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Year: 2023
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Y O U R L I F E , W E L L P L AY E D N O V . – D E C . 2 0 2 3 / G O L F. C O M TOP 100 COURSES WORLD 2023 IN THE Top 40 Golf Gifts The Last Putting Lesson You’ll Ever Need No. 76 Point Hardy GC Cap Estate, Saint Lucia
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46 BIG SHOTS Top of the World G O L F. C O M NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2023 / VOLUME 65, ISSUE 8 2023 2024 Our raters trekked far and wide and deliberated long and hard to deliver you the latest iteration of GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the World list. It’s the definitive global ranking sure to spark debate and inspiration in equal measure. Now it’s time for you to get packing! 62 Better Putting Guaranteed. Top 100 Teachers Joe Hallett and Joe Plecker have landed upon a data-driven technique that will have your ball visiting the bottom of the cup more often. 68 Whip-smart! ICYMI: Ryder Cup Drama Never Disappoints 20 Up Close with Sahith Theegala / Dylan Dethier 25 Stuff Golfers Should Know: Make Overseas Buddy Trips a Reality 41 Money Game: Tour Pros Turned Entrepreneurs 44 COVER: POINT HARDY GC, ON THE ISLAND OF ST. LUCIA, IS A NEW SEASIDE BEAUTY THAT DESERVEDLY DEBUTS AT NO. 76 ON OUR TOP 100 WORLD LIST (P. 46). ABOVE: THE AILSA COURSE AT TRUMP TURNBERRY REMAINS THE STUNNER IT’S ALWAYS BEEN, HOLDING FAST AT NO. 18. 6 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 Cover: Shawn Michael Marcellin; This page: Gary Lisbon How has PING designer Marty Jertson made an impact at the company? By being... a player.
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TAP-INS G O L F. C O M NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2023 / VOLUME 65, ISSUE 8 CLUBHOUSE 74 GEAR 91 LESSONS 74 The Ultimate Gift Guide From training aids to apparel to accessories, our editors offer expert recommendations that will satisfy every golfer on your holiday shopping list. (Psst. We won’t tell if you get a little something for yourself.) 34 Access Adventure Once you tackle the seven courses at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga., it’s time to head to their Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds for some world-class clay shooting. 37 Sand Shame Everyone knows when your ball lands in the bunker you’re not allowed to rake it—or are you? 92 Let’s Get this Straight Top 100 Teacher Krista Dunton has a great drill for minimizing trailarm bend on important pitches. What you’ll find is the secret to consistently crisp short-game shots. 98 Last Off Rob Gronkowski has legit work to do on his golf game—if he wants Tom Brady to call his number. 8 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 Clockwise from top left: Courtesy Reynolds Lake Oconee; Jeffrey Westbrook (2); Christopher Lane; Rob Gronkowski; Jeffrey Westbrook; Getty Images/iStockphoto 25
THE STANDARD IN GOLF COURSE DESIGN Panther National, Florida - Opening Nov. 2023 Nicklaus Design at Royal Auckland & Grange GC, New Zealand Nicklaus Heritage Design at Jack’s Bay, Bahamas
G O L F.C O M C H A I R M A N / P U B L I S H E R H OWA R D M I LST E I N C EO JAS O N A D E L Chief Operating Officer ROB DECHIARO Chief Financial Officer CANDICE ADAMS E D I TO R I A L Editor-in-Chief DAVID DENUNZIO Executive Editor JOHN MCALLEY Managing Editor JOHN LEDESMA Managing Editor JONATHAN WALL (Equipment) Senior Writer JOSH SENS Architecture Editor RAN MORRISSETT Social Media Editor ADAM CHRISTENSEN Contributing Writers MICHAEL CORCORAN, EVAN ROTHMAN Contributing Production Editor AIMEE E. BARTOL Analytics Editor MARK BROADIE Contributing Copy Editor MARGARET MAY Contributing Instructors THE TOP 100 TEACHERS IN AMERICA A R T + P H OTO Design WORKS WELL WITH OTHERS DESIGN GROUP: JESSICA MUSUMECI, NANCY JO IACOI, KEVIN GRIMSTEAD Contributing Photo Editor NANCY WEISMAN G O L F.C O M Executive Editor ALAN BASTABLE Managing Editor JOSHUA BERHOW Senior Writers DYLAN DETHIER, SEAN ZAK Senior Editors RYAN BARATH (Equipment) NICK DIMENGO (Game Improvement), NICK PIASTOWSKI Managing Producer KEVIN CUNNINGHAM Multimedia Editor JESSICA MARKSBURY Assistant Editors JAMES COLGAN, JACK HIRSH, ZEPHYR MELTON VP, Programming TIM REILLY Assoc. Manager, Commerce MARLEY SIMS Senior Manager, Social CLAIRE ROGERS Social Multimedia Manager DARREN RIEHL Senior Manager, Video CONNOR FEDERICO Video Production EMMA DEVINE, SARAH-MIA DRENNEN, MARK HANNAN, TIFFANI LYNCH P R O D U C T I O N QUAD Account Manager KYLIE CESPEDES Premedia MAX THOMSON C I R C U L AT I O N PUBWORX FINANCE Controller JULIA DRUYEVA Manager, Accounting & Finance STEPHANIE LOPEZ A DV E R T I S I N G SA L E S SVP, Head of Sales BRAD FELENSTEIN Consultant DOUG DIAMOND CONSUMER INSIGHT VP, Audience Development & Analytics KIP MORGAN SEO & Email Manager MATTHEW BLOCKUS Social Media Manager STEPHANIE SONG Director, Ad Operations ED GONZALEZ Director, Digital Operations HEATHER JORALEMON B R A N D M A R K ET I N G VP, Marketing BRENDAN MOHLER Associate Director, Marketing & Activations ELIZABETH MILLER Marketing Design TANYA DESELM Marketing Manager TREY CRONEY Assistant Account Manager HARRISON COHEN A DV E R T I S I N G O F F I C E S N EW YO R K Senior Account Director MARK HANNON mark.hannon@golf.com (646) 876-1793 Senior Account Director MATT LEVY matt.levy@golf.com (646) 882-2505 SA N D I EG O Golf Equipment Director BRIAN FORTINI brian.fortini@golf.com (760) 753-4100 LO S A N G E L E S / SA N F R A N C I S C O Western Sales Director MATT ESTRADA matt.estrada@golf.com (310) 701-7117 S O U T H E AST Southeast Sales Director MICHAEL METHVIN michael.methvin@golf.com (843) 816-6384 G O L F M AG A Z I N E I S A PA R T O F 8 A M G O L F, W H I C H I N C LU D E S N I C K L AU S C O M PA N I E S , T R U E S P EC G O L F, G O L F LO G I X , M I U R A A N D C LU B C O N E X Chairman HOWARD MILSTEIN Partner JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE President HOYT M C GARITY Chief Strategy Officer TREY MARUCCI Player Relations CHARLIE GRACE Head of Video DINO MARKUS Finance + Investments JAMES RIDOUT Advisors JEFF FUJIMOTO, ANTHONY GERARD, KELLIE STENZEL Video Content Strategy BRIAN RICHARDSON Head of Tech & Digital Strategy KELLEN TALLADA 6 EAST 43RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10017 8amgolf.com C H I CAG O Midwest Sales Director JOHN PRESCHLACK john.preschlack@golf.com (224) 383-6004 Administrative Specialist CHRIS JONES chris.jones@golf.com (224) 383-6011 CUSTOMER SERVICE Visit GOLF.COM/CUSTOMERSERVICE / Call (800) 876-7726 / E-mail GFMCUSTSERV@CDSFULFILLMENT.COM Write GOLF MAGAZINE, P.O. BOX 3200, HARLAN, IA 51593-0046 Twitter Golf_Com / Instagram Golf_Com / Snapchat Golf_Com / Facebook.Com/Golf GOLF MAGAZINE (ISSN-1056-5493) is published monthly, except for four combined issues: Jan/Feb, Jul/Aug, Sep/Oct and Nov/Dec. All rights reserved. Editorial and Advertising offices: 6 E. 43 St., New York, NY 10017. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. GOLF and GOLF MAGAZINE are federally registered trademarks of the owner. Subscriptions: U.S. and its possessions, one year $30. For Canada add $10 per year (includes GST). For foreign add $30 (via air) per year. Subscriptions processed electronically. GOLF MAGAZINE entered as periodical postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publication Mail Agreement No. 40110178. Return undeliverable Canada addresses to: Postal Stn. A, PO Box 4015, Toronto, ON M5W2T2. Canada GST Registration #81996300RT0001. Printed in USA. 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From Fromthe theEditor Editor Can I Get a “Wow”? who are unlike any others. No, not the players with a shooter’s chance of winning a PGA Tour event No. 20 Tara Iti every week. Nor the fans at these competitions whose behind-the-ropes TE ARAI, NEW ZEALAND outbursts (see “Mashed potatoes!” and “It’s in the hole!”) infiltrate the TV broadcasts of such. I mean special—GOLF’s panel of course raters. Talk about a charmed life. These players travel the globe all months of the year in search of course designs new and old, always with an eye toward greatness (if not a good score on a track that most of us would kill just to set foot on). And they do it on their own dime! Their reward? A life most golfers would only dream of—if they could afford it. Our reward? Turn to page 46 for GOLF’s latest iteration of our Top 100 Courses in the World list, a ranking established 30-plus years ago (when I still carried a 2-iron in my bag). Get your envy in check and you’ll notice that there’s more to this biennial ranking than initially meets the eye. Sure, it showers accolades—and a number, 1 through 100—on some of the most inspiring destinations in the game. But it also measures and advances the way most of us think about course design. With each successive ranking we learn a little bit more about golf ’s roots and, most importantly, where it’s going. For much of GOLF’s run in the rankings arena, Golden Age parkland courses and UK links ruled the roost. And that was just fine. Recently, however, developments have sprung up on stunning patches of real estate heretofore unthinkable as “courseland,” if only for the reason that it was too damn remote or precious. Six of the eight new entries on this year’s list sit waterside, from the tropical cliffs of Saint Lucia (Point Hardy GC, our cover subject) to Lofoten in Norway, which offers the Norwegian Sea, the Northern Lights and the Arctic Circle for those bold and lucky enough to trek that far east (and north). Old-school Maidstone (left) and new-school Tara Iti (above) further prove my point, which is to say “good bones” could once cut it on our list. Today, you need the bones plus the “wow.” It all makes for one helluva thrilling—and changing—landscape. I can’t wait to start packing. From top: Matthew Salacuse; Jacob Sjöman; LC Lambrecht THERE ARE 119 PEOPLE IN THE GOLF WORLD No. 50 Maidstone EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. David DeNunzio Editor-in-Chief 11
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A Cup of Their Own WORLD CHAMPIONS CUP DECEMBER 7 TO 10, 2023 THE CONCESSION GOLF CLUB BRADENTON, FLA. CAPTAINS: ERNIE ELS (INTERNATIONAL) JIM FURYK (USA) DARREN CLARKE (EUROPE) TELEVISION: ABC & ESPN (TIMES TBD) 16 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 It’s kind of like the Ryder Cup. It’s kind of like the Presidents Cup. It’s as if the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup were rolled into one and stacked with pros who once played in both of those events. It’s the World Champions Cup, coming to The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., December 7 to 10. Like the Ryder Cup (U.S. versus Europe) and the Presidents Cup (U.S. versus International), the World Champions Cup is a team event, but here the Americans will take on the Europeans and Internationals all at once. You’ll know the rosters. The sixman teams will be made up of PGA Tour Champions players, and they’ll be led by playing captains Jim Furyk (U.S.), Darren Clarke (Europe) and Ernie Els (International). The format is unique. On Thursday and Friday, across Concession’s back nine, play will be in sixsomes (two players per side). Games will be betterball in the morning and modified alternate shot in the afternoon, and points will be awarded based on scores. On Saturday, they’ll play a pro-am. On the final day, the pros will play singles in the morning and afternoon, using the same scoring from Thursday and Friday. The participants emphasize that this will not simply be an exhibition. Cup Chairman Peter Jacobsen sums it up this way: “I know that, as a professional athlete, the competitive fire never leaves you—otherwise these guys wouldn’t be out here,” he says. “So I expect the World Champions Cup to feature some amazing individual battles and guys really playing hard to represent their teams well.” Furyk agrees there will be fireworks. “The players in this event are Hall of Famers and great players; they are all hypercompetitive and none of them likes to lose,” he says. “I believe this event can be friendly but also very highly competitive.” Captain Clarke is confident Team Europe will fare well. “I’m eager to represent Team Europe and get our From left: David Cannon/Getty Images; Andrew Redington/Getty Images; Russell Kirk/Golflinksphotography.com (2); Nick Wilson/Allsport/Getty Images Champions Tour
name on the cup as the first winners of this great new event,” he says. “The four Ryder Cup victories that I was part of as a player for Europe were some of the biggest highlights of my career. I expect us to assemble a roster that will make us awfully difficult to beat.” The Big Easy is fired up for the opportunity to face familiar foes. “There is just something different about putting on a uniform and playing for something more than yourself,” Els says. “I still remember the nerves I had playing in the Presidents Cup for the first time in 1996, and, of course, I have amazing memories of our victory at Royal Melbourne in 1998 and the incredible bonds I formed with my teammates during that tournament. Even though that was 25 years ago, I still have vivid memories of specific matches from that tournament and know that the rivalries will carry over into the World Champions Cup.” Let the games begin. —Nick Piastowski Opposite: Clarke (left) gets emotional at the 2006 Ryder Cup; Furyk (right) celebrates an American victory in 2008. Above: Concession Golf Club is a fitting venue to host these champions; Els is pumped at the 1998 Presidents Cup. 17
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In Case You Missed It... La Dolce Vita! David Cannon/Getty Images 2023 RYDER CUP SEPTEMBER 29 TO OCTOBER 1 MARCO SIMONE GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB ROME, ITALY Anticipation hung heavy in the air over the first tee box in Rome. It was almost time for the Ryder Cup to begin—and nobody knew what was coming next. The matchup promised to be an all-time battle between two of the most evenly matched teams in recent memory, with a spunky new group of Euros taking on a pretty-much-doneeverything cast of Americans. Then Jon Rahm planted his peg. What followed over three days and 28 matches was a beatdown by the Europeans. The scoreboard might have said it was close, but a threeheaded monster of Euros—Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland—meant the blue-and-gold lead was never really threatened. Rahm led the charge, his 2-0-2 performance emblematic of a player who would not be denied, no matter the situation or the opponent. He and McIlroy formed a terrifying leadership duo, their oppositesattract style proving the perfect blend of introversion and extroversion for a green Euro team. Hovland, one of the team’s greenest, was one of the unmitigated stars of tournament week, making up for a disappointing Ryder Cup debut two years earlier at Whistling Straits with an electrifying 3-1-1 performance. Ultimately, Rahm, Hovland and McIlroy combined for just two losses over the span of the week, tormenting a lackluster American squad with a relentless array of birdies, daggers and, maybe most notably, cap tips. The party started early on Sunday, shortly after the trio took care 21
In Case You Missed It... of business—straight-up wins for Hovland and McIlroy, a tie for Rahm— in their singles matches. “Campioni, campioni, olé, olé, olé,” McIlroy chanted, emerging from the Marco Simone clubhouse in shades and using the Italian word for champion after the Euros’ 16½–11½ victory was officially official. The subsequent trophy ceremony was as intoxicating and loose as the Americans’ on-course performance was sober and tight. As each European team member thrust the glittering Cup into the air—starting with hero/captain Luke Donald and reaching its peak of lunatic ecstasy with Shane Lowry (see previous page)—thousands of Euro fans in the gallery roared. “I don’t care what side you’re on,” Dan Hicks said on NBC’s live broadcast. “That is fun to watch.” Arguably, no one had more of a blast than Hovland. In one photo op, the European squad’s lone bachelor basked in the adoring glow of his teammates’ and captains’ wives and girlfriends (right). The 44th Ryder Cup was over. And the thoughts of many were already on 2025 and New York’s Bethpage Black, where Team U.S.A. will swat away talk of Euro dominance with a blunt “Fuhgeddaboudit.” But, in that moment, it wasn’t one date on Viktor’s mind— more like 16 of them. —James Colgan 22 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 Brendan Moran/Sportsfile/Getty Images “I don’t care what side you’re on,” announcer Dan Hicks said on NBC’s live broadcast of the Euros’ exuberant 2023 Ryder Cup celebration. “That is fun to watch.”
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Clubhouse G O L F. C O M / S M A R T G O L F S TA R T S H E R E / N O V E M B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 3 Up Close with Dylan Dethier Sahith Theegala In September, at Silverado, he captured his first Tour win. A month later, on the brink of turning 26, his next chess move was... chillin’. Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images OCTOBER 5, FROM HIS COUCH IN HOUSTON, OVER FACETIME AFTER DINNER Dylan Dethier: It’s been only a few weeks since you broke through at the Fortinet. How does life feel different, knowing you’re now a Tour winner? Sahith Theegala: That’s a good question. I’d never really let myself get to the point of thinking about winning, and I definitely hadn’t thought about how I’d feel after winning. [A furry head appears on screen.] Sorry. My dog wants attention. I really don’t feel any different at all. Maybe when I tee it up in the next event, I’ll feel something. Like, Damn, that’s awesome. I’m a PGA Tour winner, and nobody can ever take that away from 25
Clubhouse me. But in terms of the day-to-day process, the practice and relationships, it all feels the same. I wouldn’t even say there was, like, a weight lifted, because, weirdly enough, I didn’t really ever feel pressure to win. I think I did a good job just maintaining my attitude of trying to get the best from my game and see where that takes me. DD: Was it easy to keep that positive attitude or difficult, given that you’ve won at every other level of the game? ST: I have won at every level, and I’ve drawn confidence from that. I know I’ve won in strong fields in junior golf, college golf, mini-tours. Obviously, the PGA Tour is a lot harder, but the best college golfers end up being the best guys on Tour as well. So keeping that in mind and knowing that good golf is good golf no matter where you are, if I just put myself in contention enough it feels like an odds game from there. DD: Who were some of the college players you looked at and said, “That is the guy”? ST: There were some guys I didn’t get to play with. Like, my teammates [at Pepperdine] competed against Jon Rahm, and they were like, “Dude, this guy is not real.” In my college years, there was Collin [Morikawa], Cam Young, Sam Burns—so many guys it’s ridiculous. But two really stood out. One was Viktor Hovland. In my junior year, I played with him at the Prestige at PGA West. I don’t know if he was a freshman or sophomore, but I was like, This guy’s for sure the best I’ve ever played with. I remember asking him, “Are you going to turn pro?” And he was like, “Nah, man. I’m not even close. I suck compared to the pro level.” The very next hole is a 190-yard par 3 with water short and right, and he hits a high, soft cut to three feet. I stripe one to 45 feet, pin-high left on the fringe, and I was so happy with it. And I just thought, This guy’s unbelievable. Then, my senior year, I got to play a final round with Ludvig [Aberg]. I didn’t know anything 26 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 “I remember asking Viktor Hovland, ‘Are you going to turn pro?’ And he was like, ‘Nah, I’m not even close.’ [Then] he hits a high cut to three feet.” Muralidhar (right) and Karuna Theegala share their son’s Fortinet win. The pride? Palpable. about him, some freshman from Texas Tech I’d never heard of. And it was like, This guy is a robot. A straight-up robot. After I played with him, I went to Instagram and screen-recorded his swing and was like, Man, I should swing like this. I still have the video on my phone. So, yeah, it was funny to see the two of them kicking a-- at this year’s Ryder Cup. They’re gonna be two of the best players in the world. Viktor already is. DD: Did you watch much of the Cup? ST: Honestly, it was the least I’ve ever watched a Ryder Cup. But this is the first time I’ve been on Tour for the Ryder Cup, and, even though I wasn’t really that close to being in the discussion [to make the U.S. team], it definitely hurt. So I didn’t stay up like I usually would for a European Ryder Cup. It sucked seeing the U.S. down so quickly. It took all the air out of it. DD: Is that motivating, watching after being on the outside of that discussion? ST: Yeah, it’s definitely motivating. I feel like I’m just really competitive in whatever I do. Not really being in the discussion—that’s extra motivation. DD: What will your offseason look like? How do your days look when you’re not prepping for tournament golf? ST: Funny enough, this is my first real offseason. Right out of college [in 2020], I was just playing mini-tours every week. Then, in 2021, I was in the Korn Ferry finals, leading straight to the Tour. Last year, I played every event I got in. So, yeah, this offseason has been really nice so far. Just catching up with family, hanging out with
ON THE NUMBERS There’s data behind every swing. We crunch it so you don’t have to. $33,112,235 Total earnings for Viktor Hovland, including official, unofficial and FedEx Cup bonus pool money from the 2022-23 season. 1 326.3 AV E R A G E DRIVING D I S TA N C E FOR RORY PGA TOUR Rank in Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee for Ludvig Aberg on the PGA Tour between his pro debut at the RBC Canadian Open and the Tour Championship. RECORD. (SOURCE: JUSTIN RAY) M CI L R OY DURING THE 2022-23 FEDEX CUP SEASON, A NEW Year of the Comeback SEVERAL BIG NAMES CONQUERED LONG WINLESS DROUGHTS IN 2022-23. HERE ARE THE FIVE LONGEST STREAKS BROKEN LAST SEASON. 3,000 2,835 2,413 DAYS WITHOUT A WIN Left: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images; Right, from top: Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images; Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images friends, putting the sticks away for, y’know, a week at a time. I do get in the gym a little more, which is nice. But, yeah, I’m on the couch a lot. I’m taking it pretty chill this fall. DD: When you’re home in Houston, do you have a crew to play golf with? ST: When I lived in California, I used to play alone quite a bit, just because I love 4 or 5 p.m. twilight nines. But here we have such a good group of guys: three old teammates from Pepperdine and seven or eight other guys that play mini-tours, Korn Ferry. There’s some Tour guys around that are cool, too, but I mostly stick with my crew—guys that take my money a decent amount. DD: Does that keep you humble, losing to guys playing mini-tours? ST: That’s the thing. Everyone just expects me to beat up on these guys, but if I don’t shoot six, seven, eight under a round, I lose money. They’re super hungry and they’re very good. The talent in golf is so crazy right now that it’s a fine line. DD: Have you been goal-setting for the new season? ST: To be honest, I haven’t thought that far ahead. My goal was to just get into all the majors again, and I’m hoping I’ve checked that off. But mostly I’m not worried about the results as much as just feeling like I’m making good progress and staying healthy, then see where I go from there. DD: What’s one nongolf thing that’s been occupying brain space? NBA preseason? I’ve read you’re into chess theory. ST: I’ve played fantasy football for nine years, and this is the first time I only have two leagues. For a while I thought three was a sweet spot, but, really, it’s two, and one of them has to be a big-time buy-in. So this year I’ve been rejuvenated by fantasy football. And, yeah, chess theory is always on my mind. Openings are the worst part of my game, so I’ve been trying to find the same six to eight moves to start. I just want to get into the action. I think that’s where I’m the best. 2,268 1,834 1,610 Rickie Fowler Rocket Mortgage Classic 0 Jason Day AT&T Byron Nelson Brian Harman The Open Championship Emiliano Grillo Charles Schwab Challenge Chris Kirk Honda Classic PLAYER / TOURNAMENT WON RESEARCH BY JACK HIRSH 27
Mornings on the links. չĸŅŁłłŁņłŁŇĻĸŊĴŇĸŅт ʼnĸŁļŁ1ņĴŅłňŁķŇĻĸŇĴĵĿĸт THAT’S THE RHYTHM OF REYNOLDS. *Rates and availability are subject to change and excludes holidays. Club credit for promotional purposes only. Real estate and other amenities are owned by Oconee Land Development Company LLC and/or other subsidiaries and affiliates of MetLife, Inc. (collectively, "OLDC" or “Sponsor”) and by unrelated third parties. Rey Oconee. RLOP also represents buyers and sellers of properties in Reynolds Lake Oconee which OLDC does not own ("Resale Properties"). OLDC is not involved in the marketing or sale of Resale Properties. This is not intended to be an offer to sell nor a solicitation of offers to buy OLDC-owned real estate in Reynolds Lake Oco solicitation of offers to buy applies only to Resale Properties. Access and rights to recreational amenities may be subject to fees, membership dues, or other limitations. Information provided is believed accurate as of the date printed but may be subject to change from time to time. The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee is For OLDC properties, obtain the Property Report required by Federal law and read it before signing anything. No Federal agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property. Void where prohibited by law. WARNING: THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF REAL ES has been filed with the Iowa Real Estate Commission and a copy of such statement is available from OLDC upon request. OLDC properties have been registered with the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salesmen at 1000 Washington Financial Protection at 1700 G Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20552. Certain OLDC properties are registered with the Department of Law of the State of New York. THE COMPLETE OFFERING TERMS ARE IN AN OFFERING PLAN AVAILABLE FROM SPONSOR. FILE NO. H1 principals are not incorporated in, located in, or resident in the state of New York. No offering is being made in or directed to any person or entity in the state of New York or to New York residents by or on behalf of the developer/offeror or anyone acting with the deve residents of the state of New York, shall take place until all registration and filing requirements under the Martin Act and the Attorney General’s regulations are complied with, a written exemption is obtained pursuant to an application is granted pursuant to and in accord
ynolds Lake Oconee Properties, LLC ("RLOP") is the exclusive listing agent for OLDC-owned properties in Reynolds Lake onee by residents of HI, ID, OR, or any other jurisdiction where prohibited by law. As to such states, any offer to sell or s a private commercial enterprise and use of the facilities is subject to the applicable fees and policies of the operator. STATE HAS NOT INSPECTED, EXAMINED, OR DISQUALIFIED THIS OFFERING. An offering statement on Street, Suite 710, Boston, Massachusetts 02118-6100 and the Bureau of Consumer 14-0001. Notice to New York Residents: The developer of Reynolds Lake Oconee and its eloper/offeror’s knowledge. No such offering, or purchase or sale of real estate by or to dance with Cooperative Policy Statements #1 or #7, or a “No-Action” request is granted. Reynolds Lake Oconee has a unique cadence all its own. The waterfront golf community is home to six championship courses, TaylorMade club fitting and instruction at the legendary Kingdom, and Members from across the country. Just east of Atlanta, Reynolds boasts an inspiring mix of clubs and restaurants, and one of the only lakefront Ritz-Carlton ® resorts in the world. Here, pastimes become passions, and neighbors quickly become lifelong friends. BOOK YOUR LIFESTYLE VISIT to experience our community firsthand. Stays include golf, boat rental and a private real estate tour, with preferred rates in a cottage or at The Ritz-Carlton®, ņŇĴŅŇļŁ'ĴŇҼ*+,ѩŁļ'ĻŇс REYNOLDSLAKEOCONEE.COM/GOLFMAG • (855) 656.7357
Be Here Now We’ll Take Manhattan With T-Squared Social, Tiger and Timberlake tee up a winner IS THERE A REGION in the United States with a better golf scene than the surrounds of New York City? From Shinnecock to Bethpage to Sleepy Hollow and beyond, golf in the Empire State is unmatched. Now, thanks to a collaboration between Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake, New York—and the Big Apple in particular—can slip one more feather in its cap. T-Squared Social, an indoor golf experience and upscale sports bar, had its opening day in the heart of Manhattan on September 20. For golf fanatics, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Every NYC hacker knows the heavy lift of lugging their clubs on the train and spending a day getting to and from a stellar suburban course. With Tiger and JT’s upscale, high-tech fun house situated just a wedge shot from Grand Central Station, that’s no longer an issue. 30 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 The space—22,000 square feet—spans an entire city block, between East 42nd and 43rd streets, and it’s a golf lover’s dream. There are four state-of-the-art hitting bays outfitted with Full Swing simulators, loads of memorabilia from Tiger and JT and the biggest indoor television—200 inches—in all of Manhattan. Even for nongolfers, T-Squared (which is partially owned by 8AM Golf, whose holdings include GOLF magazine) offers ample diversions and deliciousness: four duckpin bowling lanes; a bank of luminous, programmable dartboards; a full-service kitchen; and a bar featuring cocktails from renowned mixologist Rael Petit. “Justin and I thought it would be cool to create a place that combines our favorite things,” Woods says. The G.O.A.T.s delivered on that and then some. —Zephyr Melton Peter Dressel; Timberlake: John Russo/Contour by Getty Images; Woods: Kwaku Alston/Contour RA Clubhouse
“T-Squared Social is a beautiful space that transcends the typical sports-bar experience,” says partner Justin Timberlake. Clockwise from far left: T-Squared’s hitting bays double as football and soccer simulators; its duckpin lanes are strikingly sleek; automatic scoring is just one feature of the glowing dartboards; JT and Tiger, owners with a shared playful vision; the twosome’s matching staff bags; and the bar, featuring three of T2’s 38 flatscreens. 31
Clubhouse Set the shaft parallel to the dotted line at address and hold the face open as you move into your release. The goal isn’t to hit the ball but rather to splash the sand under it onto the green. The ball will follow suit. Worth a Shot Follow the Arrow This easy setup trick is your guide to thought-free bunker shots I’VE SEEN REC PLAYERS attempt bunker shots in all sorts of ways—most of them wrong. It’s a unique situation that calls for a unique setup. Try this. In a practice bunker, draw a line in the sand perpendicular to your target line (dotted, above). Set the ball on this line. Now draw two lines veering out from the first, creating an arrow as 32 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 shown above. Set your feet along these two lines—“flared,” so to speak, which will help you better open your hips through impact and give you the correct “squatting” feel at address. As you get into your address, hover the clubhead behind the ball with the shaft parallel to the dotted line. That’s right—no need to lean the shaft back or toward the tar- get or unduly open the face. As you start your swing, forget the ball. Your goal is to enter the bunker slightly behind the dotted line and hold the face open (just keep your lead wrist quiet through impact) so you splash sand under the ball at the target. Simple? Yes. Effective? Just try it. Shawn Koch is director of instruction at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ga. Christoper Lane By Top 100 Teacher to Watch Shawn Koch
Clubhouse Access The Whole Shebang The Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds at Reynolds Lake Oconee is an idyllic post-round playground 34 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 1 42 Credit here tktktk AFTER YOU’VE EXPERIENCED all six (soon to be seven) golf courses at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga., you may be ready for a shot of a different variety. And there’s no better place to find one than the Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds, an 800-acre facility where you can hike, fish, kayak, canoe, go off-roading—and shoot to your heart’s content. The Sporting Grounds’ crown jewel is a 20-station sportingclays course situated along a mile-long trail circuit. The course was designed in 2017 by the facility’s director Justin Jones, a man whose lineage in shooting sports runs deep. Jones’ grandfather and father captained the British Olympic trapshooting teams, and his family farm in Wales is home to the leading trap-shooting grounds in Great Britain. Jones himself is an international shooting champion, and the Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds he designed is intended to bring British tradition and authenticity to the heart of Georgia. “I designed [the shooting course] very much like a golf course,” Jones says. “We have par 3s, par 4s, par 5s in terms of difficulty on each hole or each station. Different distances, just like on the golf course. Every month, we move around the machines—the traps that actually launch the clays—just like moving the pin on a green.” Interested visitors will be happy to know that shooting experience is not required. Jones estimates that 70 percent of his guests are first-time shooters. Each group of guests is accompanied by a certified guide, and the course can be configured to launch clay targets at a variety of speeds, trajectories, angles, elevations and distances to accommodate every level of shooter. According to Jones, golfers may be surprised to find they have a natural predisposition for success, thanks to the hand-eye coordination required. In fact, a day on the Grounds may even improve your golf game. “I had a golfer come out, and he was struggling with the shooting,” Jones says. “He had a dominant left eye. I closed his left eye for him, and he started hitting everything right in the middle. So then he started doing the same for his putting, which has improved dramatically too.” Yep. It sounds to us like a course well worth taking. —Jessica Marksbury
1. The lakeside boathouse serves as a launching point for fans of fishing, canoeing and kayaking. On the hill behind it sits the historic Sandy Creek Barn, which was built in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s and relocated to Reynolds in 2007. Today, it’s used as an event space, welcome center and outfitters shop for Sporting Grounds visitors. 2. The facility’s director, Justin Jones, is a British import—and armed with vast knowledge of a variety of shooting sports. 3. In a controlled but rough-andtumble environment, guests can enjoy an off-road driving course that follows the native contours and topography of the land. Courtesy Reynolds Lake Oconee 4. Reynolds’ ultimate field of play? Its golf, including the spectacular par-4 18th on Rees Jones’ Oconee course. 3 6 4 35
Clubhouse YOUR BURNING SHORT-GAME QUESTIONS—ANSWERED Hey, Chef! I want more of that “crispy” backspin so I can stay aggressive on wedge shots. What’s the best way to pull it back like the pros? Short Game Chef Knock ’Em Stiff! By Tour Short-Game Coach Parker McLachlin THE IMPORTANT THINGS TO FOCUS ON when trying to knock those tricky 50- to 125-yard wedge shots close are 1) the way you manage the length of your backswing, 2) how you deliver speed to the ball and 3) what you’re doing to ensure clean contact in the club’s center. If you’re like most weekend players I teach, you get in trouble by making a backswing that’s too long. This more than likely will cause you to slow down through impact. A shorter backswing, on the other hand, instills a sense of freedom to accelerate through the shot, which immediately takes care of items 1 and 2. Where good contact is concerned, take a page from Hall of Famer Gary Player’s instruction book and try his “walk-through” finish: Step toward the target with your back foot as you swing past impact. This gets more pressure on your front side—a key for pure and consistent strikes. It’ll also create a lower, Tour-esque trajectory and shots that hit, then stop on a dime (if not spin back). Learn more from McLachlin at shortgamechef.com. 36 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 As you learned in the lesson at left, speed and spin go hand in hand. It’s the reason it’s easier to get the ball to stop (or even pull back) from 80 yards than it is from 10, since the swing speed is faster in the former. The real key to generating more spin, however, is shifting as much pressure as possible to your front side during your downswing. This is why I offer up the Gary Player “walk-through” drill as a great way to exaggerate getting pressure moving toward the target. Your reward: a lower, more controllable ballflight, more compression and a ton of extra spin. Also, don’t forget that you need a good lie, clean grooves and a high-performance ball to really get it to “dance” on the greens. Scan this code for $70 off the yearly subscription price of Parker McLachlin’s online video lessons (shortgamechef.com). From left: Ryan Noll; Bradley Meinz; Right: Getty Images/iStockphoto —Martin S., via e-mail
Ask The Rules Guy Your ball is in a bunker with footprints on your line of play, made by a guy in the group ahead. Can you call him back to rake his tracks before you play your next shot? —Bruce Kristinson, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada A: Bruce, since you’re Canadian, we’re sure this request would be made politely… but it would certainly be trouble for you and likely for Bigfoot too. Rule 1.3 prevents you from having another player do something that would be a penalty were you to do it yourself—in this case, breach Rule 8.1, which restricts a player from improving the “conditions affecting your stroke.” Also, Rule 8.3 prevents this other (slovenly) player from deliberately doing the same. While he could conceivably be off the hook if part of his reason for belatedly raking the trap was to care for the course, it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie. Play your shot as is. No doubt you’ll remember to rake the bunker! Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Browse our library of rulings and outof-this-world decisions at golf.com/rules Q: In a senior event, a competitor hit his ball into the woods and, being prudent, played a provisional to the green. He then found his original ball and played two shots with it to reach the green, where he picked up his provisional… then realized that the “original” ball wasn’t his. He returned his provisional ball to its last spot, deeming that he’d accidentally lifted it, and finished the hole, taking a two-stroke penalty for playing a wrong ball and a onestroke penalty for lifting the provisional without marking it. Some suggested that once he picked up his provisional, it was out of play and couldn’t be returned to play, so he needed to play a new ball from the tee. Is this true? —Richard Young, Dunrobin, Ontario, Canada A: “Some” suggestions should be ignored because some people know not of what they speak. Conversely, if there is a group There are no second chances to fix your first impression. of people who can be counted A: It sounds right to Rules Guy. Specific upon to be prudent, surely it is seniors. trees can be protected by Local Rule by When it comes to Rules knowledge, Q: I was playing in our member-member making them no-play zones, but such silver foxes are often the gold standard. tournament and hit a wayward shot. My treatment is typically reserved for young, Indeed, in this case, your competitor proball came to rest behind a memorial tree, growing trees. If the committee didn’t ceeded correctly according to Clarificawhich was directly between my ball and make the memorial tree a no-play zone, tion 18.3c(2)/4—assuming he also took the green. I asked for free relief, reasoning then under the Definition of Obstructhe stroke-and-distance penalty for the that, as a memorial, the tree wasn’t part tion the memorial plaque itself is the only provisional becoming the ball in play. of the course design. I was denied and told immovable obstruction and abnormal GOT A QUESTION ABOUT THE RULES? I could only have gotten free relief from the course condition that free relief would ASK THE RULES GUY! SEND YOUR QUERIES, CONFUSIONS AND adjacent memorial stone. Was that right? allow for. Rules Guy also needn’t tell you COMMENTS TO RULESGUY@GOLF.COM. WE PROMISE HE WON’T THROW THE BOOK AT YOU. —Tim Muldoon, Buffalo, N.Y. never to, er, take relief on a memorial tree. 37
Clubhouse Cincoro Club 2 oz Cincoro Reposado club soda to the top orange squeeze orange wedge for garnish Rounds Smooth Operator In life, as in the booming tequila industry, taste has its price. In this case, it also has the G.O.A.T. stuff you get in a mixed drink at a bar—that’ll get the job done just fine. Then there’s good tequila, labeled with words like 100 percent agave, that goes down more gently and burns a little less. And then there’s great tequila. It is sourced from only the best ingredients—like, say, Weber blue agave from both the highland and lowland regions of Jalisco, Mexico. It is crafted in only the most exacting of formulas, distilled separately, then blended carefully. And it has only the richest, most subtle complexion of flavors—providing notes of butterscotch, baking spices and toasted oak. This type of tequila has a name—Cincoro—and in a golf world undergoing a tequila renaissance, Cincoro is elbowing its way into a spot in the pantheon. We know it has the firepower to do so. Cincoro counts celebrities like NBA legend Michael Jordan (pictured), Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, Bucks owner Wes Edens and Celtics owners Wyc Grousbeck and Emilia Fazzalari among its principal investors. That high-rolling group of tequila aficionados is behind Cincoro’s quintet of luxury offerings (Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, Gold and Extra Anejo; starting at $99) and has become the brand’s chief promoters and taste testers. On warm weather days, there are ways to enjoy Cincoro without sipping solely on tequila or drowning out its more subtle flavors with sugar. The 38 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 best of which is a cocktail affectionately known as the Cincoro Club, a refreshing twist on the classic that is already a hit at 19th holes from New York to Cabo San Lucas (see recipe above). The orange squeeze and club soda provide a dash of fruity refreshment balanced out by the Reposado’s more sultry flavors. The final product is a best-ofall-worlds cocktail perfect for any day on the links... so long as the tequila is nothing short of great. —James Colgan Above: Jeffrey Westbrook; Styling: Miako Katoh; Jordan: Isaac Brekken/Getty Images/Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational THERE IS TEQUILA—the kind of
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Clubhouse Gimme Only the Shadow Knows Scan here to find out more and buy your own Shadow at ogio.com. THE WAY OGIO FIGURES IT, a golf bag should be MAKE: OGIO MODEL: SHADOW PRICE: $380 40 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 more than utilitarian—it should make a statement. Golfers who carry the OGIO Shadow ($380; ogio.com) are telling the world that, sure, functionality is important, but there’s no substitute for impeccable style. The Shadow’s contemporary tech—including carbon-fiber legs—is eye-catching too. Among its nine pockets is one, for accessories, that is magnetic; one, for your glove, that is easy access; and one, for your beverage, that will be your best friend. Premium materials, an aerated hip pad and stitched handles add to the luxury. A stand bag that stands for sophistication and intelligent design? Yes, please. —John Ledesma Left: Jeffrey Westbrook; Styling: Miako Katoh; Right: Kevin Diss Photography As its name suggests, you’ll want OGIO’s latest— and greatest—stand bag right at your side
More Stuff You Should Know There’s nothing quite like links golf hard along the sea. But it’s far from the only golf worth playing overseas. Courses like Woking, Sunningdale (left) and Walton Heath represent a tiny sampling of the wondrous inland layouts that you’d miss if you clung only to the coast. 18 and rush back to the office. You prolong the enjoyment by retiring to the clubhouse for a pop or two in the festive company of your playing partners. It’s not unheard of to invite your caddies too. Stuff Golfers Should Know Be Buddies Abroad Seven reasons why you need to book a bond-creating boondoggle overseas now IN CASE THE IMAGES from our Top 100 Courses in the World ranking (p. 46) aren’t enough to inspire you, here are seven other reasons to start planning a trip across the pond with your golf buddies. 1. The Accessibility The Old Course ranks No. 3 on GOLF’s roster of Top 100 Courses in the World. (That’s higher than the likes of Augusta, Shinnecock, Merion and Oakmont, if you’re keeping score at home.) Tough tee time, sure, but it’s open to the public. And that’s the thing. Unlike in the U.S., where many championship venues are intensely private, nearly all the best spots in the UK and Ireland are places that will, you know, let you on. 2. The Hidden Gems Yes, it’s a tired term, but it applies especially overseas. Swing through any sleepy little town and you’re apt to come across a killer little course. Odds are it will be friendly, frequented by locals and largely overlooked by the tour-bus crowd. 3. The Post-Round Camaraderie In this part of the world, it isn’t standard practice to putt out on 4. Those Caddies Maybe you know the one about the American in Scotland who hits a breakfast ball and then asks his caddie if there’s a local term for “mulligan.” “There is, sir,” says the looper. “We call that ‘three.’ ” Accurate or not, the story points to a truth: A great many of the caddies are characters with a cracking sense of humor. Their counsel and companionship are as central to the experience as the knockdown shot. 5. The Challenge “Nigh wind, nigh golf,” the saying goes. This is the game played in the elements, with weather as unpredictable as your putting. Anyone who gripes about it simply doesn’t get it. Embrace the experience, along with the quirky bounces you’re guaranteed to get. 6. The Pubs The best parts about this game are the places it takes you and the people you meet. The memories you make over pub grub and pints will be every bit as vivid as your recollections of the courses you play. 7. The Packages With a phone call or a few clicks, you can find a trusted travel company that will handle every detail for you, including all that driving on the wrong side of the road. —Josh Sens Stuff Golfers Should Know is a GOLF.com series in which we reveal all kinds of useful golf (and life!) wisdom sure to make you the smartest, savviest and most prepared player in your foursome.
Clubhouse SPICY SURPRISE The house-made piri piri glaze will definitely get your attention. Eats Chicken, But Elevated IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a festive alternative to a traditional turkey or ham this holiday season, consider the Cornish hen. Smaller, less cumbersome and easier to cook than its larger feathered brethren, a single Cornish hen can feed two people—and add a dose of elegance to the plate too. Just ask Malcolm Campbell, who has presided over the menu at the picturesque Cabot Cape Breton resort as the Panorama Restaurant’s executive chef for the last five years. Guests at Cabot Cape Breton, which is stunningly situated on Nova Scotia’s rugged Atlantic coastline and was recently honored as one of GOLF’s Top 100 Resorts, tend to gravitate toward steak or seafood. But a taste of Campbell’s Cornish hen may change their minds. Campbell serves his iteration with creamed polenta 42 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 (included for its ability to hold and retain the dish’s many flavors), grilled Broccolini and radicchio and a caper albufera sauce, which is enriched with a mix of foie gras, chicken stock and a little cream and butter. The hen’s legs are confit in duck fat, glazed with house-made piri piri sauce and then barbecued to order. Though the ingredients and prep may sound exotic, there’s a comfort-food quality to the Cornish hen that Campbell loves—and a touch of the unexpected from the piri piri, which includes a blend of shishito, poblano and bird’s eye peppers. “That sauce preparation really helps elevate the dish a little bit more,” Campbell says. So, the next time you find yourself dining cliffside at Cabot, give the seafood a break and the humble hen a try. With Campbell at the helm, you won’t be disappointed. —Jessica Marksbury Courtesy Cabot Cape Breton At Cabot Cape Breton, the Cornish hen is a decadent delight
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Clubhouse Money Game A True Entrepreneur Ryan Moore helps keep the Tour’s enterprising spirit alive and kicking RYAN MOORE HAS ALWAYS DONE things his way. Con- sider his quirky full swing, a mash-up of Jim Furyk’s and Fred Couples’. It became familiar to golf fans back in 2004, when Moore became the fourth player to win the NCAA Individual Championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year, following Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Also in ’04, he won the U.S. Amateur Public Links for the second time, as well as the prestigious Western Amateur and the Sahalee Players Championship, underlining perhaps the greatest season for an amateur since Bobby Jones’ 1930 Grand Slam. Five PGA Tour wins and $33 million in earnings since turning professional in 2005 have established Moore, now 40 and a resident of Las Vegas, as a pro’s pro. But what marks him as distinct these days is no longer his swing or his ability to make cuts, cash checks and keep his card. It’s his side hustle. For some Americans, a side hustle is a necessity. For others, it’s a hobby, something to scratch the entrepreneurial itch, to keep in touch with a hardscrabble upbringing, to be creative, to meet people, what have you. Mini-tour golfers generally fall Justin Rosé The game will drive one to drink—might as well drink a Touradjacent wine! Here are a few of the best. Kerr Cellars LPGA major champion Cristie Kerr is also a level 1 sommelier. kerrcellars.com 44 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 David Frost Wine Tour Champions vet Frost first hit golf balls on his father’s vineyard in South Africa. frostwines.com in the former category, top-tier pros like Moore in the latter. Tour pros have a long history of side hustles. In the early days, when prize money was rarely sufficient to live on, the Tour itself was essentially a side hustle—many players had day jobs or seasonal gigs as head professionals or insurance salesmen. That changed with the advent of the modern PGA Tour, thanks largely to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. The King and the Golden Bear (along with the agent they shared for a time, Mark McCormack of IMG, before Nicklaus ventured out on his own) also pioneered the role of golfer-businessman. Golf clubs, golf courses, iced tea and lemonade—their names were on lots of stuff and still are today. Their impact remains strong, too, as players famous and semifamous swim in their wake. These side hustles likewise fall broadly into two buckets: endorsements and entrepreneurial endeavors. Putting one’s name on a bottle of wine is one thing; owning vineyards, working with a vintner to pick the grape varietals, setting up employee health-care plans and so on is quite another. Given Ernie Els Wines Proceeds benefit the Els for Autism charity. ernieels.com/ wines Meomi The official wine of the PGA Tour. meomi.com Greg Norman Estates The unofficial wine of the LIV tour. shark.com/ company/gregnorman-estates Left top: Eakin Howard/Getty Images; Right: Courtesy TRUE Linkswear By Evan Rothman
the demands on their time, it’s no surprise that many Tour pros lean heavily on endorsements—but not all. The business portfolio of Bubba Watson, for example, is as varied as his shotmaking arsenal. It includes a candy shop (Bubba’s Sweet Spot), a car dealership (Sandy & Bubba’s Milton Chevrolet), part ownership of a double-A minor league baseball club (the Pensacola Blue Wahoos), an apartment complex and a driving range—all set in and around his home base in the Florida Panhandle. Two of golf ’s biggest names, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, bring an altruistic element to at least some of their business ventures, as their investments in what some call “the alt-golf space” shows. This includes their partnering on the forthcoming TGL Golf League, where teams will play virtual golf in front of live crowds, and their dueling high-end mini golf/entertainment/dining concepts: Popstroke and Puttery. “Regarding TGL, it’s just another way for people to consume golf—a little more dynamic, very much technologyinfused, trying to appeal to that younger demographic that doesn’t have five hours to watch a round of golf,” McIlroy says. “What we’re trying to do with Puttery, what Tiger’s trying to do with Popstroke as well, it’s all about trying to give people a less intimidating introduction to golf. “At the end of the day that’s what we’re trying to do, to get more people into the game of golf,” he says. “It’s great to have Puttery make business sense, but if it gets more people to play golf that’s the end goal.” Ryan Moore is scratching a different itch. In 2009, Ryan and his younger brother, Jason, helped cofound TRUE, a golf footwear company emphasizing walking players and modern designs, in their native Tacoma, Wash. (They secured full ownership in 2017.) Jason was always the business-minded one. Take, for example, the driving range that their father owned back when they were boys. “I would spend most of my day out on the range pounding balls,” Ryan recalls, “and my little brother would set up a stand in front of the range where he sold refurbished golf balls.” Jason and Ryan have always been more ham-and-egg than Cain and Abel; younger brother eventually became caddie to older brother on Tour and never had to worry about getting his fair share for the week. And when Jason decided it was time to pursue his TRUE calling, Ryan was right there with him, at least to the extent possible as a fulltime player. “As of right now, I don’t have any daily responsibilities with the business,” says Ryan. “I have a few phone calls per week to go over new product and business development ideas. I sit on our board and enjoy our quarterly meetings where we review progress and go over next steps and strategy. I like to think I’m a good sounding board for the company.” In golf terms, the business has been driving long and straight recently. An $11.25 million capital infusion from private equity firm KarpReilly in 2021 helped expand TRUE’s reach and product line. Bottoms, including pants and joggers, were launched last year; outerwear and polos debuted this year, with apparel expected soon to comprise 20 percent of sales if the strong early reception continues. While Ryan underscores that president and CEO Jason is the one calling the shots—“My brother is the real driving force; he’s the reason TRUE has become the great brand that it is”—Ryan’s attitude toward golf and business clearly underpins the TRUE spirit. Talking about the brand, he could easily be talking about his unique swing. “I’m never satisfied to just do what has always been done,” says Ryan. “I like to ask why and think through if it could possibly be better another way. Not being afraid to try new things and to keep exploring and learning overlaps nicely between golf and business.” Jason (left) and Ryan Moore give the feel test to fabric samples in their TRUE workshop. 45
THE TOP 100 COURSES IN THE WORLD 2023-24 O U R S TA B L E O F 1 0 0 - P LU S C O U R S E R AT E R S S C O U R E D T H E G L O B E T H E PA S T T W O Y E A R S , A N D W H AT D I D T H E Y F I N D ? G R E AT N E S S A N D I N S P I R AT I O N I N S O M E O F T H E MOST UNEXPECTED PLACES. THE ARCTIC CIRCLE? CHECK . AN A M E R I C A N W E S T C AT T L E R A N C H ? CHECK . SO SADDLE UP FOR A T O U R O F T H E W O R L D’ S B E S T. BY RAN MORRIS SET T ARCHITECTURE EDITOR No. 76 / Point Hardy Golf Club Cap Estate, St. Lucia
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TOP 100 COURSES IN THE WORLD 2023-24 COURSE NAME, LOCATION, ARCHITECT, YEAR 2023-24 RANK 1 Pine Valley PINE VALLEY, NJ - AVERAGE SCORE 2023-24 RANK 94.78 26 COURSE NAME, LOCATION, ARCHITECT, YEAR - Prairie Dunes HUTCHINSON, KS Cypress Point PEBBLE BEACH, CA - 91.94 27 4 St. Andrews (Old Course) - 89.94 1 28 ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND Shinnecock Hills - 85.66 SOUTHAMPTON, NY WILLIAM FLYNN, 1931 5 - National Golf Links of America 85.60 29 4 - Royal County Down NEWCASTLE, N. IRELAND OLD TOM MORRIS, 1889 84.75 7 - Royal Melbourne (West) 82.57 BLACK ROCK, AUSTRALIA 30 5 - Augusta National AUGUSTA, GA 79.34 ALISTER MACKENZIE, BOBBY JONES, 1933 10 2 Royal Dornoch DORNOCH, SCOTLAND 77.46 OLD TOM MORRIS, 1886/JOHN SUTHERLAND, 1890-1930/GEORGE DUNCAN, 1949 1 11 Sand Hills MULLEN, NE 1 Muirfield EAST LOTHIAN, SCOTLAND - Merion (East) ARDMORE, PA 77.28 - Pebble Beach PEBBLE BEACH, CA 32 4 - 1 Fishers Island FISHERS ISLAND, NY 1 Royal Portrush (Dunluce) 75.93 73.33 34 5 Chicago WHEATON, IL 35 3 - Trump Turnberry (Ailsa) 70.71 2 1 37 Los Angeles (North) LOS ANGELES, 38 4 3 Tara Iti TE ARAI, NEW ZEALAND 1 39 1 40 4 Pinehurst (No. 2) PINEHURST, NC - Kingston Heath CHELTENHAM, 69.36 - 68.58 5 San Francisco SAN FRANCISCO, CA 57.78 The Country Club (Clyde/Squirrel) BROOKLINE, MA 57.26 Carnoustie (Championship) 56.83 41 - Morfontaine MORTEFONTAINE, 56.13 42 - Royal Birkdale 55.79 43 - Somerset Hills BERNARDSVILLE, NJ 53.96 44 2 Southern Hills TULSA, OK 52.31 PERRY MAXWELL, 1936 68.16 45 3 66.30 California Club of San Francisco SOUTH SAN 52.26 FRANCISCO, CA A.V. MACAN, 1926/ALISTER MACKENZIE, 1928/KYLE PHILLIPS, 2007 67.29 46 4 Swinley Forest SOUTH ASCOT, ENGLAND H.S. COLT, 1910 52.12 47 2 Shoreacres LAKE BLUFF, IL 51.10 SETH RAYNOR, 1921 Friar’s Head BAITING HOLLOW, NY 65.87 48 3 Garden City GARDEN CITY, NY 50.93 DEVEREUX EMMET, 1899/WALTER TRAVIS, 1906 Ballybunion (Old) BALLYBUNION, 65.77 IRELAND P. MURPHY, 1893/TOM SIMPSON, 1936 25 57.84 A.W. TILLINGHAST, 1918 BILL COORE, BEN CRENSHAW, 2003 24 Lahinch (Old) LAHINCH, IRELAND GEORGE LOW JR., 1889/FRED HAWTREE, 1932 68.81 ALISTER MACKENZIE, 1926 2 59.68 SOUTHPORT, ENGLAND AUSTRALIA DAN SOUTAR, 1925/ 23 Barnbougle Dunes BRIDPORT, FRANCE TOM SIMPSON, 1927 DONALD ROSS, 1907-1935 22 60.74 1842/OLD TOM MORRIS, 1872/JAMES BRAID, 1926 70.66 TOM DOAK, 2015 21 Seminole JUNO BEACH, FL A.W. TILLINGHAST, 1918 CA GEORGE C. THOMAS JR., 1927 20 61.35 OLD TOM MORRIS, 1893/ALISTER MACKENZIE, 1927/MARTIN HAWTREE, 2003 1909/MACKENZIE ROSS, 1946/MARTIN EBERT, 2016 1 Crystal Downs FRANKFORT, MI CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND A. ROBERTSON, TURNBERRY, SCOTLAND WILLIE FERNIE, 19 61.52 DONALD ROSS, 1929 C.B. MACDONALD, 1895/SETH RAYNOR, 1923 18 62.51 ALISTER MACKENZIE, PERRY MAXWELL, 1932 H.S. COLT, 1932/MARTIN EBERT, 2015 2 Pacific Dunes BANDON, OR TCC MEMBERS, WILLIE CAMPBELL, 1899 PORTRUSH, N. IRELAND 17 62.56 H.S. COLT, 1922/FRANK PENNICK, 1970S SETH RAYNOR, 1926 16 62.78 Hirono MIKI-CHI, JAPAN C.H. ALISON, 1932 Royal St. George’s SANDWICH, ENGLAND W. LAIDLAW PURVES, 1887/ JACK NEVILLE, DOUGLAS GRANT, 1919 15 North Berwick (West) TOM DOAK, 2001 76.85 HUGH WILSON, 1912 14 63.22 AUSTRALIA TOM DOAK, MIKE CLAYTON, 2004 OLD TOM MORRIS, 1891/H.S. COLT, 1925 13 6 36 BILL COORE, BEN CRENSHAW, 1995 12 31 80.32 HENRY AND WILLIAM FOWNES, 1903-1950 9 Winged Foot (West) NORTH BERWICK, SCOTLAND 33 ALISTER MACKENZIE, 1926 Oakmont OAKMONT, PA 63.64 UNKNOWN, 1832/C.K. HUTCHISON, 1932 6 - Riviera PACIFIC PALISADES, CA MAMARONECK, NY A.W. TILLINGHAST, 1923 SOUTHAMPTON, NY C.B. MACDONALD, 1911 8 63.68 GEORGE C. THOMAS JR., BILLY BELL SR., 1927 NATURE, 1400S/OLD TOM MORRIS, 1865 4 Oakland Hills (South) BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI DONALD ROSS, 1917 ALISTER MACKENZIE, 1928 3 64.10 PERRY MAXWELL, 1937/PRESS MAXWELL, 1957 GEORGE CRUMP, H.S. COLT, 1918 2 AVERAGE SCORE Sunningdale (Old) SUNNINGDALE, ENGLAND WILLIE PARK JR., 1901/H.S. COLT, 1922 49 6 St. Patrick’s Links ROSAPENNA, 50.90 IRELAND TOM DOAK, 2021 64.69 50 6 Maidstone EAST HAMPTON, NY JOHN PARK, WILLIE PARK JR., 1922 50.63
COURSE NAME, LOCATION, ARCHITECT, YEAR 2023-24 RANK 51 3 Ballyneal HOLYOKE, CO TOM DOAK, 2006 52 8 Cabot Cliffs INVERNESS, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA COURSE NAME, LOCATION, ARCHITECT, YEAR AVERAGE SCORE 2023-24 RANK 50.50 76 New 50.44 77 5 9 Kawana (Fuji) ITO-SHI, JAPAN 50.29 78 8 C.H. ALISON, KINYA FUJITA, 1936 54 10 4 49.85 7 Cape Kidnappers TE AWANGA, 49.72 1 Cruden Bay CRUDEN BAY, SCOTLAND 49.68 3 Camargo CINCINNATI, OH 49.38 79 1 80 12 81 8 82 8 Woodhall Spa (Hotchkin) 48.96 83 14 48.95 84 8 61 4 Bethpage (Black) FARMINGDALE, NY A.W. TILLINGHAST, 1935 48.70 Inverness INVERNESS, OH 48.19 85 New 2 86 5 6 Kiawah Island (Ocean) KIAWAH 48.18 17 Prestwick PRESTWICK, SCOTLAND 47.31 9 New South Wales LA PEROUSE, 46.96 7 Ardfin ISLE OF JURA, SCOTLAND 46.66 10 Royal Troon (Old) TROON, 46.62 New Baltusrol (Lower) SPRINGFIELD, NJ 46.35 The Lido ROME, WI TOM DOAK, 2023 87 6 7 Oak Hill (East) PITTSFORD, NY 46.08 DONALD ROSS, 1921/ANDREW GREEN, 2020 1 70 Sleepy Hollow SCARBOROUGH, NY 46.05 Previous page: Shawn Michael Marcellin C.B. MACDONALD, SETH RAYNOR, 1913/ A.W. TILLINGHAST, 1929/GIL HANSE, 2017 71 17 6 New 89 12 90 1 St. George’s Hill (A & B) Rye (Old) CAMBER, ENGLAND 91 92 93 9 2 14 94 14 11 95 New 7 New 45.65 45.37 Kingsbarns ST. ANDREWS, 42.36 Nine Bridges JEJU ISLAND, SOUTH 42.14 Lofoten GIMSØYSAND, NORWAY 42.03 Castle Stuart INVERNESS, SCOTLAND GIL HANSE, MARK PARSINEN, 2009 41.96 Bandon Trails BANDON, OR 41.86 Rock Creek Cattle Company Royal Lytham & St. Annes Casa de Campo (Teeth of the Dog) LA ROMANA, D.R. PETE DYE, 1971 Whistling Straits (Straits) 41.75 Royal Melbourne (East) BLACK 41.47 Royal Liverpool HOYLAKE, ENGLAND 41.42 Bandon Dunes BANDON, OR 40.92 Shanqin Bay HAINAN, CHINA 40.85 Victoria CHELTENHAM, AUSTRALIA 40.77 97 New Machrihanish (Championship) 40.74 CAMPBELTOWN, SCOTLAND OLD TOM MORRIS, 1879/J.H. TAYLOR, 1914/ GUY CAMPBELL, 1940S 45.09 98 13 Muirfield Village DUBLIN, OH 40.47 JACK NICKLAUS, 1974-2020 44.83 99 10 Yeamans Hall HANAHAN, SC 40.28 SETH RAYNOR, 1925 GEORGE LOW JR., 1897 - 42.50 ALISTER MACKENZIE, 1927/OGILVY CLAYTON COCKING & MEAD, 2019 LYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND 75 Te Arai (South) TOMARATA, NEW BILL COORE, BEN CRENSHAW, 2012 DEER LODGE, MT TOM DOAK, 2008 74 42.63 DAVID MCLAY KIDD, 1999 H.S. COLT, 1895/TOM SIMPSON, HERBERT TIPPET, GUY CAMPBELL, 1907 73 Old Town Club WINSTON-SALEM, NC GEORGE MORRIS, 1869/H.S. COLT, 1924/ FRED HAWTREE, 1960S/DONALD STEEL, 2000 96 WEYBRIDGE, ENGLAND H.S. COLT, 1913 72 88 46.33 (C.B. MACDONALD REINCARNATION) 69 42.77 ROCK, AUSTRALIA ALEX RUSSELL, 1932 A.W. TILLINGHAST, 1922 68 Les Bordes (New) SHEBOYGAN, WI PETE DYE, 1998 SCOTLAND WILLIE FERNIE, 1887 67 42.94 BILL COORE, BEN CRENSHAW, 2005 BOB HARRISON, 2017 66 Peachtree ATLANTA, GA JEREMY TURNER, 1998-2015 AUSTRALIA ALISTER MACKENZIE, 1926/ ERIC APPERLY, 1947 65 43.08 KOREA RON FREAM, DAVID DALE, 2001 OLD TOM MORRIS, 1851/CHARLES HUNTER, 1882/JAMES BRAID, HAROLD HILTON, 1922 64 Ohoopee Match Club COBBTOWN, SCOTLAND KYLE PHILLIPS, 1999 ISLAND, SC PETE DYE, 1991 63 43.43 ZEALAND BILL COORE, BEN CRENSHAW, 2022 DONALD ROSS, 1919/ANDREW GREEN, 2017 62 Winged Foot (East) PERRY MAXWELL, 1939 MUNGO PARK, 1894/GEORGE COBURN, 1896 8 43.84 GIL HANSE, JIM WAGNER, 2021 Portmarnock (Old) PORTMARNOCK, IRELAND W.C. PICKERMAN, GEORGE ROSS, 60 Cabot Links INVERNESS, NOVA SAINT-LAURENT-NOUAN, FRANCE 1905/H.S. COLT, 1912/S.V. HOTCHKIN, 1926 6 43.85 ROBERT TRENT JONES SR., BOBBY JONES, 1947 WOODHALL SPA, ENGLAND HARRY VARDON, 59 Royal Hague WASSENAAR, THE NETHERLANDS GA GIL HANSE, JIM WAGNER, 2018 SETH RAYNOR, 1926 58 43.90 MAMARONECK, NY A.W. TILLINGHAST, 1923 OLD TOM MORRIS, 1899/TOM SIMPSON, 1926 57 Myopia Hunt Club SCOTIA, CANADA ROD WHITMAN, 2012 NEW ZEALAND TOM DOAK, 2004 56 44.44 J.S.F. MORRISON, C.H. ALISON, 1938 Sunningdale (New) SUNNINGDALE, ENGLAND H.S. COLT, 1922 55 Point Hardy Golf Club CAP ESTATE, ST. LUCIA BILL COORE, BEN CRENSHAW, 2023 SOUTH HAMILTON, MA H.C. LEEDS, 1898 BILL COORE, BEN CRENSHAW, 2016 53 AVERAGE SCORE 44.74 100 New Royal Cinque Ports DEAL, ENGLAND 40.09 HENRY HUNTER, JAMES BRAID, 1919/ GUY CAMPBELL, HENRY COTTON, 1946 49
GOLF published its first World Top 100 in 1985. What has changed since? Not the world—it remains round and 57.5 million square miles of terra firma. But our approach to the land—and the developers of the world’s golf courses— have changed dramatically. 50 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 At least at the very high end, which is what the World Top 100 constitutes. More than half of the courses from GOLF’s 1985 ranking don’t appear in this 2023 edition. Of those 52 courses that fell out, half were built between 1955 and 1985. On today’s list, only Casa de Campo (No. 75) and Muirfield Village (No. 98) were designed in that window. The changes began in the 1990s, when Sand Hills (No. 11) and then Bandon Dunes (No. 94) burst onto the scene in the U.S. The destinationgolf movement was underway, and it gathered steam when Barnbougle Dunes (No. 36), laid across rumpled dunes on the Tasman Sea, and Cape Kidnappers (No. 55), on cliffs that rise nearly 500 feet above the South Pacific, vaulted onto our 2005 world rankings. The “build it and they will come” destination model was here to stay. And look at what those Southern Hemisphere gems have inspired! Following in the giant footsteps of Julian Robertson, the entrepreneur behind Kidnappers, American financier Ric Kayne added New Zealand’s Tara Iti (No. 20) and Te Arai (South) (No. 85) to the World Top 100 menu. It doesn’t stop there—word is that the just-opened Clockwise from left: Gary Lisbon; Evan Schiller Photography; Gary Lisbon; Illustration by Joe McKendry No. 88 / Lofoten Gimsøysand, Norway
North Course at Te Arai might be the equal of the first two. Talk about an embarrassment of riches! Today, coastal courses comprise nearly half of this ranking, which shouldn’t be a surprise. These settings almost guarantee two linchpins of great golf: sandy soil and wind. Indeed, the sport started in earnest along the North Sea in the 1800s, eventually turning inland in the early 1900s to be closer to where most people lived. Now we’ve come full circle, as world travel is affordable and accessible enough that more and more courses are being built in exotic locations. Welcome for the first time to our list, St. Lucia and Norway. The Spice of Life? Variety. The old days, when most courses were defined as either parkland, heathland or links, are gone. How, for example, do you classify Gil Hanse’s Ohoopee Match Club (No. 81)? This inland gem in rural Georgia isn’t parkland, it’s... scrubland. What exactly is Ardfin (No. 65), on Scotland’s Isle of Jura? It isn’t a links, nor is it cliff top. How about Montana’s vast and rugged Rock Creek R AT E R ’ S TA K E Noel Freeman AGE: 52/HCP: 5 L A FAY E T T E , C A L I F. Golf in the UK—the ultimate education in architecture and food for the soul No. 73 / Rock Creek Cattle Club Deer Lodge, MT No. 85 / Te Arai (South) Tomarata, New Zealand “My career has afforded me the opportunity to travel the globe, and in 1999 I met golf architect Russell Talley in London. Over time, Russell and I played 75 rounds together on Great Britain’s heathlands and links, and I learned from him the nuances of how golf courses are designed. A personal favorite has long been Royal Cinque Ports (Deal) on the English Channel coast, where the thrill of projecting a ball over subtle hummocks, hollows and dells speaks directly to the soul and engenders enormous joy. Micro-contours, as opposed to massive landforms, make for the best golf. In time, I came to appreciate the random nature of where balls trickle to in links golf. That’s why I have never tired of playing Deal, even after 100 rounds. I also get a similar rush at Machrihanish, on the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. Two decades ago, Russell taught me that great golf courses mix a bit of quirk with strategy dictated by nature. How right he was.” 51
R AT E R ’ S TA K E Rodolfo Barreto AGE: 44/HCP: 3.3 S ÃO PA U L O , BRAZIL Golf in California, from the outside looking in “Bernard Darwin once wrote that some courses are the perfect meeting of land and sea. As a young golfer growing up in Rio de Janeiro, my version of that perfection was the recently renovated Gavea Golf CC, with part of the course playing through a tropical forest overlooking the sea. Later, I enrolled at Stanford and played on the golf team. While living in Palo Alto, I explored up and down the West Coast, playing the best courses from the Golden Age as well as the recent renaissance. And in some ways, it reminded me of my native Brazil. São Paulo GC and Santapazienza enjoy similar hilly terrain to that of the precious California Golf Club at San Francisco and LACC. Still, the West Coast’s variety and abundant great golf are unmatched, and, even better, courses like Pebble Beach, Pasatiempo and the Bandon complex are open to everyone. Memorable holes, ‘wow’ moments, clever strategy and routings that take advantage of the natural elements— the West Coast has it all!” Once cleared of its trees, the featureless parcel near Sand Valley Resort became the perfect canvas on which to paint The Lido of old. No. 68 The Lido Rome, WI 52 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3
Illustration by Joe McKendry; Left: Courtesy Sand Valley; Right: Gary Lisbon Cattle Company (No. 73)? You get my point—as architects work in a wider range of environments, pigeonholing courses is increasingly impossible. If you wanted to play all 100 courses on our world list, you’d need to visit 14 countries (p. 57), and that’s counting England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as one—the UK. Of this year’s eight new entries, only The Lido (No. 68) is situated in the States. Historically, an average of 54 U.S. courses make the list. This year, that number dips to 49. Still, the best of American golf remains difficult to beat, holding down 10 of the list’s top 15 spots and 29 of the top 50. Prairie golf in America remains as strong as ever, with Sand Hills, Chicago Golf Club (No. 17), Prairie Dunes (No. 26) and Ballyneal (No. 51) all within or near the top half of the ranking. And another, Nebraska’s Caprock Ranch, just missed making the list. The relationship between parkland golf and the World Top 100 is a little more nuanced. On the 2005 list, over 40 courses were parkland in nature. Today, that number is just over 20, with the delta predominantly having been surrendered to coastal courses. Regardless, courtesy of phenomenal restorations this century, the best parkland courses—stateside or elsewhere—are pretty darn invincible. Thank goodness, too, because most of us live inland. Without a doubt, stellar putting surfaces are at the heart of parkland golf ’s enduring allure. Just think about the best of the best of that genre. They’re household names for a variety of reasons, but the common denominator of Augusta National (No. 9), Merion (No. 13), Oakland Hills (No. 27) and Winged Foot (West) (No. 29) is their superlative greens. No. 97 Machrihanish (Championship) Campbeltown, Scotland 2023 2024 Rolling With It The one major knock on parkland golf is that its fairways are rarely (as a Scottish friend likes to say) “rumpy-bumpy.” The emergence of Te Arai (South), Machrihanish (No. 97) and Royal Cinque Ports (No. 100) highlights the importance of swales and unpredictable micro-contours to our 119-person panel, and the need for fiddly swing adjustments brought on by such undulating, rumpled and roly-poly fairways. 53
The king of all such fairways is, of course, The Old Course at St. Andrews (No. 3). Today’s architects do a much better job of incorporating nature’s random movements within their fairways than their peers did back in the day. Indeed, drink in the drone image of The Lido’s 1st, 2nd, 10th and 11th fairways (p. 52). Talk about lumps! That kind of dynamic land movement helps explain why the course makes the highest debut of all the top 100 newbies. An Encore for the Ages Despite our waxing on about the predominance of coastal golf, The Lido unfurls in rural, heartland Wisconsin. Even more interestingly, its architects, C.B. Macdonald and his protégé Seth Raynor, died eight-plus decades before the course’s 2023 completion. How can that be? Mike Keiser, the pioneering entrepreneur behind Bandon Dunes, long harbored a fascination with Macdonald’s lost Lido course, which opened in 1917 along the Atlantic on the south shore of Long Island but was plowed over 26 years later. Macdonald expert George Bahto even drew up a plan for Keiser to re-create The Lido on oceanfront land that eventually became Bandon’s Old Macdonald course. While Keiser never quite found the right parcel to pursue his dream, his sons Michael and Chris did, though in an unexpected spot: a large, flat tract of land adjacent to their Sand Valley Resort. Cleared of its trees, the featureless parcel became the perfect canvas on which to paint The Lido of old. Key to the effort was Peter Flores. He opensourced hundreds of vintage photos of the original course and fed them into a software program to model The Lido as meticulously as possible. Michael and Chris Keiser then hired Tom Doak to build the course from Flores’ computer rendering. Ultimately, the data was fed into GPS-equipped dozers that shaped the course with startling precision. Refinements were carried out in the field, but the end result is an amazingly accurate reincarnation of the original Lido. Most of the great template holes are here, from the Alps at No. 10 to the wicked Redan at No. 16. Other fabled holes are present, including my favorite, the 15th. The green is straight ahead, some 405 yards from the tee, and walled off along its right by two deep bunkers. A string of centerline bunkers punctuate the fairway. Look 75 yards left of the flag and note some bunkers seemingly 54 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 No. 58 Woodhall Spa (Hotchkin) Woodhall Spa, England No. 95 Shanqin Bay Hainan, China
2023 2024 No. 96 Victoria Cheltenham, Australia out of play. Well, aim for them. An approach from the far left side of the fairway opens up the green to perfection. The hole is named Strategy, and, by all means, a caddie is vital to discovering all the possible playing angles—and how they change with the wind—when playing this epic design. The Wow Factor Refined Point Hardy Golf Club, aka Cabot St. Lucia, joins the ranking at No. 76. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the one of Point Hardy on this issue’s cover speaks volumes. Still, nothing prepares you R AT E R ’ S TA K E Paul Arnould AGE: 33/HCP: +1 EVIAN, FRANCE Gary Lisbon; Illustration by Joe McKendry Forward thinking in the States—by preserving golf’s magnificent past “America is a land of great golf diversity. In August, I was fortunate to play some sand-based jewels in remote Wisconsin, including The Lido, several classic parkland courses, including Oakland Hills, and to enjoy the open expanse of Chicago Golf Club. In all cases, I observed a desire for purity as well as an appreciation for classic features. The tree population might harbor regrets, but I admire how Americans have prioritized fast and firm playing conditions at their inland courses. The time, money and attention to detail invested by American clubs to respect and restore their heritage is amazing, even a bit daunting. Chicago GC was so impressive as, in part, it demonstrates that greatness doesn’t come from fancy artifacts but rather with perfectly executed architecture mastery. I have no doubt that some of the greats who have worked in this country, including C.B. Macdonald and Donald Ross, would be thrilled with how their courses are presented and how their works more than stand up to the modern golf ball.” 55
No. 53 Kawana (Fuji) Ito-Shi, Japan 56 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3
2023 2024 TOP 100 COURSES BY COUNTRY Australia Canada China Dominican Republic France Ireland Japan New Zealand Norway South Korea St. Lucia The Netherlands UK United States 6 2 1 1 2 4 2 3 1 1 1 1 26 49 57
R AT E R ’ S TA K E Michael Blackham AGE: 42/HCP: +1 No. 83 Les Bordes (New) Saint-Laurent-Nouan, France H O L L A D AY, U TA H Don’t miss out on the UK’s beguiling heathland courses No. 84 Old Town Club Winston-Salem, NC for the sensation that you feel standing on the island 15th tee and staring at the diagonal carry over a 100-foot cliff to a rolling fairway, with a view of the 16th green in the distance across an inlet. This new Coore & Crenshaw marvel, which joins the Cabot family of stunning coastal courses, features half its greens along the Atlantic—and sets the tongue wagging. Still, to make the World Top 100, a course has to be strong from top to bottom, and Point Hardy’s interior holes fascinate. No. 2 edges uphill along an interior bluff. The leftto-right wind off the ocean pushes you right, but the best angle/view of the green is afforded along the left, closer to the bluff. It’s a game of cat and mouse between architect and player—just how much risk do you want to take? Easy to see why 58 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 it’s one of Bill Coore’s favorite holes. I consider the 448-yard, par-4 18th—which calls for a second shot over a sandy cove—to be Coore & Crenshaw’s finest finishing hole, and that’s saying a lot. Otherworldly Awesomeness Norway’s Lofoten Links (No. 88), which graced GOLF’s cover in 2019, finally received the minimum number of votes it needed to be eligible for Top 100 inclusion. Its visionary owner, Frode Hov, and British architect Jeremy Turner have done a wonderful job transforming their initial six-hole course in 1998 to today’s stunner. I headed there in late May and, all things considered, experienced perhaps the single most exhilarating day I’ve ever had on a golf course. Previous page: Courtesy Kawana; This page: Illustration by Joe McKendry; Clockwise from top left: Courtesy Les Bordes; Nick Wall; Andy Johnson/The Fried Egg “Too many golfers skip heathland golf to focus on links golf, yet this genre of golf is what inspired venerable Pine Valley. The sandy-rolling topography allows for a vast variety of shots, while the heather, pines, bunkers and native grasses bring an endless contrast of color and shades. Sunningdale Old and New, Swinley Forest and St. George’s Hill are the tip of the iceberg, but the depth of heathland golf in the UK is vast and includes Woking, West Sussex and Hollinwell. It’s baffling that such courses are ignored by the itinerant golfer, but lucky for me! Speaking of travel, I journeyed from England to Norway this year to play Lofoten Links. It isn’t around the corner from anywhere, but I was richly rewarded for the effort, and the three-hour drive from Evenes to the course is nearly as awe-inspiring as the course itself. Lofoten is ineffable; no words do justice to playing golf inside the Arctic Circle. Jeremy Turner and Frode Hov should be applauded for the smart and fun golf course they designed. Just go!”
Next page: Gary Lisbon The old days are gone. As architects work in a wider range of environments, pigeonholing courses as, say, parkland or heathland is increasingly impossible. The setting—whether you are observing the 2,500-foot snow-covered peaks as you putt out on 13 or the choppy Norwegian sea as you stroll down the 16th fairway—forces you to reach for a thesaurus to describe the allure of golf played inside the Arctic Circle. Look at the tee ball requirement at the 420-yard 14th on page 50: Hitting a power fade at Hoven Mountain and watching the ball bend right with the fairway before it disappears over the tundra is a perfect match of golf to setting. Imagine stuffing your approach close on No. 18 at 2:45 a.m. in the Land of the Midnight Sun. We were told to come back in late August for the Northern Lights, when the course really shines. Good grief. If ever you’re going to reconnect with nature, it’s here. Falsterbo GC, in south Sweden, was once in our Top 100. Otherwise, the next nearest world-class course to Lofoten is Royal Dornoch (No. 10), over 900 miles away. Speaking of closeness, after greenskeeper Jerry Mulvihill bedded down Lofoten for the 2022 winter, he went to St. Lucia to help his friend and fellow greenskeeper Damon Di Giorgio with the grow-in at Point Hardy. The “band of brothers” camaraderie found within greenskeeping is one of the really special aspects of that profession. No. 55 Cape Kidnappers Te Awanga, New Zealand 2023 2024 The Venerable... and the Modern Age I’ve yet to speak about the top 10 courses. Why? Because they hardly ever change. Yet again, Pine Valley maintains a comfortable lead at No. 1. In fact, there was zero movement in the top nine 59
What’s so phenomenal about golf today? It introduces you to the full spectrum of wonders found in nature. spots. Royal Dornoch, Muirfield and Sand Hills jostled for spots 10 through 12, with Sand Hills just barely slipping out of the top 10, meaning no course built after 1950 cracks that top tier. Twenty-nine “modern” courses—those built after 1946—occupy Nos. 11 through 100. On those 29, there’s no escaping Pete Dye’s impact. The late, legendary architect is directly responsible for three courses: Casa de Campo, The Ocean Course at Kiawah (No. 62) and Whistling Straits (No. 91). But designers who worked for and learned from Dye—including Coore, Doak and Rod Whitman—tack a whooping 16 courses onto that tally. The “Dye Tree” shapes these contemporary treasures. Where Credit Is Due More than just architects deserve recognition. These 100 courses represent some of the world’s highest standards of greenskeeping. Stephen Rabideau at Winged Foot, Craig Smith at Chicago GC, Jon Wall at Shanqin Bay (No. 95) and their crews provide playing surfaces that allow those designs to sparkle. And let’s not forget the developers. After all, neither architects nor greenskeepers procure the land or determine what restrictions are placed on it (housing, etc.). It’s the developer who takes the formidable up-front capital risk for land acquisition, course construction and infrastructure. Securing permits and sourcing equipment to remote locations isn’t as glamorous as you may think. Indeed, how courses come to be has changed significantly from the 1800s, when locals would get together to create a private club, then contact the best player they knew to lay out a course. Those days have mostly been replaced by visionary entrepreneurs willing to lay out gobs of money for the sake of eventually attracting a loyal customer base. Just in the past few years, we have lost several such pioneers who brought us incredibly compelling golf, men like Mark Parsinen (Kingsbarns, No. 86; Castle Stuart, No. 89), Herb Kohler 60 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 (Whistling Straits) and Julian Robertson (Cape Kidnappers). We are witnessing a changing of the guard. Trailblazer Mike Keiser enjoys an unmatched record of creating world-class experiences for the recreational golfer. How lucky are we to see his sons Michael, 42, and Chris, 35, carry on that legacy with The Lido, their first entrant to this list? The pair have several more exciting projects set to open over the next few years. Ben Cowan-Dewar, 44, is already tied to four courses on this list (Point Hardy, Castle Stuart, Cabot Cliffs, No. 52 and Cabot Links, No. 79) and has three other high-profile projects well underway in the Canadian Rockies, Florida and the Scottish Highlands. What can Ric Kayne possibly do for an encore after his Kiwi successes? Might Frode Hov follow on from Lofoten and build another course in his enchanting home country? Going forward, look to these entrepreneurs to play a key role in the growth of the game. The Great Equalizer Few courses can compete with the natural beauty of places like Kawana (No. 53), with its views of Mt. Fuji (p. 56) to the northwest, and Ardfin, in the Inner Hebrides. Both move up nine spots in this ranking. Yet, course architecture is the great equalizer—and it’s what makes our ranking more than a beauty contest. Plenty of courses built over muted landforms hold great favor with our panelists, including Muirfield, Chicago GC, Pinehurst No. 2 (No. 21), Garden City (No. 48), Baltusrol (Lower) (No. 67), Les Bordes (New) (No. 83) and Yeamans Hall (No. 99). Superb golf architecture is the common thread that runs through these seven incredibly diverse tracks. That’s what’s so phenomenal about golf today. It introduces you to the full spectrum of wonders found in nature—from the audacious to the elemental to the sublime. The biggest challenge is deciding where to play next. The fantastic thing? There are no wrong decisions. No. 78 Royal Hague Wassenaar, The Netherlands
Scan the code above to download the full 2023–24 Top 100 Courses in the World list. 61
The better-than-average Joes—Hallett and Plecker—are known to lurk around putting greens in search of answers to questions that bother them.
THE LONG & THE SHORT OF IT PROVEN DATA REVEALS THAT IF YOU PUTT LIKE THIS... By Joe Hallett and Joe Plecker Photographs by Christopher Lane GOLF TOP 100 TEACHER S ...YOU’LL RARELY MISS! Over our careers, we’ve seen golfers suffer from pushes, pulls, too-long and too-short putts, to say nothing of (yikes!) the yips. Almost all of these well-intentioned players miss while trying to accelerate through impact. Lucky for them (and you), we have a solution, one developed years ago and verified using today’s technology. It dates back to me, Joe Hallett, meeting Art Olfs early in my teaching career. Olfs was a mathematician and engineer who was fascinated with—of all things—putting strokes. He found that a good putter’s follow-through was much shorter than their backstroke. Using hand-written equations and charts, he proved that these players didn’t accelerate through impact as most golfers think but, rather, moved the putterhead at a constant rate of speed so it could simply collide with the ball. As Olfs’ data set grew, I, Joe Plecker, began measuring dynamics in players with the yips and found the same results, the most important being that good putters vary backstroke length to control distance. Moreover, they let the putter “fall” into the ball, resulting in less face twisting and centered strikes. The equation Olfs found—and that we have tried to disprove— is that the optimum stroke employs a 60:40 ratio for all putts. Turn the page to learn how it works! 63
Taking Olfs’ cues and research performed using the SAM PuttLab (see right), we found that over-accelerating the putterhead from the end of the backstroke to impact dramatically and negatively affects control, face rotation (twist) and total forward stroke size. The goal, as the data proves, is to swing it more like a pendulum, moving the putter back and through the same distance with zero speed manipulation—a pure 50:50 stroke (i.e., equal on both sides of the bottom of its arc). In reality, however, it’s more like 60:40, because the ball eventually gets in the way. This minor collision indeed impedes the natural flow of your stroke, limiting, albeit slightly, the length of your followthrough. And since the ball “knows” only what happens at impact, the length it travels is almost entirely decided by how far you take the putter back. NO! Golfers who rapidly accelerate in the forward stroke experience errors in speed control and putterface twisting—and can develop the yips. A shaky acceleration profile is what forces these players to change putters and mechanics on a whim. Don’t let it be you! IMPACT YES! Notice the flatter and less shaky acceleration profile that comes from using a 60:40 stroke. Also, the lack of any real putterface rotation. This has smooooth written all over it. IMPACT 2 THE 60:40 RECIPE Now that you understand the science, put it to the test! Place a mark on the green where you normally position the ball in your putting stance. Make your everyday stroke. Have a friend mark where your backstroke ended with a tee and set a second tee on the target side of the mark at roughly two-thirds that distance. (For example, if your backstroke traveled 12 inches, set the second tee eight inches in front of the mark.) Replace the mark with a ball. Now putt, stopping your backstroke at the first tee and then letting your putter “fall” into the ball. Keep putting. Over time, you’ll notice that your stroke automatically stops at the second tee. More important, your putts roll out the same distance. Feel free to cheat the drill setup with the Putting Stick (tpkgolf.com), which marks several 60:40 combos for you. 64 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 Christopher Lane; Illustraions by Ben Mounsey-Wood 1 STROKE SCIENCE
WHIPPY PUTTER DRIVER WEDGE SHOVEL 3 HOW TO GET THE 60:40 FEEL If you adhere to the 60:40 rule and always let your putter fall to the ball instead of accelerating it, you can putt with anything. Here, Joe Plecker has grouped putts with an old putter, a driver, a wedge—even a shovel! On practice strokes, use your eyes to dial in the correct backstroke length (the “60”). Hit the practice green with a new box of balls. Choose a straight target, set up your 60:40 stroke guides as in the test at left and start rolling putts. Your goal: Group as many putts together as you can. (Hint: Once you’re able to consistently make the same 60:40 stroke size, your putts will begin to gather nicely.) Coming up short? Easy. Make a longer backstroke but keep the same 60:40 ratio. Do the opposite if you’re rolling it too far. In either case, always let the putter fall to the ball. The method works so well you can putt with a whippy putter, driver, wedge or a shovel! 65
4 TRUST THE PHYSICS (AND THE TEES) Scan the code above to learn more about the 60:40 putting technique from Joe Hallett and Joe Plecker. START LIKE THIS Before any round, warm up on the practice green with the tee drill to get a feel for how far the ball is rolling using your 60:40 stroke. When you get your touch just right, you’re ready to go low. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT You’ve heard every putting tip in the game, yet you still miss. Focusing on the dynamics of your 60:40 putting stroke will solve many issues currently plaguing your putting, such as squaring the face, hitting the sweet spot and owning your distance control. TRY A HEAVY PUTTER! If you find it difficult to swing your current putter like a pendulum, try a heavier model or add weight to the putterhead. This helps free up your new swinging stroke. Also, a softer grip never hurts on the greens. OBEY YOUR STANCE 66 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 60% 40% Christopher Lane Use your setup as a personal framework to manage all putt lengths. Short, medium, long and extra-long putts are as easy as controlling the length of your backstroke—a single variable—in relation to your feet. With a little practice, you’ll be money from all points around the cup.
Marty Jertson would, in Ted Lasso lingo, be considered a “goldfish”: a resilient guy who turned some bum luck into a brilliant career. Just ask the believers at PING, who’ve watched the club designer blossom. THE MAN WHO KNEW SO MUCH By Jonathan Wall / Photographs by Matt Martian Williams Right: Jertson, photographed at PING HQ in Phoenix on September 26, 2023, sits below a portrait of company founder Karsten Solheim. The men share more than just a love of golf. Innovation was Solheim’s genius, and Jertson draws inspiration from that. 68 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3
MARTY JERTSON HAD A THEORY HE WANTED TO CHASE. Before pros started recording clubhead speeds in excess of 140 mph, PING’s current vice president of fitting and performance pondered the upper limits of clubhead speed for a golfer. How fast could someone swing it? Through research and observation, Jertson noticed there was a difference between how fast golfers were willing to swing in speed-training sessions, when impacting the ball wasn’t part of the equation, versus a normal cut where they were mentally prepared for a clubface-to-ball collision. Call it a “cognitive governor.” Armed with a relatively new motion capture system, Jertson went to work 3D-printing a club that required endless amounts of plastic, Bondo self-adhesive, sanding and fashioning of reflective markers in order to bring it to life. 70 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 One of Jertson’s colleagues, PING’s director of golf science, Erik Henrikson, recalls that the project took a week to get to the point where the homemade club could launch a small Wiffle ball. Excited to see if insights could be gleaned from the test, Jertson put the club in motion—and watched as it exploded on impact into more pieces than anyone could count. “It was a week of work for one shot,” Henrikson recalls. “Marty was snapping the thing together and putting in all this effort—and then it’s done. I think the test, even with the humorous ending, stoked his curiosity even further. Marty’s always been that way. He’s constantly trying to uncover if there’s a different path we should be considering.” Jertson, 43, willingly admits the initial club was a failure. But the test helped spawn numerous successful speedtraining breakthroughs, including the innovative Stack System, which he cocreated a few years ago with biomechanist Dr. Sasho MacKenzie. It powered Matthew Fitzpatrick to his win at the 2022 U.S. Open. “I think that’s all we do: fail and learn,” Jertson says, during a brief moment of respite in between meetings at PING’s Phoenix headquarters. “For a lot of successful people, failure can be a catalyst for great ideas. Failure generally opens the door to five or 10 more questions you don’t know the answer to, which keeps you curious and engaged.” For Jertson, failure has indeed opened doors and taken his career in the industry and his golf game to new heights. But it didn’t happen overnight. Prior to joining PING in 2003, Jertson was a promising All-American at the Colorado School of Mines, a kid who was a standard-bearer at the Phoenix Open as a youngster and who aspired to play professional golf for a living. A career in golf club development wasn’t even on his radar. The research university, he says, “was big in oil and gas exploration. I figured I’d do that, automotive or aerospace with my engineering degree. But first, I really wanted to see if I could make it on tour.” Jertson spent 2002, his first year out of college, plying his trade on mini-tours, trying to scratch together enough coin to
Left: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Opposite: Jertson at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, where he finished 82nd, the best showing of his six appearances in the majors. Above: At the Proving Grounds range, Jertson compares and shares pointers on the new Co-Pilot fitter tool with PING master fitter James Lee III. support himself. But nothing seemed to click. The more pressure he heaped on himself, the more things didn’t go his way. It officially came to a head later in the year, when he missed the first stage of PGA Tour Q-School. “All the prep, and you get through Q-School or you don’t,” he says. “It’s a binary thing—and it’s still kinda like that. Once Q-School was over, I remember driving back home, trying to make some life decisions.” Though Jertson didn’t realize it at the time, the Q-School setback was a blessing in disguise. While he contemplated his next move, a mini-tour friend connected him with an acquaintance at PING, and his life trajectory immediately changed. Jertson came on as a part-time employee, initially in the manufacturing and engineering department, and worked on setting up the assembly line for each part of the G2 driver, a job that eventually set him on a path to club design. “I’m a golf junkie like everybody else out there,” he says, “and for the first time I remember thinking I could marry those two things together: my engineering degree and my addiction to golf. I think the lesson is that there’s luck along the way, and I probably got lucky just meeting the right people at the right time—and getting in the door at PING.” TAKE A PEEK AT THE CLUBS IN YOUR GOLF BAG and you’ll notice there’s no mention of the designers who brought them to life, which is a shame. Club designers remain the unsung heroes in the equipment space, a coterie of brilliant minds who somehow find a means to turn cutting-edge concepts into game-changing creations for pros and amateurs alike. Over the last two decades at PING, Jertson, with childlike curiosity and a never-ending drive to innovate, has become one of the most influential and respected designers in the industry. His résumé boasts more than 125 patents and countless club designs, including development work on the original “turbulators” (an aerodynamic-enhancing feature on the crown), introduced on the company’s G30 driver and PING’s first foray into the world of adjustable drivers with Anser. There’s no question Jertson eats, sleeps and breathes club design—but it doesn’t define him. The self-described “bio- 71
hacker” constantly seeks new ways to improve his health and well-being, with the help of an ultra-strict routine that fuels him through the workday. With pockets of free time at a premium, Jertson starts each day in his Phoenix home with a walk on a treadmill desk so he can catch up on emails and breeze through administrative tasks before his two sons awaken and throw his morning into a state of flux. There’s no time for breakfast, just a cup of coffee. Lunch has been the same thing for the last 10 years: a salad he usually consumes between meetings. Predictability keeps him sane. requires golfers to play the same ball model during competition.) “I did a triple take,” he recalls. “I’ve always wanted to switch balls during the round, so my brain just started going crazy. There’s definitely a reason to switch balls on different holes.” Using the work he’s done on Ballnamic, PING’s web-based ball-fitting algorithm, Jertson was able to confirm that certain balls flew five to seven yards farther than other models—and that was just hitting irons. “In the testing we’ve done, some balls go a little farther and others a little shorter on iron strikes, which could be used to your “I’m a golf junkie like everybody else out there, and for the first time I remember thinking I could marry those two things together: The impact Jertson (left) and his work have had on golfers extends beyond PING superstars like Viktor Hovland and Tony Finau and the weekend warriors who wield the clubs he’s designed. The Stack System he co-pioneered pushed Matt Fitzpatrick over the top at the 2022 U.S. Open. “But even with these efficiencies in place,” Jertson says, “I sometimes finish the day and it’s like, Holy moly, what just happened? I’ll go into one meeting and have a creative session about some far-out ideas, and then the next session is very tactical about the tools we’re doing with our fitters. A lot of times, I’m toggling back and forth. I’ve had to train that skill to compartmentalize, to be very focused wherever I am.” The hyper-focus is a necessity for a guy who, these days, wears myriad hats at PING. It’s also made it easier for Jertson to find time to keep his game sharp on the course as a “semiretired” Class A PGA professional who continues to get better—and longer off the tee. With the help of the Stack System he helped create, Jertson has qualified for five PGA Championships, the 2020 U.S. Open and numerous PGA Tour events. That’s in addition to the Southwest PGA events he’s won along the way. What makes his success on the course so fascinating is how he sometimes uses the tournaments as a proving ground for theories he’s working on in the office. The latest example came this year, during U.S. Open local qualifying, when Jertson was informed that the “one-ball rule” was not in effect. (The rule 72 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 advantage on par 3s,” he says. “One of the challenges for me as a working player is that I’m not good at the tweener yardages.” To see if the idea had merit, Jertson played a tournament with different balls designed to provide performance benefits in specific conditions. He played a ball that flew aerodynamically lower and went less offline into the wind and another that launched higher and spun more on downwind shots. He also assumed, based on the course setup, that he’d be closer to the green with his approaches, so he added a third ball that spun more on wedge shots. If you’re keeping track at home, that’s three different balls for one tournament. Jertson wound up winning the event and is now considering putting into play as many as five different balls, depending on the course and conditions. Even with Jertson’s impressive track record on the golf course, practice sessions don’t happen nearly as often as he would like. Blame that on the expansion of his role at PING, which now extends well beyond golf club design into the arenas of Artificial Intelligence, data, coding and widgets. These days, Jertson is not only trying to make PING’s clubs From left: Matt Martian Williams; David Cannon/Getty Images; Warren Little/Getty Images; Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images my engineering degree and my addiction to golf.”
better, he’s also trying, through the PING Academy, to keep the company’s extensive network of fitters up to date on the latest PING research and insights. There’s also iPING, an advanced algorithm designed to guide putter fittings; a new fitter tool called AFS 3D that’s simplifying the club-fitting process; and a partnership with Arccos where data findings from amateur golfers are used to shape future product development. Jertson oversees one other arrow in PING’s quiver. Called Co-Pilot, it has the potential to completely change the way the equipment manufacturer conducts fittings. Powered by a platform similar to Ballnamic, the fitting tool set spits out suggestions on everything from set composition, club suggestions and adjustments that can be made to squeeze every last ounce of distance out of a PING driver. Co-Pilot has also been used to help pros adjust their setup for PGA Tour events at higher elevations, where changes are likely needed. Yes, Jertson’s list of responsibilities is extensive. Yet somehow he’s found time to take on more forward-facing duties as the cohost of PING’s Scan this code to pick Proving Grounds podup one of Jertson’s most invaluable cast and to mentor sevinventions: the Stack eral PING engineers swing speed trainer (at fairwayjockey.com). along the way. Men- Jertson Drops Some Science toring is a role Jertson has embraced during his two decades with the company, and a new crop of designers has flourished under his tutelage. “This team of engineers and designers is special,” he says. “Cory Bacon, Travis Milleman, Ryan Stokke— the list of names could go on and on. I’ve felt lucky to work with them under our apprenticeship model. I almost feel like the students have surpassed their teacher.” It’s high praise from Jertson, but in PING HQ the feeling is mutual. Bacon, who recently took the lead on his first driver project (the G430), played golf at Colorado School of Mines and in 2011 was offered an internship at PING that turned into a job one year later. He’s blazed his own trail during his 10-plus years with the company, but he freely admits Jertson played a crucial role in his development. “He’s the one who has mentored me through my entire career here,” Bacon says. “He helped me get my internship, suggested that they hire me when I graduated and basically tutored me for the first four years. I owe a lot to Marty. Having the ability to lean on him, to ask about how he did things when he was in my role, helped a ton throughout the development of the G430. He’s always willing to lend a hand, which I greatly appreciate.” Jertson might not be a household name like PING staffers Viktor Hovland or Tony Finau, but he’s just as important to the future of PING Golf. With Jertson on its team, the equipment manufacturer is well positioned to do big things. Now, if only the guy could find time to get in a few more range sessions. ASK MARTY ABOUT ANYTHING AND HE’LL HAVE GAME-CHANGING TIPS. HERE ARE SIX. 1. “An easy way to hit it farther with your driver is to curve it less. A straighter ballflight off the tee will increase your total distance. Maximize your efficiency and stop bleeding distance by hitting your driver as the crow flies.” 2. “In most scenarios, with a driver fitting, prioritize distance over accuracy at a ratio of 2:1. If you gain 20 yards with a longer driver, for example, the left-right dispersion can grow by up to 10 yards, and it will still be better for scoring (from a Strokes Gained perspective). We see too many shorthitting golfers over-prioritize hitting more fairways.” 3. “How you utilize your 3-wood is highly dependent on your clubhead speed. If you hit your driver 250-plus yards, you’re likely to hit your 3-wood more off the tee than off the ground. Keep this in mind as you get fit for a 3-wood. Longer players should prioritize tee-shot performance, while golfers who hit their driver less than 250 yards should focus their lowest lofted fairway wood as a club to hit off the ground. This is why PING makes an LST for faster players and the SFT for the everyday golfer.” 4. “You may not realize it, but you hit your mid-irons about 50 percent of the time off the tee. So you should be practicing your 6-, 7and 8-irons off the tee and evaluating them off a tee— not just off the ground— during the fitting process. Considering all lies, about one-third of your mid- and short irons will be from the fairway, one-third from the rough and one-third on par 3s off the tee.” 5. “The spin rate of a golf ball doesn’t tell the whole story. We’ve seen very highspin balls achieve a low peak height, and we’ve seen lowspin balls achieve a high peak height—influenced by aerodynamics, dimples and inertial differences. We developed Ballnamic, our ball-fitting app, to enable you to simulate outdoor flight from initial shortrange (indoor) launch conditions.” 6. “With putting, outside of basic length, loft and lie, the two most crucial aspects to match to your stroke are your face rotation (how much you twist the shaft around the handle) and your tempo (ratio of backswing time to forward swing time), neither of which you can see with the naked eye. The more you rotate the face, the more of a toe-down (strong arc) putt you should use. Don’t shoot for a Tour average tempo. Instead, match your putterhead weight to your natural cadence.” 73
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Scan here to explore all the options Hazy Sticks has to offer and buy your own set at Fairway Jockey. 75
BEST OF EVERYTHING 2023 To learn more about and purchase the items in this gift guide, visit Our Picks (golf.com/ourpicks) or follow the codes throughout these pages to Fairway Jockey (fairwayjockey.com). This code will take you to Fairway Jockey, where you can buy your own Hypervolt Pro 2.
Training Aids Previous page and left: Jeffrey Westbrook; Styling: Miako Katoh Hazy Sticks $72 (previous spread) This is the most dynamic training aid you can stick in your bag... Get it? But honestly, you will not find a pro who doesn’t carry alignment sticks. Notice next time you’re watching golf on TV, when the players are warming up or practicing on the range, they’re all using alignment sticks. They’ve become ubiquitous. Alignment sticks can be used for proper stance and setup, to trace takeaway paths and to help fix backswing and downswing flaws. The uses are endless, and Hazy makes the highest quality sticks you’ll find. They’re constructed of 100 percent genuine hickory wood with nickel endcaps and are available in tons of fun colors. You can choose a premade design or you can customize the sticks in six different styles and in a range of more than 30 colors. You can even add engraved text in any font. Hyperice Hypervolt Pro 2 $329 Did your last workout leave you sore? Great, we love to hear you’re making gains, and now you can know what it feels like to recover like the pros. Hyperice is the Official Recovery System of the PGA Tour, the NFL and the NBA. Seriously, these massagers are the real deal. Rory McIlroy, Patrick Mahomes and Christian McCaffrey use the device not only for their sports but also in their daily lives. Get the same powerful percussion massage therapy as the pros right in the palm of your hand. With five variable speeds and a new digital dial, the Hypervolt 2 Pro helps you recover faster so you can get back to doing more of what you love. No matter where you’re making gains, this Hyperice device helps you target the sore and tight areas for a seamless recovery. Raindrop $50 With nearly 20 feet of retractable cable, the Raindrop allows you to take the guesswork out of green-reading. This convenient training aid is designed to help you find your start line and allows you to build extreme confidence with your putter. Putt King Pro Green $900 Bring the practice green with you any time, any where. With high-quality materials and a non-skid foam base, you can dial in your flatstick from wherever you might be—giving you an edge once golf season kicks into high gear. Rukket Sports Haack Pro $190 No time to beat balls at the driving range or sneak in a round at your home track? Create the feeling of your favorite course with this high-quality practice net. Now you can work on your ball striking and swing mechanics right in your own backyard. Short Game Gains Putting Mirror $50 The Short Game Gains Putting Mirror is designed to help you master consistency. Confidently stand over your ball knowing that your setup, stroke and start line are all aligned properly, allowing you to put your best stroke forward. With instant feedback after each shot, not only will this putting mirror dissect any problem, but it will provide you with the answers to becoming an absolute sniper on the greens. While this putting aid can’t guarantee lower strokes with the flatstick, before long you’ll see a decrease in putts each round. Those bogey putts will become par opportunities, and you’ll be leaving your playing partners in the dust. You can spend years trying to cure your slice without progress. But with the Short Game Gains Putting Mirror, you’ll get quick results, saving strokes any time you’re on the green. 77
BEST OF EVERYTHING 2023 ter configuration and is the same putter Lucas Glover used to win back-to-back weeks on the PGA Tour. Cleveland Frontline Elite RHO Slant $299 The Frontline Elite series of putters feature a tungsten SOFT insert to push the center of gravity as close to the face as possible and help reduce gear effect on putts missed away from the sweet spot. The RHO model comes in two hosel options to help golfers find the best fit for their putting stroke style—either straight back or slight arc. Bags Putters TaylorMade TP Reserve $400 The TP Reserve line of putters, including the M33 above, features classic shape profiles milled from 303 stainless steel. The designs also include machined grooves for a crisp impact sound and feel along with precision weighting to increase MOI and perfectly balance the putterhead based on length. PING G Le3 $300 PING’s new G Le3 line for women includes four classic putter models to better deliver performance on the greens. The putters use an optimized two-piece Pebax elastomer insert with PLD-inspired shallow grooves and a firmer back to ensure the optimal combination of feel, forgiveness and distance control. Odyssey TriHot 5K $400 The Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K putters (One, Two, Three, Double Wide and Triple Wide) utilize a multi-material construction including high-density tungsten heel and toe weights for more forgiveness and to make it easier to square the face at impact for a truer roll toward the target. Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 $450 The Phantom X line from Scotty Cameron, including the 5.5, is designed to deliver the best combination of alignment, feel, for- 78 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 giveness and precision for golfers who prefer a mallet shape and a crisp feel at impact. The lightweight aircraft-grade aluminum sole helps save weight and boost the MOI without having to increase the head size. $295 This golf bag may have the word Sunday in the name, but, make no mistake, the Vessel Sunday III Stand is equipped to meet the everyday needs of the modern walking golfer. Weighing in at 4.55 lbs, this double-strapped bag, which is easily converted to a single strap, has plenty of room with five pockets and is ideal for the player who carries every day. L.A.B. Golf MEZZ.1 MAX $469 L.A.B. Golf putters and their lie angle–balancing technology are designed to produce zero torque through the putting stroke, meaning the putterface stays square to the arc and through impact more easily. The MEZZ.1 MAX comes in a standard and long put- Sun Mountain Kube $270 Ever struggle with what to do with your travel bag when you’re not using it or putting it in your rental car while on vacation? Sun Mountain has solved the puzzle with the Kube, a travel cover that folds up into the size of a small suitcase when not in use. Putter, stand bag: Jeffrey Westbrook; Styling: Miako Katoh Vessel Sunday III Stand
There’s more on the Vessel bag and a chance to buy one when you follow this code to Fairway Jockey. 79
BEST OF EVERYTHING 2023 Miura MacKenzie Original Walker Bag $850 Minimalism has returned with a vengeance in today’s golf bags, and this MiuraMacKenzie collaboration captures the trend perfectly. The gorgeous design is constructed with sage waxed canvas from one of the oldest fabric finishers in the country. This code will take you to Fairway Jockey, where you can buy the Jones Ranger for yourself. Accessories Jones Ranger Shag Bag Cooler Pouch $55 When it comes to cool golf gifts that anyone would love, it’s natural to gravitate toward proven crowd-pleasers: coolers and shag bags. Everyone could use at least one of those. But if you’re strug- gling with which product to prioritize, Jones Sports Co. has solved the problem by masterfully combining the best of both items into a single showstopper: the Ranger. As a longtime bestseller, this versatile bag has serious staying power and is destined to become the lucky recipient’s most trusted companion for years to come. There’s space for six dozen golf balls or six beverages, and all are kept nice and tidy with an insulated liner and drawstring closure. It even comes with Jones’ signature circle base to help keep the bag upright. With a few extra weeks of production time, you can personalize your Ranger with custom embroidery in nine earthy shades.
Shag bag, Dewars: Jeffrey Westbrook; Styling: Miako Katoh Dewar’s Double Double 37-Year-Old Blended Scotch Whisky $1,799 The care and craftsmanship that goes into every bottle of Dewar’s limitededition Double Double makes it a truly remarkable gift. This particular iteration is Dewar’s first-ever blended malt, as well as the first of the brand’s Collector’s Series, which honors the whisky regions of Scotland. The Double Double has undergone a four-step aging process before being finished in oloroso sherry casks that once held Aultmore single malt—an homage to the Scottish Speyside region. And how does it taste? You’ll enjoy hints of cinnamon, vanilla and heather honey, as well as flavors of peach, orange peel and brown sugar. The gift set includes two exquisite Baccarat Massena tumblers. Palm Golf Co. Get Lucky Towel $30 As the saying goes, it’s better to be lucky than good. Palm Golf is here to tell you there’s nothing wrong with mixing a little bit of both. Not that a towel—even one featuring four-leaf clovers—is going to magically improve your golf game, but there’s something about cleaning your ball with this one that just feels right. LivPur Hydrate $30–155 Depleting yourself of water and electrolytes on the golf course is a serious problem. LivPur is the ultimate rapid rehydration solution designed to replenish your body with the essential nutrients, vitamins, electrolytes and amino acids you need. Just ask investors/users Zach Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and the Korda sisters. High Camp Custom Torch Flask $124 The 6-oz Torch Flask from High Camp comes with an integrated magnetic shooter glass and a custom engraved design option for personalization. Available in three timeless colors, you can store either hot or cold beverages in it since the walls are double insulated. Whatever you fill it with, the High Camp will retain its temp for your entire round. OGIO Pace Pro Max Travel Duffel Pack 45L $170 If you travel for golf or any other reason, this is the bag you need. OGIO has created the ultimate backpack-style duffel that provides enough space for everything you might want to bring along (while still fitting in the overhead bin). The Pace Pro Max is smartly designed by people who know what features travelers want. You’ll be happy you’re carrying one. 81
BEST OF EVERYTHING 2023 E-Z-GO Freedom RXV starting at $10,299 There are carts for transporting you around the golf course. Then there are modern buggies designed to transport you to another level. The Freedom RXV is the latter. With its streamlined dashboard and front end, combined with its sweeping modular canopy, the RXV looks unlike any other cart on the fairway or around the neighborhood. Customization options are endless. It’s luxury and efficiency on wheels. were fashionable too. Golfers of all sartorial persuasions can now cover their hand in style. Palm Golf Co.’s designs run the gamut from tropical prints to camouflage to American stars and stripes. And if classic white is your jam, they have that too. You’ll be the envy of your foursome. Sunday Golf Big Frosty $35 Sunday Golf’s super-convenient cooler is your new best friend. The streamlined design and coated polyester construction fits up to six cans and includes sleeves for ice packs. Three grab handles make transport a breeze. Hudson Sutler Montauk Cooler Bag $145 Customizable and available in seven colors, this cooler makes a great gift. Made with a life-raft-type waterproof liner, this baby is tough. Eighteen beers? Six bottles of wine? No worry, the Montauk can handle it. Palm Golf Gloves $26 There are only so many ways for golfers to showcase a flash of personality when it comes to their gear: a custom headcover, perhaps, or maybe some initials stamped on a wedge. For a long time, the humble glove remained a piece of equipment that was decidedly boring. Not anymore, thanks to Palm Golf Co., whose founders launched the brand with the mission of making high-quality gloves that 82 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 Gloves, sweaters: Jeffrey Westbrook; Styling: Miako Katoh FORE! Cards $25 Before each hole, one golfer draws from the deck of FORE! Cards to determine how that hole will be played. For example, if they draw a “Box Pick” card, each player has to hit from a different tee box. It’s oncourse fun; a friendly way to shuffle things up.
Apparel Renwick Women’s “GOLF” Sweater $138 The famous GOLF-branded sweater is a timeless classic created by the Renwick sisters. Updated in a more modern fit, this cotton-acrylic crewneck sweater can be styled in a considerable number of ways on and off the course. Easily pairable, you can slip this over just about anything. While it may not be easy to choose which color to buy, you can be sure every color in the GOLF sweater line will match with tons of other pieces and styles in your closet. Greyson Mirage skirt $138 Constructed from luxurious Italian fabric, this skirt gracefully shifts with every movement. The print is a detailed, unique and beautiful nature scene, which can be paired with what’s already in your wardrobe. You can sport this wearable piece of art to run errands while looking incredibly chic. It can be worn with a polo or any other top in shades of white, baby blue, navy, tan or even burgundy, if you like to get fancy with color pairing. There’s a ton of fun to be had with this print. This Greyson skirt is a stunner. 83
BEST OF EVERYTHING 2023 These are perfect for making the seamless switch from the office to the course after a long workday. Not to mention, they’ll still look good enough to wear out afterward too. RLX Golf WaterRepellent Packable Quilted Jacket $328 Constructed with lightweight water-repellent ripstop and recycled polyester, this jacket’s quilted look is perfectly on trend. Strategically placed stretch at the underarms ensures a comfy fit, and it becomes a mock neck when fully zipped. It even includes slots for hand warmers in its two front waist pockets. Perhaps most impressively, the jacket is so lightweight it can be packed into its chest pocket, which also features a carrying loop. Puma Ignite Elevate Disc Spikeless $130 Elevate your style along with your game while you enjoy effortless comfort and spikeless traction like you’ve never experienced before. Dial in your game and your perfect shoe fit with the disc shoelace system, which allows you to quickly and easily tighten your shoes to perfectly hug your feet. These are lightweight but incredibly stable to help you grip the ground from all angles. Available in eight different colors, these Pumas look as good as they perform. 84 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 TravisMathew Heater Grand Prize Polo $100 Like Jon Rahm, you’ll look like you’re fresh from stepping off the manicured fairways of Augusta National, having just finished your last round at the Masters. This sporty polo delivers style and comfort on and off the course, and you can purchase it in four stylish colors. Rhone Commuter Pants $138 Made from Flex-Knit fabric, these are not your average stiff dress pants. TRUE Linkswear True Lux Hybrid $195 You’ll find everything you want in a modern, athleisure-style golf shoe in the TRUE Lux Hybrid. Created by Tour player Ryan Moore and his brother, Jason, it features a waterproof knit upper, eye-catching leather saddle and six attractive color options. Tech specs include an Achilles heel pad and TPU heel stabilizer. Shoes, jackets, speakers: Jeffrey Westbrook; Styling: Miako Katoh Scan here to visit the Our Picks landing page to learn more about the Ignite Elevate.
Tech Precision Pro Duo GPS Speaker $100 What could be more convenient than a 2-in-1 device that also pairs with a helpful app on your phone? Designed just for golfers, the Precision GPS rangefinder is also an excellent little speaker that allows you to hear premium audible shot distance readings while enjoying your tunes. It reads slope adjustment along with personal layups. It’s waterresistant and super compact, so you can easily clip it onto your bag. Check the app if you’d like to see a bird’s-eye view of the hole and a written reading of your distance. You can also personalize with 11 grills—carbon fiber, golfing skeletons, the American flag, a floral scene or even a smoking John Daly! GolfLogix $40–60 GolfLogix is like having a personalized caddie and game-improvement coach right in your pocket. Use the app to dial in your yardage and help determine your club choices. Track your average club distances and enjoy 3D hole flyovers. And there’s more: Pair the app with Green Books to determine landing zones, breaks and putt lines. Game changer! Flightscope Mevo+ $2,200 Want accurate data about your golf swing and ballflight but don’t want to break the bank? Look no further than the Flightscope Mevo+. This launch monitor doesn’t rely on special balls to capture vital data like spin rate and launch angle; it uses normal balls. And it costs a fraction of a pro-grade unit. Bushnell Tour V6 Shift Laser Rangefinder $400 It’s common now to include a rangefinder as part of your preshot routine. Clearly, accurate yardage info is critical for club choice and accuracy. With the help of the Bushnell Tour V6 Shift Laser Rangefinder, you’ll receive a precise reading before ever reaching in your bag, giving you the peace of mind to focus on a solid swing and play loosely. So when you’re standing on the tee box of a par 3 with some headwind, rather than struggle with your club choice, take advantage of the Bushnell’s Tour-trusted Slope formula, which provides compensated distances around the course any time you want it. And with the state-ofthe-art Pinseeker—which causes the device to vibrate once you’re locked onto the flagstick—you’ll get the validation you need to hit the right shot.
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Simulators Nothing against fresh air and sunshine, but there’s an argument that golf simulators are better than the golf courses they simulate. For starters, no starters. Tee time? It’s your freakin’ house! Plus, bathroom breaks in a bathroom rather than traipsing into the woods, unless that’s your thing. Uneekor SimKit EYE XO2 $21,099 After 15 years of overseas success built upon its reputation for engineering excellence, Uneekor is making inroads stateside with cutting-edge simulation technology and strong value. Its uber-spacious 21-foot-by-28-foot hitting area easily accommodates righties and lefties. The SimKit EYE XO2’s compatibility with third-party software means players can tackle thousands of courses worldwide for endless variety, and three highspeed cameras and infrared technology provide precision and accuracy comparable to the industry’s best launch monitors. Its Trouble Mat mimics the challenges of rough and bunkers, adding another layer of realism. As upgrades, Swing Optix cameras can capture a full-swing replay, a popular feature with instructors and hardcore players, and, for a truly bespoke experience, you can even design a sim to your own exact specifications. Space needed: 10'L x 13'W x 9'10"H Gear: EYE XO2 launch monitor, custom enclosure, VIEW and Refine+ software, Uneekor 4-foot-by10-foot hitting mat with replaceable hitting insert, Trouble Mat, professional landing turf to minimize ball bounce-back, premium LCD projector, 15-foot HDMI cable. Gaming PC sold separately. Full Swing Pro 2.0 Simulator Starting at $54,900; $1,250 annual subscription for access to more than 50 courses and practice areas
BEST OF EVERYTHING 2023 randomize practice and use the Wedge Matrix to dial in those scoring clubs. Space needed: 5'4"L x 10'W x 10'H Gear: SkyTrak+ launch monitor, protective case, Play Now Golf sim enclosure, pair of side nets, 5-foot-by-5-foot hitting mat, putting grass, Optoma projector, HDMI cable, ball tray software annual subscription (from $129 to $249). Pros like Woods, Rahm, Spieth, Cantlay and Schauffele have the Pro 2.0 in their pads for one essential reason—real ballflight with no delay, as the ball instantly transitions from the real world to the virtual world exactly where it hits the screen, showing ballflight precisely as it would be on course. That’s down to Tri-Tracking Technology, which uses three points of measurement before the ball has even hit the screen. As the PGA Tour’s official simulator, Full Swing provides exclusive course offerings, plus over 30 nongolf experiences from football to zombie dodgeball. Space needed: 20'L x 12'6"W x 10'H (multiple sizes available) Gear: The technology includes an overhead highspeed camera and four HyperClear cameras for tracking, a cinema-quality projector, a custom-built supercomputer and a touchscreen control monitor. The booth consists of a solid wood enclosure and platform, industrialgrade carpet, premium hitting mat, energy-absorbing diffuser screen and baffling and cabinet for electronics. Full Swing handles sizing and provides a dedicated project management team through installation. It’s fully turnkey, with no need to hire contractors. SkyTrak SkyTrak+ Pro $6,995 The Pro’s new Doppler radar system provides outsize and very precise club data bang for the buck, including clubhead speed, 88 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 smash factor, club path and face angle, thanks to proprietary machine-learning algorithms. Its upgraded shot-optimizer interface lets players view and analyze club and ball data versus optimal launch conditions and the world’s best players. An improved photometric camera system gives highly accurate and reliable ball-tracking data as well as improved outdoor performance on mats when you take the launch monitor component to the range. Plus, you get access to more than 100,000 courses, including World Top 100 tracks like St. Andrews, Pinehurst No. 2 and Bandon Dunes. Throw in the game-improvement package and not only can you practice on the range but also perform a skills assessment, map your distances with each club, Foresight Sports Albatross Sim-ina-Box Package $33,995 The Foresight Sports Albatross is a full-size, oh-so-realistic, smooth and true golf simulation that’s easily assembled. (For the truly not-handy, Foresight will install the Albatross for $2,750.) You can play 25 world-class courses like the Old Course at St. Andrews and Pebble Beach, alone or with other users worldwide; practice on the range or on specific holes; and save detailed club and ball data to the Cloud for later review. In Fairgrounds mode, enjoy classic games like bowling, darts and SkeeBall, reimagined for golfers of all levels (and great for kids). For soccer players, use the Albatross in Skill Drill mode to practice skills like passing and penalty kicks with the same type of dynamic tracking, data and accuracy as golf. Space needed: 16'L x 13'W x 10'H Gear: GCHawk launch monitor with Club Analysis add-on; full simulator setup (including frame, impact screen, premium projector, turf strip, Fiberbuilt hitting mat, computer cart); high-powered gamingoptimized desktop computer preloaded with FSX Play golf simulation software, FSX Pro and Fairgrounds software.
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T H I N K / P L AY / L I V E : T H E E N L I G H T E N E D G A M E Lessons in PURE YOUR IRONS LINE UP FOR POWER STRIKES By G OLF T op 100 Teach e r t o Wat ch Vinny Dir off FAT AND THIN SHOTS erode your confidence, to say nothing of your scores. Here’s a fix: Using foot spray (see below) or even the sharp end of a tee, draw a line on the practice range grass. Set your ball on the line. Address it with the center of your chest open (i.e., pointed slightly in front of the ball). Now swing. Your goal is to make a divot in front of the line (left). Do that and all your strikes will be on the money. Vinny Diroff is lead instructor at The Landings GC in Savannah, Ga. Christopher Lane As you practice, work toward getting the low point of your swing to happen just in front of the ball. That’s what we call a crush. 91
LE S SON S: NOVEM B ER- DECEM B ER 202 3 Try any way possible to groove a pitch swing in which your trail arm stays straight. It’s the secret to extra-crisp shortgame shots. BACK TO BASICS Give Pitches the Straight Arm Weekend players are constantly searching for magic-bullet fixes for their swing. These are often hard to find, but here’s a good one: Keep your trail arm straight when hitting pitch shots. It works so well that I keep a length of plastic tubing in my bag of tricks to help students learn the move almost immediately. An extended trail arm creates the wide and shallow bottom in your motion that you need to catch the ball cleanly. When your trail arm bends and your wrists hinge quickly, you create the opposite: a very steep and narrow bottom to your swing that brings the fat and thin shots into play. You can get away with steep and narrow on most full swings. On pitches, a wider bottom is much more forgiving. 92 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 Even in the absence of a piece of tubing at the ready, practice your pitch shots while using as little trailarm bend as possible—just a touch of bend (above, top right) should do. What you’ll find is that keeping your trail arm straighter allows you to deliver the club to the ball with your arms, hands and clubhead forming a straight line at impact (middle). This leads to the wide and shallow swing bottom you’re looking for. Your reward? Contact and spin consistency so your pitches land and come to rest as you expect them to. Try it. If you can mimic the pictures on this page, you’re well on your way to perfect pitches. Krista Dunton is director of instruction at Berkeley Hall in Bluffton, S.C. Left: Christopher Lane; Right: Stephen Denton By GOLF To p 10 0 Te ac h e r K r ista Du nton
T H I N K / P L AY / L I V E ESCAPE THE SAND Place a tee under the ball when you practice bunker shots to develop a consistent splash. Your goal: Cut the tee in half. This will train you to enter and exit the sand the same distance on either side of the ball. A “Super” Shot By G OLF T op 100 Teach e r Jeff War ne “Enter the sand behind the ball.” While not terrible advice, most rec players take it too literally and focus their attention on—or even stare at—only an area behind the ball and forget that the area underneath and past the ball is just as important. The result? The club bottoms out too early, resulting in either a fat shot or, worse yet, a bladed one the sails the green. The correct way to develop consistency and distance control from a greenside bunker is to carve out a “splash” of sand that begins and exits in equal amounts on both sides of the ball. To get a feel for it, try my “Superman X-ray vision” shot. Tee a ball in the sand until it sits nicely on top of the bunker’s surface. Set up like normal, then hit the shot with your attention focused on cutting the tee in half. The secret: Look through the ball to the tee underneath as you swing. By doing so, you’ll naturally enter the sand behind the ball, go under it and exit just after it, resulting in a predictable, consistent splash. The length of this splash will vary depending on swing speed, the bounce on your wedge, attack angle and sand texture. Regardless, the important part is the symmetry of the entry and exit. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a super save! Jeff Warne is director of golf at The Bridge in Bridgehampton, N.Y. 93
LE S SON S: NOVEM B ER- DECEM B ER 202 3 Tape a tee to any club shaft to learn how to swing back and through without fear of slicing. (Spoiler: Keep the tee pointed at your body.) RANGE WORK USE A TEE TO GROOVE A SLICE-FREE TAKEAWAY By G OLF Top 100 T eacher Tim Cooke YOU SLICE. So do a lot of rec players. The fix is easier than you think. There are two problems normally associated with a left-to-right ballflight (for a righty). Usually, it’s a too flat takeaway followed by a weak lifting of the arms, then a “slappy” delivery with the clubface pointing to the right of your intended aim. A tee can cure both. Tape one to the shaft of any club with the tee parallel to the leading edge (inset, 94 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 above). As you start back, refrain from “whipping” the club inside so that the tee points toward the sky or even behind you. Check at halfway back that the tee is still pointing at your body. That’s a great start. Now, instead of lifting your arms, continue to rotate your upper body to get the club all the way to the top. As you make your way down (slowmotion swings would help here), unwind while keeping the tee pointed at your body or even slightly ahead of your face (above right). This ensures that you’re not holding the clubface open. Get the tee right and the face will square up for a power-rich centered strike with the face pointing at your target. Works for irons, hybrids, driver—heck, every club in your bag. Tim Cooke is the director of instruction at the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.
T H I N K / P L AY / L I V E P L A Y S M A R T : M AT C H YO U R S W I N G T O YO U R T U R N Want to increase driver distance? Find your pivot. Get into your golf stance with your driver held across your thighs. Now rotate as if in a mock backswing as shown. If the toe points at your rear foot, you’re a rear poster, like Gary Woodland. Focus on getting at least 75 percent of your weight to your trail side on the backswing and use lateral shift to get to impact. If the toe points at the middle of your stance, you’re a center poster, like Tiger Woods. Your goal: Use rotation as your main power source both going back and through. If the toe points at your front foot, like Bryson DeChambeau, you’re a front poster. Your best bet is to use vertical forces (i.e., pushing off the ground) to match your natural load. —Tina Tombs GET UP AND DOWN Lofty Chips Made Easy By G OLF Top 1 00 Te a ch e r Car ol P r e isin ger You don’t need a lot of hand or wrist action to pull off most chip shots, but some short-game situations scream for it. Like with the lie I’m facing here: short-sided in the rough with a bunker between the ball and an elevated pin. Only a ton of loft—courtesy the right amount of hinge—will do. Christopher Lane; Illustrations by Ben Mounsey-Wood SOLUTION: To practice adding loft to your run-of-the-mill chip shot, grab a scorecard, fold it in half and place it behind the ball, A-frame style as shown. Now chip. If you use your normal technique, your club is sure to catch the scorecard either on the way back or as you swing into impact. To avoid the card, add some wrist hinge as soon as you start back and time its release so that you miss the card coming through. Increasing your angle of attack like this is the secret to getting the ball up in the air quickly, capable of carrying anything between you and your shot at an incredible save. Carol Preisinger is the lead instructor at The Landings in Savannah, Ga. 95
LE S SON S: NOVEM B ER- DECEM B ER 202 3 SNAPSHOT LINN GRANT By GOLF Top 100 Teacher Brady Riggs BEN HOGAN ONCE SAID Mickey Wright 4 2 1 3 GRANT’S LPGA STATS Driving distance 2023* 267.5 yds (18th) Greens in regulation 73.2% (4th) 70.3 (6th) Scoring average Rolex Women’s World Golf Rank 15th *Through Solheim Cup 96 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 1. PUSH! Stay off your heels by pushing away from the ground through the balls of your feet. Think of jumping from a standing position. You wouldn’t get off the ground from your heels. 2. GET “WHIPPY” Dragging the club through impact kills clubhead speed and produces a glancing blow. Copy Grant’s change of direction and sequence to produce a whiplike action in the club. 3. JUMP! Through impact, launch upward like an Olympic ski jumper. Squeeze your glutes and post up through the ground into a long left leg. This gives you something to whip the club against. 4. HIT THE BRAKES Deceleration leads to acceleration! Slamming the upper part of your front arm back against your torso helps you throw the brakes on the handle so the clubhead can fly by. Left: Andrew Redington/Getty Images; Right: Stephen Denton had the finest swing he had ever seen. Had he seen LPGA star Linn Grant, he might have changed his mind. Her swing from face-on is eerily reminiscent of the Hawk’s own. Grant’s similarities to Hogan start with a sharp rotation of the hips in the backswing and lead to one of Hogan’s main principles of starting the downswing with the lower body. This transition in the swing is incredibly athletic as her body begins to move toward the target while her arms and club are still going up. This dynamic change in direction initiates the Hogan-esque whiplike action through impact. Grant is exceptional at utilizing Ground Reaction Force as she pushes away from the turf using the balls of her feet to extend both legs like a ski jumper launching off the 90-meter hill. Rather than pulling the club, her upper left arm slams back against her torso to enhance the whip at impact, maximizing clubhead speed. You should do the same. Brady Riggs is the director of instruction at Hanson Dam GC in Pacoima, Calif., and a senior instructor at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif.
T H I N K / P L AY / L I V E Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation Tee the ball lower and off your front hip for a penetrating fairway finder. Tee it high and off your front shoulder—then tilt away from the target— to max out launch and height. 1. Publication title: GOLF 2. Publication number: 577290 3. Filing date: October 1, 2023 4. Issue frequency: 4 single-month issues (Mar, Apr, May, Jun) and 4 double issues (Jan/Feb, Jul/Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec) 5. Number of issues published annually: 8 6. Annual subscription price: $30.00 7. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: 6 East 43rd St, NY, NY 10017 8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office of publisher: 6 East 43rd St, NY, NY 10017 9. Full name and complete mailing address of the publisher, editor, managing editor: Publisher: Howard Milstein, 6 East 43rd St, NY, NY 10017. Editor and COO: David DeNunzio, 6 East 43rd St, NY, NY 10017 10. Owner: Howard Milstein, EB Golf Media LLC, 6 East 43rd St, NY, NY 10017 11. None 12. Not applicable 13. Publication title: GOLF 14. Issue date for circulation data below: Sept/Oct 2023 15. Extent and nature of circulation: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months a. Total number of copies: 762,522 b. Paid circulation 1. Mailed outside-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 466,085 2. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 0 3. Paid distribution outside the mails including sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales, and other paid distribution outside USPS: 6,531 4. Paid distribution by other classes of mail through the USPS: 0 c. Total paid distribution: 472,616 d. Free or nominal rate distribution 1. Free or nominal rate outside-county copies included on PS Form 3541: 253,054 2. Free or nominal rate in-county copies included on PS Form 3541: 0 3. Free or nominal rate copies mailed at other classes through the USPS: 0 4. Free or nominal rate distribution outside the mail: 14,742 e. Total free or nominal rate distribution: 267,796 f. Total distribution: 740,412 g. Copies not distributed: 22,110 h. Total: 762,522 i. Percent paid 63.8% 16. Electronic copies circulation a. Paid electronic copies: 475,818 b. Total paid print copies + paid electronic copies: 948,434 c. Total print distribution + paid electronic copies: 1,216,230 d. Percent paid: 78.0% POWER PLAY How to Dial Up a Perfect Drive By GOLF To p 10 0 Te ac h e r Jeff Smith Tour players talk a lot about their “stock” drive, which should clue you into the fact that they have more than one swing type in their arsenal. Every player should have two basic options: a lower, penetrating fairway finder and another for which you prioritize launch angle and shot height to max out carry distance. Despite the rocket science built into your driver, pounding it high or low depending on the situation is anything but. Start by adjusting the tee height. To get more of a penetrating flight (a lot of roll), tee it lower so that only a quarter of the ball sits above the top of the clubface after you sole your driver. As you take your stance, make sure to line up the ball with the middle of your front hip (above). This positions the ball at the low point of your swing, automatically fueling a more level swing through impact. To really make it work, think “low finish” instead of high as you move into your release. For a big-time high-flier (good for when you have the wind at your back), tee the ball way up so that at least half of it sits above the crown. Play the ball off your front shoulder and, as you settle into your stance, tilt your upper body away from the target until the ball is actually outside your shoulder. This will encourage you to really hit up on the ball. Think “high finish,” then watch that baby soar. Jeff Smith is the director of instruction at Eagle Springs GC in Wolcott, Colo., and Bonita Bay Club in Bonita Springs, Fla. No. copies single issue published nearest to filing date a. Total number of copies: 667,173 b. Paid circulation 1. Mailed outside-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 408,626 2. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 0 3. Paid distribution outside the mails including sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales, and other paid distribution outside USPS: 6,300 4. Paid distribution by other classes of mail through the USPS: 0 c. Total paid distribution: 414,926 d. Free or nominal rate distribution 1. Free or nominal rate outside-county copies included on PS Form 3541: 229,874 2. Free or nominal rate in-county copies included on PS Form 3541: 0 3. Free or nominal rate copies mailed at other classes through the USPS: 0 4. Free or nominal rate distribution outside the mail: 14,741 e. Total free or nominal rate distribution: 244,615 f. Total distribution: 659,541 g. Copies not distributed: 7,632 h. Total: 667,173 i. Percent paid: 62.9% 16. Electronic copies circulation a. Paid electronic copies: 491,000 b. Total paid print copies + paid electronic copies: 905,926 c. Total print distribution + paid electronic copies: 1,150,541 d. Percent paid: 78.7% 17. Publication of Statement of Ownership: Will be printed in the Nov/Dec 2023 issue of this publication. 18. Signature and date: Kip Morgan, October 1, 2023 I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties). 97
Last Off Rob Gronkowski THE FOUR-TIME SUPER BOWL–WINNING TIGHT END IS A LOCK FOR THE HALL OF FAME. HIS JOURNEY TO A DECENT GOLF GAME? THAT’LL TAKE A LITTLE MORE HUSTLE. G: Hey Gronk, you’re a thoughtful guy. Now that you’ve started playing golf, what do you think is the main difference between golf and football? RG: Football is brawn and timing—that’s pretty much it. Golf takes more mental preparation, more practice. Every little [body] movement in golf can mean something. You can’t say that about football. G: You played college football in sun-soaked Arizona and now live in golf-friendly Tampa Bay. Do you wish you’d picked up the game sooner? RG: No, my man. Life is all about choices. I think I made the right choice of football over golf. It worked out pretty good for me. But I want to get better at golf. I’m working to get better. I can’t just show up and embarrass myself. I have to practice and play, then maybe some of these [celebrity golfers] will want to play with me. G: As a sport, does golf need to loosen up? RG: I think so. Like, today at Royal Blue in the Caribbean, I pulled up in my cart, 50 Cent music was blasting on the tee box, the vibes were flowing and I smashed my best drive—300 yards. We need more of that. G: Okay, so you’ve practiced and prepared. How many shots does your buddy Tom Brady have to give you to make it a fair match? RG: I think eight shots to make it fair—at least to start with. 98 GOLF.COM / N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 3 G: In your years with the Patriots, did you see other teammates get into golf? RG: Not really. I know Tom played a lot. Julian [Edelman] didn’t. I don’t think Danny [Amendola] did. You know who could have been a really good golfer? Randy Moss. I never saw him play, but he looked like he had a great body for golf. G: Now that you’re into the game, is there a course on your bucket list? RG: I really want to go to Pebble Beach. G: Why do you think golf is so addictive? RG: It’s competition, it’s trash-talking with your buddies and it’s drinking and having a good time! I’ve just got to practice and get better, then I can join those other guys. [Charles] Barkley did it, and, at times, I’ve seen his golf clubs go farther than his golf ball. I know I can do it. Tampa Bay is a great place to play, and I’m going to get better. G: Do you have a teacher you’re working with on your game? RG: I don’t. Do you think I need one?! G: What’s it like to be almost as well known for your USAA television commercials as you are for your football career? RG: Hey, I might need USAA if I crash my cart on the course. It could come in real handy. G: That sounds pretty much like a USAA commercial. RG: See? You’ve always got to be selling. Tibrina Hobson/FilmMagic By Art Stricklin