel privileged to be a part of that,” Pinfold says. Smith, who calls his bagman “Pinna,” relishes his attitude.

“Pinna is as positive on the first tee shot on Thursday as he is grinding to make the cut on Friday,” Smith says.

AFTER HIS FIRST PGA TOUR WIN IN

Smith was homesick during his first two years on the PGA Tour. After Chambers Bay, he didn’t register a top 10 the next season and had to win his card back through the Korn Ferry finals.

“For the first couple of months on the FIRST CUT

Smith’s love of lawn work led him to befriend the grounds crew at TPC Sawgrass.

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PGA Tour, we didn’t really go inside the locker room,” Pinfold says. “Cam was quite shy to use those facilities. We’d often just keep balls and gloves in the car and go straight to the range.”

Two years later, Pinfold suggested Smith partner with Pinfold’s Jacksonville housemate, Sweden’s Jonas Blixt, for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. It

2017, Smith wanted to give back to the golf body in Queensland. He didn’t want to have just another charity golf day, so in 2018 he created a junior scholarship for elite amateurs. The prize for the two winners each year is an allexpenses-paid trip to Smith’s Florida house for a week of golf and mentoring.

The inaugural recipients were teenagers Louis Dobbelaar and Jed Morgan.

Smith suggested a 72-hole wager to the boys and offered them 10 shots. The rounds were at Pablo Creek, Atlantic Beach and two at TPC Sawgrass. Dobbelaar opened with 72 and Morgan 73, and Smith cruised to a 63. The boys used almost all their strokes on Day 1.

“We were nervous to justify our scholarships, and after the round, Cam looked us in the face and said, ‘I didn’t realise they’d sent over the Queensland practice squad,’ ” Dobbelaar recalls.

Says Smith: “We’ve turned into great friends, but on that first day I thought it’d be funny to give two of the best juniors in Australia a hard time.”

The week turned into a light-hearted boot camp of sorts. Dinners and activities were luxurious, but Smith tested them on the course and in the gym. “We didn’t go a day without sledging; it was awesome,” says Morgan, using an Aussie cricket term for trash talk. For the final round at Sawgrass, Smith, miles ahead in the bet, offered a consolation prize: Shoot under par from the back tees and the boys could have anything in the golf shop. Dobbelaar shot 71 but avoided an expensive prize, opting for a modest Players Championship-logoed shag bag. “I still use it every day on the range as motivation to get to the PGA Tour,” Dobbelaar says.

Dobbelaar and Morgan are now touring pros. Dobbelaar is on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, and Morgan won the Australian PGA Championship by 11 shots last year to secure DP World Tour status. The scholarship is in its fourth year and remains close to Smith’s heart.

“When I first came to the US, I really had no one else around the same age as me who I could relate to and have a drink with,” Smith says. “I wanted to be someone Aussie juniors could talk to. I love watching the juniors play golf because they play with such freedom.

As PGA Tour players, sometimes you’re so worried about the outcome of shots, you forget to be a kid. But it’s just golf, not the end of the world.”

Now in his eighth season, Smith has developed a network of friendships on tour, but who they are might surprise you; a lot of his closest buddies are caddies, including Matt Kelly, who works for Leishman, and Rickie Fowler’s caddie, Joe Skovron. During the week of the Players Championship that Smith won, he hosted an “appreciation party” at his house for more than 25 PGA Tour caddies. “I just wanted to buy them some drinks and pizzas to say thanks for being there throughout the year,” Smith says. “Caddies are so down to earth, and they’re genuine people who want to see you do well.

I can relate to them a bit more than maybe some of the players.”

One of Smith’s strongest player friendships is Leishman, a six-time PGA Tour winner. He remembers Smith’s shyness as a rookie but says Smith had grown confident by the time they were selected for team Australia at the 2018 World Cup of Golf in Mel-

AS PGA TOUR PLAYERS, SOMETIMES YOU’RE SO WORRIED ABOUT THE OUTCOME OF SHOTS, YOU FORGET TO BE A KID. BUT IT’S JUST GOLF, NOT THE END OF THE WORLD.

bourne. “It was the first day of best ball,” Leishman recalls. “I wasn’t contributing much, but Cam made an eagle and a birdie in his first few holes. He turned to me and said, ‘Leish, you’re welcome to turn up at any time.’ It was very funny and very Cam Smith.”

Leishman believes Smith could win multiple majors, a feat no Australian male golfer has achieved since Greg Norman in the 1990s. “He loves the fight, and that’s necessary to win majors and get to world No. 1,” Leishman says. “What I also like is Cam rewards himself and parties after a win. With the amount of work we put in, we still don’t win golf tournaments very often, and it’s crucial to treat yourself.”

Smith is known within his circle for switching off from golf when at home in Palm Valley. He indulges in a love of fishing and fast cars. He has the “everyday car,” an Audi RS 6 sports wagon, and an orange Nissan GT-R, which has 1,300 horsepower and is modified to look like it’s from the “The Fast and The Furious”.

He also has an obsession with lawn work that has seen him befriend the greens staff at TPC Sawgrass. “Mowing the lawn gets me away from the world,” Smith says. “I don’t even listen to music, just the sound of the motor and grass getting cut.”

Smith’s stunning house backs onto Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, with a private dock. He walks out the back and onto his Front Runner 40-foot boat for fishing trips with childhood best friend Jack Wilkosz. The biggest fish the pair have caught is a 170-pound Atlantic tarpon. “We get a little tarpon run for a few months in Jacksonville, and they’re the most insane fish I’ve ever seen,” Smith says. “Tarpon are massive, aggressive, and they jump out the water.

You grab them by the mouth to lift them up out of the water, and I could have fit my head in its mouth.”

Smith and Wilkosz — a colorful character who also sports a mullet — have been friends since their early teens in Brisbane. Smith asked Wilkosz to move

to the United States several years ago to quell his homesickness and to help out on tour. Wilkosz will do things like take swing videos of Smith for Field, who is mainly based in Australia, or transport the TrackMan and other gear at tournaments. “Jack is a great addition to the team, and he makes life a little easier, but it’s nice having a really good friend traveling with me,” Smith says.

Smith won the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2020 for his second PGA Tour title and then finished T-2 behind Dustin Johnson at the November Masters.

Smith became the only player in Masters history to shoot four rounds in the 60s. His profile was also boosted by growing a mullet, which was inspired by rugby-league players in Australia who were donning the haircut. When it drew laughs from PGA Tour players and caddies, Smith committed to it.

At the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui in January, Smith beat then-world No. 1 Jon Rahm by one shot and set a PGA Tour record of 34-under par. Smith credits his girlfriend, Shanel Naoum, for inspiring him to another level. Naoum is a Jacksonville-area chiropractor, and the pair met through mutual friends. “Shanel makes me really happy,” Smith says. “She’s a hard worker. She just graduated from chiropractic school, so she spent eight years in university. Having someone next to you who means so much and is working hard is motivating. I want to go to the course and practise that little bit harder to almost try and outdo her.”

The work is paying off. His clubhead speed is up to 115 miles per hour, which has boosted his average driving distance to 298 yards, up from 283.6 yards in his rookie PGA Tour season. Smith ranks among the top 10 for approach play and putting. “Cam’s short game is incredible, but his LOW PROFILE mentality probSo far, Smith ranks ably is his real first in birdie strength,” says average (5.38) and 2013 Masters winscoring average (69.33) this season. ner Adam Scott.

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CADDIES ARE SO DOWN TO EARTH, AND THEY’RE GENUINE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SEE YOU DO WELL. I CAN RELATE TO THEM A BIT MORE THAN MAYBE SOME OF THE PLAYERS. In March, Smith made 10 birdies in the final round at the Players Championship and one-putted eight of his last nine holes to win by one. It was impressive even without considering a record $3.6 million winner’s prize was on the line. Celebrations that night were trademark Smith, not fancy but meaningful.

Smith already had his mother, Sharon, and sister, Mel, over from Australia that week; he had not seen them in more than two years because of Australia’s strict Covid-19 border restrictions. He invited another 30 people over for a party. Smith’s first move was to ask Wilkosz to light the backyard fire pit.

Wilkosz was using a blowtorch with little success — but lots of smoke — before Smith disappeared and returned with a leaf blower to fan the flames and ignite it. Family, friends and tour players such as Scott drank drinks and told stories into the wee hours.

Naturally, Smith entered the Masters as one of the favorites. On Sunday, Smith birdied the first two holes to come within one of Scheffler, but a series of errors — including a triple bogey at Augusta National’s par-3 12th — dashed his hopes, and he tied for third. Smith owns four top 10s from six starts at Augusta National but believes his green jacket will come. “I reflected a little, but I didn’t read into anything about the Masters afterward,” Smith says. “It’s easy to get sucked into the spotlight or dwell on things, but I don’t.

“I’ve always been a process type of person,” he adds. “I’ll go to the course and tick all the boxes of what I need to work on. I’ll get in the gym and tick all those boxes, too. I’m not trying to impress or disappoint anyone because the anxiety of professional sports can

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be overwhelming.

My goal waking up every day is to be a better golfer.”

Smith will have more chances to reach No. 1 if he can maintain his current level of play. “That’s crazy to think CALL IT A DAY

Smith is the type of player who puts in the hard work and then loves treating himself afterward.

about,” Smith says. “My first few years on tour, the thought of being No. 1 seemed far-fetched, and I almost didn’t want it because it seemed too hard. But now my mentality has changed. I’m going to try my best, and even if I don’t make it, at least I’ll know I had a good crack at it.

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TO GET BETTER THROUGH THE BAG, PUT SOME SMOOTH INTO YOUR SWINGS

BY CAMERON SMITH

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL SCHWARTZ

I GREW UP IN AUSTRALIA, AND BECAUSE OF THE

wide variety of courses and climates across the country, I learned how to play good golf in many different conditions. I think that’s why having a consistent, natural tempo to my swings became a big thing of mine. It’s easy to let things get pear-shaped when you’re playing in a different environment than you’re used to. Sometimes it’s not even the golf course or the weather. It could be the weight of the moment — a big match or the last few holes of a tournament — that throws you off your game. It’s those times when getting back to swinging with good tempo matters most.

It’s hard to explain what good tempo is, but here in my backyard, I’m going to do my best to

START OFF CONNECTED

demonstrate three key areas of my full swings and talk about the things I’m feeling that help create good motion going back and through.

Using my putting green, I’m also going to offer some help with tempo for your short game. It’s definitely something I think about when I’m pitching, chipping and even putting. Whenever I’m playing with my mates and they want a quick tip, I always go back to tempo and swinging in sync — especially as you start to take the club back. Let’s start there, and then I’ll help you smooth out the rest. —WITH RON KASPRISKE

When I get out of sync, it usually starts with a bad move in the first quarter of the swing. My arms go back first, the club gets away from my body, and then I have to make this loopy action to try to match things up by impact. What I want to feel is “connected,” trying to get my body to move as one unit as I start the swing (above, right). I know I’m moving better when I start to feel weight loading into my right heel. Get the first bit of the backswing right, and you generally make a much better stroke.

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FLOW FROM THE TOP

This area of the swing, from nearly the top of the backswing (above, left) to the first move down (above, right), is where a lot can go wrong, especially for amateurs who get a lot of cast at the top. Cast means you’re trying to hit the ball immediately as you start down — casting the clubhead away from the body with some wrist action, instead of letting the club release closer to the ball. When you reach the top of the backswing, you’ll know you can start down if things feel solid and together — the body and arms stopping at the same moment. Then, the transition should feel like you’re in no rush. A good thought is to let your arms drop down in front of your body as you start the downswing. From there, you can just rotate your body, and you’re in position for a good move through the ball.

RELEASE RIGHT BEFORE IMPACT

The casting move might be the result of nerves, anxiousness or just wanting to hit the ball hard. You have to resist that urge by keeping a smoother pace swinging down. Don’t get me wrong — your club should be picking up speed, but you don’t have to whip it down from the top. Save your speed for the zone just before and after impact (above), and make sure nothing feels jerky or out of sorts with the tempo you’ve created from the start. Do it right, and the ball will jump off the face. The shot will feel effortless.

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CHIPS AND PITCHES: PRETEND THE BALL IS NOT THERE

Ever notice how smooth your stroke feels when you’re rehearsing swings around the greens, but when it comes time to hit the shot, you tend to produce something quick and jabby? I see that a lot when I watch ams chip and pitch.

I’m not sure why that is, but it might be because you’re trying to strike the ball and get it off the ground, instead of making a swing through it that lets the club do the work (right and below).

Maybe harder done than said, but it might help if you pretend the ball is not there when you swing. That thought should get you closer to copying your smoother practice swings.

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STICK YOUR FINISH

Quick greens might tempt you to quit on your stroke through the ball. Long, slow putts might make you want to take a smack at the ball.

Neither tendency is going to make you a better putter. What will? Having the same tempo on every stroke, no matter the putt. I try to make every stroke with a 2-to-1 ratio in time from backswing to impact. You can practice that with some internal cadence, even just thinking one, two going back and three going forward — whatever helps re-create the same tempo. The goal is a full release of the putterhead, getting it to stop square to my line after the ball is struck (above). If you’re picking up on a theme here, I’m not hitting at the ball — I’m stroking the putterhead through it. If you take only one swing thought from all this talk about tempo, no matter the shot, I hope it’s that.

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WHAT'S IN MY BAG : CAMERON SMITH DRIVER

AGE

SPECS Titleist TSi3, 10°, Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X shaft, 45 inches, D-3 swingweight.

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LIVES

Palm Valley, Florida.

I like having the adjustable hosel set in the A-1 [neutral] position. I want a driver with control, and that allows me to easily feel like I can find the start line a little left of the target and hit a gentle fade.

It controls the spin better, too.

STORY

Winner of five PGA Tour events, including the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions and The Players.

FAIRWAY WOODS

TIME TRAVEL

I bought a Titleist 975D driver, a Titleist PT 15 fairway wood and a set of Maxfli Australian Blade irons on the Internet a few years ago and had the guys from Titleist send me a dozen balata balls. I wanted to try the old equipment. The balls were done after a few rounds. They cut pretty easily.

—WITH

SPECS Titleist TSi2, 15°, Fujikura Ventus Blue 8X shaft; Titleist TSi2, 21°, UST Mamiya Elements Red 8F5 X shaft.

For me, a 5-wood into a green might go 30 yards farther than I want if I hit it off the toe. My 7-wood is more consistent and better out of the rough.

IRONS SPECS Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi (3-iron), Titleist T100 (5-9), Titleist Vokey SM9 (PW), KBS Tour 130 Custom Matte Black X shafts, Golf Pride Tour Velvet Super Tack grips.

When Titleist brought out the black heads, I fell in love with them. I was using the black shafts before that, so it completed the look. It makes the irons look a lot tighter, a lot neater.

RON KASPRISKE

club

yards*

driver

295

3-wood

275

7-wood

245

3-iron

230

5-iron

215

6-iron

195

7-iron

182

I have three 60-degree wedges I choose from based on conditions. I mostly use the T grind with 4 degrees of bounce because we play on tight, firm turf.

8-iron

167

PUTTER

9-iron

155

pw

145

SPECS Scotty Cameron by Titleist 009 tour prototype, 35 inches, 3.5 degrees of loft.

52˚wedge

128

56˚wedge

105

60˚wedge

95

WEDGES SPECS Titleist Vokey SM9 (52, 56 degrees); Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks prototype (60 degrees), KBS Tour 130 Custom Matte Black X shafts.

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CONNECTING COIN

This Anzac coin serves as my ball marker. It’s representative of the Australian/ New Zealand Army Corps. My caddie is from New Zealand, and I’m Australian, so I feel this coin symbolises our connection.

ON THE LINE

I used to go through a lot of putters. I have at least 20. Now I feel it’s better to not change so often. I like the way this putter sits. I was using a putter with a larger head, but it had this neck on it.

I said if I could get this neck on a 009 head, I’d use it. They made it for me.

* carry distance

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TALE OF TAILS

Scotty Cameron saw I was growing my hair out into a mullet and made this putter cover for me. It’s actually a crawfish tail.

That’s as close as they could get.

I think it looks pretty cool.

My Titleist Pro V1x is marked with a purple line, but I don’t usually use it to line up the ball to the hole. I found that sometimes it took away my natural feel, and I would hit bad putts.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL SCHWARTZ

THAT

BY DEREK DUNCAN PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRIAN OAR

FEELING

THE US OPEN RETURNS TO THE COUNTRY CLUB, A ONE-OF-A-KIND DESIGN BRIMMING WITH HISTORY AND MYSTIQUE

THE 625-YARD, PAR-5 14TH

A teary-eyed Ben Crenshaw knelt and kissed the grass on The Country Club’s 17th green. A long birdie putt by Jose Maria Olazabal had just missed wide left giving the hole to Justin Leonard and clinching the half point the 1999 US Ryder Cup team needed to seal a most improbable come-from-behind victory. All around him fans screamed and players celebrated, but the team captain was at peace.

“That’s because I knew what it meant,” Crenshaw said. “I knew the history.”

He was referring to the 17th hole, where sudden swings of fate always seem to occur. The short, 370-yard par 4 had been pivotal in three previous US Opens played at the Brookline, Massachusetts, club and now it was the scene of another moment for the ages, the home team lit in the glow of providence.

In 1913, Francis Ouimet, a 20-yearold amateur who grew up across the street from The Country Club, ran in a long birdie putt on 17 in the final round of the US Open to put himself in a playoff with dominant British professionals Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. The next day, leading Vardon by one (Ray was four behind Vardon), Ouimet sank another sizable birdie putt at the 17th (Vardon made 5) to secure the win that shot lightning into the slumbering imagination of American golf.

Julius Boros was two strokes off the lead with two holes to play in the final round of the 1963 Open when he made a 20-foot birdie putt at 17. That brought him even with Tony Lema, who bogeyed the hole (and the 18th), and Arnold Palmer, who followed Lema’s 5 with one of his own. Leader Jacky Cupit then took a double-bogey 6 on 17 to fall into a three-way playoff with Palmer and Boros, which Boros won the next day when he once again birdied 17.

In 1988, Curtis Strange had a onestroke lead over Nick Faldo. His approach shot on the 71st hole left him with a slick 15-foot downhiller that resulted in a three-putt bogey. The misfortune was a test of character dialled up by the gods, and Strange passed it, getting up and down out of a bunker on 18 for a saving par and then rolling past Faldo in the next day’s playoff (yes, all three Opens at The Country Club have gone to extra holes).

These foreshadowing precedents set the stage for the 1999 Ryder Cup 50

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heroics. Just before Olazabal’s miss, the spirits of 17 had taken possession of Leonard’s ball, smothering the birdie putt after it slammed the back of the cup and nearly popped out. Crenshaw expected something like it to happen.

One way or another, the 17th always renders judgement.

If tales of The Country Club and the 17th dabble on the border of the mysterious, it’s because the entire property resonates an ancestral premonition.

Ghosts might not linger in the course’s glades and craggy nooks to blow on drives and rabbit-hole putts, but a historical presence is tangible in every corner. When the US Open returns to The Country Club this June, players will find a course that is distinct from almost any other they play, one that speaks a language of old-time golf on grounds chiselled and austere.

Although other US Open venues like Shinnecock Hills (1891) and Oakmont (1904) have similar turn-of-the-century origins, The Country Club is the one that has changed the least in the 120 years since it expanded to its current 18 holes around 1905.

Nevertheless, few of the contestants will know the course aside from the handful who played in the 2013 US Amateur, won by Matt Fitzpatrick.

These include Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Corey Conners among the favorites. Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods will remember it from the Ryder Cup. The rest will encounter a style of architecture common to golf in a prior epoch but one that exists in only a few remaining places and at no other active major-championship sites.

“It’s going to be an interesting mental test because many of these guys are going to see holes they’ve never seen in their lives,” says architect Gil Hanse, who with design partner Jim Wagner has consulted with The Country Club since 2009. “They’re going to have to play some shots that aren’t going to register on their fairness meter.”

As with any US Open, success at The Country Club will be as dependent on patience as on ball-striking. How players embrace the course’s uncharacteristic architectural features could determine who contends. Unique is a word that aptly describes The Country Club, but even that doesn’t complete the picture.

RUGGED LANDFORMS

THE 499-YARD, PAR-4 10TH

Scotsman Willie Campbell, the club’s first professional, expanded The Country Club’s original six holes to nine in 1894, a year after they first were played. During the next decade the course continued to grow and change shape as the club acquired new parcels of land. Each purchase introduced different factors, some wildly rugged and raw, full of fields of boulders, ridges and abrupt up-and-downs.

The Country Club’s layout engages this land with vigor as the holes barrel through the exotic natural landforms. Most were laid out not by an experienced designer but by a trio of club members primarily with the assistance of the second club professional, Alex (Nipper) Campbell, who joined the club in 1896. (The only remaining hole from the first nine-hole course is the par-3 sixth.) The inspired amateur influence helps explain The Country Club’s eccentricity.

“It’s a golf course that plays over the terrain,” Hanse says. “There are so many golf courses that are designed to play through the terrain, but The Country Club takes it head on and goes right over the top of whatever was put in its way.”

The golfer first encounters this at the long par-4 third, drifting from a hilltop tee to a slender landing area that snakes between fescue-covered embankments that block views of the green from most positions in the fairway. The most striking hole is the 499-yard 10th (left) called “Himalayas.” The tee shot flies over a road and an exposed shoulder of indigenous Roxbury puddingstone on the left, and aggressive hitters can try to fly another steep puddingstone outcropping further down on the right. A creek crosses the fairway 150 yards short of a small green that’s notched atop another rocky bench over five stepped bunkers.

A final, 55-acre section of land annexed in 1923 became a third nine called Primrose, designed by William Flynn. Four holes from the course are part of a composite routing the club has used for major tournaments since 1957. This includes the 625-yard 14th. The fairway ends at the base of a steep, 15-foot rise covered in dense grass, then resumes for the final 155 yards on a plateau bending left around trees and scattered bunkers. Drives that don’t find the fairway will have little chance of getting to the high ground out of the US Open rough, leaving long, blind third shots into a tiny tucked green.

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SMALL GREENS “One of the great things about The Country Club is the smallness of the greens and the difficulty of the long grass around the greens,” says Bill Spence, the club’s superintendent from 1985 until 2018. “Creating a shot out of that cabbage onto those little putting surfaces is an extreme challenge.”

The Country Club’s greens are second only to Pebble Beach’s among the most petite in major-championship golf.

When Spence began his tenure, they averaged just 3,200 square feet, though they were not consistent. Spence worked with architect Rees Jones before the 1988 Open to return the greens to something close to their original dimensions based on photos from the 1940s and the recollections of a mechanic who had been at The Country Club for more than 40 years.

“Through a series of scientific and artistic endeavours we were able to come up with a restoration plan,” Spence says, “though in today’s world it was absolutely a prehistoric process.”

Jones and Spence slightly enlarged 10 greens and reduced the size and shape of three others that Geoffrey Cornish had modernised after the 1963 Open (the first, fourth and 17th). In preparation for this year’s US Open, Hanse expanded the area of the greens again by roughly 20 percent, adding one or two perimeter hole locations on each. Though still miniscule, they now average just less than 4,400 square feet (Pebble Beach’s average around 3,900 square feet). Although some tilt back to front, the majority possess cross-slope movements, sliding forward with various degrees of left or right break. If the weather is dry and the greens are firm, they will be The Country Club’s most demanding component — saving par after missing them in the wrong place, above the hole or pin high in the rough, will require judgement and execution — and maybe luck.

If the wind blows at all, the scores will be high.

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THE 131-YARD, PAR-3 11TH

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THE 370-YARD, PAR-4 17TH

ANTIQUE CHARACTER The name of The Country Club is apt: It was the first “country club” in the United States, an out-of-town base camp where the Boston elite retreated for recreation.

As much as anything it was an equestrian club, with paddocks, a polo field and racetrack on the flattest section of land to the southeast of the clubhouse. The outand-back first and 18th holes played mostly within the racetrack with the backstretch and homestretch bordering the right edges of each fairway and the dirt turns cutting in front of each green. The track was abandoned decades ago, but the depression in front of the first green is still evident, and as late as the 1960s the raised outer bank hid portions of the putting surface.

The most significant alterations Hanse and Wagner encouraged were the removal of hundreds of trees, particularly the fast-growing, non-deciduous white pines that shadowed greens and crowded holes to the point the course looked, as Hanse says, “tired.” Viewers who haven’t seen The Country Club since the Ryder Cup will notice more open playing spaces with vistas connecting the holes, particularly on the first nine. Peeling back the trees also highlights another antique feature: clusters of hillocks and chocolate drop mounds, like those right of the sixth and 10th greens, beyond and to the right of the 14th green and in the left rough past the inside fairway bunkers on the 17th that can snare players trying to cut the corner. Covered in traditional rough or clumpy fescue, the mounds serve the purpose of placing the architecture in the early-American period and fostering awkward and unpredictable recoveries.

The tree clearing achieved agronomic and aesthetic goals, but it also brings into play the fescue boundary areas. During recent US Opens at Winged Foot and Torrey Pines, drives blasted offline usually found maintained rough, often trampled and not much of a bother to players as strong and long as Bryson DeChambeau and defending champion Jon Rahm. Deep, wayward drives at The Country Club are likely to end up in wispy fescue or stubborn bluestem grasses, perhaps on a sidehill or downhill lie, making hitting precision shots into the diminutive greens a hit-andhope proposition. Welcome back to old-time golf. june 2022

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BLIND SHOTS Potential blind shots like that at the 14th are common at The Country Club. Although course-mapping technology, range finders and precise distance control now take much of the guesswork out of blind shots, courses that relentlessly hide the targets from players are rare and can exact a cumulative psychological toll.

Discomfort over blind shots was one of the reasons — along with blustery winds — that the scores in the 1963 US Open were the highest they had been in 28 years — nine-over par made it into a playoff. Tony Lema, who missed the playoff by two shots after closing with a pair of bogeys, quipped in his book Golfers Gold that “The Country Club … will always be memorable. We’ll probably have nightmares about it for the rest of our lives.

“Occasionally a glimpse of the flag itself is visible, flapping like a yellow handkerchief in the strong breeze,” he wrote, “but there were at least 12 holes that could be called blind or partially blind. This meant that when you tee off, or when you hit your approach shot, you could not be exactly sure where you should be hitting the ball.”

Of note was the second shot at the par-4 third, where the fairway pinches down between outcroppings to a wasp-waist gap of just 10 yards. “It was very hard … to drive your ball anywhere except directly behind this mound, and so you were firing your second shot at blue sky, not an actual target,” Lema remembered.

The drive at the par-4 fourth hole, off the high embankment next to the third, is entirely blind, as is the par-4 15th. Only the top of the flag will be visible after most drives are hit at the short, uphill par-4 fifth and the 10th, and the same is true for the par-4 seventh unless players can carry drives almost 300 yards to the upper rise of the fairway. All told, there are still at least 12 holes on which players cannot see their drives or approaches land.

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THE 490-YARD, PAR-4 THIRD

NEVER THE SAME COURSE TWICE

tournaments come to Brookline. The original layout played in 1913 was different than in tournaments played after 1957 when several Primrose holes were included. This year the club debuts, for the first time in a major, a new Open Course arrangement and sequencing of holes.

During its formative years, The Country Club expanded from six to nine to 18 holes. By the early 1900s, the golf course had taken the form, with only minor changes, of today’s Main Course, ranked 17th on our list of America’s 100 Greatest Courses and the layout members typically play. In 1927, the club opened a third nine, Primrose, designed by William Flynn, giving The Country Club three nines and the flexibility to use the strongest combination of holes when major

16 15

17

18 9

Progression of holes for this year’s US Open

8

14 1 2

13

X 12

6 7

5

3 4 11 10

X

BENCHED (RED) The par-4 fourth, part of The Country Club’s first full 18-hole layout, has been played in every major tournament since 1913, including the 1963 and 1988 US Opens and the 1999 Ryder Cup. Removing the hole, which will be used as a media compound during the tournament, eliminates a long backward walk from the green to the fifth tee. The Main Course’s fifth hole now becomes the Open Course’s fourth hole.

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A HOLE RESURRECTED (BLUE) With the fourth hole removed from the rotation, the Main Course’s short, downhill par-3 12th will be activated for the first time in a U.S. Open since 1913, playing as the US Open’s 11th hole.

In the playoff with Vardon and Ray, Ouimet made par here against his opponents’ bogeys, giving him a lead he would never relinquish.

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AN ECLECTIC ROUTING (PURPLE) Expanding to 27 holes in 1927 allowed The Country Club to blend the first, second, eighth and ninth holes of the Primrose nine as part of a new tournament routing (the first and second, a par 4, followed by a par 3 playing across water, are combined into the Open Course’s par 4 13th). The Primrose eighth, normally 461 yards, has been lengthened into a 625-yard par 5 that takes its place as the 14th hole.

A QUICK DETOUR (ORANGE) These two holes (Primrose nine, left, and Main Course 14) will be played as the Open Course’s par-5 eighth and par-4 ninth (they were previously the 13th and 14th holes for tournaments).

This moves the 10th tee closer to the practice area, an advantage for split-tee starts (something not needed in 1988) and makes the ninth green more central, too.

A HISTORIC LAP (YELLOW) What hasn’t changed are the 15th through 18th holes — every champion who has raised a trophy at The Country Club has survived the same four-hole finish, including the fateful 17th, that runs through the flattest part of the property. As the spectacle of the US Open has grown, this gallery of holes will play like a coliseum full of grandstands, hospitality tents and raucous spectators taking in action from multiple vantage points.

DOUBLE DUTY (PINK) The area here is normally the ninth and 10th holes of the Main Course, though Ouimet and company played them as the 12th and 13th in 1913. They will be used as the players’ practice range for the US Open.

THE FULL COUNTRY CLUB EDUCATION To access an interactive version of this course map and additional features on this year’s US Open venue, visit Golf Digest online.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS O’RILEY

FACE THE FACTS IT CAN BE YOUR BEST FRIEND OR YOUR WORST ENEMY — HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF YOUR PUTTER

BY MATT SMITH

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▶ on the right track eGolf Megastore has unveiled the Middle East’s first-ever Quintic Ball Roll System

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY EGOLF MEGASTORE

THE LESS YOU SEE OF IT THE BETTER, BUT IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CLUB IN YOUR BAG. ▶ GAMES ARE MADE BY LONG DRIVES, BUT THEY ARE LOST ON THE FINAL FEW INCHES.

Just ask Will Zalatoris, possibly the best young golfer on tour.

His key failure: getting it in the cup from the dancefloor.

Zalatoris is notorious within 10 feet for lipping out, over-hitting and leaving it short.

On Thursday at Southern Hills during the PGA Championship, he had a simple two-footer. Most would line up and drain. Will missed...

That — granted, along with 71 other dramas — cost him a major. I could count on four hands the number of ‘gimmes’ he left hanging. None more so than in the playoff with Justin Thomas, when the best friend became Will’s worst enemy once again.

Zalatoris seemed to conquer his demons on Friday and Saturday to put himself in contention at Southern Hills, but come money-time on Sunday, he was let down by the flat face once again. And it cost him as JT took the Wanamaker Trophy home. Zalatoris missed out due to his putter.

It is probably the most neglected ‘club’ in the bag, but it will be the difference between a par-72 or an 80 on your card.

EGolf have tapped into this and they are at the forefront of new technology to boost your confidence the next time you are faced with a tricky 10-footer, bobbly tap-in, or a 35-foot left-to-righter. ▶ green with envy Will Zalatoris struggled yet again with the putter at the PGA Championship

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zalatoris : maddie meyer / pga of america / getty images

HELPING HANDS

REALITY

We have all seen simulators, right?

Alongside their bespoke club-fitting, eGolf Megastore has also launched a new fitting system to get that putter in gear.

It may sound strange but customfitting a putter is as crucial as getting dialled in for a driver or wedges.

In the recent expansion of its Al Quoz store, eGolf has equipped itself with the Middle East’s first-ever Quintic Ball Roll System to offer an in-depth analysis of a player’s putting stroke in an experiential putter fitting.

This may sound convoluted but, again, just as Will. How many strokes have you added to your card by missing a simple putt?

The Quintic Ball Roll System offers you the best possible solution to any issues you may have: think Trackman for the green...

It is used around the world by Bettinardi, TaylorMade, Ping and Callaway to name a few. The Quintic Ball Roll System is the No. 1 choice across the globe, regardless of ability, and even the ‘Scientist’ Bryson DeChambeau ▶ putting it right The Quintic Ball Roll System offers you the best possible solution to any issues with the putter

— he of the biggest drives in the game — is a follower. Big names such as Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Joaquin Niemann, Yuka Saso and Xander Schauffele are also fans.

THE BREAKDOWN

launch angle, skid, backspin, sidespin, bounce, ball speed and the point at which true roll begins, with specialists on-hand to analyse the data.

TAILOR-MADE

DATA ON HOW YOUR GOLF

Made-to-measure Quintic putter fitting will start by first establishing the current specs of the golfer’s putter, including loft, lie, shaft length and the grip size, shape and style. Further to these static measurements, eGolf’s state-ofthe-art system and pros take note of each individual’s specs — including height, wrist-to-floor height and hand size — and these specs are kept in a personalised database for each player to track their progress over time, looking at key factors such as speed, launch angle, spin, skid and initial ball roll.

BALL REACTS AFTER

IN THE HOLE

The technology utilises a high-speed camera which tracks the golf ball for the first 16 inches of the putt. The numerous metrics captured by the software include the tracking of the putter head both pre- and post-impact, the

THE QUINTIC BALL ROLL SYSTEM PROVIDES UNIQUE

IMPACT. THIS IFORMATION IS INVALUABLE WHEN CUSTOM FITTING YOUR PUTTER OR IMPROVING YOUR PUTTING STROKE. –PADRAIG HARRIGNTON

This data allows the Quintic specialist to suggest adjustments in the golfer’s current putter or a total change in the design, be it the face, head shape, hosel type, face inserts, grip style or shaft length. It’s at this point where the fitter can make a comparison between a variety of putters from each of the brands.

The final outcome of the comparison would result in all the stats from the Quintic software showing a noticeable change from the start of the fitting to the end of the fitting, highlighting the most suitable putter for each player’s putting stroke.

It may sound a bit technical, but when all rolled into one, it will get the golf ball rolling smoothly on the greens and players can avoid the sort of nightmares that are haunting Zalatoris ...

store image courtesy egolf

PERFECT FIT

“We chose Quintic because it has the most accurate parameters, for both the ball and the putter, of any other system on the market. It has become the system leading putter fitters use to fit the best players in the world and with the amount of data points it provides, it can make a substantial improvement to amateurs’ games as well,” explained Dean Cheesley, CEO of eGolf Megastore. june 2022

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BODY / GOLF DIGEST SCHOOLS

PIVOT LIKE A PRO

Two of my favorite drills for a backswing that sings

By Tasha Browner Bohlig

it’s true that there are many different backswings at the tour-pro level, but the one common denominator is that no one is doing anything that hurts his or her chance of hitting a solid shot. Many amateurs get their swing off to a poor start and have to make mid-swing adjustments so that they can make reasonable contact with the golf ball. It’s a recipe for inconsistency.

We get a ton of sunshine where I teach in Southern California, so one of my go-to drills is using your shadow to train for a better backswing.

Before we get to that, here’s a simple way you can groove a better takeaway and make those first few feet of your swing more valuable.

Grab an iron in your lead hand while placing your dominant hand on your trail thigh. Now take the club back with one hand, stopping when the shaft is parallel to the ground (right). As you repeatedly do this, feel how your lead leg responds, preventing your body from swaying or sliding away from the target — a common backswing mistake that makes it really tough to get the club back to the ball in a proficient way. If your hand moves up or off your thigh as you take the club back, you’ll know your body is starting to slide instead of pivoting. Now that the start of your swing is fixed, check out my shadow drill on the opposite page.

—with ron kaspriske TASHA BROWNER BOHLIG is one of Golf Digest’s Best Teachers in California. She is director of instruction at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana.

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THE SHADOW KNOWS To get to the top of the swing the way the pros do, find a spot where your body can cast a shadow at address, then drop a rod down so that it vertically dissects the image. Now make a backswing, paying attention to how your shadow moves in relation to the rod. When you turn back with your body, your shadow should remain fairly still in relation to the rod (below). It shouldn’t drift noticeably in either direction. Remember that feeling when you’re back out on the golf course.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY J.D. CUBAN

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MIND / RAP REPORT

Game for the Ages

Finding reward in crossgenerational golf friendships

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By Dan Rapaport

y best golf buddy’s name is Bill. He and I text often and call each other “dog.”

When I need an emergency fourth to fill out a group, Bill’s my go-to.

He has been my partner in a memberguest and will be one of the first invites to my upcoming wedding. Bill is more than twice my age.

Nearly every golfer has a friend in a wholly different stage of life. The playyour-own-ball nature of the game and the ingenuity of the handicap system make any foursome of players and abilities doable. In turn, golf fosters cross-generational friendships that don’t occur in the wild.

I spent the majority of my childhood weekend mornings tagging along with dad’s regular game and teasing grey hairs about their shakiness over four-footers. I learned when to strike up conversation (after good shots) and when to avoid eye contact at all costs (after a water ball). I discovered that, vernacular differences aside, we all laugh at the same jokes. I came to

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Great golf and great fun is an unbeatable combination.”

Rory McIlroy is not quite retirementready, but the 33-year-old is no longer one of the young guns in world golf. He is, however, still very much in the Featured Group rotation, and the influx of even-younger talent on tour means he’s the oldest player in his group just as often as he’s the youngest.

“When I play with Viktor Hovland or with Collin Morikawa or with Joaquin Niemann, it’s like, Oh, I remember those days,” McIlroy says. “Everything’s sort of new, you’re not quite as cynical, you’re a little more naive. That’s a really nice way to be. I play with these guys, and I see myself in them.

“Golf is the game of a lifetime. I’ve played in a major championship against Tom Watson, and I’ve played in a major championship against someone born in the 2000s. That’s unbelievable.”

Tiger Woods’ two most famous embrace these unique relationships, to take pride in my ability to mingle friendships are with people from other with my friends’ parents when other generations. The only witness to what kids couldn’t muster much more than Woods calls the greatest round of his life was a man double his age. When a “Hey, Mr Johnson!”

It’s simple: Grown-ups are cool, too. 21-year-old Woods moved cross-counThe PGA Tour’s Matt Fitzpatrick knows try to Florida, famous as hell but low on this. While his pals chased girls on Fri- genuine friends, Mark O’Meara menday nights, he marked his golf balls. tored him. The pair would play count“That was my life growing up,” the two- less rounds together at Isleworth Golf & time Ryder Cupper says. “I’d sign up to Country Club — like the one on April 4, play in the Saturday morning games at 1997, six days before Woods’ first Masters as a professional. Woods the golf club, and I’d play on shot 59 that day, the lone my own with the grown-ups.”

Dan Rapaport sub-60 round of his life. They His game blossomed, and has friends his teed it up again the next day, his people skills flourished. own age, too. as pals do. “We teed off on 10 “That’s one of the things — I birdied 10, I made a holeI’m most thankful for in this in-one on 11 — and Mark just game,” he says. “I learned at left,” Woods remembers with a young age how to interact a warm-your-soul laugh. “It with adults — how to ask was a helluva two days.” them questions, how to anO’Meara has since called it swer their questions, how to a career. Tiger’s new bestie on enjoy their company.”

It goes the other way, too. Playing tour, Justin Thomas, is young enough with kids brings out the kid still inside to be his son and a mentor to his son.

“We have become so close that I think you. (Or so I’m told.) Where else in life can you unleash a guttural yell? Bond Charlie is like the little brother Justin over a cocktail at noon? Spend four never had, and Justin has become the hours outside picking a brain moulded little brother I never had,” Woods said late last year. by a different era?

As this golf season kicks into full“There is no other sport where you can truly compete in your advancing swing, make an effort to play with the years with young, strong bombers,” Bill (or Dan) in your life. If you don’t Bill says. I can only assume he’s talk- have one, find one. It shouldn’t be too ing about me. “But the real draw is the difficult. Literally any golfer is a candiswagger and lively, electric chatter. date. That’s the beauty of our game.

ILLUSTRATION BY MADISON KETCHAM

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