Use this bunker feel from the European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald. by luke kerr-dineen
27 3 Keys To Stop the Pop-Ups by butch harmon
28 Rules When can you adjust your driver? by ron kaspriske
Bethpage Black
A pure brute, the Black Course at Bethpage Black demands power and accuracy. Narrow fairways, cavernous bunkers, and thick rough define the course which is host for the 45th Ryder Cup. And we can’t wait! page 44.
30 Cozy It Up To The Hole by angel yin
31 Sweep Them In by lucas glover
32 Make Chipping A Strength by david leadbetter
what to play
34 Bunker Busters by peter morrice
36 Easy-To-Hit Irons: Are They For You? by mike stachura
38 Your Questions Answered How to take some curve out of your tee shots by mike stachura, e. michael johnson and jonathan wall
39 Competition TaylorMade Spider ZT Putter
40 What’s In My Bag Rickie Fowler with dave allen
where
to
play
42 The Black Course Bethpage Black is known for long, unrelenting holes. by stephen hennessey
44 The Five Elements Of A Great Match Play Course Assessing Bethpage Black and Cypress Point by derek duncan
48 Ask A Super You might be throwing broken tees in the wrong spot by drew powell
the gulf club
66 Club News
A gallery of some of the local winners in the amateur circuit.
Tommy’s Time
BY HARRY GRIMSHAW
THERE HAVE BEEN PLENTY OF satisfying headlines in golf this season, but you’d be doing well to find one better than Tommy Fleetwood finally getting over the line on the PGA Tour.
For years Tommy carried the stat every analyst would trot out: a dozen PGA Tour top three finishes without a win. But, in his 164th start on the PGA Tour, that all changed at the TOUR Championship.
Everyone’s favourite long-haired golfer, who has been so close for so long, closed it out in Atlanta.
It’s indeed the biggest win of his career, with $10 million pocketed as well, to sit very nicely alongside his seven DP World Tour titles, Olympic Games Silver Medal and two Ryder Cup trophies.
On that, the timing could not be better for Team Europe. Fleetwood will make his fourth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance for Team Europe this month at Bethpage Black. Since the qualification period began last August, the Englishman has recorded 12 top-ten finishes worldwide, which automatically qualified him
For Fleetwood, this will be a fourth consecutive appearance for Team Europe after featuring in 2018, 2021 and 2023. The current World Number Six enjoyed a memorable debut at Le Golf National, winning four points out of five, and secured the winning moment for Europe in Rome in 2023. Now
he will be aiming for a first away victory in New York in September.
Off the course Tommy has built a genuine global profile. Having relocated his family to Dubai three years ago, he serves as a DP World Global Ambassador, and is a member at Jumeirah Golf Estates where he set up his Tommy Fleetwood Academy Dubai.
That link to UAE means we will (hopefully) be watching him again soon, likely in the DP World Tour Playoffs at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and DP World Tour Championship in November on his home turf at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
A welcome return to Dubai with the TOUR Championship and a third Ryder Cup in tow could make for a compelling autumn appearance, he just needs to jump up the Race to Dubai Rankings a touch to secure his spot!
editor-in-chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer
managing partner & group editor
Ian Fairservice
chief commercial officer
Anthony Milne
editor Harry Grimshaw
art director Clarkwin Cruz
editorial assistant Londresa Flores
publisher David Burke
general manager - production
S. Sunil Kumar
production manager Binu Purandaran
assistant production manager
Venita Pinto
THE GOLF DIGEST PUBLICATIONS
editor-in-chief Jerry Tarde
senior director, business development & partnerships
Greg Chatzinoff
international editor Ju Kuang Tan
GOLF DIGEST USA
editor-in-chief Jerry Tarde
general manager Chris Reynolds
editorial director Max Adler
executive editor Peter Morrice
managing editors Stephen Hennessey, Ryan Herrington, Jonathan Wall
chief designer David Schlow
playing editors Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth
head office
Media One Tower, PO Box 2331, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 427 3000; Fax: +971 4 428 2266
dubai media city
SD 2-94, 2nd Floor, Building 2, Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 4 390 3550; Fax +971 4 390 4845
Email: motivate@motivate.ae
abu dhabi
14th Floor, Office 1406, Makeen Tower, 9th Street, Al Zahiyah, PO Box 43072, Abu Dhabi, UAE Tel: +971 2 677 2005; Fax: +971 2 657 3401
Email: motivate-adh@motivate.ae
saudi arabia
Regus Offices No. 455 - 456, 4th Floor, Hamad Tower, King Fahad Road, Al Olaya, Riyadh, KSA
Tel: +966 11 834 3595 / +966 11 834 3596
Email: motivate@motivate.ae
london
Motivate Publishing Ltd, Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London, NW1 3ER, UK
The Dubai resident ends his U.S. drought, just in time for Bethpage Black and a homecoming at Jumeirah Golf Estates in November.
the starter
Brain’s over brawn
The BMW PGA Championship venue still rewards experience and course management over sheer power
ORIGINALLY DESIGNED by Harry Colt in the early 1920s, the distinctive West Course at the Wentworth Club has seen renovations and design contributions from many others, most notably Ernie Els in 2010.
Despite its development, one thing that hasn’t changed over the years is how it still requires great course management. When you see how far touring pros hit the golf ball these days, this is not considered a particularly long course. But still, there are tricky holes out there and you’ll often find experience proves vital, just look at the winning roll of honour list there!
Since the first shot was played at the historic International Match in 1926, recognised as the predecessor to the Ryder Cup, Wentworth Club has played host to some of the world’s most prestigious trophies; including The British Masters, The Women’s Open, The World Match Play and of course, the highly anticipated BMW PGA Championship this month on the DP World Tour.
BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
DP WORLD TOUR
ROLEX SERIES EVENT
$9,000,000
SEPT 11TH – 14TH
Sadom Kaewkanjana: ‘Becoming a Monk Improved My On-Course Discipline’
WITH KEELY LEVINS
IN THAILAND, THERE’S A BELIEF THAT WHEN YOU’RE 25, it’s an unlucky year, and something bad could happen to you. One way to avoid that is to get good karma. You can do that by becoming an ordained monk. Going through the training is also a way to honour your parents.
When I was 25, I had full status on the Asian Tour. I left pro golf, moved into a forest temple and lived a different life, hardly speaking, for two weeks. We woke up at 5am, got dressed and walked barefoot on the road into town. We could eat only food gifted to us. Silently, we relied on the kindness of strangers. We’d gather back at the temple and share what we collected. Throughout the day, we cleaned the temples, partook in prayer and meditation, attended funerals and blessed the homes of people about to move in. It trained my mind to stay in the present and be peaceful.
●
●
●
I grew up with Buddhism, but before going through my training as a monk, I was the type of player who would get distracted by sounds like a camera clicking or applause from a different hole. I don’t hear those things on the golf course anymore. My discipline has improved. After experiencing how hard it was living as a monk, I am more grateful for how good my life is as a professional golfer.
●
●
●
My dad was a single-digit handicap. He started bringing me to the course when I was three. I loved playing golf with my dad, and by 6, I was competing. This was when Tiger was dominating, and that he was part Thai made me look up to him even more. I gave up soccer, tennis and swimming to focus on golf.
●
●
●
We lived in the southernmost province in Thailand, on the Malaysian border in Su-ngai Kolok. My two older
sisters didn’t play—they mostly stayed with my mom running our leathergoods store—and there weren’t many kids in our area who played golf. I loved traveling to new golf courses for tournaments because I’d meet golfers my age.
●
●
●
The golf and school opportunities were better in Bangkok, a 17-hour drive from home. My sisters went there for school, and my dad and I moved there when I was 12. At first, we didn’t have a car, so we’d take my dad’s motorcycle to tournaments. I’d hold onto him with my golf bag on my back.
●
●
●
The national team took notice of my results in junior tournaments, and I joined them when I was 16. We had a five-day camp once a month where we competed to earn our ranking within our 12-person team. Each month, the top-ranked players were sent to international tournaments. I got coaching, my expenses were paid, and I was able to travel and make friends.
● ●
●
I won some big tournaments including the Philippine Amateur Open Championship and the Malaysian Amateur Open. I wanted to turn pro, but my dad advised me to stay on the national team to keep learning. Some college coaches in the U.S. contacted me, but I knew I wanted to be a professional as soon as possible. I waited to be able to represent my country in the 2018 Asian Games. Then when I was 20, I turned professional
I n my third tournament as a pro, I won. Two months later, I was in Bangladesh competing in my first Asian Tour event, and I won again. Despite a fast start, by the end of that season I’d developed chipping yips. Every time I missed a green, I couldn’t feel my hands.
● ● ●
One of my sponsors, Singha, owns golf academies. During the Covid shutdown, I moved into one and practiced. I chipped for a year and a half. Tight lies are what I struggled with most, so I found the tightest lies I could and hit thousands of chips. Slowly, the feeling came back in my hands. The fear dissipated, as did my yips.
● ● ●
The Thai Tour started before the Asian Tour, and I won five times in two and a half months. One win was an Asian Tour event in Singapore, which earned me spots in the PGA Championship and the Open Championship.
● ● ●
The PGA at Southern Hills was the first time I’d ever played in the U.S. It was longer than anything I’d seen. I also met Tiger. I thought he was going to be cold and intense, like how he is playing on TV, but he was really nice. I asked for his autograph and then my mind went blank. I speak conversational English but didn’t know what else to say.
● ● ●
Later that summer, at the Open Championship at St. Andrews, I finished T-11. This year, I qualified for The Open again from a win on the Asian Tour. I think I’m more ready to compete at higher levels than ever before, in large part due to the training I did to become an ordained monk.
The Not Always Pretty Truth About Captain’s Picks
JUSTIN THOMAS GOT A LOT of undeserved criticism for the optics of cozying up to 2023 Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson in a year when Thomas didn’t have his best stuff. Everyone on tour knows what JT can do in team match play. There are players who need to back scratch, but Thomas isn’t one of them.
However, politicking for team events is a thing. When I say that, your mind might jump to Webb Simpson’s 4 a.m. text to Tom Watson that persuaded Watson to pick him just hours before the deadline. The truth is, the practice is more nuanced—and even dirtier.
I can only speak for the American side, which I’ve been fortunate to play for. If a captain hosts a clinic or charity event, a player whose calendar had been jam-packed in the past now miraculously has that Monday date available. Or the captain gets a few more invites to practice rounds or dinner, and his cheesy jokes in the clubhouse earn a few extra laughs. Honestly, the stigma of bootlicking runs so high that most guys are careful not to go over the top. Plenty of players want captains to know they’re hungry to be part of the team, yet being labeled a phony isn’t far behind being branded a cheater. We all know who the naturally social guys are and who keeps to himself—so when someone from the latter group suddenly starts hamming it up with decisionmakers, the rest of us notice. You have to be yourself and hope that’s enough.
As for canvassing from non-players, that’s when it can get uncomfortable.
There’s no better December’s than the one after you’ve been named captain of the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. There’s an infamous story about one captain receiving a football helmet with his college alma mater’s
logo on one side and the U.S. flag on the other. The helmet came from an agent who had three players in the running for picks—and the agent made sure to mention that detail in his accompanying letter. A captain might also get a nudge from inside his own agency, gently reminding him that it would be great if one of his picks could “stay in the family.”
Sponsors can apply pressure, too. When a captain’s sponsor brings up a name they’d like him to consider, there can be an unmistakable implication about what might happen to the captain’s next contract if that suggestion gets ignored. Fairly recently, a captain received advance notice of an equipment manufacturer’s advertising campaign that featured all their staffers with a heavy patriotic theme. The captain informed the manufacturer that several of those players had no realistic chance of making the team— which led to a heated confrontation with the company.
It’s no secret that the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup sometimes struggle
for ratings during football season. To ensure that any marquee names who haven’t automatically qualified get serious consideration, representatives from the broadcasting network insert themselves into more meetings than you can imagine. Phil Mickelson was a captain’s pick in three of his last four team appearances. The 2015 Presidents Cup was egregious—Mickelson finished 30th in points. I’m told that same pressure has often been applied for Rickie Fowler.
For those who think the system is dirty—it is getting better. Your patron saint in this regard is Ryan Moore. While other captain’s pick contenders in 2016 were kowtowing to the powers that be, Moore was crystal clear: I want to compete, pick me if you think I deserve it, but I’m not playing the game. Moore took Rory McIlroy to a playoff at the Tour Championship, earned the nod, and ultimately won two of his three matches at Hazeltine—including the clinching point in Sunday singles.
Credit to Davis Love III for going with Moore, but in the locker room afterward, Moore got real credit for refusing to be a slave to politics.
—WITH JOEL BEALL
RYDER DIE Zach Johnson picked Justin Thomas when he was 15th on the points list.
Happy’s First Caddie
Jared Van Snellenberg, once the bleached blond looper in “Happy Gilmore,” is now (fittingly) a psychiatry professor
BY ALEX MYERS
HE’S A LIVING GOLF LEGEND, one of the game’s great folk heroes. To golf fans, he might be more recognisable than some recent PGA Tour winners. And yet, he’s never even played a round of golf.
It’s been nearly three decades since Jared Van Snellenberg played the role of Happy Gilmore’s first caddie in the original comedy classic and iconic golf
CADDIE-COACH
Van Snellenberg and Weathers (right) on the “Happy Gilmore” set.
movie that has been in the news plenty this year since its long-awaited sequel premiered on Netflix in July. You couldn’t miss the then 14-yearold with a giant mushroom of bleached blond hair on the big screen. While he carried the bag for a character who was pretty much clueless about golf, it’s actually Van Snellenberg who was—and still is—a golf novice.
“I’m sorry,” Van Snellenberg, now 44, says with a laugh when asked if he’s into golf. “I have to admit, no.” Still, some of Van Snellenberg’s fondest memories came on the course during the filming of “Happy Gilmore.” “ I still think that was probably the most fun I ever had on a set,” Van Snellenberg says of his first feature-film role. “Adam Sandler had this exuberant energy, and it really infected the set. Carl Weathers and everyone else were so nice to me. Everyone seemed like they were having a good time. People were playing pranks and telling jokes all day, every day.”
After a few years of booking acting gigs, life took the Vancouver native in a much different direction. Van Snellenberg said he “squeaked into” college at Simon Fraser University, partly due to an essay he wrote about his experiences acting. Once there, he discovered a love and aptitude for psychology, which led him to doing extensive grad studies at Columbia University. That kid caddie at the Waterbury Open now goes by Dr. Van Snellenberg, associate professor at Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine on Long Island. “ I eventually had to make a choice. I was going into my senior year. I was volunteering in three different labs simultaneously, including doing an honours project and TA-ing a class on top of a full course load,” recalls Van Snellenberg, who says his only other experience with golf came on one trip to a pitch-and-putt as a kid. “I told my agent ‘I can’t do auditions anymore; I’m going to take a different route.’ ”
Van Snellenberg’s extensive film and TV credits and his impressive academic résumé combine to create one of the
While Van Snellenberg doesn’t follow golf, he’s aware of the comparisons between his character and PGA Tour star Will Zalatoris.
most interesting Wikipedia pages. Van Snellenberg’s research is focused on patients with schizophrenia, primarily using functional magnetic resonance imaging to study their brains. Of particular interest to him is something called working memory, which he describes as “a cognitive ability that’s very important for higher order reasoning and intelligence that’s significantly disrupted in patients with schizophrenia.” Imagine him explaining that to Happy.
When he thinks back to his time on set, Van Snellenberg fondly recalls one prank in particular, a playful slap-off with Weathers—who played Gilmore’s one-handed coach Chubbs Peterson—escalating to the point of leaving Weathers’ “perfect, red handprint” on his stomach. A photo he has of himself with the nowdeceased Weathers (above) is the lone lasting memento from his time on set. Gone also is the bleached look, replaced with a greying, although still robust, head of hair. Van Snellenberg says that signature look helped land him the part—even though it got him in trouble.
“I really wanted to dye my hair because a lot of my friends had, and my mum said, ‘No, you can’t do it. You’ll never book any roles. Don’t do it. It’s stupid. You’ll look terrible,’ ” Van Snellenberg says. “Eventually, I did it without permission. I don’t think I would have booked that role if I hadn’t bleached my
hair, so my mum had to eat a little bit of humble pie at that point.”
After being cast, Van Snellenberg was ordered not to cut his hair for the next three months before filming began. The first of his four days on set was mostly spent getting his coif just right. “It’s my real hair, but there was so much hairspray in it,” he says. “It was like a helmet; it was rock hard.”
While Van Snellenberg doesn’t follow golf, he’s aware of the comparisons between his character and PGA Tour star Will Zalatoris, one of the tour players who appears in the sequel, playing a grown-up version of Happy’s first caddie. Although Van Snellenberg was disappointed to not be asked to reprise his role for the new film, Netflix negotiated the rights to re-use his footage from “Happy Gilmore,” so he still makes several brief appearances in the follow-up film, which could earn him some serious street cred with students he says are too young to have seen the original.
“People don’t really recognise me from that film anymore, but I get Googled,” Van Snellenberg says. “Anytime I’m giving a talk, which we do in academia pretty frequently, it’s 50-50 that ‘Happy Gilmore’ gets worked into the introduction.” Van Snellenberg finds that amazing considering he had no clue at the time of being cast that he was about to be a part of a piece of cinema—and golf—history.
“In all honesty, I was not very plugged into popular culture at that time or really throughout my teenage years,” he says. “It was a friend of mine who was a big movie guy who said, ‘Wait, you’re gonna be in an Adam Sandler movie?!’ I got some sense of how big a deal it was.”
And still is. So how would he help Happy now as a “caddie” given all his real-life job training in psychology? The doctor made it clear that he’s not qualified to make an official diagnosis or give prescriptions, but he played along with the question.
“For the sake of the bit, I think some mood stabilisers would be in order,” he says. “It might smooth out some of his outbursts.” Of course, that probably wouldn’t make for as entertaining a movie—or in this case a sequel.
A Family History of The Walker Cup
What would my greatgrandfather tell golfers if he were alive today?
BY GEORGE H. WALKER IV
NAMED FOR A 17-CENTURY English clergyman poet, but perhaps better remembered as the founder of the Walker Cup, George Herbert Walker led a colorful life. He bucked familial expectations at nearly every turn and found success by doggedly pursuing his own passions, many of which centered around sports. From boxing, football, auto racing, horse racing, polo and golf, G.H., known as “Bert,” was tough, a risk-taker with an unrelenting desire to succeed.
Walker’s father, David Davis “D.D.” Walker, had been born into poverty, one of seven children in a farming family. Forced to seek a better life, the Walkers moved from Maryland to
central Illinois to live with D.D.’s aunt and her husband, Judge David Davis, for whom young D.D. was named. Davis was a judge on the Eighth Circuit and, despite his 300-pound frame, managed to ride the vast judicial territory on horseback with two other judges, including a talented young attorney named Abraham Lincoln. The men became close friends, and Davis was pivotal in securing Lincoln’s presidential 1860 nomination. Later, Davis served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Davis felt compelled to look after young D.D. who was, however, a disappointment to him–somewhat of a recurring theme in my family. D.D. entered the dry goods business in St. Lou-
One year before founding the Walker Cup, G.H. Walker presents the national amateur trophy to Chick Evans.
is as a clerk during America’s Westward Expansion and found success. He and his wife, Martha, raised six children. They hoped their fifth child, George Herbert Walker, would pursue the priesthood. At 13, G.H. was shipped off to Stonyhurst in Scotland to study with the Jesuits.
The young man’s passions, however, lay elsewhere. Upon returning to St. Louis, much to his parents’ chagrin, he declared his priorities were not the priesthood but girls, golf and boxing. G.H. reluctantly joined
Inspired by
his neighbour in St.
Louis, Dwight Davis, G.H. announced he would donate a large silver cup for international golf competition.
his father’s business, handling shipping and finance with the railroads, then controlled by the Harrimans, and in his spare time became Missouri’s amateur-heavyweight boxing champion. The story goes that G.H. was counting inventory in his father’s warehouse when, during a fire drill, he walked out and never went back.
G.H. was recruited by the Harrimans to New York, where he ran W.A. Harriman & Co. and later merged it into Brown Brothers. Eventually, he founded his own investment bank, G.H. Walker & Co., which thrived until industry changes (May Day, 1975) and poor leadership by his sons led to its demise and absorption into what is now Bank of America Merrill Lynch—shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.
Despite G.H.’s business success, sport was always his true passion. He was an avid but not gifted golfer. Since Scotland, golf had loomed large for G.H., and his friendships with Charles Macdonald, Bobby Jones and Chick Evans, among others, pushed his love for the game further. He was elected president of the USGA in 1920, a role later held by his son-in-law Prescott Bush, and traveled abroad to standardise the game’s rules internationally.
In what was perhaps G.H.’s greatest moment on the links, as portrayed in the film, “Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius” (2004), Walker chastised a teenaged Bobby Jones in writing for throwing his club. “You will never play in a USGA event again unless you can control your temper,” G.H. wrote. Jones matured, of course, and would go on to win nine USGA championships, becoming the greatest player in amateur golf and the man who perhaps best
personified sportsmanship and fair play. Jones would invite Walker to be a founding member of his masterpiece, Augusta National Golf Club.
In February 1921, when he retired as president of the USGA, inspired by his neighbour in St. Louis, Dwight Davis, G.H. announced he would donate a large silver trophy for an international golf competition. Though the cup was officially called the “United States Golf Association International Challenge Trophy,” the press dubbed it the “Walker Cup.” Whereas the Davis Cup tennis competition would expand beyond the U.S. and British Isles and include professionals starting in 1968, Walker’s golf format remains his original vision.
My great-grandfather died in 1953, long before I was born. I think about his fervor for the game and the ways in which he curated a life, not according to what was expected of him so much, but grounded in what he had to give and what he loved. I wonder what advice he might have for us all. My hunch is that he’d suggest five things:
• Play hard. Play fair. Compete in all things.
• Give back to the organisations that will have you and to the sports that enrich your life.
• Pick the right life partner. The Walkers (and Bushes) might be famed for their men, but it is the women—like Walker’s wife, Loulie, and daughter Dorothy, herself a tennis champion and mother of George H.W. Bush— who are the leaders of the family.
• Have many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Your children might fall short but future generations hold prospective presidents.
• Most of all, play plenty of golf with friends old and new— by the end of the round, you will all be friends.
GEORGE H. WALKER is a great grandson of George Herbert Walker. Like the Foremans of boxing and grilling fame, the Walkers lacked creativity in bestowing names and, as such, he is one of many Georges in his family.
BIG TROPHIES
The Ryder Cup Seve Won by Losing
BY JERRY TARDE
ON SATURDAY NIGHT at the Ryder Cup, the captains will have to make the most important decision of the week—who to play at the bottom of the singles draw. If the matches come down to the end, you do not necessarily want your best players in the final spots; you want clutch players for when the heavens shatter and the earth gives way beneath their feet.
Tour pros might say otherwise, but in their hearts, they fear the bottom like the Normandy beaches on D-Day. Silence breaks like thunder in the team room when everybody’s head is bowed. Some might talk boldly, but “Oh, captain, my captain, take anyone, not me,” is what they’re thinking.
At the 1995 Ryder Cup at Oak Hill,
FROM THE FRONT LINE
An aging Ballesteros played first to energise his teammates.
with the Europeans trailing 9 to 7, Seve Ballesteros shouted to captain Bernard Gallacher, “Put me down the bottom!” This was laughable on the face of it. Ballesteros was gasping on the last vapours of his career with an aching back and a balky driver. He had been playing so badly that Gallacher left him out of the foursomes on Friday and Saturday. For the previous 16 years, Seve had been the soul of Europe, and he wanted one more chance to play the deciding match. It was crazy. He couldn’t break 80.
In a brilliant move, Gallacher’s strategy instantly came together as he re-
plied, “No, Seve. You will not play at the end. We want you to play first! You will lead us!”
Often, the key singles match is third from the end on Sunday when the winning point is played; in this draw was the classic decider, Bernhard Langer vs. Corey Pavin, both high-pressure players.
Seve’s draw was Tom Lehman in the opening match. Lehman had the unimpressive look, as Dan Jenkins said, of “a girls’ high school basketball coach,” but Lehman was a killer at the top of his game, contending in every major the next year and winning the Open Championship. “Seve’s game is a horror movie,” Jenkins wrote.
Seve’s manager, Roddy Carr, had
Attractions
Activities
Dining
Health
Education
Entertainment
Real Estate
Hotels & Resorts
Shopping
The
THE NEXT ONE’S GOOD
WORTHY ADVERSARY
Tom Lehman was in his prime during the 1995 Ryder Cup.
dinner with the renowned teacher John Jacobs on Saturday night and asked him to give Seve a lesson. Seve and John weren’t speaking because of an old grudge. (As European Ryder Cup captain in 1981, Jacobs was part of the three-man committee that barred Seve from playing because he had taken appearance fees. Actually, Jacobs had voted in favour of Seve; it was Neil Coles and Langer who cast their ballots against him.) Jacobs told Carr: “Play nomination with him, no standard shots.” He wanted him to forget mechanics and instead visualise and play like Seve the artist.
The next morning, Roddy found Seve, a lonely figure on the practice tee with a white pyramid of balls beside him. “What do you want, Roddy?” said Seve suspiciously.
“Hit me a low cut, Seve,” Roddy said. Then he said, “Hit a high hook.” After 10 minutes of nominating every shot, Roddy says his parting words were: “Now play like that, Seve. Make up every shot as you go along today.” Meanwhile, Lehman’s teammates were warning him about Seve’s gamesmanship. “Never make eye contact,” they told him.
On the first tee, Lehman was staring at the American flag with “horse blinkers” when Seve purposely dropped his glove and reached low to catch Tom’s eye. “It’s like a bolt of lightning goes through Lehman’s body—game on,” said Roddy. Seve did not hit a single fairway the first nine holes and only saw Lehman on tees and greens. Seve drove it 30 yards off line at No. 1, hacked it up the fairway, and made a one-putt bogey to lose the hole, 1 down. On the second, he drove it 20 yards right into heavy rough, slashed his second shot behind a bunker and then holed a pitch to a short-sided flag for birdie—even. On No. 4, a par 5, Ballesteros hit a tree and his drive went only 92 yards, but then hit two 3-woods to save par.
Seve drove it deep into the woods at the fifth. Lehman’s brother Jim was standing beside Seve and his caddie who were discussing the shot. It was out
“It’s the greatest nine holes I’ve ever seen ... If I had been playing me and hit it where [Seve] did, I’d have lost 10 and 8.”–TOM LEHMAN
of the rough, over water and through trees. They were talking about a gap in the branches for Seve to hit his ball through. Jim Lehman saw no gap. Seve hit it through the trees onto the green again to save par and score another half. “He is magical to watch, man,” said Dave Marr on the telecast. Johnny Miller responded, “It’s tough to play somebody who is playing all over the lot and tying you or maybe even beating you—you just start shaking your head.” At the sixth, Seve holed a 20-footer for another half. Howard Clark, playing in the second match, said, “Jake LaMotta from ‘Raging Bull.’ He won’t go down. Seve won’t go down!” Word was spreading around the course. The Europeans were energised.
On seven, Seve missed the green again in the deep stuff. He hacked a wedge to 12 feet. “How many more times can you go to the well?” whispered Paul Azinger
on the telecast. Seve poured it right in the middle—still even. On eight, he pitched over a bunker for par and hit the lip, but it wouldn’t go in, 1 down. Gallacher approached Seve on the 10th tee and asked him why he was smiling. “I should be 9 down,” Seve said. On the 10th he missed the green again but got it up and down from a long bunker shot, making a 15-footer to tie.
Chills went up the spine of the whole of Europe. “We can’t let Seve down,” they said. “Do it for Seve!” I was walking the course with Jenkins, who never walked the course, but he had to see what Seve was doing.
At one point Lehman lagged a putt to within a foot, and tapped it in. Seve went apoplectic. Lehman had played out of turn! Seve called a rules official and demanded that Tom replace his marker. After some debate, he did. “I want to use his ball as my line,” Seve said, knowing exactly what he was doing. On he fought. “Braveheart,” the Euros were calling him (the movie was released that May). Seve started losing holes, but the damage was done. The U.S. team had slipped, and Gallacher’s players were gaining momentum. On the 15th hole, again Seve got it up and down, but finally Seve fell, 4 and 3. By then it was too late for the home side. Heartened by their leader, the Europeans won five out of six consecutive matches. Pavin beat Langer 3 and 2, and so rookie Philip Walton scored the winning point against veteran Jay Haas in the penultimate match. Europe took the Ryder Cup, 14 ½ to 13 ½.
“It’s the greatest nine holes I’ve ever seen,” Lehman told me recently. “Every hole, Azinger was walking with our group and says to me, ‘Seve’s got no lie. He’s dead,’ and Seve gets it up and down. If I had been playing me and hit it where he did, I’d have lost 10 and 8.”
Seve didn’t play in another Ryder Cup. He died of brain cancer in 2011 at age 54, heralded as Europe’s Arnold Palmer. It was Seve who put the Europeans on his back and reversed American domination with a 12-9-1 team record since his first event in 1979. Across all those heroic seasons, the greatest match Seve ever won was that singles match he lost 30 years ago.
“If one player has a 20-foot putt for birdie and his partner has a six-footer for par, who putts first? If the 20-footer is downhill and fast, or otherwise difficult to lay stone dead to the hole, that’s the putt I want to see first. If the player runs the putt for birdie three feet past the hole, the team at least has two cracks at par. On the other hand, if the 20-footer is uphill with not much break, he might want his partner to get the six-footer in the hole so he can go for the birdie more aggressively. If the 20-footer is not especially fast nor difficult—go with your intuition. If the 20-footer were mine, I prefer to putt first—but that’s just me.” —JACK NICKLAUS ON MATCH-PLAY STRATEGY
EDITED BY RON KASPRISKE
Warp Speed
Fast hands and level hips fuel Michael Thorbjornsen’s electric swing
BY DAVE ALLEN
IN HIS FIRST FULL SEASON on the PGA Tour, Michael Thorbjornsen (“Thor,” for short) is really bringing the hammer. Through late July, the 23-year-old former Stanford All-American ranked fifth on tour in driving distance (318.6 yards) and third in total driving. Much of Thorbjornsen’s power and consistency comes from a big, wide backswing turn and solid clubface control, which he achieves by having very “fast hands” on the downswing, says his father and swing coach, Ted Thorbjornsen. Michael’s hands separate quickly from his right shoulder as he
transitions forward (above, fifth image), a trait he shares with his idol, Tiger Woods. Having fast hands also provides “insurance against him flipping the hands and clubhead through impact and hitting a hook,” says Ted, noting Michael’s lifetime use of a 10-finger or baseball-bat grip (see page 40).
“For the clubhead to flip over, the hands have to stop,” Ted says. “But if there’s speed in the hands at impact, there’s little chance the clubhead can overtake his hands and flip.”
Ever since Thorbjornsen started playing golf, fast hands has been one of his big go-to feels. Another one,
Thorbjornsen coils in a big way with the help of his left knee.
he says, has been to “keep his head very still on the downswing,” which helps prevent him from coming in too steep on the ball. Lately, however, Thorbjornsen’s focus has been on creating more depth and keeping his hips level in the backswing. By rotating deeper into his right hip and getting his hands and the club further behind him on the backswing ( above, fourth image ), Thorbjornsen gives his “body more time to catch up” on the downswing,
Ted says. At times, Michael’s hands can get too fast and out in front of his body, often producing too much of a draw.
“For Michael’s stock shot, his shoulders are fairly aligned with the target line at impact, and his hands are closing the clubface sufficiently enough to hit his patented little draw,” Ted says.
Michael’s left knee also gives way in the backswing, which promotes a big hip turn and also keeps his hips fairly level at the top. With a reasonably steady head and level hips, Michael has a much easier time transferring his weight into the inside of his left leg in the downswing. That shift then lets him
fire his hands down toward the ball to deliver real speed into the strike.
“You can see his back still faces the target, and his hands are separating quickly from his right shoulder,” Ted says. “That’s the hand speed I was talking about. His shoulders are quite level, too, so he can trap and cover the ball as well. He wants to feel that he’s covering the ball, not falling backwards and flipping the clubhead through.”
Through late July, Michael had three top-four finishes in his rookie campaign, including a tie for second at the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic.
KNEE ACTION
BATTER UP?
Michael Thorbjornsen has played golf with the same grip since he was a toddler—and it’s a highly unusual one in the professional ranks. For as long as he can remember, the 23-year-old former U.S. Junior Amateur champion—now in his first full season on the PGA Tour—has been using a 10-finger, “baseball-bat” grip. He doesn’t interlock or overlap his right-hand’s pinky with his left-hand’s index finger, as most righthanded golfers do.
“If you’re going to
grab a bat or anything other than a golf club, you don’t really overlap or interlock,” says Thorbjornsen, describing the two most popular styles of grips in golf. “It feels the most comfortable to me. We probably should’ve made a change early on, but at this point, I’ve had so many years under my belt with this one, there is no point in changing now.”
It might come as a surprise to you that use of the 10-finger grip was much more popular among pro golfers decades ago.
Among the notable players
HANG 10
Using a 10-finger grip like Thorbjornsen (left) promotes a draw.
to excel with it were major champions Bob Rosburg and Art Wall Jr., and LPGA Hall of Famer Beth Daniel.
“The Vardon [overlap] grip was by far the most important grip for decades,” says Jim McLean, one of Golf Digest’s Legends of Golf Instruction. “It was taught by just about everyone. But when Jack Nicklaus, then Tiger Woods, used the interlock, that turned the tables. Now a large majority of the top players in the world use the interlocking grip.”
The overlapping and interlocking grips have a unifying effect, McLean says, and make it much more difficult for one hand to take over the swing. “The idea is that the hands
are working together and not opposing each other,” McLean says.
That said, McLean also believes there is a place in the game for the 10-finger grip, especially for those golfers who struggle with an open clubface at impact and/or golfers who want to hit more draws (rightto-left curve for righties). It’s no coincidence that a draw happens to be Thorbjornsen’s stock shot. “You definitely have more feeling in your [dominant] hand and more ability to release the club,” McLean says. “For [a righty] who cannot get the rotation of the right forearm to hit a draw, this grip can be the simple solution to turn the ball over.”
—dave allen
Stop Chunking It!
Use this simple image to hit crisp chip shots
BY JACKSON KOERT
GOOD CHIPPERS OFTEN have a longer backstroke than through-stroke. The clubhead falls gently down onto the back of the ball and finishes low to the ground, just brushing the turf. This creates consistent ball-first contact—no chunks—and makes it easier to control the distance your chip shots run out on the green.
Here’s an image I use with my students to help simplify the basic chipping stroke and ensure solid contact: Take a very narrow stance with the top of your spine tipped toward
LONG THEN SHORT
You should regulate the followthrough of a chip shot.
the target and the ball back, just inside your trail heel. Now picture a wall outside the toe of the club at address and swing the clubhead up and down this imaginary wall into impact, finishing low to the ground. It’s OK if the club runs into the turf as long as the ball is back in your stance.
A simple way to practice this is to stick an alignment rod in the ground along your extended target line and angle it toward your trail heel. Let’s
call this your “wall.” Place a second rod about a foot in front of your lead leg, angled toward your toes. Hit chips with the club riding up and down the first rod ( above, left ) and stopping short of the second one (above, right). Make sure your hips turn to face the target at the finish. Once you can make this motion your own, you’ll be hitting your chips solid and get them close to the hole. —with dave allen
JACKSON KOERT, a Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, is director of instruction at Atlantic Beach Country Club, Florida.
Wipe It Out
Use
this bunker feel from the
European Ryder Cup captain (who just happens to be one of the best sand players of all time)
BY LUKE KERR-DINEEN
PLAYERS WHO STRUGGLE in greenside bunkers typically make one of two mistakes: 1) They chop down too steeply into the sand, and the digging action can’t generate enough power to get the ball out; 2) they either miss it entirely or barely skim the sand, and the ball gets bladed way long or into the lip.
To let the club release through the sand, you have to keep grip pressure lighter than you might think.
KEEP IT MOVING
Don’t stop the swing with the clubhead down by the sand.
The key is to find the sweet spot between a swing that’s too steep or too shallow. If you need help in greenside sand, one of the all-time best bunker players, Luke Donald, has a key feel for you. Donald, who led the PGA Tour in sand saves in three separate seasons, says you should practice hitting bunker shots by focusing on what your wrists are doing. “Your wrists should feel like you’re moving the club
through the sand like windshield wipers. Feel the hinge and unhinge of the wrists,” Donald says. “You want a short stroke with speed and have the feeling like you’re throwing the clubhead into the sand behind the ball. That will engage the bounce of the club, allowing it to glide through the sand.”
The clubhead should appear to pass your hands as it moves through the sand, with the face pointing back at you after impact. Do that, and you might pick up a little sandy side action.
3 Keys To Stop the Pop-Ups
Adjust your setup and downswing to avoid the balloon ball
BY BUTCH HARMON
ALL GOLFER S LOVE TO see their tee shots flying high down the fairway, but sometimes high is too high. It’s true that some nice hang time off the tee is a key ingredient in overall driving distance, but if your trajectory balloons, you’re giving up some serious yards. If this is happening to you, I’ve got a few simple checks you need to make: one at address and two as you start the downswing.
• Make sure you don’t tee the ball too high
• Start the downswing from the ground up
• Don’t get stuck on your back foot When it comes to tee height, a good rule is that half of the ball should be above the top edge of your driver when you set the club down. Any
higher than that and you can make a great swing and still hit the ball too high. That’s your fi rst spot to check.
Another common mistake I see with average golfers is trying to really goose a drive by making an aggressive move with the trail arm and shoulder to start the downswing. I call it “throwing the club” from the top. It might feel powerful, but you end up releasing your wrists too early, giving up speed and adding loft at impact. Instead, keep your upper body passive for a beat as you lead the downswing with your lower body, letting your trail side and the club whip through last.
A related mistake that often goes with the throw is getting stuck on the back foot. Yes, you want to hit slightly up on the ball with a driver,
STRONG SUPPORT
Get your weight into your front foot right from the top.
but if you swing off your back foot, the clubhead is rising too much into the strike. Contact suffers, and you add way too much loft to the shot.
Remember this: Your first move as you reach the top of the swing should be a shift from your back foot to your front foot. Make slow-motion swings trying to get a feel for that forward shift. Do that, along with keeping your trail arm and shoulder in check, and you’ll no longer swing your driver under the ball and pop it up.
—WITH PETER MORRICE
BUTCH HARMON heads Golf Digest’s list of the Legends of Golf Instruction.
OK To Adjust?
Can you change your driver on the fi rst tee? What if it rattles mid-round? Here’s what to know
BY RON KASPRISKE
CUSTOMI S ATION OF clubs to meet your individual needs is one of the great advances in golf technology. The ability to adjust everything from loft to face orientation to weight distribution gives you a chance to make clubs perform better with the attributes of your swing.
The Rules of Golf addresses club alterations in a number of ways under Rule 4.1, including when you can repair them or change playing characteristics. Among the most noteworthy allowances is for a club to be repaired during a round or even used in its damaged state (if possible) without being penalised. We’ll get back to this topic in a minute.
There are, however, a variety of things golfers can’t do according to the rules. For instance, golfers are prohibited from digging a wrench out of their bag in the middle of the round and modifying their driver’s clubface to a diff erent position depending on how they’re playing that day. If you can’t stop slicing, you can’t change the head on your driver so that it’s more closed at address. Nope, sorry.
You also can’t apply lead tape or some other substance to a club mid-round to improve performance. Any legal alterations to a club that could change its playing characteristics must be done before or after a round. If you do it during a round, the penalty is severe: You’ll be disqualified if caught.
There is one thing to keep in mind if you made a mid-round adjustment. To get DQ’d, you actually have to make a stroke with the club in its new setting. If you make an adjustment and don’t use the club or return it to its original position before hitting the shot, there is no penalty. To be clear, you might have just concluded that your opponent can only take out a wrench tool and make some adjustments to a club before he or she
SET IT AND FORGET IT
Most club alterations need to come before you play.
has teed off for the round, right? Not always. Getting back to the rule that allows golfers to fix damaged equipment during a round, a wrench can be used at any time if it’s for the purpose of fi xing something on the club . One thing that often happens to adjustable clubs is that the screw that governs the settings on the hosel or head becomes loose. That rattle can be annoying or even alter the face if the screw becomes too loose, and it’s considered damage that falls under the allowable things you can do to repair a club (see Rule 4.1a(2)/1).
Incidentally, if you had lead tape on your club at the start of a round and it came off the head and will no longer adhere to it, don’t worry. You’re allowed to reach into your golf bag for some fresh strips of tape to replace what was lost.
Also, if you’re wondering what happens when a club’s playing characteristics are morphed by “wear and tear,” like dents or groove damage, it’s still considered conforming and OK to use without need for repair.
Cozy It up to the Hole
Sometimes just getting it close is the right play
BY ANGEL YIN
ON SPEEDY , SLOPING
U.S. Women’s Open greens, like the ones we played in the U.S. Open at Erin Hills (May 29-June 1), you can end up hitting a lot of lag putts. You have no choice but to play defensively if you want to avoid three-putting or worse.
SPEED
MATTERS MORE
Don’t obsess over the line. Just get it close.
Generally, I like the ball to end up either hole-high or just beyond it, but I always look around the cup and determine where the best miss is. For example, if it’s a downhill putt, the best place to miss might be a little long. That way, I have an uphill putt coming back. If it’s an uphill putt, the best place is not going to be long. I don’t want a tricky, slick downhill putt coming back. I don’t like leaving putts short, but when I’m lag putting, I’m making the best decision to set up a two-putt.
Lag putting is mainly about speed control. To practice it, hit long putts while looking at the hole. This will give you a visual connection to the length of the putt and improve your feel. Also, set up an alignment stick or a club as a barrier two feet behind the hole and hit putts that stop between the hole and the barrier. Think of it as leaving it in the safe zone. When you get good at this drill, you’ll three-putt a lot less often.
—WITH KEELY LEVINS
ANGEL YIN, 26, from Monterey Park has two wins on the LPGA Tour including the Honda LPGA Thailand in February. Through April, she ranked 13th in the strokes gained/putting stat.
‘Rolling one in from long distance is great, but always look for the leave that gives you the best chance of a two-putt.’
Sweep Them In
Struggling on the greens?
Try a broomstick putter (it saved my career)
BY LUCAS GLOVER
FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, I tried everything imaginable to defeat the yips, including different grip styles, putters and strokes. I even putted with my eyes closed. Nothing worked. Then, after toiling around in my garage with several long putters before the 2023 Memorial Tournament, I tried the broomstick-style putter Adam Scott was using. Almost instantly, I started having success on the greens, even winning back-to-back tournaments on the PGA Tour. Recently, I finished a career-best third at The Players Championship along with another broomstick convert, Akshay Bhatia. I can’t promise that you’ll have success with the broomstick, but here are three reasons why it’s worked for me—and why I think it could help your game, too.
It’s easier to get it lined up
While the setup is radically different than it is with a short putter, it has some advantages. For one, it’s much easier to see your lead forearm when standing to the side of the ball. Almost all broomstick players position their lead arm parallel to the target line, which is a great checkpoint for alignment.
It smooths out your stroke
The wider stance you need with a broomstick helps stabilise your lower body so that your upper body can move more freely. The physical act of getting the putter started was where I struggled the most, but by mobilising the shoulders, I was able to make a much more fluid stroke. Poorer putters have a lot of lower-body movement and rely too much on their hands in the stroke. The broomstick neutralises both.
It glides into the ball
‘Like a wrecking ball, the putter swings back and then coasts into the ball, which is the best way to control speed.’
With the split-hand grip and being so tilted over the ball, it’s almost as if you’re creating a fulcrum for the putter to swing from without anchoring it to your body (which, of course, is illegal). Like a wrecking ball, the putter swings back and then coasts into the ball, which is the best way to control speed.
—WITH DAVE ALLEN
LUCAS GLOVER is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour including the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. He was 38th in the World Golf Ranking in late May.
Make Chipping a Strength
Use your hands to take your hands out of the stroke. Wait, what?
BY DAVID LEADBETTER
ONE OF THE BIG GEST differentiators between pros and average golfers is chipping skill. Last year, the best player on the PGA Tour in scrambling, which means making par or better after missing a green, was Xander Schauffele. He did it 302 times (70.7 percent). The worst player in that stat category (I won’t mention his name) still got up and down half the time.
There’s no question in my mind that if you got even a little better at chipping, it would have a noticeable impact on your handicap. If this is an area of concern for you, there are probably a few things holding you back— and I’ll touch on them all—but I’d bet how you use your hands is a big issue.
First, let’s briefly discuss the mental aspects of chipping. Where amateurs often go awry is in their thought process. They do things like restrict their backswing, in fear of hitting the shot too far, and then jab at the ball when they sense they don’t have enough swing to get it to the hole. Crisp contact is the No. 1 goal in chipping—and that sort of stroke won’t produce it.
The second problem is at setup. They stand too wide, like they’re about to make a full swing. They then hang back on their trail foot and try to help the ball up. Both mistakes hinder the ability to put the sweet spot on the ball. A narrow stance—feet close together, weight favouring the front foot—is what you need. You also can stand a touch open to help your body pivot. It’s a short shot, so you don’t have a lot of time to rotate. An open stance gives you a head start.
Speaking of this notion of help, we’ve arrived at the main issue golf-
RELAX AND SWING
One-handed practice teaches how to release the club.
ers have when chipping: They get too handsy through the ball. Typically, it’s a flick of the wrists as the clubhead moves through the grass; they’re trying to scoop the ball out of its lie. It looks like this (top left).
If you hit a lot of fat and thin shots around the green, and generally your contact with the ball doesn’t feel very good, I have a couple of drills for you to help get a better feel for how you should swing through impact. It’s kind of funny, but I’m going to teach you to stop being so handsy with two drills that rely a lot on your hands. Curious? Good chippers blend their arm swing with their body rotation. There’s no fear of hitting the ball too far, because they know the clubhead will glide along the turf and pop the ball up softly (top right). They don’t jerk the club down into the ball and either stop short or try to power through it when the backswing doesn’t match the shot they want to hit. In short, the motion is coordinated. You can get a feel for this by alter-
nating between left-hand only and right-hand-only shots (bottom photos). Using just one hand prevents you from trying to overcontrol the outcome with your hands. Why? The club is too heavy to manipulate once momentum gets it going. One-handed swings put some flow back into the stroke. They’re more graceful, unhurried and smooth.
You’ll especially feel how the club should interact with the ball and turf when you do dominant-hand-only swings. You won’t believe how big a swing you can make on either side of the ball and still not hit it very far. Plus, the ball will have good backspin once it lands, allowing you to get it closer to the hole. Final thought here: You’ve got to keep your body pivoting toward the target, which is why I’m holding my chest with my left hand during my right-hand-only swings. It reminds me to keep my torso turning. The body, arms and club work together in an effective chip shot.
—WITH RON KASPRISKE
DAVID LEADBETTER is one of Golf Digest’s Legends of Golf Instruction.
Many golfers have swing faults that they can’t seem to correct no matter how hard they try. But what if they didn’t have to? The truth is, you can play golf with many bad tendencies if you match them up with the right adjustments. In the case of slicers who cut across the ball on an out-to-in path, with the upper body and arms moving “over the top” of the backswing plane as they swing down, a few adjustments can turn that move into a way to hit a serviceable drive. If you swing this way, let me help you
Play the ball up
Slicers often play the ball too far back, which causes you to come over the top to try to get the ball started on line. This is a huge problem because you don’t have time to square the clubface coming down. Typically, I advise my players to have the ball position with a driver even
CHANGE YOUR APPROACH
A few moves at setup will really help straighten your shots.
with their lead heel, but if you’re coming over the top, I want you to move it up even further—play the ball off the toes of your front foot. This will give you more time to square the clubface coming down, which will certainly help minimise the curve of the shot.
Tilt away from the target
Slicers often set up to the ball with very little shoulder tilt. The lead shoulder should be higher than the trail shoulder and the spine tilted away from the target. That promotes a club path that travels more from inside the target line, which is key to straightening out a slice. When you move the ball position up, your spine naturally tilts away. Make sure your trail elbow is slightly bent and that arm’s shoulder sits below your lead shoulder. All of this helps reduce the
Coming Over the Top? No Problem
It’s not ideal, but you can still hit a solid tee shot with that move BY
MARK BLACKBURN
out-to-in move, and you’ll be incentivized to start squaring the clubface.
Aim toward the slice
The worst thing a slicer can do is aim further away from the direction the ball slices. This encourages even more of an outside-in path and an open clubface, making the ball curve worse. Instead, do the opposite: Aim toward the direction of the slice with your feet, hips and shoulders (above). Then, when you come over the top, you’ll probably square the face and hit a solid fade.
Recap: Play the ball up, tilt away from the target and aim toward the slice. That’s how you swing over the top successfully. —WITH DREW POWELL
MARK BLACKBURN, voted No. 1 by his peers on Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America, is based at Greystone G&CC in Birmingham, Alabama.
EDITED BY PETER MORRICE
Bunker Busters
From greenside sand, most golfers have thoughts of urgency, even desperation: How do I get out of here? Yes, getting up and down is the goal, but up and out is a win for many of us. Enter “emergency wedges.” These one-trick ponies, such as Ping’s BunkR or Cleveland’s Smart Sole, are designed for that singular task, achieved through ample bounce and a clubface that tends to stay square. Consider this: There are PGA Tour players who save par out of the sand only a third of the time, and folks, you’re not on the PGA Tour. Give these a try.
Easy-to-Hit Irons: Are They for You?
The pros and cons of clubs designed to forgive your mis-hits
BY MIKE STACHURA
You might find the look of super-game-improvement (SGI) irons to be a bit clunky, even downright gargantuan, but their allure is as clear as the mythical fountain of youth. They can restore lost yards that time or eroding skills have taken away or provide a tangible boost for developing players.
However, data from our Hot List testing shows that the players who likely need SGI irons the most might not get more distance from them. What they get is more important than that.
During equipment-testing sessions, we
use Rapsodo’s MLM2 Pro launch monitor to track every shot from our group of 32 player-testers. The testers are divided by skill level into three handicap groups, and only the higher handicappers hit SGI irons. To gauge how much of an advantage these clubs might offer, we compared how players hit SGI irons versus irons in the game-improvement (GI) category— clubs with a more traditional appearance but fewer forgiveness features.
Digging into the data, we saw that the average carry distances for the GI models were longer in nearly every case (six of the seven pairs) when compared to the
GROUND FOR DEBATE
Testers liked the results of forgiving irons but not the looks.
same company’s corresponding SGI iron model. The overall averages among the 12 players who hit both irons showed GI models flew 2.02 percent further than the corresponding SGI model. In practical terms, that’s three yards on a 150-yard shot. Things changed when we looked at shot dispersion. Taking the data from the Rapsodo devices and analysis by Tom Mase, Ph.D., retired professor of mechanical engineering at Cal Poly and a longtime member of the Golf Digest Technical Advisory Panel, SGI irons delivered a significantly tighter area of dispersion than GI irons. In some cases, the dispersion was nearly 50 percent tighter compared to a company’s corresponding GI iron. Overall, shots from our testers who hit SGI irons fit into a space about 25 percent smaller than those same players achieved when hitting GI irons.
Those are substantial consistency gains, but, as noted at the top, the trade-off can be the look of SGI irons. They generally feature a larger overall shape, including a deeper sole, a thicker topline and more perimeter weighting. The good news is, those enhancements usually yield a centre of gravity that is lower to help shots launch higher. A good rule for identifying SGI irons is to use the width of your thumb to measure the depth of the sole. SGI irons feature soles that are thicker than thumb-width, and the soles on GI irons tend to be narrower.
In addition, SGI irons usually are designed with greater stability on off-centre hits as well as more off set from head to shaft to aid both higher launch and ease of squaring the face at impact. GI irons try to incorporate some of those properties but in a more compact, thinner head shape and a straighter connection to the shaft.
Forgiveness on mis-hits is strong medicine, but visual appeal can be seductive when it comes to choosing clubs. When we looked at what that same tester group said in our Hot List criterion of Look/Sound/Feel, the sleeker GI irons fared much better than the bulkier SGI entries. Based on our five-point scale, the average rating in L/S/F was almost half a point higher for a GI iron than for an SGI iron. While it’s clear that our players prefer the sensory experience of GI irons over SGI irons, our data on ball flight shows that SGI irons would lead to an increased likelihood of hitting greens in regulation, and on greens hit, the resulting putts could be 10 to 15 feet closer.
Does this mean all higher handicappers should play SGI irons? No. In fact, none of our testers play SGI irons as their gamers. Picking the right irons is largely based on the individual, and any qualified clubfitter will tell you that whether an iron is categorised as SGI or GI shouldn’t mean nearly as much as how each model performs in your hands. We offer two quick case studies. Matt Singer, an 11-handicapper with moderate swing speed, hit the Mizuno JPX925 Hot Metal HL (SGI) irons much better than the JPX925 Hot Metal (GI)
counterpart. He averaged eight more yards with the JPX925 HL and had a much tighter miss pattern and a better landing angle. Said Singer of the SGI model, “It produced straight shots with maybe the slightest bit of a draw.”
Shane Popham is a 15-handicapper who swings probably 20 miles an hour faster than Singer. He hit the JPX925 Hot Metal (GI) just as straight but much further than the higher-lofted, spinnier SGI version. “Good shots were electric, booming off the face,” Popham said.
“It’s like a driver in the face of an iron.” Every player is different. The higher launch and extra spin made the SGI version a better fit for Singer.
Bottom line: When you’re evaluating your next set of irons, boosting all-out carry distance always should be a goal, but maybe put your feelings of what you think an iron should look like on the shelf. Focus instead on what your shots look like. There’s nothing prettier than a whole lot of balls that end up a lot closer to the hole.
HOT LIST TESTED
Super-game-improvement irons
We had our higher handicappers test the SGI category. Their picks range from the oversized but traditional-looking to sets designed like hybrids from top to bottom. Here’s a sampling:
GARY ABBOTT, 37 13-handicap
Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face
SCOTT DICKINSON, 36 14-handicap
“The progressive look is an improvement on all-hybrid sets. I liked the longer clubs in terms of how consistent and forgiving they were. Hammer-like feel at impact. Consistent distance, medium trajectory.”
Yonex EZone GT
“Stooopid long. Absolute cheat code of a club. Feels like a slingshot, shotgun, sniper rifle and crossbow all in one. Softer but ultraenergetic impact experience.”
RYAN KROLL, 49 10-handicap
Cobra T-Rail
“This club is a rollicking good time to swing. I love the height and the climb on shots. It’s an oversized head, but it’s not distracting. It’s not so much that it gets in the way. Any reservations I had about the size quickly eroded with the distance I had with it.”
ALEX REINHART, 40 11-handicap
Callaway Elyte X
“Blasts through the turf well to assist on fat shots. Flight was consistent and forgiving. My mis-hits went straighter than I expected them to based on how the shots felt on contact.”
How To Take Some Curve Out of Your Tee Shots
Q:
I’VE ALWAYS HAD A SLICE, SO I WANT TO TRY A SLICEFIGHTING DRIVER. ANY ADVICE?
First off, getting help from your equipment is never a “last resort” solution. Two years ago, Nelly Korda ( above, from 2023) was using TaylorMade’s Stealth 2 HD model. The HD stands for “high draw,” meaning it’s draw-biased.
There are several ways to go about combating a slice, so let’s take it from the top. The most obvious option is a closed face angle, which can straighten ball flight and add some distance, too.
“Where the face is pointed at impact relative to the swing path has a huge effect on the initial direction and spin axis tilt of the ball,” says Mike Yagley, former vice president of innovation and technology for Cobra Golf. “Helping the player point the face in the appropriate direction is critical to fighting a slice.”
Few major brands offer truly closed faces, but some can be adjusted as such.
to add slice relief to your current driver by simply adjusting the lie angle.
“With a more upright lie angle, the face points more left,” Yagley says, “and that’s a built-in left flight bias.”
Many drivers on the market today allow for adjustability in the lie angle, and it’s a simple fix that only the most persnickety players will notice visually.
Those are some ideas to chew on. As always, find a qualified clubfitter to guide you through the process.
Q: I SAW RORY WAS TRYING A SHORTER DRIVER SHAFT TO ADD CONTROL. IF I DID THAT, HOW MUCH DISTANCE WOULD I LOSE?
You might not give up anything. In equipment, there are theoretical truths and practical ones. Theoretically, a longer shaft creates a larger swing arc, so more speed could result. Practically, most fitters say, that rarely happens.
NOT JUST FOR US Nelly Korda played a drawbiased driver as World No. 1.
This can be effective but also visually off-putting. You’ll quickly know where you stand when you set up with a driver that’s jacked 4 or 5 degrees closed.
Another option is to move weight to the heel. This makes it easier to square the clubface, because the centre of gravity (CG) is closer to the shaft axis. Plus, it imparts a draw-biased spin axis, or what we think of as hook spin, on the ball.
However, whether you move the weight via a built-in track or screw, only so much can be repositioned, and moving the CG toward the heel can decrease a club’s forgiveness. That might be a fair trade for keeping the ball in play.
There are two more alternatives. Like closed-face drivers, offset models will help you square the face at impact. However, it’s tough to include loft and lie adjustability with the shaft offset, so if that’s important to you, move on.
Finally—and this might be the most overlooked method—you might be able
“We find very few golfers actually increase their speed with a longer shaft,” says Chris Marchini, director of golf experience for Golf Galaxy. “If someone has an upright swing, for example, a longer shaft can limit the extension of their arms, forcing them to manipulate the club to get it back to the ball, which actually takes away speed.”
Even when speed does increase, if a player is not making centerface contact, the benefits can get lost. This is where smash factor matters. Smash factor is the ratio of ball speed to clubhead speed. It measures the quality of the strike.
A player with a 1.45 smash factor swinging 100 mph generates two mph less ball speed than a player at 98 mph with a 1.5 smash factor. Better contact with less speed can yield more distance.
Logically, a shorter shaft could mean better strikes for more fairways and more rollout, too. Might be worth a try.
Answers by Golf Digest equipment editors
Mike Stachura, E. Michael Johnson
and
Jonathan Wall
WIN TaylorMade Spider ZT Putter
Golf Digest Middle East has teamed up with eGolf Megastore to give away the new TaylorMade Spider ZT Putter to one lucky reader.
Entry is simple. Just scan the QR code and answer the simple question. All entries will be entered into a random prize draw, held on September 30, 2025. Good luck!
What’s in My Bag Rickie Fowler
DIALED IN WITH THE BIG STICK Fowler’s Cobra DS-Adapt X driver is hardly standard. The H1 hosel setting drops the loft to 10 degrees, and a Golf Pride Tour Velvet ribbed grip sets his hands. A treatment called hot melt in the sole and heel customises weight and centre of gravity location.
L.A.B. CLASS Fowler uses the fashionable L.A.B. DF3 mallet putter, designed to minimise face rotation for pure rolls.
CURIOUS COIN
This 1915 Barber quarter makes for a cool ball marker. Its value could be just a few bucks or more than $10,000.
FUTURE STARS
These AJGA bag tags suggest Dad is thinking his daughters might someday take a run at the family business.
OFF THE CHARTS
Adjusting specs can be complex. Fowler’s clubs include dozens of settings. This little chart helps him keep it all straight.
The Black Course at Bethpage State Park in New York is known for long, unrelenting holes, but the par-5 fourth is pure strategy. Snaking uphill through the woods, it’s one of the more attractive and thought-provoking designs conceived by parks superintendent Joseph Burbeck, who lived on property and oversaw the Black’s construction when it opened in 1936, with the more famous architect A.W. Tillinghast lending consultation. The large, fingered bunkers bracketing the first and second landing areas and in front of the tabletop green force players to shape shots and make tactical attack decisions. Some of the most compelling early shots during this year’s Ryder Cup will be right here.
EDITED BY STEPHEN HENNESSEY
The Five Elements of a Great Match Play Course
Ahead of the Ryder and Walker Cups, assessing Bethpage Black and Cypress Point
BY DEREK DUNCAN
IT’S EASY TO MAKE GOLF courses play hard. Almost any course—even your own—can present a tournament-worthy test for great players if you stretch the tee markers as far back as they can go, grow the rough deep, tuck the pins and dry out the greens.
Of course, a setup like that is directed at defending par, effective for strokeplay championships where the winner is determined by the lowest total score. Match play events—where holes are won and lost and the overall score of a player isn’t relevant—beckon a more nuanced kind of design. Match play is most compelling not when players are grinding out pars but when they’re
BREAK POINT
The 233-yard behemoth over water at Cypress Point, No. 16, comes when matches are most tense.
pushed to their mental and emotional limits by unique hole setups and the strains of the match. Even shorter courses can provide exciting golf when the pressure is on to match your opponent’s birdie. Ideally, the architecture must be capable of stressing skill, strategy and composure in equal measure.
This year’s Ryder Cup venue, the Black Course at Bethpage State Park in New York (Sept. 26-28), is a proven championship stroke play design that has battered fields during the 2002 and 2009 U.S.
Opens (won by Tiger Woods and Lucas Glover, respectively) and the 2019 PGA Championship (Brooks Koepka). It can be obviously brutal, but does it also possess the architectural intangibles that can enhance the theatrics of the world’s most anticipated match play contest?
This year’s Walker Cup (Sept. 6-7) is hosted by Cypress Point for the first time since 1981. Generally considered too short for professional tournaments (Cypress Point last hosted the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 1990), it will rely on wind and tempting hole setups to flummox today’s long-hitting amateurs. Whether for a Ryder Cup or Walker Cup or any other elite-level competition, you need five design and setup
elements to make a great match play course. With these in mind, let’s examine how Bethpage and Cypress Point will measure up.
LENGTH
Prodigious yardage isn’t always necessary to produce entertaining and competitive matches, but a certain amount of length is needed at the elite level if driving the ball well is to be as determinative in winning and losing as the other aspects of the game. As match play is often about matchups (in singles and in teams), identifying players who can take advantage of lengthy par 5s and monster par 4s is a critical factor in pairings.
Bethpage rates highly in this regard
BEASTS OF BETHPAGE
The Black Course tests players physically in match play, as with the 457-yard par-4 15th, all uphill.
demanding length and precision with three par 4s measuring over 500 yards (not counting the 484-yard 15th, the hardest hole in each of the three previous majors) and fairways that dogleg and pinch in landing zones. In fact, the Black combines the difficult driving aspects of the two previous European host clubs on which the U.S. team struggled: Le Golf National in France, where the narrow fairways demanded pure accuracy, and Marco Simone in Italy, which presented opportunities for power players to cut corners and aggressively shape big carries.
Cypress Point, on the other hand, is vulnerable to power. The course is listed at 6,620 yards for the Walker Cup and in normal conditions, the amateurs will be able to push drives well down the fairways to set up wedges and pitch shots into most par 4s. The brilliance of Cypress Point, ranked number three for over a decade on America’s 100 Greatest Courses, was never predicated on it being long. Players work to score by nav-
igating the tilting fairways through the maze of Alister MacKenzie’s bunkers and with precise approaches into small, heavily sloped greens. Some competitors might be tempted to bomb away, but more birdies will come not because of driver distance but rather savvy, risktaking and crafty short games.
ADJUSTABILITY
The ability to keep players off balance hole to hole and day to day is essential to great match play courses. Length adjustment through tee-marker placement introduces a range of landing zones, putting added emphasis on adaptation and decision-making. Part of the head-to-head calculus is selecting the correct club based on the standing of the match and what the opponent has just done—the wider the range of targets, the tougher the choices.
Adjustable setups also factor heavily in foursomes, where teammates alternate shots. Setups that irregularly alternate between very long and shorter holes require strategic forethought into pairings and the order of who hits the tee shots. If courses can mix these combinations up daily, the pairings become a puzzle.
Even though par values don’t matter in match play, the psychology of a hole changes when a routine par 5 is set up as a formidable par 4. Most courses that host major match play events already have at least one par 4 that’s reachable from the tee, but an adjustable setup can throw a twist at the competitors if a usually long two-shot hole is presented as driveable.
GREAT TEMPTATIONS
Walker Cuppers can try to drive the green at the par-4 ninth but missing has dire consequences.
The par-4 eighth and ninth holes at Cypress will be fascinating to watch. Both are reachable from the tee but require high-risk shots that present dire opportunities for recovery on misfires. Other tees throughout the design can be altered so that players will have to react to their opponents and the situation of their match. Because of the tee-box limitations at Bethpage, that course has less flexibility—its holes are designed to be long and difficult. The par 5s, numbers four and 13, need to be as lengthy and challenging as they can be, but an intriguing option would be to move the markers as far forward as possible at
holes like two and, especially, 18 to try to temp players into going for the green with carries of around 315 to 325 yards.
GREAT GREENS
Putting is as important a component to winning holes as driving and iron play. It follows that great match play courses should possess fascinating, challenging green contours. The only way to truly test the putting acumen of the best players is through a worldclass set of rolling or sloping greens like at Augusta National or Oakmont, where two-putting can put as much strain on the psyche as hitting narrow fairways.
Of all the courses in Golf Digest’s top 50, Bethpage (No. 38) likely has the least distinguished set of greens. Though tilted and not particularly large, they generally don’t possess significant internal contour (the 15th and 17th are exceptions) and offer as much pinnable area as any American major championship course. When players keep their approaches below the hole, they’ll face mostly straightforward, makeable putts.
Cypress Point’s greens are devilish. Many have distinct hole locations separated by significant slopes and
swales, and all have tremendous pitch in one direction or the other. Though the approach shots are generally shorter, putts tend to break significantly as they near the hole (especially in the common windy conditions), and extreme precision is required to challenge certain tight hole locations. Creative touch and feel on the greens are as valuable at Cypress Point as just about anywhere.
AN INTIMIDATING START
Ryder Cup and Walker Cup players are already intensely nervous teeing off on the first hole of their matches, but the intimidation factor intensifies when the opening hole is a brute. Stadium seating surrounding the tee during the Ryder Cup dials up the pressure even more. Bethpage’s first hole certainly
qualifies as intimidating as hitting the dogleg-right fairway from the elevated tee is a must—no one wants to begin a match playing out of the Black’s deep rough. The first at Cypress Point, on the other hand, is more of a warmup and one of the design’s least-dramatic holes, though the elevated green is heavily sloped toward the front and doesn’t yield easy birdies. Though these both count as just one hole in each match, winning an especially tough opener can psychologically feel like going two-up.
PENAL LATE
The ability to keep players off balance hole to hole and day to day is essential to great matchplay courses.
As fun as it is to see players and teams exchange birdies or even eagles, they should be asked to physically and emotionally handle the stress of power holes late in the round. The best match play courses have plenty of tantalising halfpar holes that test calculated aggression, but they should also possess difficult, penal holes that occur in the heart of the second nine when the tension is highest and matches are often won or lost.
For the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow, the PGA of America adjusted the diabolical sequence of holes known as the Green Mile—holes 16, 17 and 18— so that they fell in the middle of the second nine to ensure the majority of groups would face them before matches were closed out. Bethpage needs no adjustment. Its 17th and 18th pose their own challenges, but they pale compared to the strain of the gauntlet of par 4s at 12, 15 and 16 sandwiched around the 13th, a tight 608-yard par 5. These holes have no problem extracting strokes and will provide a reckoning for many of the matches.
There’s no similar death march through Cypress Point’s second nine, but the majesty of its closing clifftop holes will undoubtedly intensify the pressure as players attempt to survive or turn matches. It would be impossible for the competitors to not feel the added gravity of hitting the most important shots of their lives around the Octopus Cypress on the 14th, into the small 15th green tucked into its rocky Pacific cove, across the ocean at the 16th, arguably the world’s greatest par 3, and driving diagonally over the cliffs at the par-4 17th.
You Might Be Throwing Broken Tees in the Wrong Spot
Where you toss them can have a substantial impact on the grounds staff
BY DREW POWELL
If you’re like many golfers, you might haphazardly flick broken pegs to the side of the tee markers or in the rough. But sometimes the smallest things can cause bigger headaches for grounds crews. We asked Brandon Coe, the golf course superintendent at Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley, where we should throw our tee stubs.
Golf Digest: Brandon, where do you think golfers should discard their broken tees?
Coe: I don’t think there’s a perfect answer for it. It’s going to differ from golf course to golf course. In a perfect world, if you have a good maintenance budget and you have proper staff, if you’re going out daily and you’re collecting tees on the tee box, that would be perfect.
The majority of clubs are probably better off just tossing them into the rough where they can be mulched up by mowers. That’s what I tell members at my club to do. Depending on the rough height, the tees will likely be mulched up by the mower when it goes around. We use a blade mower in the rough, so it’s going to chop it up pretty good, and it’s not really a concern for the equipment.
Either that or the tees are going to get worked in through the profile, and it’s just going to end up in the soil where it’s eroded over time, especially the wooden tees.
Is there a downside to leaving the stubs on the tee box?
TOSS TOSS
Discarding your tee stubs into the rough helps grounds staff.
Coe: Yes. I prefer that they get tossed into the rough and mulched up because the worst thing for us as a maintenance staff is having them on the box where mowers are going to catch them. It can do a pretty good number on a reel mower, which is what we use on tee boxes.
They’re better off in the rough because we take a typical rotary mower that you use at home, just with a big blade, and it chops the tees up well. It’s not going to be any concern for the mower.
If they’re left on the tee box and not getting picked up on daily, if they get clipped by a mower, it’s a different kind of mower. On the tees we use a reel mower that’s cutting really tight and at a low height. It’s pinching the grass. If you get tees caught up in there frequently, it’s going to damage it. That’s our concern because it can add up on the machines being on the tee box.
Tees that are left on the tee box are also a problem because it’s an extra hour’s worth of collecting the tees, so we’re not mowing over them. It’s an extra strain on the staff. If you accidental-
ly run over a tee with a mower on the tee box, it can not only damage the mower, but it can alter the cut of the grass.
Some golfers forget to take out the stubs from the ground after hitting an iron shot. Is that bad?
Coe: Any tees that are even slightly poking up are the worst, especially for the equipment. If you catch that at the right angle, that can do some damage. I prefer they don’t get pushed into the ground because they’re just going to sit there, and if you end up doing any sod work, it’s just a pain.
Do you have a preference between wooden or plastic tees?
Coe: Wooden tees are preferable. I encourage golfers to use wooden tees because they are biodegradable. Plastic tees are a concern for the property. Wooden tees are cheap, and you can buy them in bulk.
I mentioned you should toss your broken wooden tees in the rough, but plastic tees are a different situation. Try and hold on to those because we don’t want that kind lying around anywhere. They’re not biodegradable, and they can really damage the equipment, even in the rough.
U.S. RYDER CUP CAPTAIN KEEGAN BRADLEY ON THE BRINK OF CAREER DEFINITION
INTERVIEW BY JOEL BEALL
PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEPHEN DENTON
answer to why Keegan Bradley was named Ryder Cup captain is buried in a suitcase that has remained sealed for over a decade. Bradley made a vow never to unpack his luggage from the 2012 Ryder Cup until he was part of a winning American team. This story resurfaced in 2023 when he desperately hoped to make his third U.S. Ryder Cup team—his first since 2014—only to be snubbed when captain Zach Johnson announced his picks.
The perception exists that as a group, the U.S. players don’t carry the same searing hurt as their European counterparts. Winning is wonderful, but losing means simply shrugging and moving on to the next event. Bradley was the exception.
That’s why Bradley is exactly what Team USA needs. His love for the competition stands in stark contrast to the reported player unrest over money that surfaced on the American side at Marco Simone in 2023, against the broader backdrop of greed that has defined golf’s civil war between the established tours and LIV Golf. The Ryder Cup remains arguably the only time golf achieves true communal appeal. In Bradley, fans have found someone who cares about the Ryder Cup as deeply as they do.
However, Bradley has complicated matters with his remarkable mid-career revival, climbing into the world’s top 10 and capturing the Travelers Championship. When he spoke to Golf Digest in July, the prospect of being a playing captain— the first since Arnold Palmer in 1963—felt less like possibility than inevitability. This decision adds intrigue and pressure, raising questions about Bradley’s ability to both lead and perform. Where it will take place only amplifies the stakes. Bethpage Black, the course Bradley called home during college, boasts a shaky record when it comes to crowd control.
A lasting memory from Rome was the stark contrast between messages from team leaders. Captain Zach Johnson told his team to “remember who they are,” while European captain Luke Donald instilled in his team the need, in these words relayed
by Jon Rahm, “to walk through the gates and doors and forget about who you are outside of this week. What you have done or what you may do afterwards really doesn’t matter.” This latter mindset captures what makes the Ryder Cup special, regardless of outcome. It’s the mindset Bradley will bring—and he has the luggage to prove it.
GOLF DIGEST: Your emotional investment in the Ryder Cup has always been visible, and it’s part of what makes you so beloved by fans, but what about the burden of carrying that passion for over a decade away from the team?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: It’s been tough. I made my first two Ryder Cup teams and thought I was going to play the team events for the rest of my career. Then it got to the point where not only was I not playing in them, but I was nowhere in the conversation. Something that was a huge part of my life, what I wanted to do in the game, I reached this point where I had to let it go and say I might never play in this again. Making peace with that realisation was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
GD: When that call came from the PGA offering the captaincy, was it cathartic, even odd, to dig into something you had buried?
KB: I never expected to be named the Ryder Cup captain. That’s a beyond-your-dreams sort of thing. It was a shock and still is, but I have a great team around me, great vice-captains. This isn’t about me. We’re going to be prepared for what’s coming.
GD: What’s one thing about this role that you had no clue about as a player, something that made you think, Oh, this is what captains actually deal with?
KB: I had no idea how much goes into this. I don’t think you can until you get in this position. It’s a 24-hour job. Literally, almost every waking moment, this is on my mind. The only time I’m not thinking about it is when I’m at my real job playing golf. I understand why the role has been given to guys that were sort of at the “doneplaying” end of their career. It’s been really challenging, yet also really energising and lifeaffirming. It’s been great.
GD: Juggling all the captain responsibilities while actively competing would seem a likely detriment to one’s game, yet it appears to have had the opposite effect on you.
KB: Well, first off, no one’s really ever been in my position. If you gave this job to Tiger or Phil at my age, they still would’ve been the best players in the world. Maybe part of what has helped me, when I’m outside the ropes not playing, is that I’m focused on the Ryder Cup versus what’s wrong with my game or what I got coming up, a tough hole or some shot I have to hit that week. That, in a weird way, has helped.
GD: Building relationships is essential to the role of captain. As much as you might enjoy the added camaraderie, how do you navigate getting closer to players while
knowing you might have to look them in the eye and tell them they didn’t make the team?
KB: One of the best parts of the job has been getting to know the guys better. In the back of my mind, I’m always thinking I will be the one to make that call they don’t want to receive, a call I’ve had to receive. That’s especially hard when maybe they’ve been on the previous two or three or even five teams. When making the team becomes normal, you expect it’s coming. I now know why general managers on sports teams don’t get close to players—they might have to trade them, cut them, end their careers. Obviously, it’s not that drastic, but the Ryder Cup is something that can define us as professionals, and I’m the person telling them the dream isn’t coming true this year. I’m a player, too. When I got that call about Rome, I understood that I didn’t make the team on points, and if you leave it up to someone else, it’s always a possibility.
EVERY SHOT STARTS WITH YOUR BREATH
So much about performing well under pressure comes down to breathing. It’s something my coach, Darren May, and I talk about often. Before every round, I do a breathing exercise that takes 10 minutes. If you watch me closely, you’ll notice that the start of my routine before every shot begins by simply placing my hand on my stomach for a brief moment. It’s a reminder to breathe more deeply using my diaphragm rather than just my chest. The idea is to slow your heart rate and get in the right mental space to execute a shot.
NO THOUGHTS AT ADDRESS BUT ONE
I never want to think about swing mechanics over a shot, especially while in contention or during a key moment in a match. That’s not going to work out well for me. After I decide on my target and the shot I’m going to try to hit, I leave all that as I step in, take three looks, and then the ball’s gone. That said, under pressure the tendency among many golfers is to get quick and not complete the backswing. When you practice, think about getting the sternum over your trail knee. That’s a full shoulder turn, and good things happen from here.
GD: After the 2023 Ryder Cup, there was a sense, maybe exacerbated by the Netflix documentary “Full Swing,” that the decision to leave you off was because you weren’t part of this “old boys club.” How true do you think that was and how do you fight against that with your own picks?
KB: No, I don’t think that’s true. What has been lost is this: Part of it falls on me. I needed to get to know the guys better. This is a team. You need to have guys under the highest pressure feeling comfortable with one another, to know they can trust the other guy, to know who they are fighting with. You must look at potential pairings. Can this player pair up with three or four guys or can you only play him with this one guy? I totally understood the direction Zach went. He went with proven guys that were major winners, guys who were Ryder Cuppers for the last decade, nothing personal.
GD: There’s a lot of respect between you and Luke Donald and the European players. That said, they haven’t been shy about their feelings about you potentially playing, namely the idea that a playing captain in today’s Ryder Cup will do two jobs at 50 percent instead of one at 100 percent. That’s gamesmanship, yet there’s a legitimate debate about whether the captaincy has become too demanding for someone who’s also trying to compete.
KB: When I first started, I didn’t have my five vicecaptains (Jim Furyk, Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Gary Woodland), so I didn’t have that support system. Now that I have these five guys that each bring unique perspectives, opinions and capabilities to the team, it seems much more manageable now. I still think [being a playing-captain] would be very challenging if that’s what happens, but I think it’s much more manageable now with these five guys behind me.
GD: What lessons from past Ryder Cup captains do you want to incorporate or avoid?
KB: Just making sure the guys are prepared, and
they know who they’re playing with, that they know the plan. Are you going to be called upon for alternate shot or are you only going to be playing best ball? That we are counting on you or that you might be in reserves. That you’re going to play with this guy that plays this ball. This is our strategy—make it loud and clear and without doubt to everyone in the room. The more guys know and understand those things, the better they’ll play.
GD: Eight of the last nine Ryder Cups have been won by the home team. You hope that trend continues this year, obviously, but does the current format need tweaking to have more unpredictability?
KB: That just shows how hard it is to play an away Ryder Cup. Over the last 20, 30 years, the Ryder Cup has changed into this monumental sporting event, something broader and bigger than a golf team, even a major. You’re going into a hostile atmosphere, like going into Fenway Park or a raucous college basketball arena. It’s tough to win in those places, even if you are the better team. That’s sort of what we’ve been dealing with.
GD: Speaking of hostile, the last time we had a major at Bethpage, things got heated with some scenes that went beyond typical New York sports passion. Same with several past American-hosted Ryder Cups. You’re going to be responsible for your players’ experience in what could be an incredibly intense environment.
KB: We urge the fans to cheer for our guys. We don’t want them to cross the line. Ultimately, we as the players and the captains, we can’t control a fan that’s in the crowd. We certainly don’t want the fans to affect the play of a player by yelling in their backswing or doing something inappropriate. We would never want that. Having said that, it’s going be a very difficult place to play, just like Rome was for the Americans. That’s what you want as a home team. That’s why you go to a place like Bethpage, where the fans are part of the course’s DNA. The Europeans know that. We know that as Americans, they’re going be tough on us as well. We need to perform and win for them, and that is the focus.
GD: As a Northeast guy, a Johnnie, being captain at Bethpage must seem too good to be true?
KB: I didn’t get any scholarship offers other than from St. John’s University. When I went there, I didn’t know what to expect. I had never really been to New York City, other than in and out as a kid. In college we got to play Bethpage Black every Monday. At that point in my life, I had never played or even seen a major championship course, and when I got to Bethpage, it was exactly the way I thought a major championship course would look and feel. Tiger had just won the U.S. Open there. This might sound simple, but at that time I was so extremely grateful to just be in the position. Forget aspirations of being a pro, of being a great college player. I just felt like I belonged to something bigger than myself. To get brought back into this Ryder
Cup dream that I thought was gone—at Bethpage? C’mon. That’s why I’m bringing it all. I owe it to my players, to my country, to all the people associated with the course, and I owe it to all the kids who have ever been in or will be in that position.
GD: Which American players are you most excited to potentially work with, or for crowds to be introduced to?
KB: Well, there’s J.J. Spaun, who has never played a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. He’s the U.S. Open champion, a guy who almost won the Players, but to me, I’m excited because I know what he’s going to get to experience. It’s one thing to play in a Ryder Cup but something else to be a part of this one. [Bethpage Black] is going to be the craziest Ryder Cup ever. I’m excited for Russell Henley. Heck, I still remember everything about my first week, from practice rounds to how nervous I was when it started on Friday. Man, I remember playing a practice round on Tuesday, soaking up the atmosphere, and I was incredibly nervous then. It’s unlike any event you’ll ever feel.
GD: How do you define success for your captaincy beyond winning or losing?
KB: It’s just winning. That’s the goal, nothing else. Anything outside of a win is not going to be successful. I want the guys to feel prepared, that we came together as a group, that we are brothers, that I created a week for them at Bethpage they will remember forever, where we had each other’s backs and were one unit. But you do all that because you have an end goal in mind.
GD: The unpacked suitcase coming to Bethpage?
KB: No. I’m doing whatever I can to not make this Ryder Cup about me. It shouldn’t be about the captain. You hear Bill Belichick talk, he never talks about the coaches. It’s the players that win games. The last thing I want is for the sideshow to be about this stupid suitcase that I didn’t open just because I was depressed. This has nothing to do with me. Even if I play, all I care about is winning. Everything else is stuff that can be left on the side.
HOW TO REALLY TRUST YOUR YARDAGES
The best pressure players won’t vary from their routines for even a second. Scottie Scheffler is a great example. What helps me commit and go is I’m never in doubt about the yardage. From practice with a launch monitor, I know how to hit any number based on my system of four swings. While it might not look that different to your eye, my feel for my shortest backswing and through-swing is “chestto-chest.” For a slightly longer swing that produces a little more distance, the hands rise higher and go “ear-to-ear.”
Then I have a 95-percent swing (I nail its numbers most consistently) and, finally, a full-power swing. When I won at Hartford this year, on the final approach I wanted to fly the ball 146 yards. That’s my ear-to-ear 9-iron. Easy.
95-PERCENT
Fuenfstueck breaks through in London
THE GERMAN BIRDIED HER FINAL TWO HOLES AT THE CENTURION CLUB TO CLAIM HER FIRST LET TITLE, IN A DRAMATIC FINISH TO THE PIF LONDON CHAMPIONSHIP
Germany’s Laura Fuenfstueck endured a rollercoaster final day at the Centurion Club to win her first Ladies European Tour title at the PIF London Championship on the Ladies European Tour (LET).
The Golf Saudi-backed event, and third iconic stop in this season’s PIF Global Series, continued its appetite for high drama when Fuenfstueck, three clear at the start of the day, fell back into the field only to haul herself back into contention again, with four birdies on the back nine including 17 and 18 to finish on one under par and 10 under tournament overall.
Her winning birdie putt meant she denied Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea, who was set to be her country’s first winner on the LET, one shot behind on
nine under with Golf Saudi ambassador Ann Van Dam of the Netherlands a further shot back on eight under after a stunning eagle at the 18th catapulted her up the leaderboard.
Fuenfstueck, who had played in 114 LET events before this maiden win, said: “Last week (at the AIG Women’s
Open) helped, in contention first two days and then gave it away over the weekend. I’m just super pleased I got over the line.”
The event brought another day of high drama after Team Du Toit, captained by Danielle Du Toit who was only included in the field after Charley Hull’s late withdrawal on eve of the tournament, triumphed in the team contest in dramatic style.
PIF GLOBAL SERIES LANDS IN TEXAS
The fourth of five stops on the PIF Global Series sees the Ladies European Tour (LET) head to the United States for the Aramco Houston Championship this month.
Twenty-six teams of four will compete from 5-7 September at Golfcrest Country Club in Pearland, marking the series’ first visit to Houston. As usual, the professionals will play a twobest-scores-per-hole format while also contesting an individual 54-hole stroke play event. The individual competition carries a prize fund of $1.5 million, along with Order of Merit points for the Ladies European Tour and valuable Rolex Women’s World Ranking points.
In Tampa last year, Golf Saudi ambassador Pauline RoussinBouchard successfully defended her US title, first won in West Palm Beach, as her team of Céline
Herbin, Meghan MacLaren and amateur Lujain Khalil triumphed in memorable fashion.
On the individual side, Alexandra Försterling stole the spotlight with her third victory in less than twelve months on the LET.
The Aramco Houston Championship underscores event organiser Golf Saudi’s commitment to taking the very best women golfers to new markets and new destinations to strengthen the sport’s ecosystem globally.
A strong line-up of Golf Saudi ambassadors will be in the field, including France’s Celine Boutier, Netherlands’ Anne Van Dam, Spain’s Carlota Ciganda and home favorite Danielle Kang.
POPERT CHASES HISTORY
THE ENGLISHMAN RETURNS TO DEFEND HIS TITLE, ONCE AGAIN, AT WENTWORTH
ipp popert is aiming for a record-breaking fourpeat at this year’s G4D Tour at the BMW PGA Championship as he looks to defend his title on the West Course at Wentworth.
The G4D Tour was launched in 2022 as a partnership between the DP World Tour and EDGA, formerly the European Disabled Golf Association. The G4D player pathway is designed for anyone with a disability who wants to play golf, and for many it represents the pinnacle of competition, giving players the chance to compete
on the same course and in the same week as the DP World Tour professionals.
Popert, who has cerebral palsy, underwent foot surgery in January 2025, yet still arrives at the BMW PGA Championship on the back of winning the U.S. Adaptive Open for a third straight year. In doing so, he became only the fourth male player in history to win the same USGA championship three times in a row.
The World Number One has already won three times around the West Course in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and since the launch of the G4D Tour in 2022, the 27-year-old has been the dominant force, collecting 13 titles.
12 months ago, the Golf Saudi ambassador defeated close friend Brendan Lawlor by four shots with a tournament total six under par after rounds of 71 and 69.
In this year’s edition Daphne van Houten, who claimed the women’s title at The G4D Open in May, will be in the ten-player line-up at Wentworth alongside Ireland’s Brendan Lawlor, Australia’s Lachlan Wood, England’s Mike Browne, Cameroon’s Issa Nlareb, Canada’s Kurtis Barkley, American Ryanne Jackson, Spain’s Juan Postigo and France’s Thomas Colombel, who was in contention at The G4D Open earlier this year.
The field will be competing for a place in the season-ending G4D Tour @ Rolex Grand Final, which takes place at Club de Golf Alcanada in Mallorca for the first time. The event will feature a ten-player line-up that includes Gross and Net winners from the 2024-25 G4D Tour season. Six players will contest the Gross competition, with four in the Net event.
Leba non’s Lone Fair way
Karim Salaam is rebuilding golf and keeping a country’s pride on the map
BY HARRY GRIMSHAW
there was a time when lebanon had four golf courses. Today, only one remains. The rest were lost to conflict. Even that surviving course, the Golf Club of Lebanon, was once reduced to rubble during the 1982 invasion.
Karim Salaam (right) has a first-hand experience of it all and knows the story better than most. His father, Salim Ali Salaam, was both President of the Lebanese Golf Federation (LGF) and Founder of the Arab Golf Federation (AGF).
Salim refused to let the sport of golf disappear in Lebanon, despite its struggles.“It’s a true example of Lebanese resilience at its best” Karim recalls.
Golf in Lebanon has endured a turbulent period over the past five years, from the end of 2019 to the end of 2024. Like the country itself, the club faced a series of extraordinary challenges: a revolution, a financial collapse, a global pandemic, a massive explosion that devastated half of Beirut, and even a 90-day war that placed the club’s location under direct threat. “Through all of this, the commitment of the club’s stakeholders and employees never wavered. Instead of retreating, they pushed forward, working not only to preserve the club but also to expand participation through various outreach programs, ensuring the game continues to grow despite the adversity.”
“Through it all, the Golf Club of Lebanon remains more than a golf course. Alongside its 18 holes, it hosts tennis, squash, swimming, taekwondo, football and basketball. It’s a place for community.”
For Karim, who has taken over the reigns as President of the new-look Lebanese Golf Federation, they have built further foundations with a three-year plan launched at the end of 2024.
One focus is grassroots development. The Federation’s Golf in Schools programme introduces the sport to pupils through The R&A’s Unleash Your Drive initiative. Its companion project, Golf for All, works with people and children with special needs. “We want to open the game to everyone,” Karim says, “not just those who already know it.”
The second pillar is raising the standard of competition. By adding WAGR (World Amateur Golf Ranking) events like the Lebanese Spring Open and Lebanese Junior Open, local Arab players can earn points without leaving the country.
“The upcoming Lebanese International Amateur Open in September is another chance to draw talent from abroad while giving homegrown players a bigger stage to perform on.”
OPPOSITE
The third is tapping into the Lebanese golfing diaspora. “There are nearly four times as many Lebanese golfers abroad as in Lebanon,” Karim explains. “That network we have proved invaluable when security concerns limited local travel last year. Diaspora players stepped up in representing our country, and the victories showed.”
TOP: Arab federations meet at innaugural AGF Cup in 1975
ABOVE: Current LGF President Karim Salaam
PAGE: Golf Club of Lebanon
The fourth is visibility. The Federation’s improved relationship with the press means results now land in local headlines and even international outlets. “When Lara Bakhour won the European Juniors U18 Championship, she got a phone call from our President Joseph Aoun, that was huge for us all!
“In the junior ranks, two of the three girls who attended the Arab Golf Federation’s Elite Sports Scholarship Camp in Riyadh have now earned spots at Florida’s IMG Academy for the next three years. It’s incredible, really.”
Running anything in Lebanon means working around unpredictability. Just a few weeks ago, the Lebanese Golf Federation (below left) joined Dr. Nora Beyrakdarian, the Minister of Youth and Sports with a Sports for All tour, bringing multiple sports to cities across the country. The first stop was golf, in the South Lebanon, which drew big crowds despite the region’s recent hardships.
“Everytime someone knocks us down, we stand up again,” Karim says. “That’s Lebanon. And that’s golf here too.”
Golf in Lebanon now needs the opportunity to grow wider. They’ve tackled the problem by staging more internationally recognised amateur events like the Lebanese Spring Open and Lebanese Junior Open. Up next, is the Lebanese International Amateur Open, scheduled for 2628 September. The tournament offers divisions for men, women and juniors plus awards WAGR points. “For a small federation these are big logistics and a publicity test. Given the recent instability, sport is a way to show that Lebanon is still a destination,” Karim says. “Even with just one golf course we can host international standard events.”
Back in April the Cedar Golf Championship, an event on the Arab Golf Series, was played at Al Zorah in Ajman, United Arab Emirates. The twist being was that the Cedar Championship was organised by the Lebanese Golf Federation but hosted by the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF).
“It was the first time a country hosted a tournament on behalf of another nation,” Karim notes. “It showed the strength of our federation ties and the UAE’s support. It was a gesture of solidarity as we emerged from conflict.”
The importance of the Arab Golf Series events brings together regional talent across the Middle East and gives local juniors a chance to test themselves against an international field, without occurring the cost of long overseas trips.
This then creates a ripple effect. Better rankings attract better fields. Better fields bring more attention and therefore more sponsors.
The Lebanese population that lives abroad is a sporting advantage. Karim estimates there are nearly four times as many Lebanese golfers living overseas as there are in Lebanon. When security
“Everytime someone knocks us down, we stand up again. That’s Lebanon. And that’s golf here too.”
“What Lebanon can do is make sure that the next generation has the chance to try, to fail, and to improve.”
issues made travel difficult last year the diaspora filled in. “Players representing Lebanon who are based in the United States, the UAE and Europe kept the country visible in international events. The diaspora stepped up and ensured Lebanon stayed represented. We had some important results, despite limited resources.”
That diaspora connection also opened doors for partnerships and training opportunities. Since 2024 the EGF has hosted a summer training camp in Morocco and has welcomed all Arab nations to join. This past summer, Lebanon sent four juniors who were joined by players from Palestine and Oman. The shared camp includes coaching, builds networks, sets standards and exposes the players to regional competition that their home structure may sometimes struggle to provide.
Karim is mostly proud of the progression that Lebanon’s women and girls are having in the game. “Right now the girls are making more noise than the boys,” he says with a smile.
“Elena Zreik, Lara Bakhour and Victoria Richani have all pushed into international visibility. Victoria’s recent run included qualifying for the USGA World Teen Championship where she made the cut and finished tied for third.
“Vanessa Richani, became the first Lebanese woman to reach the Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific Championship, she is now aiming at a professional career. Then there is Yasmeen El Husseini, just nine years-old, who is one to watch for the future!”
The success across Arab golf is down to the structure and timing. The Arab Golf Federation is investing in regional development thanks to Golf Saudi, that has helped add resources. Clubs and federations around the region are now shifting their view of golf from an elite hobby to a national asset.
“With the AGF strategic plan we have a pyramid structure, and the ultimate goal is to produce a Major champion from the Arab world.” Karim then points out Morocco’s Adam Bresnu, a recent breakthrough figure who became the first Arabborn player to make the cut in a DP World Tour Rolex Series event at the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic. “It was such an emotional moment for us all there watching at Emirates Golf Club. He is such a great young man, with a lot of Arab people so proud and inspired by him.”
The LGF’s job is to create a pathway and remove barriers. Free junior programmes, local WAGR
BOTTOM: Various players from team Lebanon.
OPPOSITE PAGE FROM TOP:
The early days of the Lebanese Golf Federation, to the current day of how its developed.
events, regional training camps and diaspora engagement are all pieces of the strategy. The next challenge is converting those pieces into something durable.
For a sport often presented as private and exclusive, the Golf Club of Lebanon behaves like a public square. “It is the place people gather, meet, and compete. It is where a child first holds a club and where our national team trains. It exists because people kept choosing to rebuild, despite the odds.”
That’s a fact of how sport in Lebanon has carried on through displacement and economic turbulence.
That’s the drive that matters to both the Lebanese players and its fans. It also matters to a sport that is trying to grow in a crowded field of issues.
“What Lebanon can do is make sure that the next generation has the chance to try, to fail, and to improve.
“Being involved with golf in Lebanon and the Arab Golf Federation is a privilege and an emotional connection to my father’s work.
“I’m not sure if he imagined exactly where we’d be today, but he always believed golf had an important place in the Arab world.”
gulf club
Mousa Shana’ah
Gross Summer Open Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club, Sharjah, UAE
Mattias Rejman
Red Hot Open
Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, UAE
Richard Green & David Warham
The Jumeirah Pairs by the Brain and Performance Centre
1. Justin Leonard’s “clinching” putt at The Country Club
Leonard’s 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole in 1999 (above) to all but clinch the cup for the U.S. team could very well be on the podium of the greatest putts in history. After the chaos and celebration, Jose Maria Olazabal still had a birdie putt to keep Europe’s hopes alive. It missed, securing Leonard and the U.S. the half point it needed to complete the historic comeback.
2. Ian Poulter’s heroics at Medinah
There is likely no “Miracle at Medinah,” when Europe overcame a 10-6 deficit on Sunday to win the 2012 Ryder Cup, without Poulter’s five consecutive birdies to close Saturday’s four-ball session.
Poulter’s double fist pumps and visceral stares signaled this U.S. blowout-to-be was destined for another outcome.
3. The Concession at Royal Birkdale Tensions between the teams were high all week in the 1969 Ryder Cup until Jack Nicklaus conceded Tony Jacklin’s two-foot par putt on the final hole to end the Ryder Cup in a tie. Nicklaus told Jacklin, “I don’t think you would have missed it, but I wasn’t going to give you the chance, either.”
4. The U.S. press conference callout at Gleneagles
The most drama during Europe’s rout of the Americans in 2014 came not on the course but in the post-match press
conference, when Phil Mickelson openly rebuked captain Tom Watson’s leadership and called for a return to 2008 captain Paul Azinger’s style.
5. Seve Ballesteros’ greatest shot you’ve never seen at PGA National
The pivotal first match on Sunday in 1983 at PGA National between Ballesteros and Fuzzy Zoeller came to the 18th hole tied. Ballesteros snap-hooked his drive and hacked his second into a fairway bunker 245 yards from the hole. With the ball tucked under the lip, playing to a narrow green guarded by water, Ballesteros took 3-wood and miraculously curved it onto the fringe, salvaging a tie in the match. Jack Nicklaus, captain of the U.S. team, called it “the greatest shot I ever saw.” Unfortunately for the rest of us, it happened before the broadcast went on air.
6. Patrick Reed’s finger wag at Hazeltine
The tension between Rory McIlroy and the American crowd at Hazeltine National in 2016 was brewing all week, setting the stage for a Sunday duel with the gregarious Reed. The two traded birdies with the back-and-forth peaking on the eighth, where McIlroy holed a 40-footer for birdie and screamed “I can’t hear you” to the silent crowd. Reed matched with a 20-footer to tie the hole, wagged his finger at McIlroy and eventually closed out the match to cement his title as “Captain America.”
7. Bernhard Langer’s short miss at Kiawah Island
The animosity between the teams in the modern Ryder Cup can be traced to the late ’80s and peaked in 1991 with “The War by the Shore.” The feud between Ballesteros and the U.S. team, notably Paul Azinger, intensified. The fans acted as if they were enlisted in the battle. Hale Irwin, playing in the deciding match against Langer, pulled his drive 40 yards left at the last, only to miraculously (and suspiciously) find his ball next to the fairway. But it was Langer’s six-foot putt to win the singles match and retain the cup for Europe that is most remembered. It missed, and the Americans won the war.
