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WHAT THE WORLD’S BEST COACH REALLY THINKS ABOUT YOUR GAME
Tee Sheet 12/21
how to play. what to play. where to play.
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Features 22 Make An Impact The one thing all top players have in common.
▶ can’t get a tee time? w e c a n h e l p.
by claude harmon iii
cover story 26 Getting Her Kicks At 29, former teen phenom Danielle Kang has veteran scars and likes to speak her mind. by keely levins
32 Power Play Try out how Danielle Kang fixed her driver. 38 Asian Renaissance Fiscally emboldened Asian Tour CEO Cho Minn Thant insists all the main tours can, and should, happily co-exist. by kent gray
8 Editor’s Letter Why Middle East fans seemingly can’t lose in the power play for the pro game.
The Starter 10 Phuket Prize Welcome to Thailand’s latest must-play course. by kent gray
Play 12 Practice with Purpose Don’t rush to the range without a firm game improvement plan. by lea pouillard
14 Undercover Caddie Hard-won advice from a lifer resort caddie.
24 The View From Pebble Beach Savouring recent history. by jim nantz
with joel beall
16 From Texas with Talent PGA Tour star-in-waiting Sam Bennett has qualified for the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic. by kent gray
18 The Next One’s Good Why golf’s hottest architect he of Trump International G.C. Dubai fame - isn’t satisfied. by jerry tarde
20 Yōkoso Japan The DP World Tour unveils the venue for its first Japanese event. by kent gray
6 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
66 Tour Technique Stalk putts into the cup. by patrick cantlay
46 Golf Enabler New European Tour titlesponsor DP World wants global collaboration too. with joy chakravarty
50 Global Inspiration We talk to H.E Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan about the rise and rise of the Aramco Team Series. 54 Listen Here America’s top coach, Butch Harmon, explains what he’d do if you were his student. 58 Open Season New destinations to quench the renewed thirst for golf. by ju kuang tan
Cover photograph By MacKenzie Stroh
aquaell a: gaid p.kornsilp • kang: mackenzie stroh • cantl ay: jensen l arson
by butch harmon
27-30 JANUARY 2022 MAJLIS COURSE EMIRATES GOLF CLUB
A New Era SERGIO GARCIA
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Editor’s Letter
NEW WORLD ORDER KENT GRAY kent.gray@motivate.ae Twitter: @KentGrayGolf / @GolfDigestME
Y
OU’VE COME to the right place
for world class golf. The Middle East that is. No matter how the increasingly fractious, multifaceted battle for professional golf eventually shakes out around the world, it seems the region cannot lose. Whether it is the PGA Tour-European Tour alliance, the mooted LIV Golf Investments start-up league, LIV’s confirmed investment in the Asian Tour, or perhaps even the Premier Golf League (PGL), the Middle East is helping (or has in the case of the PGL) reshape the pro game. The upshot, whichever way the cards fall, is a plethora of tournaments for fans to enjoy in our increasingly vital part of the golfing world. For starters, the newly rebadged DP World Tour – you may remember it as the European Tour – will start the 2022 calendar year (in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 20 to be exact) with five events in a tweaked Desert Swing. It includes a new $2 million event in Ras Al Khaimah and before that the upgrading of the Dubai Desert Classic to $8 million Rolex Series status alongside Abu Dhabi. By the time the circuit returns to Dubai for the 14th DP World Tour Championship next November, the DP World brand will have traversed 47 events in 27 countries – and a record $10 million purse will await at the 48th and final event at JGE. Over on the fiscally emboldened Asian Tour, the 2022 season will start at the upgraded, $5 million Saudi International, once a Euro Tour star puller. In addition to the big names now en-route to Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, fans can expect at least one of the 10 new premier events bolted onto the Asian Tour schedule - courtesy of a $200 million, 10-year investment by LIV Golf- to be played in the Middle East. Don’t be surprised if at least three MENA Tour events will also be aligned to the Asian Development Tour, perhaps as a precursor to a full merger of the two feeder circuits.
8 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan (left) and European Tour group Chief Executive Keith Pelley share a joke.
If either the LIV Golf-aligned start-up league or the PGL gets off the ground, and that is a big if, events in the Middle East are also guaranteed. They might even bring refreshingly innovative formats. If there is any criticism of all of the events previously mentioned it is that they are of the 72-hole strokeplay, cookie-cutter variety. That’s not fundamentally a bad thing but variety is the spice of life – and
perhaps the only way to attract new, younger audiences to the game. Increasing purses at events that remain exactly the same – tournaments that haven’t previously guaranteed the best players showing up - simply kicks the can down the road. Perhaps the PGA Tour will provide some much-needed zest with a series of lucrative, limited field, no cut events for the game’s biggest names in the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Asia. They’d reportedly be played during the U.S. fall (a period where PGA Tour TV ratings for the post FedEx Cup playoff and pre-Christmas break
“If the disruptors have done anything, it is to force the established tours to examine the sometimes stale status quo.”
editor-in- chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer managing partner & group editor Ian Fairservice editor Kent Gray art director Clarkwin Cruz editorial assistant Londresa Flores instruction editors Luke Tidmarsh, Euan Bowden, Tom Ogilvie, Matthew Brookes, Lea Pouillard, Alex Riggs chief commercial officer Anthony Milne publisher David Burke gener al manager - production S. Sunil Kumar assistant production manager Binu Purandaran 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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events have fallen off a cliff ) and could even include a team component, a cut-andpaste response to the PGL and believed LIV Golf models. If there is a genuine positive about the PGL/LIV Golf disruption, it is that the status quo tours have been forced to examine, well, the sometimes stale status quo. You might argue they are still too focused on their members (justified) at the expense of fans who can’t possibly stay engaged all-season long with so many same-same 72-hole events, many of them minus stars that actually move the needle. But the Photograph by Warren Little/Getty Images
mooted PGA Tour fall series – maybe as early as 2023 but more likely 2024 – seems to be addressing the desire to see golf’s best play each other more often with no chance of a superstar missing the cut to the disappointment of fans whose weekend plans are suddenly wrecked as a result, not to mention sponsors who have invested millions and flown important clients in from around the world. Ultimately, hopefully, the winners of this fascinating global reorder will be the fans. It seems a given if you call the Middle East home.
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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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10 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
WIN!
We’ve teamed up with Amazing Thailand, Singapore Airlines and Dusit Thani to offer one lucky reader and a friend a three night stay at Dusit Laguna in Phuket. The prize includes two economy class seats on Singapore Airlines. Simply scan the QR code, answer four simple questions about our sponsors and your are in the draw.
Aquella Golf & Country Club Just 30 minutes away from Phuket International Airport, welcome to Thailand’s latest must-play course or the most overt signal that Phuket is back open for golf business, an Asian Tour double-header in late November-early December in the Thai tourism hotspot was presented as exhibit A. Perhaps you still need fresh incentive to break all those last remaining pandemic shackles and sample golf in the Kingdom? Allow us to introduce Aquella Golf & Country Club. ▶ Designed by Australian company Pacific Golf Coast Design and opened in August, the new 18-hole championship layout is the centrepiece of a 1.8 million sqm master development on the shores of Phang Nga province. A resort hotel, pool villas, marina, beach club and, of course, legendary Thai hospitality come standard. The golf club also incorporates a spa and there’s even a nifty mini-putt for yet more golf and family friendly fun. The 7019-yard, par 72 layout features narrow, gently rolling fairways and strategically placed bunkers framed by vintage railway sleepers. The par-3 11th hole pictured here is Aquella’s signature hole and it’s not hard to see why with those spectacular views out over the Andaman Sea from every vantage point. aquellagolf.com
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Photograph courtesy by the club
Play Effectual practice with Lea Pouillard
“Finish every session with a brief period of reflection.”
Meaningful Practice Don’t waste your precious range time T’S A SCENE REPEATED around the world every day. Club golfers roll onto the range with a basket of balls, fresh hope and, in most cases, no plan whatsoever as to what they should do next. Most whack away until the pyramid of range balls has vanished in a blur of good, bad and downright ugly shots and realise they’ve made little progress to their game improvement plans. Mostly the outcome is just more frustration. In this time poor world in which we live, making the most of your practice time is doubly important. At Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy, one of our main goals is to help those taking lessons cash-in by planning efficient and effective practice regimes. Structuring your practice sessions starts with at least a five-minute warm-up. My colleague Matthew Brookes has shared plenty of tips on this at GolfDigestME.com
(search under the ‘Instruction’ tab). Next, focus on technical drills depending on what aspect of your game you are working on with your coach. When working on the full swing, ensure you change clubs often and the target you’re hitting towards just as regularly to get a feel
WATCH THE VIDEO ▶ Scan the QR Code to watch Lea bring this lesson to life.
unlock your hidden potential with
for all the different shots you’ll encounter out on the course. Even if you are working on short shots, changing targets adds focus and builds up your touch. Finish every range session with a brief period of reflection. It can be helpful to write this down in a notebook you keep in your golf bag so you can go back and measure your progress. Jot down the swing triggers, feelings and shot patterns during the sessions. They can be shared with your coach to ensure both parties are tracking the player’s progress and are also great to revert to out on the course when you’re not quite in the zone. A reminder of how you were feeling or what you were doing during that amazing range session you planned and executed so well can quickly help you turn around a round that threatens to get out of control. —WITH KENT GRAY Lea Pouillard is PGA teaching professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.
Are you making the most of your potential? With the use of our new 3D motion plate technology from Swing Catalyst, combined with TPI and Bio Swing screenings, we can tell you if you are! Find out more by calling 04 205 4666 or email golf.academy@hyatt.com.
joachim guay
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Play On Tour
Undercover Caddie Sage words from a longtime resort looper 14 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
been a caddie for nearly 20 years, with stints at some of the world’s best resorts. Although I’m not big on soapboxing, a lot of you could use some friendly advice. Before I tell you what you get wrong, let me start by telling you what you get right: You tip well. You’re generous about asking if I’d like a dog and a drink at the turn. It’s impossible to count how many players, many of whom I had for just 18 holes, send me cards and gifts during the holidays. Overall, you’re a good group, but you lack self awareness. Here are some things to work on:
I
’ve
‘I can tell within two shots if you’re a player or a hacker.’ caddies there dig Americans. But, as one told me, Yankee golfers struggle with vanity. You endlessly talk about your golf game without complimenting your playing partners. Same goes for discussions about business, family, politics and sports. There’s little group discourse or listening, just four individuals waiting for someone else to stop talking so they can talk. (One time a woman said she was going through a divorce, and her competitor nodded and said, “For the life of me, I can’t keep this 5-iron out of the wind.”) Golf is an individual game, but if you let it, it can be a communal experience.
You have the emotional intelligence of a puppy.
I spent a quarter of my career at Pebble Beach, a place golfers spend their lives dreaming of visiting. You’d think it would be four hours of walking on rainbows. Instead, you base your enjoyment on the shot you just hit or the hole you just finished. I get it. No one wants to back up the Brinks for a tee time and play like crap. But you’re not a pro. Try to hit a few good shots, and if that doesn’t happen, so what? You’re playing golf; life is good. That goes for a round at a bucket-list venue or your Tuesdaynight work league.
Stop apologising—and lying.
You’re too slow. Perhaps not too surprising but it seems like half of my job is prodding a group like sheep to play ready golf. I don’t like being the time-cop enforcer because when people feel rushed, the tips aren’t as generous. But please stop standing around and watching your playing partners. Take a practice swing, read from one angle and get on with it.
“I’m so sorry” or “I’m normally not this bad.” I hear a variation of this about three times a week after a player has made consecutive bogeys. I appreciate where you’re coming from, but I’ve seen bad, brother. I want you to play well, and I’ll do my best to help you, but I don’t care what you shoot. Just try to have a good experience. Besides, I can tell within two shots if you’re a player or a hacker, and 95 percent of the time, the apologies are coming from a hacker.
You talk about yourself— a lot. I did two seasons in Ireland
You don’t prepare for bad weather. The hardest items to keep
(one at Ballybunion), and, man, the
stocked in our golf shop are rainsuits
and sweaters. If you think those pieces are expensive online, you have no idea about the bill coming your way at a resort golf shop. A lot of prime courses are on or by the water, so expect three seasons in one day. Also, even if you’re playing at your home course, you should have rain gear in the bag.
You don’t know how far you hit your irons. For every ball that goes
long, 30 fall short. If I say 150 yards, and your response is 8-iron, stop and think: Is that how far my 8-iron usually goes or just when I catch all of it? Most golfers let the latter dictate the shot when it should be the former. Next time you’re at the range, note how far your average shots travel, not just the pured ones, and that’s your stock number. I guarantee you’ll start hitting more greens.
Stop blaming your caddie.
If I give you a bad read, I’ll let you know it. Same if I misjudge the wind. If you want to get mad at me when that happens, I don’t blame you. But often, when a shot doesn’t go the way the player envisions, there’s a glare or mumble in my direction, and suddenly the player who was chummy seconds before is now a sourpuss. More infuriating is when a player hits a good shot and acts like my buddy again, as if what happened before didn’t happen. That’s no way to treat people, especially on a golf course. The worst thing I’ve heard? “You shouldn’t be a caddie if you can’t make that read.” Took a hell of a lot of willpower not to toss his clubs into the fescue.
You’re bringing too many damn balls. I don’t care how bad
you are. You don’t need more than six. If you feel secure with three sleeves, that’s fine. But if I see another golfer stuff three dozen balls—and in case you’re wondering, the record is five dozen—into the side carriage, I’m going to lose it. —with joel beall Illustration by Van Saiyan
sam bennett (usa) amateur age 21 owgr/wagr 1801/5th lives texas, usa
Photograph courtesy Texas A&M
DP World Tour
Play
“We can’t wait for Sam to showcase his talents.”
From Texas with talent Sam Bennett is a star in waiting. Earlier this year he earned an invite to the Valero Texas Open on the PGA Tour and is now set to for his DP World Tour bow at Emirates Golf Club or further evidence of how the PGA Tour-DP World Tour alliance will play out beyond co-sanctioned events and bigname, cross-circuit appearances, meet Sam Bennett. The Texas A&M University Senior has secured automatic qualification to January’s Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic as the top-ranked PGA TOUR University player. Yes, we had to research the PGA Tour University Velocity Global Ranking too. For the record, it is designed to identify the best collegiate golfers based on winning, competitiveness and seasonlong performance. Developed in partnership with the World Amateur Golf Ranking, it focuses on the final two years of competition in NCAA Division-I tournaments, official PGA TOUR events and select European Tour events. Bennett’s PGA Tour University record includes an impressive seven top-five finishes, three victories and the second-lowest season average (70.53) in Texas A&M history. He’ll join reigning Race to Dubai champion Collin Morikawa, 2017 Dubai and Masters winner Sergio Garcia and
F
defending champion Paul Casey in the field for the $8 million Rolex Series event at Emirates Golf Club from Jan. 27-30. “I’m thankful for the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic, PGA TOUR University and Velocity Global for helping provide this platform as I further develop into the golfer that I want to be,” Bennett said. Desert Classic Executive Tournament Director Simon Corkill congratulated Bennett on an “excellent year”. “Our commitment to Sam, the best player on the PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Ranking, exemplifies our investment in supporting the promising young talent who are the future of our game, and underlines the innovative thinking we are bringing to Dubai’s legacy golf event.” Brendan von Doehren, Executive Director of PGA TOUR University, added: “Sam is not only a great player, he will be a great representative of PGA TOUR University and college golf when he plays in Dubai. We appreciate our partnership with the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic and can’t wait to see Sam showcase his talents on the international stage.” — kent gray december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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Play The Next One’s Good ▶ digging his work Hanse is one of the hottest architects in golf.
Art Restorer and Future King? Evaluating the work of Gil Hanse by jerry tarde
he kings of golf is a concept that goes back to the Emperor Jones, the name used by newspapers in the 1920s for Bobby Jones. Sort of like the modern GOAT, it signified who was recognised as the reigning champion of the world. It often extended past their winning championships because it mixed popular acclaim with major achievement. Arnold Palmer was king even after he stopped winning, then it was Jack Nicklaus, followed chronologically by Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and, of course, Tiger Woods. Popular as he might be, Phil Mickelson was a prince at best; Rory McIlroy reached the top for a moment, but today there doesn’t seem to be one player who wears the undisputed crown. Tiger still rules. Among women, Mickey Wright was queen, then Nancy Lopez, then Annika Sorenstam, who probably endures in retirement. ▶ In the 1970s, Bill Davis, the founder of Golf Digest and inventor of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses, once told me that the next superstars would be golfcourse architects. The prediction came true as the royalty of design passed from Robert Trent Jones to Pete Dye to Jack Nicklaus. At the time it was said, “Trent made golf-course architecture a business, Pete made it an art, and Jack made it expensive.”
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18 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
The next king of architecture was Tom Fazio, who arguably remains undefeated. Fazio has more original designs on the 100 Greatest (13) than any other architect. Donald Ross (10), A.W. Tillinghast (nine), Pete Dye (eight), Alister MacKenzie (five) and Seth Raynor (five) trail among the dead with Tom Doak (five), Jack Nicklaus (four) and the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw (four) among the living. Who is king of kings? A case could be made for MacKenzie, who designed two of the top three (Augusta National and Cypress Point), but how could you argue with the amateur architect George Crump who was one for one (Pine Valley)? The missing name from all this royalty is Gil Hanse, who is by far the hothotter-hottest architect in the world right now. He has crossed the line from prolific to ubiquitous. His specialty is restorations. In recent years, Hanse has restored Merion East, Winged Foot West and East, Fishers Island, The Country Club, LACC North, Oakland Hills South, Southern Hills, Baltusrol Lower, Sleepy Hollow, Plainfield, Quaker Ridge, Kittansett, Myopia Hunt, Aronimink and Burning Tree. The next
two U.S. Opens will be played on his restorations—has he replaced Rees Jones as the Open Doctor? I’ve heard Hanse is now the consulting architect at Pete Dye’s The Honors Course. He’s reworking Oakmont and Yale. Every old course in America either has him redoing it or wishes they had him. As a course panelist told us, “No matter the original designer, Gil gets it right.” With an old classic, there’s no question he’d be the one I’d want to restore it. As a real-estate developer once said of Pete Dye: “If I had a sow’s ear, he could turn it into a silk purse.” If you started with a silk purse, you can be assured Gil Hanse would turn it into a Birkin handbag. Hanse and his design partner, Jim Wagner, faithfully use old photos and plans to bring back to life the original architect’s intent within a modern context of distance. But no great virtuoso wants to be known simply as an art restorer. It’s an artist’s original work that makes his or her reputation. The great ones are writers or composers, not editors or conductors. In 1999, the Italian artisan Pinin Brambilla did a magnificent job of restoring the faded fresco that adorns a convent wall in Milan, but make no mistake—it will forever be known as The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Coore and Crenshaw have their Sand Hills (10th on the 100 Greatest), Nicklaus has Muirfield Village (15th), Doak has Pacific Dunes (18th), Fazio has Wade Hampton (26th), but Hanse’s best-ranked course opened in 2004 and sits quietly at No. 84, Boston Golf Club. His Ohoopee Match Club in Georgia is too new to have received enough votes for the 100 Greatest, and CapRock Ranch in Nebraska won Golf Digest’s 2021 Best New Course Award (see page 42), but Hanse’s pièce de résistance is still to be identified. “If this were the 1990s, when everybody was doing 15 new golf-design projects a year, Gil probably wouldn’t consider himself a success unless he was getting first dibs at the best of those projects,” says Ron Whitten, Golf Digest’s architecture editor emeritus, who himself has a co-design on the
100 Greatest (Erin Hills at No. 46). “But this is 30 years later, and a lot fewer original courses are being built. Coore and Crenshaw now often get the best assignments because [Bandon Dunes owner] Mike Keiser is the driving force behind much of what’s new, and they’re his architects in residence. “Still Gil is on top of the heap by popular, if not critical, acclaim, and I suspect he gets his share of first rights of refusal. Lord knows, every architect would sacrifice a family jewel to have Gil’s career. However, I suspect he’s not satisfied yet. For one thing, he hasn’t done that original design that will have people clamoring for it to be in Golf Digest’s top 10. Like it or not, America’s 100 Greatest is the Hall of Fame for golf architects, and the top 10 is Mount Rushmore.” One of Hanse’s greatest strengths is that he’s a genuinely nice guy and a golf person through and through—his 11.5 Index plays out of clubs like Fishers Island and Pine Valley. He came across very well as a Fox Sports commentator until he got too busy to do TV. Maybe the only criticism is that he doesn’t have a distinctive style that says you’re on a Gil Hanse course. You could say he’s a little derivative of Tom Doak, in whose footsteps he followed with a master’s in landscape architecture at Cornell, even taking the same one-year
study of Great Britain golf under the prestigious William Frederick Dreer Award. Hanse’s style today is what’s popular in modern design—big rolypoly greens and bumpy fairways and gnarly bunkers with acres of exposed sand for rough. Hanse is only 58, so he has a long reign ahead of him if Pete Dye, who died at 94, and Tom Fazio, still going strong at 76, are any indication. Maybe the real test will be what he does with 300 acres of flat desert in Palm Springs, Calif., owned by music impresario Irving Azoff and Apple executive Eddy Cue, what might be the most sought-after new commission in the country. The working title is Coachella Golf Club— even the high-profile name raises the stakes. In evaluating courses and architects, I like to ponder the words of Peter Fleming, who was the less famous brother of Ian (007) Fleming. While staying at the Piping Rock Club, Peter fell in love with Long Island, N.Y., and described it in a 1929 letter to a friend: It only shows you, he wrote, “what God would have done with Nature if he’d had the money.” With Azoff and Cue’s money, Gil Hanse will be playing God when he builds the next course in Palm Springs. That’s the question in the air: Will this be the one that takes Hanse from art restorer to king of all he surveys? Photograph by Finlay Mackay
pgm ishioka golf club in omitama, japan
Yōkoso 20 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
ollowing the end of the European Tour’s 2021 season at Jumeriah Golf Estates on November 21 and an official offseason lasting precisely three days, the freshly rebranded DP World Tour took its bow at the Joburg Open late last month. Middle East fans need only wait till January 20 for the global circuit to return to the UAE with $8 million Abu Dhabi and Dubai Rolex Series events spearheading an exciting five-event Desert Swing. While the fifth event of said sand-based swing was listed on the DP World Tour website as a February 17-20 “Middle East event (TBA)” as we went to print, we do know two things; that it is one of four new events on the 48-tournament, 27-country schedule, and that another of its brethren now has a home. Japan will become the 51st country to host a DP World Tour event when the $2 million ISPS Handa Championship is played at PGM Ishioka Golf Club in Omitama from April 21-24. It will be the first “regular tournament” to be co-sanctioned by the former European Tour and the Japan Golf Tour, is part of a three-year deal and deepens the European Tour group’s long-standing relationship with ISPS HANDA, the organisation founded by Japanese philanthropist Dr. Haruhisa Handa. “The DP World Tour is a global tour and, as a result, we relish opportunities such as this to break new ground; in the process creating exciting golf tournaments for our fans worldwide and wonderful opportunities for our players and stakeholders alike,” said European Tour group Chief Executive, Keith Pelley. “As we saw earlier this month with our announcement about the Hero Indian Open returning to our 2022 schedule in February, Asia continues to be an important region for the DP World Tour and our first visit to Japan in April further underlines that.” Japan Golf Tour chairman Isao Aoki talked of the co-sanctioned event being a “long-cherished desire.” “I am sure that the skill of the players who compete on the DP World Tour will not only attract Japanese golf fans but also stimulate the members of the Japan Golf Tour,” Aoki said. “On the other hand, the members of the Japan Golf Tour will have a great opportunity to perform in front of the world with this tournament as a foothold, and I’m sure our members will take advantage of this opportunity as much as possible. We are making various preparations for this great event in six months please stay tuned.” In 2019, Dr Handa was also announced as an Honorary Ambassador for the European Tour’s Golfers with Disability programme, in recognition of his role in raising the profile of disabled golfers worldwide. – kent gray Photograph by Japan Golf Tour
1
BY CLAUDE HARMON III
I
t’s a problem I see with club golfers everywhere. In an effort to get the ball into the air, they hang back away from the golf ball, leave their weight on their trail leg which inevitably leads to major contact issues. If you regularly hit fat or thin shots, it could be the problem.
A great drill to help you get into a better impact position and through the ball is to try the step through drill. This can be done in three very simple steps: 1. Start with your feet together and get into a set up position 2. As you bring the club back to impact, take a step towards the target and finish the swing 3. Make sure to finish on your lead side facing the target This drill will help you create separation between your upper and lower body while also allowing you to transfer your weight correctly from the trail foot to your lead foot in the follow through.
22 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
MAKE AN
THERE ARE NOT MANY THINGS THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD HAVE IN COMMON BUT IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY, YOU’LL NOTICE ONE THING - THEY ALL HAVE A GREAT IMPACT POSITION
THIS DRILL WILL HELP YOU CREATE SEPARATION BETWEEN YOUR UPPER AND LOWER BODY WHILE ALSO ALLOWING YOU TO TRANSFER YOUR WEIGHT CORRECTLY
2
ONTO THE COURSE ▶ This drill is great for the driving range or out on the course during a practice round. For those looking to take this out onto the fairways, incorporate it into your pre-shot routine by making a practice swing without a ball. Try to get the feeling of the correct weight transfer before you execute the shot.
3 Claude Harmon III is in the vanguard of the new generation of golf teachers. Steeped in tradition both his grandfather, Claude Harmon, and father Claude “Butch” Harmon Jr., have been the dominant teachers of their generation. Photographs by Joachim Guay
Play The View from Pebble Beach
Jim Nantz The greatest stretch of majorchampionship golf I’ve seen N AUGUST 2020, amid that difficult period when golf was played without fans and the world was at a low ebb because of COVID-19, I had a revelation about the ensuing 11 months I couldn’t keep to myself. On the eve of the PGA Championship at Harding Park, during a CBS media conference call, I proclaimed, “We are about to enter the greatest stretch of golf in major-championship history.” Part of my reasoning came down to just math—because of postponements and rescheduling, an unprecedented seven majors would be contested in less than a year, this coming after a stretch when no majors were played in 13 months. At least one prominent golf writer thought the prediction hyperbolic, but what followed delivered on my promise, and in an age when we are slow to savor recent history and quick to move from one headline to the next, it’s a good time to reflect on what pro golf has given us. It began with Collin Morikawa, then in his second season, capturing his first major with his PGA Championship victory at Harding Park. Less than six weeks later came the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, won by Bryson DeChambeau. The victory, his first in a major, emboldened DeChambeau to transform himself—and the way the game is played—even further. The 2020 season wrapped with Dustin Johnson’s victory at the Masters in November. DJ’s record 20-under-par performance at Augusta National might not be broken in our lifetime, and by winning his second major, he laid the perception of him as an underachiever to rest forever.
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The stretch not only continued into 2021, it got better. Hideki Matsuyama’s win at the Masters was crucial for golf globally and lifted his home country of Japan, which always was golf-mad but without a men’s major until now. The sight of Hideki’s caddie, Shota Hayafuji, bowing respectfully to the Augusta National course at the conclusion of the tournament was one of the “shots” of the year. The PGA Championship at Kiawah followed and went to ageless Phil Mickelson, who at 50 became the oldest winner of a major and enriched his legacy. Next came the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and the gutsy performance by Jon Rahm, who at this writing is the No. 1-ranked player in the game and is
assured of greatness. Then came Morikawa again, at 24, calmly pocketing his second major, the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s. It was an unbroken streak of quality major champions who produced titles consecutively over the course of two calendar years, albeit in condensed fashion. Only two streaks in golf history remotely compare. In 1962, Arnold Palmer won the Masters and Open Championship, Jack Nicklaus won the U.S. Open and Gary Player won the PGA Championship. That fed into the 1963 season in which Nicklaus won the Masters in April. Five wins by superstars in five straight majors—rare indeed. The stretch encompassing 1971 and ’72 was
even better. It began with Lee Trevino capturing the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion and the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. In 1972, Nicklaus won the Masters and U.S. Open, followed by Trevino winning the Open Championship at Muirfield. The PGA Championship that year was won by Player, another all-time great. Three legends producing wins in six consecutive majors—wow. Those streaks helped transform Arnie, Jack, Gary and Lee into major sports superstars and did much to elevate the game commercially. But I think the current streak is even better and has deeper meaning. Collin, Bryson, Jon and Hideki are a bellwether for the future and will be at the core of the pro
game for a generation. Phil and Dustin, meanwhile, are ideal representatives of the recent past and might not be finished yet. This streak will age well because it came at a time when golf sorely needed something wonderful to happen. The early effects of COVID-19 were dire, and the performances of these players had a carryover effect onto the population. As we learned from Tiger Woods’ past domination, brilliant players inspire us all to play more. Golf is in a boom period at the business and grassroots level, courses at capacity with everyday players. The streak has had a lot to do with that. The best part about this streak of majors is that it’s not over. Four of the
six players involved in the streak performed brilliantly at a thrilling Ryder Cup, and another member of the winning U.S. team, Patrick Cantlay, provided a cherry on top by winning the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. I count Cantlay’s performances and Xander Schauffele’s conquest of an Olympic gold medal as parenthetical but important parts of the streak. What will happen in 2022? I expect the streak to continue, especially in the majors. Pro golf is in a protracted bull market that will further eclipse the “Bear” markets Nicklaus presided over 50 years ago. Come April, don’t be surprised when one of the principals in the current streak is helped into a green jacket. Illustration by Ryan Olbrysh
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G E T T I N G H E R YIPS. STRUGGLES. FEELING LOST.
K I C K S
A DECADE AFTER WINNING TWO U.S. AMATEURS,
DANIELLE KANG IS FINALLY IN A GOOD PLACE AND READY TO INFLICT SOME
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INTERVIEW BY KEELY LEVINS
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and cinematography, drawing and animation. Working for Pixar would’ve been cool. ●●●
DANIELLE KANG IS A CONTRADICTION. SHE HATES RANGE FINDERS AND GREEN-READING BOOKS BUT PLAYS TOUR EVENTS IN A HOODIE AND JOGGERS.
Tell me about your tattoos. I have a bunch. A lot of them are matching—I get them with my friends. But the most important one is on the palm of my right hand: abba. It’s Korean; it means dad. I used my dad’s handwriting from a letter he wrote before he passed away [in 2013, from cancer]. Now everyone who shakes my hand meets him. ●●●
Can you play for fun? Not really. I’m not a fun recreational golfer. My friends know I don’t like it. It can be fun if it’s not regular golf. Like playing night golf or mini golf. On a standard golf course, it’s a competition every time. We’ve got bets going, which means I’m playing. ●●●
Who do you have bets going with? My brother, Alex [who plays on the Korn Ferry Tour]. I play with him all the time. We play team games against other people in Vegas where we live. We also play one-on-one. We play for money or dinner. I always ask for shots, and if he gives them to me, I take them. If I win, we usually go out to the Strip. We go to Carbone or Yellowtail. I love sushi, and the chef at Yellowtail is a good friend of ours. ●●●
She’s fiercely competitive but believes losing the Solheim Cup wasn’t all bad. She plays an individual sport but surrounds herself with a professional team and a group of close friends. She was a black belt in taekwondo but doesn’t let herself practice anymore. And she quickly became proficient at a game that’s notoriously difficult. Kang started playing golf at 12 and qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open a year and a half later. She won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2010 and 2011 and turned pro. Since then she has gone from not really loving the game and wondering when her first victory would come, to winning a major, to struggling with the driver yips, to joining forces with Butch Harmon and reaching No. 2 in the world. Now 29, Kang knows who she is, what she wants and who she can rely on to help get her there. This was our conversation with Danielle, edited for clarity. Do you love golf the same way you did when you were younger? I didn’t love golf; I was just really good at it. My older brother, Alex, played, and I wanted to hang out with him, and the easiest way to do that was by practicing with him. What I liked was winning. That’s what made it hard to like golf because you almost never win. I liked going to the 2007 U.S. Open [at 14], but I liked the attention more than the game. Doing something I hadn’t done before is what used to keep me going. I should’ve won on tour early, but it took me five years. My relationship with golf changed three or four years ago. I love the game now. I love the process. I love getting better. I love working on shots and pulling them off during a tournament. I love making putts when I have to. I love everything about it. I even love that if you do everything right, you can still get screwed, and you have to be OK with it. You didn’t want to be a pro golfer growing up? No. I thought I was going to be in entertainment. I love film
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Alex has caddied for you before. I asked for a read once, and he said, “Are you kidding? It’s a six-footer. You don’t need a read.” He’s right; I should know how to read a sixfooter. Blunt honesty is how my family operates. I trust him with everything in my game. He’ll tell me what I’m doing well, and he’ll tell me if I haven’t practiced enough. ●●●
Does your mom live in Vegas, too? She lives three minutes from me, so I usually go there and eat breakfast. I’m living a spoiled life. I love Mom’s cooking. We talk every day, but she doesn’t travel with me. I’ve always traveled by myself. My dad used to come to the majors. Mom comes to what she calls the “important” tournaments: Hawaii, Bahamas, France and the West Coast events. ●●●
You usually have some other supporters at the West Coast events—the Gretzkys. What’s the connection? Wayne’s been to the ANA and L.A. event. He has played in that pro-am with me. I grew up with the Gretzkys; we lived nearby [in Thousand Oaks, Calif.]. I played golf with Wayne and his wife, Janet, and their son, Ty, a lot growing up, playing under Wayne’s membership at Sherwood Country Club. They’re like my second family. Any time I need a pep talk, a little motivation, I call Janet. Janet’s got that fire. When Janet tells you to do something, you want to go do it. People think I see Dustin [Johnson] a lot, but I don’t. But he did introduce me to Butch. ●●●
You started working with Butch as he was slowing down his work with PGA Tour players. Dustin had been telling me to go see him for four years. I finally did, and I won the second tournament after we started working together. Butch still gives me crap about how long it took to come see him. It’s not that I didn’t want to. I was with
desperate. It came down to understanding there was a mechanical issue. Butch helped me mentally check back in and helped me mechanically. ●●●
After that, I can see why you’d stick with Butch. I don’t think of it that way. He’s just a part of my life and somebody everyone should meet. He’s a special human. With golf, he can’t help himself. He can see seven swings at once. We’ll be on the putting green, and he’ll see people on the range, and without really paying attention, he’ll be like, “That guy could fix it with this.” He hasn’t met the guy, but he has already fixed him in his head. ●●●
a different coach, and I thought I was doing fine—until I hit a low point. I had the driver yips, and I didn’t know what else to do. I kept missing cuts. I tried everything. Dustin was like, “You want to see Butch?” I said, OK. ●●●
You had the yips? I didn’t talk about it, but yeah, I had the yips in 2017 and 2018. It was bad. I can see how it can ruin a career. I was starting to mentally check out. At the Hana Bank, I remember crying on the 15th tee. There was a hazard on the right, and I couldn’t pull the trigger. It could take a few minutes for me to be able to hit it. Olly [Brett], my caddie, kept encouraging me to take as long as I needed. I somehow managed to finish third in that event. Sometimes I’d just get up and hit it out-of-bounds because I was tired of making people wait. Olly stuck with me. I think we missed eight of nine cuts. I was hitting it O.B. left and right. I didn’t know what to do. I was
You’ve had five wins on tour, starting with the 2017 KPMG. How do they compare? It was a huge relief to get my first win. It was something I had been chasing for years. Then people were like, “You have to win another to solidify you’re really a winner.” I became obsessive about it. When I won again the next year, it didn’t feel great. I was angry that I’d let people get into my head. The third one in 2019, I wanted to prove to myself that I could defend, and I did. I didn’t care what people said or thought about it. I did it just for me. ●●●
You won back to back after the pandemic restart, which elevated you to your highest world ranking ever. I became No. 2. I was so obsessed with becoming No. 1. All of a sudden, it was right there. I lost focus on what I needed to do and played worse because I wanted it so bad. Negative thoughts come into your head. I was battling myself, and I lost. The way I see things sometimes, it’s like live or die. [Fellow LPGA pro] Inbee Park helped me realise it’s not the end of the world. There will be a next time, and it will be easier. That gave me peace. ●●●
What is the best advice Inbee has given you? She gave me a putting lesson, and in the next six months, my stats were unreal. I’m sorry. I can’t tell you what it was. It’s december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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a secret, and it’s not my secret to share. Other players have asked Inbee for it, and she hasn’t told them. She must really love me. [Laughs.] ●●●
You’ve also sought out Annika Sorenstam for advice. To me, she is the greatest of all time. She was so dominant. The determination in her voice is motivating. During the pandemic, she called me, and we talked about three-day events. I used to hate them. I felt like I was running out of holes, like I was chasing. She said, “In those events, you can be more yourself than anywhere: You can be as aggressive as you want from the first hole.” I hadn’t thought of it that way. The first event back after the pandemic, I won. It was a three-day tournament. I gave her a signed flag, which was weird—she’s Annika Sorenstam; she has plenty of flags. But I wanted to let her know I couldn’t have done it without her. ●●●
How does Butch help you? Butch is a reality check. He’ll never BS me— ever. He thinks he’s kind of a hard ass, but he’s not with me. He never sugarcoats anything, but he always tells me it’s OK. No matter what, he’ll tell me, “We’ll fix it, we’ll figure it out, it’s just a bad week.” If I lose a tournament, he’ll say, “D, that was a tough loss, not gonna lie. But we’re good. We’ll get the next one.” It’s always something positive. He doesn’t want me to dwell. ●●●
Are LPGA Tour players as concerned with distance as PGA Tour players? Oh, I got obsessed for a while. I got a longer shaft for my driver. I gave up on it though. I hit it far for my size. I also hit it really straight, so I got over it. I decided to make more putts. I’m not that tall [5-foot-6]. I don’t weigh that much. I could try to pull a Bryson and gain a bunch of weight and muscle and all that. But I don’t think I can gain 40 yards. I don’t think 15 yards will make me No. 1 in the world. But you can’t help but want to hit it far. When you go to the range, you want to hit the back of the net.
is unbelievable. Have you seen these women hit 3-woods or 4-irons? It’s like a chalk line. I’ve never seen anybody control hybrids and woods like the women do. The ball is floating to the hole from 190 yards. Guys would be hitting, what, 7-iron? But I’m hitting 5-wood. That misconception goes for recreational golfers, too. Like, you don’t hit it 280, sir. My rule is, if you can’t outdrive me, you’re playing in front of me; you’re moving up a tee.
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Do you think people understand how far women hit it on tour? They think we hit it farther. There are women on tour who hit it unbelievably far, but our average carry is probably 225. If you’ve gotta cover 230, we’re going left or right of it, and 245, 250 is a huge carry. No, I don’t hit it 280. No, I don’t cover 250. But our long-game control
Did Butch support you chasing distance? Not really. He said, “D, you weigh a buck 20. Just relax.” I said, “Butch, I could hit it farther.” I think I gained like eight yards, and it was so much effort. For me, at my size, to gain 2 or 3 miles-per-hour swing speed is a big deal. ●●●
Do you think slow play is an issue on tour? It’s an issue if everyone is standing around waiting. Ready golf should be a part of the game. Some shots take longer than a
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minute. If someone needs more time, just go chill, go meditate, whatever, don’t stress about it. I carry a book, usually Mitch Albom books. They’re lightweight so Olly doesn’t really mind. We don’t have that luxury where you can miss a cut. A shot matters. ●●●
What do you think about the slow-play solutions the tour is trying? I’m against lasers. Recreational golfers should use them, but stepping off yardages and knowing the numbers are part of the pro game. It separates good caddies from not-good caddies. Lasers aren’t doing anything for slow play. Everyone’s still stepping off yardages. It’s like leaving the pin in. Some leave it in; some leave it out. Caddies have to bring it back and forth—it’s more chaotic than anything. Changes like these aren’t making a big enough difference in playing time. Golf is still going to take four and a half to five hours.
Why is charity work so important to you? I’ve been involved in charities for a long time. I guess I talk about it more now. I donate food and volunteer. It’s therapeutic. My dad always took me with him when he donated food. That stuck with me. My parents told me, “You’re a person before you’re a golfer, so be a good person.” Golf has opened doors for me to help people. To deliver a food donation and see people so excited to get a meal, it’s a different perspective. I see those things and think, How can I make it better? How can I make myself better? I love playing golf. I want to give my all without losing myself in it. It’s a difficult balance. Charity work helps. ●●●
When you go out in public, do you get recognised? It depends where. When I go to Korea, they’re such big golf fans there, I get recognised. Once, a woman came up to me and said she was so excited to meet me. She started to cry, and she said she had cancer, and the fire and feistiness I have on the golf course inspired her to fight through cancer. That hit me in my heart.
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It’s important for women to make the cut to make a living, but on the PGA Tour, the men can miss some cuts and still make good money. Do you think about the financial differences? I do. But I’m mindful of how blessed we are to have the opportunity to make six figures every week. Not a lot of people do. That being said, the money difference is huge. You have to look at the facts of TV ratings. We need to find ways to better engage the fans and increase viewership so that we can close the gap. Everyone who puts money into the PGA Tour sees a return. We have to make it so that the return on investment in our tour is equivalent. Also, I want our tournaments to have a vibe where younger crowds can get brunch, some mimosas and hang out all day.
For the second time in a row, Europe edged Team USA in the Solheim Cup. How hard was that? It’s never fun to lose, but I had so much fun at Inverness. The fans were out there at five in the morning. I’d walk off the bus, and people were screaming. I saw a big leap for women’s golf. I really appreciated Bubba Watson coming out and seeing all the support on Twitter from PGA Tour players. I viewed the week as a win for women’s golf.
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What was it like to compete in the Olympics in Tokyo? I looked around the village and realised all these people worked so hard to get to this point from all over the world, experiencing different things, living in different places, struggling in their own ways; it was eye-opening. Being around them, I felt part of something bigger. ●●●
Did you meet other athletes? My roommates were the beach volleyball players [April Ross and Alix Klineman] who won gold. I got to chat with them before my tournament started. At a sponsor event, Lea [Sprunger, Swiss track athlete] taught me how to jump off the track blocks. I didn’t know it was that difficult. I kept diving into the ground. I didn’t realise your feet aren’t on the ground. ●●●
Mental health has been a big topic for athletes. How do you prioritise your mental health? Seeking help for mental health needs to be normalised. I’ve had help. I see a sport psychologist and a therapist so that I can talk about what I need to talk about. I lean on my friends a lot, too. However big or small the issue, I know I have to get my mind clear so I can play. I also know it’s not always going to be clear. I’ve been learning to perform even when things are going on. I use box breathing [inhaling for four counts, holding your breath for four counts, exhaling for four counts and repeat] a lot on the course.
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How important is taekwondo to your success as a golfer? It built a foundation in my life. I trained for more than 10 years. You learn discipline, respect, self-defense and hard work. The explosiveness of taekwondo is similar to the explosiveness in the golf swing. But I don’t do martial-arts workout classes anymore because I’m scared that I’ll get hooked. It happened with kickboxing. I had to stop cold turkey. ●●●
When you’re not playing golf, what do you do? I like art. I paint when I’m home. I like doing random things. Whether it’s hiking in Zion National Park or going to see a friend who lives far away, I’ll just get on a plane and do it. I eat good food. I read books; my favourite is The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I love movie nights; “Remember the Titans” is my favourite. ●●●
Mollie Marcoux Samaan has replaced Mike Whan as LPGA Commissioner after his 11 years on the job. What’s your advice for her? Keep the lines of communication open. What Mike did for the tour was incredible. He took a personal interest in every player, and made each one feel heard. That’s good advice for anyone.
‘MY RULE IS, IF YOU CAN’T OUTDRIVE ME, YOU’RE PLAYING IN FRONT OF ME; YOU’RE MOVING UP A TEE.’ december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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00 golf digest | issue x . 2021
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P O W E R P L A Y HOW WE FIXED DANIELLE’S DRIVING AND HOW IT CAN HELP YOU
BY BUTCH HARMON
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GOLF DIGEST TEACHING PROFESSIONAL
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W
hen Danielle came to me two years ago, she had the driver yips. There was a stretch of hitting big pushes to the right or snap-hooks to the left, and she had started changing her swing out of desperation. To her credit, she was trying to do the opposite of what was natural, thinking her tendencies were how she got into trouble. But she
was conflicted and would go to the first tee wondering if she could even take the club back—that’s the yips. When I heard what she was doing and watched her hit some balls, my mind went to something my dad always said: “Don’t take away what a player does naturally, just make it better.” We needed to draw on what she did well and adjust her swing only as necessary. In this article, I’ll show you how we did it, from the takeaway to the
transition and down through impact. It took some hard work, but Danielle got her driving back, and now she can hit it 20 yards longer (she averages 255 yards off the tee on the LPGA Tour). The interesting thing is, her natural move is to do what a lot of amateurs do: swing back to the inside and lift the club to the top. Granted, Danielle is a phenomenal athlete, but I bet the changes we’ve made can get you bombing it, too. —with peter morrice
▶ a new attitude “When I met Butch, I was losing two or three balls a round off the tee—no exaggeration. He wanted to know what felt natural, not what felt bad. That mind-set was different for me.” —Danielle Kang
This is Danielle’s new takeaway. The clubface is square, which at this point in the swing means tipped slightly toward the ground (above). More importantly, the shaft is parallel to her toe line—perfectly on plane. Her tendency is to roll the club to the inside, but when she got to me, she was trying to swing back outside the target line and hold the face closed. That was so unnatural for her. She just needed to start back a little straighter and let the face rotate naturally. From there, she can turn her upper body and set the club beautifully at the top. So that’s where we began. DRILL: To check her takeaway, I stand in front of her holding a club at the bottom of her grip. As she swings back, she slides her club along my club, letting the clubface rotate open (right). This keeps her from veering inside. If she comes off my club, we know she’s going to the outside. When she gets to hip high, the club is on plane with the face square. Perfect start.
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SWING WIDER OFF THE BALL
PUSH THE HANDS TO THE SKY For her size, Danielle creates a huge arc on the backswing. She does it by stretching her hands high and away from her head (below). Her arc is so wide, she’s more loaded at the top than most players with longer swings. Look at Jon Rahm and Gary Woodland: They hit it miles and get nowhere near parallel at the top. Long backswings lead to a throw away from the target at the start down, which dumps a lot of power. Danielle’s high hands create a straight line down to the ball, with no wasted motion. We’ve worked to get her more deliberate on the backswing, really taking her time to wind up. Then she can start down and put everything into the back of the ball. DRILL: Danielle’s flexibility allows her to make a tight body rotation and stretch her hands high without coming out of her posture. We often pause this position at the top and have her feel that stretch (right). For a player small in stature, the way to get a big swing arc is to push those hands high.
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▶ set it and forget it “I wanted to be able to get set at the top and just let it go. No steering the club. Now I don’t fear the misses anymore. My focus is on hitting fairways.” —DK
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SHIFT FORWARD, LEGS FIRST
▶ cleared for launch “Butch always tells me, ‘cover the ball’ on the downswing. That idea of getting my upper body moving forward, not hanging back, is how we got rid of the big hook. Now I can swing aggressively.” —DK
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Danielle used to tilt back on the downswing, so she had to time a flip with her hands to try to square the clubface by impact. If the flip was late, she’d hit a push; If it was early, she’d hook it. Now she’s driving into her front side, so she’s not relying on timing with her hands anymore. A good feel coming down is to be more “on top” of the ball. Danielle has a fast lower body and clears her hips out well, so she needs to focus on getting her upper body forward. Also, she increases her wrist hinge coming down (below). That’s a major power move, and she does that because her downswing is happening from the ground up, lower body leading and everything going forward. DRILL: If you tilt away from the target coming down, the heel of the back foot tends to spin outward—proof of a poor weight shift. To counter that, I put a ball against the instep of Danielle’s trail foot (right), and she has to stay on that ball, even bump it toward her front foot during the downswing. To do that, you have to drive the lower body forward.
▶ got your back “When somebody believes in you, believes you can be better than you think you can be, it keeps you going. Butch has helped me sort out my swing, but so much more than that.” —DK
RIP IT FROM THE INSIDE I always tell my players that impact is the result of what comes before it. Once Danielle gets loaded in a good position at the top, her lower-body drive drops the club to the inside so she can extend her arms out to the ball. She’s not holding back (above); she’s just being an athlete through impact. For her, the swing is about extending on both sides of the ball, with a windup and a forward shift in between. I tell her to keep up her speed to the finish. She has another 20 yards in her pocket. I like to kid that she has to stop worrying about hitting fairways—just rip it. DRILL: Here’s a great one to feel impact. I put my foot where the ball would be and tell her to push hard against it (right). Her weight goes to her front foot, her upper body moves forward, with her hips open and her left wrist bowed. You can’t hang back and push with any force. This is a great sensation for power, and it’s where she needs to be at impact.
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a $200 million, 10-year investment in 10 premier events is a game-changer for the asian tour and it’s australian chief
by kent gray
cho minn thant’s feet had barely touched the ground as the new head honcho of the Asian Tour, much less settled under the metaphorical table, when the world shifted on its axis. ▶ Between his July 1, 2019 ascension to the role of CEO and Tour Commissioner, and the time when the COVID-19 outbreak collectively sent the world into lockdown, the Australian had overseen just 18 events. The Asian Tour ‘shutdown’ signs went up immediately following the Bandar Malaysian Open on March 7, 2020, leaving Cho virtually powerless to do anything. ▶ “We played the Malaysian Open and were scheduled to play an event in Bangladesh the next week and the Hero Indian Open the week after that so we had to abruptly cancel two events right off the bat,” he recalls. “Honestly, we thought the pandemic would probably last four to six months… ▶▶▶ 38 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
Photograph by Jill Brammer
and Cho has navigated a proverbial roller-coaster of emotions. For the most part, the past 18 months has been heartwrenching as players were forced to take on teaching jobs at their local driving ranges, even driving jobs as Uber contractors, to stay afloat. The best case scenario saw players return to action as smaller national tours spluttered back into life, offering some respite as South East Asia slowly started reopening. Still, other players were forced to turn their back on the game altogether as strict pandemic rules made it (and still make it in some corners of the region) impossible to run events. What made it doubly frustrating for Cho and his small team was that the PGA and European Tours were able to navigate less restrictive rules to get back up and running. “I feel very bad because I wasn’t able to restart but there is literally nothing we could have done to get started sooner,” Cho said. “We actually tried to potentially do some tournaments in America just because it was open a lot sooner than the East but the members said look, we don’t feel comfortable going to America, it’s a long way to go, the costs will probably be a lot higher than they are in Asia, visas might be a problem so we had to scrap the idea because the members weren’t too keen.” Closer to home, the frustrations continued. “We’d be working with Governments, we’d make progress and then suddenly take two steps back because of a second, third or fourth wave. We got close to doing events in Korea then they had a second wave, we got close to being given permis-
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“THERE’S NO SHORTAGE OF GREAT VENUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST WHICH IS FORTUNATE FOR US BUT AGAIN, WE’VE GOT TO BE CAREFUL WITH NOT SATURATING THE MARKET AS WELL.”
sion to do tournaments in the Middle East and then there was a wave in India with Delta.” All that Cho could do while the Asian Tour’s already modest fiscal reserves were being eaten away to worrying levels was to take a magnifying glass to the business and plan for the future. It didn’t hurt that a fiscal White Knight was riding to the rescue in the form of the Greg Norman-fronted LIV Golf Investments. It’s amazing how a 10-year, $200 million investment can change your outlook completely. Suddenly Cho has been able to tack 10, $1 million plus prize purse events onto the Asian Tour schedule with a decade of certainty. “You could say that 18 months ago, that was probably the worst time ever to be the Commissioner of Asian Tour and looking forward is probably the best time because of what we’ve done with LIV Golf and Golf Saudi,” said Cho. The 2022 Asian Tour season will begin at the Feb. 3-6 Saudi International, flagged as the circuit’s new “flagship” season-opener when it was revealed that the Golf Saudi-sanctioned event had switched from the European Tour in another landmark
Ross KinnaiRd/getty images
Fast-forward to the present day
LEFT: Dustin Johnson has won two of the three editions of the Saudi International which will signal the start of the 2022 Asian Tour season from Feb. 3-6.
francois nel/getty images
BELOW: India’s Arjun Atwal won the last Asian Tour event staged in the UAE, the $500,000 DUBAi Open, held at the Els Club, Dubai in December 2014.
about us, seen us on TV, seen a huge investment coming the way of the Asian Tour and they’ve put their hand up saying, ‘we’d like to be part of it’. So I think from the get-go, the support from existing sponsors and potential new sponsors have been have really good, broadcasters are obviously excited because in any given year, we deliver broadcasters 12 to 13 live events but now we’ve got 10 on top of that so we’re looking at 23-25 events live across the season for the Asian Tour which is really good for the broadcasters. “Obviously for us, the three pillars of our business are the broadcast revenue and reaching out to the fans, the more we can reach, the more we are able to appeal to the corporate world. The third pillar, which is probably not so much a business thing, is providing our players playing opportunities. We can kill all birds with one stone here with the LIV Golf investment.” The 10 events and associated broadcasts will enable Cho and his team to start turning the Asian Tour’s stars into household names. Still, established PGA and DP World Tour stars will help move the needle, presuming of course those players are not blocked from participating. “I think it will naturally evolve,” Cho said of attracting big-name signings. “I think a lot of guys are a little sceptical of where the Asian Tour might get to and what we’re doing just because
10-year deal last September. There will be big name signings at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club but Cho is at pains to explain that the Saudi International and the 10 premier events are different beasts. To paraphrase, the Saudi International isn’t afraid to lure stars with appearance fees while the 10 new events are all about building a strong, sustainable foundation under the Asian Tour, an organisation Cho has worked for in various roles for the past 15 years. “I’d say a lot of the time, or as long as I’ve been with the Asian Tour, it’s been a bit of a patchwork of events and pretty much trying to put something together year on year. But now that we had the 18 months with the pandemic, we’ve had a lot of time to assess how our business is actually run, how it can be done more efficiently and yeah, I mean coming out of a pandemic with this type of new deal it is unheard of it’, it’s unbelievable,” he said. So how will the $200 million LIV Golf Investments be a game changer? “I think straight away, without digging too deep, a lot of people have read the media releases, the stories december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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ABOVE: Cho Minn Thant has worked for the Asian Tour in various roles for 15 years. RIGHT: Korea's Joohyun Kim was a leading light at the $1 million Blue Canyon Phuket Championship last last month which marked the resumption of the Asian Tour after a 20-month pandemic enforced hiatus.
paul l akatos/asian tour
we haven’t staged any of these events and it’s all a concept right now. We’re working hard making it happen and obviously the proof will be in the pudding, the pressure is on us to put these tournaments on and attract players. “Ultimately, it’s a word of mouth really. I mean the greatest advertisement that anyone could ever have is the players themselves talking amongst themselves saying ‘hey this is a great tournament’ or a ‘great tour to be part of.’” While the Asian Tour will not block its members playing elsewhere, Cho is also determined to build a circuit where members can control their own financial destiny. The funding, indirectly via Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, makes the prospect of moving from a stepping stone tour to a destination in its own right more feasible. “We’ve had great players like Jeev Milkha Singh and others who played well on the Asian Tour that knew the next step was Europe, even Japan when the Japanese Tour was very lucrative and they’ve always said, ‘Cho’, and even to my predecessors as well, ‘if we could play for
equal amounts of money in Asia, we wouldn’t leave. We like playing in Asia, we like the atmosphere, we like the Asian Tour and we were forced to go overseas just because that was a more lucrative. If we could stay and play in Asia, then we will support the Asian Tour’. I would say not everyone’s concern is world ranking points but for most of the members, it about making a living for themselves.” After the enforced 20-month hibernation, the tour resumed its 2020-21 order of merit with a double-header in Phuket from late November. A pair of events are scheduled for Singapore in January to finish out the season. The top-30 on the final moneylist will earn invites to February’s Saudi International. It’s was a resumption and an evolution rolling into one. “Rome wasn’t built in a day but with the backing that we have, it can be built a lot sooner,’ Cho said. “The 10 tournaments coming onto the schedule straight away in 2022 is a godsend for us and hopefully we build momentum. Like I said, we’re on TV, corporates will take interest, the fans get behind us and it just snowballs. I wouldn’t say we’re intentionally trying to compete against the European Tour, or compete against the PGA Tour, we’re just trying to build our product in the way we think we should be.” That’s nice rhetoric but how about the reality, especially from a European perspective. Don’t forget, DP World Tour chairman David Williams described the once-friendly Asian Tour as “fierce competitors” not long before the European Tour was rebadged. Given the loose link between the 10 new premier Asian Tour events and the mooted start up league aligned to Norman and LIV Golf, isn’t that fear natural? Isn’t it fair that you’re being portrayed as disruptors? “It’s not a bad thing but I don’t think that’s a great description of what we’re doing at the Asian Tour,” said Cho. “I think we’re building our business and I don’t think it’s really disrupting anything. I think competition is a great thing. The analogy that I have is you take the footwear market for example, you have Nike, you have
paul l akatos/asian tour
Adidas, they’re obviously long established companies and along comes Under Armour not too long ago and there is a new player in the game. It’s not like Adidas and Nike teamed up to eradicate Under Armour. I think they both realised that they have to compete, that their products [needed to] continually get better and as a consumer you choose whether you buy Adidas, Nike or Under Armour. And in most cases, people probably have all three brands in their closet. I think we can co-exist.” With that said, Cho concedes that the Asian Tour would be comfortable hitching it’s wagon to any LIV Golf off-shoot. “If the [mooted start-up] league is accepted by the market, the Asian Tour wants to be one of the first movers to be involved with it rather than reactionary,” he said. Talking of innovation, don’t be surprised if there are a few curve balls among the 10 new events in 2022 that challenge the stock-standard 72-hole strokeplay format.
“I WOULDN’T SAY WE’RE INTENTIONALLY TRYING TO COMPETE AGAINST THE EUROPEAN TOUR, OR COMPETE AGAINST THE PGA TOUR, WE’RE JUST TRYING TO BUILD OUR PRODUCT IN THE WAY WE THINK WE SHOULD BE.”
“I don’t think we’d shorten it from 72 holes just because of the world ranking aspect but there could be a matchplay one in there, a modified stableford in there somewhere and potentially mixed event starting next year [2023]. Without taking away from the core of the Asian Tour, I think there is room for team competitions and mixed competitions and we know how local communities get behind their own players so I think an Asian Nations Cup or something along those lines would be very successful.” Expect also Middle East events to be part of the 2022 schedule, perhaps just not in Dubai initially. Cho has signalled a mid-December announcement on a schedule that will include four or five events up to March with a Middle East connection. Overall, he’s targeting a 25-event season that will run from February 2022 to January 2023 but is likely to be announced in two parts. “I think 25 is probably conservative but we’ve also got understand that 2022 is still the recovery year. Not every event that used to be on the Asian Tour will come back just because of the economy of certain regions,” he said. “I think we expect the bigger events like the Diamond Cup in Japan, the Korean Open, the Maekyung Open, the Shinhan Donghae Open, the Thailand Open, Indonesia Open, to all come back, those tournaments were all held during the pandemic as domestic events so I think they’ll quite easily convert back into Asian Tour events when we can travel to those countries. But the smaller events that we used to put on in Malaysia like the Sarawak Championdecember 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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ABOVE: LIV Golf Investments CEO Greg Norman has described the Asian Tour as a “sleeping giant” awoken.
While the schedule is a moving feast in these challenging pandemic times, one advantage the Asian Tour has is undeniable; the world’s largest market. “Absolutely, I mean you look at countries like Indonesia, massive population, you look at India, China, I mean that speaks for itself. You’ve got sports mad countries like Korea, like Japan, they really get behind sport and their own athletes. “It’s like Greg [Norman] said, it’s a sleeping giant and we haven’t had, I guess, that security or the backbone on the Asian Tour to build around.” Until now.
Ben Jared/getty images
ship and the Sabah Masters, these smaller regional tournaments might not come back straight away. I think those governments and economies are putting their money into their local communities before sports sponsorship so that’s understandable. “There’s no shortage of great venues in the Middle East which is fortunate for us but again we’ve got to be careful with not saturating the market as well. The European Tour obviously played in Dubai twice in November and they’ve got a stretch of five next year as well so we don’t necessarily need to copycat the European Tour. We’ll look for places that haven’t seen golf for a while. “Jordan is a destination that people talk about and one which we’ve never been to. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the Dubais and the Abu Dhabis of the world… there’s other places that we can do tournaments in the Middle East as well.”
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The power play for professional golf was bound to test existing relationships as tradition-challenging strategies were drawn up and sides taken. So it has proved with the European Tour, now in a strategic partnership with the PGA Tour, publically declaring itself “fierce competitors” with the once friendly but now Saudi-aligned Asian Tour. As a result, the European Tour has decided not to renew a strategic relationship with its Asian counterpart dating back to 2016. It has taken cosanctioned events (there were as many as 12 on Asian soil in 2006) and tour card and Q-School exemptions for Asian Tour players off the table and informed its members that any request to play on the Asian Tour must now be made in writing and the requested releases “reviewed” on a case-bycase basis. It comes at a momentous time for both tours. Each has recently secured their biggest ever sponsorship deals: the European Tour a 10-year deal with the Dubai-based DP World understood to be worth $400 million, the Asian Tour a potentially game-changing, decade-long $200 million investment from Saudi-funded LIV Golf Investments which will see 10 new events bolted onto its schedule from 2022. While the Saudi International has switched from the European Tour to become the Asian Tour’s flagship, $5 million season-opener, the now DP World Tour has put up the $2 million Ras Al Khaimah Championship in the same Feb. 3-6 time-slot. In other words, little ground is been given. With close political, economic and cultural connections between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, some speculated that the respective sponsors would be caught in the maelstrom, but that hasn’t been the case.
▶ rebadged ambition At the DP World Tour launch were (from L to R) the European Tour group’s Guy Kinnings (Deputy CEO), Keith Pelley (CEO) and David Williams (Chairman) and DP World’s Yuvraj Narayan (Group Chief Financial, Strategy and Business Officer), Abdulla Bin Damithan (CEO and Managing Director of DP World UAE) and Daniel van Otterdijk (Chief Communications Officer) .
In an exclusive interview with Golf Digest Middle East special correspondent Joy Chakravarty, DP World’s Chief Communications Officer Daniel van Otterdijk insisted the two organisations maintained excellent relations. “The relations between DP World and Saudi Golf Federation are very cordial. We speak almost on a bi-weekly basis on various activities that are going on,” said van Otterdijk. “There is work to be done and discussion to be had about how we move forward onto greater collaboration. But I can promise you there hasn’t been any discord. “Everybody involved in the game, from Jay Monaghan (PGA Tour Commissioner) to Keith at the European Tour, to our friends at Saudi Golf, the Asian Tour and ourselves, we all have one focus – and that is to make the game greater, to provide greater excitement for the fans and attract more players. “I think both Saudi Golf and us, we’d love to see a winner from this region, whether it be the UAE, Saudi Arabia or any other countries in the GCC.” DP World has operational presence across 66 countries, 137 locations and all five continents, with Asia one of their major markets. That makes the standoff between the European Tour and the Asian Tour less than idea although van Otterdijk is hopeful of a thawing of relations and has not ruled out the possibility of the two sponsors working together in golf in the future. “I think what Golf Saudi are doing is fantastic for the game. I do know that the people involved are passionate about the sport and have fantastic ideas about how to develop golf. I have no doubt that in the coming years, those thoughts and ideas will come together on a global stage,” said van Otterdijk. “I also have absolutely no doubt about the future of golf in any part of the world, including Asia. All the tours are working together and collaborating for the good of the game. “We have had good discussions with our friends at Golf Saudi. I know the media always loves to make negative things out of it. I can tell you that isn’t the case. What they’re doing by investing in the Asian Tour is fantastic. And we look forward to working with them in the future.” While van Otterdijk was trying to clear a few misconceptions on the sidelines of the DP World Tour Championship, the 11th hour withdrawal of world No.1 Jon Rahm was an inevitable line of questioning. As title sponsor, surely they were miffed? “No. Absolutely not. And let me tell you why,” he added. “First and foremost, Jon is a champion player. He sent us a very long and detailed email outlining why he wasn’t coming. And we appreciate that. That tells you a lot about Jon as a player, and as a person for that matter, and the respect he has for both the European Tour and for DP World. We look forward to having him back with us next year. december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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“These past few months have been difficult for many people, not just on the golfers. It’s been a big challenge for the players to live in these [pandemic enforced] bubbles, which is not easy when you’re on tour for 30 weeks. It has been an enormous strain on not just the people who run the tour, but also the players. So, I think we need to be mindful of that. So, I think from our perspective, we’re grateful for the players that are here.” While DP World is planning to charter new territories as part of their sponsorship and reach at least 27 countries with the re-branded DP World Tour, van Otterdijk said the status of DP World Tour Championship will remain sacrosanct and every effort will be made to make it the premier championship in world golf. That would include overtures to get the PGA Tour involved. “Your colleague at Golf Digest recently wrote that the importance of the DP World Tour Championship is waning over the past few years for some of the top players,” said van Otterdijk. “Perhaps that is one of the reasons why we wanted to relook at this, and we looked at this as part of the partnership. We think that the seasonending tournament totally needs to build greater relevance. Now, money attracts many people, and I’m sure the players will forgive me for saying this, but we also want to create a greater sense of prestige for the DP World Tour Championship [the tournament will become the first $10 million event on the European Tour next year]. “So, we also want to work with the PGA Tour to ensure that this becomes the centrepiece, if you like, for both tours in the coming years. And that’s one of the things that we’ve talked to both tours about is that we’d like to see greater relevance for players on both tours to be able to come here.” It is an oft-repeated mantra in business that no sponsorship is sustainable if it does not have clear marketing objectives. So, what prompted DP World to elevate its stake in the European Tour? “The evolution of DP World in the last decade and a half has been, by any standard, staggering. From being a port operator, which essentially entails taking containers off ships, and on to other
“We have had good discussions with our friends at Golf Saudi. What they’re doing by investing in the Asian Tour is fantastic. And we look forward to working with them in the future.” 48 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
▶ collaborator Daniel van Otterdijk: “We think that the seasonending tournament needs to build greater relevance.”
modes of transport, to add ways to being an integrated logistics provider, is a massive transformation,” said van Otterdijk. “As we grew in the last decade, into a 137-location and a 66-country global conglomerate, just having one golf tournament in the year did not meet our requirements. So, the natural evolution was to widen our partnership and the European Tour came up with a terrific proposal. “We were moving from being a very deep B2B organisation, which people thought had no social relevance, to a very, very relevant in the B2C environment, right with our acquisitions and development of digital platforms such as DuBuy.com. “We really want to build our brand and the markets that are relevant to us. So, the visibility is very important, why we are putting our marketing dollars here. And secondly, to use this as a platform to engage with our traditional customers and some of our new customers in new areas of logistics supply chain.” Otterdijk said there is a definite plan of taking the DP World Tour to new golf destinations. “Because golf is so popular in Asia, in countries like Japan, Korea, India and China, that’s obvious places we’d want to go. Europe is already strong on the Tour. Africa is one place we’d like to be more visible. There are a good 50 countries in Africa and you don’t see golf as a mainstream sport. It is still seen as elitist, which is a tag we want to lose. We want it to be as inclusive as we possibly can. “We have a massive footprint in Africa and we believe in the future prosperity of the continent. We think trade enablement, providing trade pathways and trade corridors is the most sustainable way to develop for Africa, and we think the game of golf can play a part in that solution.” – additional reporting by kent gray
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H.E. Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Aramco and Golf Saudi, is encouraged by how the Aramco Team Series is empowering a new generation of golfers in the Kingdom
GLOBAL INSPIRATION 50 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
Aramco Team Series
rom players both professional and amateur, to engaged media, to fans around the world, the Aramco Team Series has been an unqualified success. ▶ With $1 million events in London, Sotograde (Spain), New York and King Abdullah Economic City sanctioned by the LET, the innovative series with individual and team components attracted many of the game’s biggest names and produced exciting finishes at each venue. ▶ We caught up with H.E. Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan, the duel chairman of title-sponsor Aramco and Golf Saudi, to review the inaugural year of the series. Why did Aramco choose to launch the Aramco Team Series? We were delighted to launch the inaugural Aramco Team Series. By partnering with the Ladies European Tour and being the title sponsor of this series, we hope to elevate women’s golf and extend our commitment to female advancement – whether through sports, in the workplace or society in general. Aramco has a long history of involvement in golf, a sport associated with strong positive values, and we have pioneered its development in Saudi Arabia. Through our involvement in this tournament, we hope to encourage more women to take up the sport, both in the Kingdom and around the world. ●●●
How long was the series in the works and how is it structured? The format for the Aramco Team Series was first trailed last November in Saudi Arabia, during the Saudi Ladies Team International. That event was won by a multi-national team led by Danish star Emily Pedersen, which included her teammates Casandra Hall from South Africa, Michele Thomson from Scotland and amateur golfer Matt Selby. Based on the success of that event, we decided to launch the Aramco Team Series. It is an exciting and unique format, in which 36 teams of four – consisting of three LET professionals and one amateur – competed for cash prizes worth $1 million during each event. Teams compete to shoot the lowest combined score over three days. Captains can choose only one player, and the rest of the team is randomly assigned – including one amateur player, who can enter through the Team Up competition.
How was the amateur golfer chosen? Amateur golfers can apply to participate by simply creating a post on social media, along with an image or video, that shows why they should be selected. As long as they use the hashtag #ATSTEAMUP, their application to enter will be reviewed by the organisers – who will make the final selection. ●●●
Is the new format ATS-specific, or have other series adopted similar formats? It is ATS-specific which is what makes the ATS so exciting and unique. Amateur players will contribute to the winning teams at these LET events. It provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for amateur golfers to compete at the highest level. And with a total of $4 million in prize money over four events, it is also raising the profile of the women’s game. ●●●
What does this really mean for the sport? And for Saudi Arabia? For the sport, it is providing crucial financial support to the LET and, therefore, female professionals across Europe. Like many, the LET suffered financially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The four Aramco Team Series events, with prizes worth a total of $4 million, account for more than 30 percent of the potential prize money on the LET circuit in 2021. It is also bringing a new dynamic to the women’s game, bringing together pro and amateur players to compete together on an international stage. For Saudi Arabia, it is a demonstration of the country’s evolution. And we hope Aramco’s association with the LET will inspire young Saudi women to take up the sport.
GOLF IS A SPORT THAT EMBODIES MANY OF THE VALUES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO US AT ARAMCO, FROM INTEGRITY AND RESPECT TO DEDICATION AND CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT.
december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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THE ARAMCO TEAM SERIES IS AN EXTENSION OF OUR EFFORTS TO EMPOWER WOMEN AND PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY.
Do you anticipate interest in golf within Saudi Arabia to grow as a result of Aramco’s involvement with the sport? Without a doubt. Aramco’s backing will shine a spotlight on the sport, particularly for the domestic audience, who place a significant amount of trust in the company, not only as a steward of Saudi Arabia’s large energy reserves but as an employer of choice, an enabler of talent and a driver of national economic development. During the trial run for the Aramco Team Series last November, and the accompanying Aramco Saudi Ladies International, we estimate that we reached a cumulative audience of more than 3.3 billion people globally through media. So we are not only targeting the domestic audience, we are also hoping these events encourage more people to take up golf around the world. ●●●
How are these investments in golf helping women in Saudi Arabia? The past few years have seen women in Saudi Arabia enjoy social progress at home and at work, and golf is playing a part in that through governmentbacked efforts such as last year’s launch of the
“Ladies First Club,” which offers free golf memberships and lessons to 1,000 women. Golf is a sport that embodies many of the values that are important to us at Aramco, from integrity and respect to dedication and continuous development. We hope that our involvement in golf will encourage more women to take up golf in Saudi Arabia and highlight opportunities for women to excel in sports. But it goes beyond simply inspiring the next generation of female golfers. Through the Aramco Team Series, we also hope to encourage a spirit of ambition and achievement in our societies, from the UK to the US, from Spain to Saudi Arabia. ●●●
Approximately how many women play golf in Saudi today? And how has that changed in recent years? Golf is still a new sport for the female population in Saudi Arabia. However, with the launch of the Ladies First Cub – which offers free golf memberships and lessons to 1,000 women – as well as other initiatives like our School’s program in which 100,000 children will learn golf over the coming years, we are confident that golf will become one of the fastest growing sports amongst women in the Kingdom. ●●●
Do you have an estimate for how many women are active in sports more generally in Saudi Arabia, and how that has changed recently? Participation in sports among Saudi women has grown significantly since the announcement of Vision 2030. It is estimated that female participation in sports within the Kingdom has increased by almost 150% since 2015 – a remarkable achievement. Additionally, a recent survey found that 70 percent of young female respondents now practice sports in their households to improve their health. One of the pillars of Vision 2030 is to boost health practices among all spectrums of Saudi society. ●●●
Do you have a target for the number of women to be active in golf or sports in Saudi Arabia? Golf Saudi is working toward a goal of having more than 10,000 registered female golfers by 2030. As part of its educational outreach program, Golf Saudi also hopes to introduce golf to approximately 50,000 female school students by 2025, and at the same time reach an equivalent number through its university programs. ●●●
Do you have other programs to promote female golf and other sports in Saudi Arabia, e.g., in schools? The Let it Fly schools program, which introduces golf into the national physical education curriculum, has already secured 21,000 students from co-ed and girls-only schools. This will also include the development of PE teachers, who will be trained to deliver the program.
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Aramco Team Series
▶ nice shot! H.E. Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan has played a pivotal role in the rise of the Aramco Team Series, putting the LET on a firmer financial footing and inspiring women the world over as a result.
Golf has traditionally been regarded as a maledominated sport. How does the Aramco Team Series seek to change this? The Aramco Team Series is an extension of our efforts to empower women and promote gender equality. Like many sports, the men’s game typically offers greater rewards for those at the top of the sport. By helping to narrow the prize gap in men’s and women’s golf, we are hoping to elevate the women’s game. ●●●
How has Aramco helped advance women in the workplace and advocate for females in Saudi society? We understand the impact women have at Aramco, as well as in the industry and the Kingdom, and have cultivated a thriving ecosystem for female empowerment that includes a range of leadership and mentoring programs to develop skills and fast-track advancement. Our women now comprise petroleum engineers working in the field, scientists in our R&D centres conducting futurealtering research, energy traders selling our products to customers around the world, and inventors developing revolutionary new processes and products. We believe that the truly inspirational stories of our female employees have a positive knock-on effect to other women, motivating them to join the workforce and strive for achievement, greatness and to be the next generation of inspirational Saudi women in the workplace. We are also engaging on this issue with other companies. Our iktva program, for instance, encourages female recruitment by our suppliers – and this has risen by around a third since iktva was launched. Aramco
is a founding stakeholder of the Leading National Academy, the first Saudi Arabian female training centre to prepare women for technical roles in fields such as electrical, supply chain, safety and quality control. Aramco was also a prime sponsor of the W20 Summit in Riyadh, which aimed to formulate actionable policy recommendations to advance gender equality in G20 negotiations. ●●●
Last year, Aramco also became a sponsor of F1 and the Saudi Ladies International Golf Tournament. What other major sports sponsorships do you have planned? We carefully consider sports sponsorships. We first want to see if Aramco’s values and principles are aligned with the sport - be it the organiser, event, team or player. And we also consider how we would be able to positively impact the sport and its community through our sponsorship. For example, F1 has been at the forefront of automotive engineering – accelerating innovation on and off the track for over seven decades. Aramco is also driving advances in transport technologies, from more efficient engine solutions to future fuels. ●●●
What is the future of golf in Saudi Arabia and how does Aramco fit into the picture? Sponsoring major international sporting events reflects our continued support for the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and our ongoing support for Saudi Golf as it continues to grow the sport across the country. Our world-class engineering expertise, our commitment to the well-being of our communities and our own growth ambitions will contribute to the Kingdom’s goal to develop promising sectors, such as tourism, diversify the economy and continue its quest for quality of life. The world of sports has the power to enrich lives and fuel the dreams of the Kingdom’s youth - our most important resource.
THE WORLD OF SPORTS HAS THE POWER TO ENRICH LIVES AND FUEL THE DREAMS OF THE KINGDOM’S YOUTH OUR MOST IMPORTANT RESOURCE.
december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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GOLF DIGEST’S 50 BEST TEACHERS
YOU WON’T GET ANY COOKIE-CUTTER INSTRUCTION FROM ME. MY JOB IS TO MAKE YOU BETTER AT THE WAY YOU PLAY GOLF
BY BUTCH HARMON PHOTOGRAPHS BY J.D. CUBAN
BEFORE WE START, KNOW THIS ABOUT ME: I DON’T TEACH GOLF TO PEOPLE, I TEACH PEOPLE TO PLAY GOLF. I DON’T HAVE SOME LIST OF SWING POSITIONS THAT EVERY GOLFER NEEDS TO COPY. I CAN’T TEACH YOU TO SWING LIKE TIGER WOODS. MY GOAL IS TO TAKE WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND MAKE IT WORK BETTER. YOU HAVE YOUR OWN WAY OF THINKING, YOUR OWN PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS. CHANGING THOSE ISN’T GOING TO HAPPEN IN A GOLF LESSON. WE NEED TO FIX THE ONE THING THAT’S CAUSING THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IN YOUR SWING. I CALL IT THE CANCER. WHEN WE FIND IT— AND WE WILL—YOU WILL GET BETTER. —WITH PETER MORRICE
When you come to my lesson tee, the first thing I’ll do is distract you from the anticipation you’re feeling. You’ll warm up with some wedge shots, and I’ll ask you about your game, but more about your sports teams, where you live, what else you like to do. It’s chitchat—but with a purpose. You’ll be hitting balls without thinking about your swing. That’s what I need to see. When I go to major championships with my players, other teachers see us laughing and joking around. They’ll say to me, “What the heck were you guys doing?” They expect us to be grinding over technique. I tell them, “I’m trying to keep them loose. If they need swing changes here, I haven’t done my job.” The point is, I want my players to be themselves, whether it’s in a first lesson or on the range before the final round of a major. Faking it doesn’t work. After you hit some 8-irons, we’ll go into my teaching bay, and I’ll video your swing. I’ll explain what I’m seeing, and then we’ll look at the video. I won’t play the video and explain as we go—no way. That would give you the chance to see other things you don’t like, such as bad posture or a short backswing. This is not a democracy. I need you to follow my
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lead and see only what I’m seeing. I’ll describe what’s going on and how it’s producing the shots you’re hitting. Then you’ll make some slowmotion practice swings, and I’ll physically move you into position. Once you can do it on your own, we’ll video those slow-motion swings. We won’t look at launch-monitor numbers. You won’t put on any awkward training devices or use any swing aids. It’s just slow motion, feeling the movement. When you see on video the difference between those practice swings and your first swings, you only have to be open-minded that you can do it at regular speed. I’ll take you out of your comfort zone, for sure. One time I was working with Seve Ballesteros, and he was caught up in mechanical swing thoughts. After a few frustrating sessions, I knew we needed a fresh start. I walked out 50 feet in front of him and held up my hand: “Hit a draw starting the ball here.” Seve replied, in his Spanish accent, “Bootch, I kill you.” But I got him to do it, and he hit a perfect draw. Then I raised my other hand: “Hit a fade from here.” Perfect fade. We went high, low, and every other shot I could think of. We got Seve back to creating shots and not thinking about mechanics.
After we see your changes in slow motion, I’ll probably give you one practice drill that trains the move we’re trying to make. You’ll use that drill for a while, alternating with normal swings, and you’ll start to get comfortable with the adjusted motion. I will never say, “Let’s try something here” or “Does that feel better to you?” If I have one secret as a teacher, it’s that I will convince you that I got it right. If I hesitate, how could I expect you to believe me? I know I wouldn’t. Finally, we’ll go back to normal 8-iron swings, incorporating the changes. This might require a leap of faith because you’ll have to fully commit to using what we just worked on. If you waver, we’ll go back to slowmotion swings until you can go full speed. When you do, we’ll look on split-screen video at the swing you’re making versus the one you walked in with. Sometimes they hardly resemble each other; sometimes the physical change is small, but the results are big. Every lesson is different; every student needs something different. Take Tiger Woods. One day I was on the range with him, and he was trying to hit fades with his long irons. He wasn’t seeing what he wanted, and he was getting hot. There was an opening in the fence down the right side, so I said, “I’ll give you 100 bucks if you hit it through that opening. Five tries.” He did it on the first swing. Tiger is always motivated by a challenge. Tell him he can’t do something, and he’ll prove your wrong. I’ll take the same approach with you. I’ll figure out how to motivate you, and you’ll be amazed at what you can do. At the end of the lesson, I’ll print before and after images that isolate the changes we’ve made. I might draw some lines to highlight the differences, but you won’t get a video to take home—I don’t want you to self-diagnose. I’ll write three or four reminders on the outside of the envelope with your pictures in it. I know you’ll end up reading those keys every time you grab that envelope. A consistent, straightforward message is critical. You’ll have a clear direction, and if you take it, you will improve. That’s how our lesson will go.
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Open Season
golf like an egyptian A view of the 5th hole at Madinaty Golf Club where Josh North, a name familiar with UAE golfers, is the General Manager.
If there is one silver lining in the current pandemic, it is that the golf industry is seeing unprecedented popularity. With tee times difficult to get, the opening of several high-profile golf courses around the world offers some light at the end of the tunnel.
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BY Ju KuanG tan OU WAIT ANXIOUSLY in front of your computer. When the time comes, you click the link frantically. The website opens and…. all the tee times are booked. Sound familiar? If it is, you’re not alone. Millions of golfers around the world are witnessing a problem that, to them at least, is just as debilitating as the coronavirus infection – the shortage of tee times for their golf games. Golf courses from Zhejiang to Zanzibar have seen historically high number of rounds played over the last year. Usage has gone through the roof. Whether the reason is a restriction in business travel or a workfrom-home situation that offers more flexible free time, people are hitting the courses, clamouring for a chance to enjoy the great outdoors in a game that is naturally socially distanced. Things are looking up, though. Europe is witnessing a slight resurgence in leisure travel as vaccination levels ramp up. And while there are still upticks in infection in Asia and Australasia, the increasing vaccination rates point to better times ahead. It is probably premature to expect golf travellers to start booking trips right now but there is no harm looking cautiously forward to the near future. The great thing is that almost everywhere you look, there are new courses either opening or are in the works, which only indicates that the golf course development industry is humming along very nicely, thank you very much. december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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INDOCHINA BLAZING THE TRAIL
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OLF, OF COURSE, needs no introduction in Thailand, and in particular, the holiday island of Phuket. The destination’s Phuket Sandbox travel initiative has attempted to rekindle inbound travel without the need of quarantine. The jury is still out on whether this has worked, but there is another reason to tempt travellers to make plans for a visit. No expense was spared in bringing Aquella to market. In an environment where top-end clubs and courses proliferate, it’ll take something special to stand out. Simon Mees, General Manager
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OME OF THE newest golf courses to open are in the most unlikely of countries. Madinaty Golf Club in Egypt is one that opened its doors smack in the middle of the pandemic. Managed by Troon Golf, the Robert Trent Jones Jr layout was deemed good enough to host the 2020 Egyptian Amateur Open. “When we had a clear launch date for the club in mind, we really wanted an aggressive target for the opening year and holding the national open was that goal,” said Josh North, General Manager at Madinaty. “The tournament was extremely successful and being the first and only club in Cairo to over seed roughs and tees, it gave players a very unique experience for golf in Egypt.” To date, Egypt has chalked up about 290,000 cases of Covid-19, with over
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troon international-managed Madinaty Golf Club. The 9th hole is pictured here.
16,000 deaths. For a country of over 100 million people, one could argue that they’ve had it under control, especially considering that case counts were under 400 per day this summer. Still, Madinaty leaves nothing to chance and have Covid19 precautions in place as dictated by the government. Nevertheless, the opening of this highend course, together with a premier club development only serves to promote the status of the game here. “Madinaty Golf Club is an excellent addition to the already successful golfing destination that Egypt has become,” North adds. “Adding a quality Troon-managed venue like Madinaty will only enhance the reputation of golf in Egypt further.”
gaid p.kornsilp
GOLF LIKE AN EGYPTIAN
of Aquella Golf & Country Club feels the development has what it takes. “Several things will set us apart rather,” Mees says. “We will be focusing on providing the absolute finest playing conditions for our members and guests combined with setting new standards in service through a team of attentive and well-trained associates. We will also be one of the few clubs in Thailand offering golf carts fitted with the latest in Visage GPS technology to enhance the player experience combined with our team of professionally trained caddies. Guests will also enjoy our cashless environment as they focus more on enjoying their time with as they use our guest passport
system, which allows them to assign any fees they incur to one simple payment at the end of their day.” The master planned development, a joint venture between Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited, the Paradise Group (an affiliated entity of the Lan Kwai. Fong Group), and their Thai partners, will offer residents and visitors alike unrivalled luxury in an environment that is in harmony with nature focusing on well-being and tranquillity situated on property with a 2.5km beach front. Located 40 minutes by car north of Phuket International Airport, Aquella hopes to entice both visitors as well as
those looking to join as members. “We will offer a full range of membership options for those looking to be part of the Aquella family,” adds Mees. “We will provide solutions for all membership requirements from individual and family golf memberships to corporate options. Our corporate options are very unique, which we are sure will create great interest for corporate hospitality. Memberships will be available over a number of subscription periods such as one, five, 10 and 30-year terms with a range of benefits featuring unrestricted golfing access, member specific golfing and social events, gym and spa privileges and member-only discounts on club services.”
december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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A NEW NATIONAL TREASURE
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ZECH REPUBLIC may have a more mature and notable reputation as a golf destination, but, like Egypt, is still off the radar for most travelling golfers. This looks likely to change. In August 2020, the final touches to Kyle Phillips’ 18-hole championship course at PGA National Czech Republic Oaks Prague were completed, and the course opened to great aplomb. “Since the beginning in 2006, we cooperated closely with the planners on the master planning for the property,” provides Phillips whose notable list of designs include Kingsbarns, both courses at Verdura Resort in Italy, and a remodel of Morfontaine, the number one course in France. “It was vital that the golf course be fully integrated with the residential and recreation facilities and planning constraints. We studied more than two dozen concepts during the planning process to agree on the final layout of the golf course. Overall, it took four years to build the entire PGA National Czech Republic golf course.” The American course architect may be known as one of the best designers in the world when it comes to specialising in creating environmentally sustainable courses that use the lay of the land rather than moving mountains of earth, but his ability to look at a project as more than the sum of their parts adds to the PGA National Czech Republic attraction. “The opportunity was not only to create a worldclass golf experience, but also to revive and restore the old chateau, its surrounding landscape and forested areas,” claims Phillips. “Where there were only open farm fields, the golf course design has provided hundreds of thousands of square meters of new nature including bio corridors, native trees, shrubs, and grasses. “PGA National Czech Republic golf course is centred around a 19th century Bohemian style chateau which was home of the family Von Schüttelsberg who resided in the chateau, originally built as a hunting lodge. When passing hole two, you can see that the course is carefully incorporated into the rich landscape of rolling hills and mature woodland.” Oaks Prague is the only PGA National golf course in Czech Republic and, given that only one license is issued per country, will have a cache that no other course in the country can offer. Apart from meeting the association’s stringent demands, the brand also reflects the meticulous execution of the development and course preparation that will also allow for the hosting of professional PGA competitions. The course is managed by Troon Privé, which focuses on making private clubs relevant, healthy, and sustainable for the future. The combination of a reputable management team, a high-quality design, and the strict agronomic standards has led PGA National Czech Republic to be recognised as the Best Course in Europe at the 2020 World Golf Awards.
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czech mate The 14th at PGA National Czech Republic Oaks Prague. Like Yas Links Abu Dhabi, it is a Kyle Phillips design.
SINGAPORE SURPRISE
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OLF CLUB memberships are expectedly in demand in Singapore as well, with prices increasing noticeably during the pandemic. With the exception of one, all golf clubs in Singapore are private, allowing only members and their guests to play. The need for quarantine for anyone flying into the country – including citizens and residents returning from overseas – has made leisure and business travel all but extinct during the last 18 months. Needless to say, tee times are at a premium currently in this small, island nation. The bright side is that several golf courses that were under redevelopment or renovation have opened, and the landscape has been greatly enhanced by these new offerings. One of these is the much awaited and heralded New Course at Singapore Island Country Club (SICC), arguably the country’s most prestigious golf
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establishment. The club has a history that dates back over a century, and is home to two clubhouse locations, three historic, 18-hole layouts originally designed by James Braid, and with the opening of the new Graham Marsh-design New Course, three additional nine-hole configurations named Millennium, Peirce, and Forest. “Opened in 1965, the New Course was originally designed by well-known course architect Frank Pennink,” explains Cheang Sai Ming, Director of Marketing and Communications at SICC. “In 2002, five-time British Open winner Peter Thomson redeveloped it to a sand-based course. However, the course featured severe elevation changes and many uphill approach shots which proved challenging for the general membership. The new New Course, which we have just opened to members on 31 July 2021, is designed by Graham Marsh Golf Design (GMGD) and entails significant earthworks to reduce the severe elevation changes. Golfers of all levels can now enjoy the course.”
SICC had its work cut out for it when it embarked on the project. Not only did it have to contend with a membership base of over 8,000 – made up of a who’s who list from Singapore upper echelons in society, politics, and commerce – but it was also dealing with a land that abuts two reservoirs and nature reserve that is open to the public. And this is not to mention that the land on which the course resides is leased from the Singapore government who ultimately controls the tenure and future viability of the project. “Being located next to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve in Singapore, the project had to comply with stringent irrigation guidelines and ensure minimal environmental impact on the flora and fauna in the area,” Cheang provides. “SICC is also required to ensure that we are selfsufficient in water, which means we have to construct an adequate and efficient water management and rainwater harvesting system. “To ensure the Club obtain approvals from the authorities efficiently, the Club
singapore stunner Designed by Graham Marsh Design, the New Forest nine adds to the legend of Singapore Island Country Club.
assembled a team of highly qualified consultants to work with the Golf Redevelopment Planning Committee to work out appropriate action plans. These included intensive environmental and biodiversity impact assessments to ensure that the redevelopment works would not affect the surrounding flora and fauna in the nature reserve, or impact the central water catchment reservoirs.” Halfway through the project, the global pandemic added to the list of issues that had to be resolved. Construction was disrupted in April 2020, and the supply of workers - most consisting of labourers imported from other countries - and logistic chains were inevitably delayed. “The New Course redevelopment construction works and grow-in were scheduled to take 18 to 21 months,” added Cheang. “Groundbreaking of the course started in February 2019 and the project was scheduled to be completed November 2020.
“The lockdown in Singapore in the first half of 2020, and the prolonged worker shortage caused several months of delays to the construction works. The final grassing was completed on all holes at the end of January 2021 and the course was handed over to the Club in May for final turfgrass establishment and grooming. The opening the full 27 holes was delayed eight months to end July 2021.” From the reactions of those who have played, the wait was well worth it. The 27 holes Graham Marsh and his team created not only offer challenging shot option for players, but also embrace that natural topography of the land. Numerous lengthy meetings with nature conservancy groups and authorities were held to ensure that the ecological balance of the property would not be compromised. The result is an example of what can be achieved when creativity marries necessity. Bridges now cut across primary forest
and wet areas, connecting holes without tampering with wildlife and vegetation. Thick undergrowth around the water edges were cleared to offer fine vistas of the reservoir. And the natural undulation of the land is now celebrated with holes that have great elevation changes, yet give every level of golfer a chance to score well. One of the strongest features of the Marsh design is the view offered from every tee box. All the problems are prettily laid out in front of you, and if you get into trouble, you only have yourself to blame. “Sitting in the forest surrounding Singapore’s Upper Peirce and Lower Peirce Reservoirs, the naturally undulating land which The New Course sits on is unlike any other in the country,” offers Cheang. “On some holes you could feel like you are in Borneo rather than in the concrete jungle that is Singapore. If anything, the great thing about it is the atmosphere of seclusion and tranquillity when you play here.” december 2021 | golfdigestme.com
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Play Tour Technique
“Let the energy of the stroke flow into the ball.” Stalk Your Putts Get over the ball thinking, This is going in BY PATRICK CANTLAY
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HE STATS SAY I made 37 putts of 10 feet or more during the FedEx Cup Playoffs and gained 16.5 strokes on the field. Those are just numbers. All I know is that I felt like I was starting to putt like myself again. I was confident in my mechanics, putter and process, but mostly I was comfortable in the moment, locked in on making the best stroke possible each time out. At times, I was surprised when a putt didn’t go in. I guess there’s something to that. Confidence breeds success. If you want my advice on how to hole more putts, start with a smart and efficient pre-shot routine. This includes “stalking” your putts. Walk around the green to get a sense for the contouring and speed of the putt and how much the ball will break before you get over it. The more information you process, the more your confidence will grow. Then get comfortable at address. (I often take little steps with my feet until I feel set.) From there, let the energy of your stroke flow into the ball. No matter how far you want the ball to roll, the interaction between the putterface and ball should always be smooth. Don’t worry about the length of your follow-through; the only thing that changes is the length of the stroke into the ball. Make sure to turn off all mechanical thoughts when you’re standing over the putt. Trust that your inner athlete knows how to roll it to the hole. —WITH MIKE STACHURA
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Photograph by Jensen Larson
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