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Ιφ ψου ηαϖε ΠΣΟΡΙΑΤΙΧ ΑΡΤΗΡΙΤΙΣ, ιτ
σ τιµε το
ΜΑΚΕ
ΨΟΥΡ
ΜΟςΕ
Ταλτζ ισ προϖεν το ρεδυχε ϕοιντ παιν ανδ στιφφνεσσ.
Ανδ ιφ ψου αλσο ηαϖε πλαθυε πσοριασισ, ιτ χαν ηελπ ψου
αχηιεϖε χλεαρερ σκιν.
ΛΕΣ Σ ϑΟΙ Ν Τ ΠΑΙΝ & ΣΤΙΦ Φ Ν Ε Σ Σ
Ταλτζ ηελπεδ µορε τηαν ηαλφ οφ πεοπλε εξπεριενχε
ϕοιντ σψμπτομ ιμπροϖεμεντ ατ 24 ωεεκσ, ινχλυδινγ
λεσσ ϕοιντ παιν ανδ στιφφνεσσ πλυσ ιµπροϖεδ µοβιλιτψ.
Ασκ ψουρ δοχτορ αβουτ Ταλτζ τοδαψ
Λεαρν ηοω ψου χαν τρψ Ταλτζ
φορ ασ λιττλε ασ ∃5 α µοντη∗ ατ ταλτζ.χοµ
∗∃5 Μοντηλψ οφφερ συβϕεχτ το α µοντηλψ χαπ ανδ α σεπαρατε µαξιµυµ αννυαλ βενεφιτ οφ
∃16,000. Τηισ οφφερ ισ ινϖαλιδ φορ πατιεντσ ωιτηουτ χοµµερχιαλ ινσυρανχε χοϖεραγε
ορ τηοσε ωηοσε πρεσχριπτιον χλαιµσ αρε ελιγιβλε το βε ρειµβυρσεδ, ιν ωηολε ορ ιν παρτ,
βψ ανψ γοϖερνµενταλ προγραµ. Οφφερ ϖοιδ ωηερε προηιβιτεδ βψ λαω. ςισιτ ταλτζ.χοµ φορ
φυλλ ελιγιβιλιτψ χριτερια.
Ταλτζ ισ α πρεσχριπτιον µεδιχινε υσεδ το τρεατ αδυλτσ ωιτη αχτιϖε πσοριατιχ
αρτηριτισ. Ταλτζ ισ αλσο α τρεατµεντ φορ αδυλτσ ωιτη µοδερατε το σεϖερε πλαθυε
πσοριασισ ωηο µαψ βενε⇒τ φροµ τακινγ ινϕεχτιονσ ορ πιλλσ (σψστεµιχ τηεραπψ)
ορ πηοτοτηεραπψ (τρεατµεντ υσινγ υλτραϖιολετ ορ Υς λιγητ).
Προδυχτ Σαφετψ Ινφορµατιον
Τηισ συµµαρψ προϖιδεσ βασιχ ινφορµατιον αβουτ Ταλτζ ανδ ισ νοτ
χοµπρεηενσιϖε. Ρεαδ τηε ινφορµατιον τηατ χοµεσ ωιτη ψουρ πρεσχριπτιον
εαχη τιµε ψουρ πρεσχριπτιον ισ ⇒λλεδ. Τηισ ινφορµατιον δοεσ νοτ τακε
τηε πλαχε οφ ταλκινγ ωιτη ψουρ δοχτορ. Βε συρε το ταλκ το ψουρ δοχτορ ορ
ηεαλτηχαρε προϖιδερ αβουτ Ταλτζ ανδ ηοω το τακε ιτ.
Ωηατ ισ τηε µοστ ιµπορταντ ινφορµατιον Ι σηουλδ κνοω αβουτ ΤΑΛΤΖ?
ΤΑΛΤΖ ισ α µεδιχινε τηατ αφφεχτσ ψουρ ιµµυνε σψστεµ ανδ µαψ λοωερ τηε
αβιλιτψ οφ ψουρ ιµµυνε σψστεµ το ⇒γητ ινφεχτιονσ. ΤΑΛΤΖ µαψ ινχρεασε ψουρ
ρισκ οφ ινφεχτιονσ ωηιχη χαν σοµετιµεσ βεχοµε σεριουσ.
 Ψουρ ηεαλτηχαρε προϖιδερ σηουλδ χηεχκ ψου φορ τυβερχυλοσισ (ΤΒ) βεφορε
ψου βεγιν τρεατµεντ ωιτη ΤΑΛΤΖ ανδ µαψ τρεατ ψου φορ ΤΒ ιφ ψου ηαϖε α
ηιστορψ οφ ΤΒ ορ ηαϖε ΤΒ.
 Ψουρ ηεαλτηχαρε προϖιδερ σηουλδ ωατχη ψου χλοσελψ φορ σιγνσ ανδ
σψµπτοµσ οφ ΤΒ δυρινγ ανδ αφτερ τρεατµεντ ωιτη ΤΑΛΤΖ.
Ωηο σηουλδ νοτ υσε ΤΑΛΤΖ?
Δο νοτ υσε ΤΑΛΤΖ ιφ ψου ηαϖε ηαδ α σεϖερε αλλεργιχ ρεαχτιον το ιξεκιζυµαβ
ορ ανψ οφ τηε οτηερ ινγρεδιεντσ ιν ΤΑΛΤΖ. Σεε τηε Μεδιχατιον Γυιδε φορ α
χοµπλετε λιστ οφ ινγρεδιεντσ ιν Ταλτζ.
Βεφορε σταρτινγ ΤΑΛΤΖ, τελλ ψουρ ΗΧΠ ιφ ψου:
 αρε βεινγ τρεατεδ φορ αν ινφεχτιον
 ηαϖε αν ινφεχτιον τηατ δοεσ νοτ γο αωαψ ορ τηατ κεεπσ χοµινγ βαχκ
 ηαϖε ΤΒ ορ ηαϖε βεεν ιν χλοσε χονταχτ ωιτη σοµεονε ωιτη ΤΒ
 τηινκ ψου ηαϖε αν ινφεχτιον ορ ηαϖε σψµπτοµσ οφ αν ινφεχτιον συχη ασ:
− φεϖερ, σωεατσ, ορ χηιλλσ − µυσχλε αχηεσ
− χουγη − σηορτνεσσ οφ βρεατη
− βλοοδ ιν ψουρ πηλεγµ (µυχυσ) − ωειγητ λοσσ
− ωαρµ, ρεδ, ορ παινφυλ σκιν ορ σορεσ ον ψουρ βοδψ
− διαρρηεα ορ στοµαχη παιν
− βυρνινγ ωηεν ψου υρινατε ορ υρινατε µορε οφτεν τηαν υσυαλ
 ηαϖε Χροην#σ δισεασε ορ υλχερατιϖε χολιτισ
 ηαϖε ρεχεντλψ ορ αρε σχηεδυλεδ το ρεχειϖε αν ιµµυνιζατιον (ϖαχχινε).
Πεοπλε ωηο τακε ΤΑΛΤΖ σηουλδ νοτ ρεχειϖε λιϖε ϖαχχινεσ. Πριορ το σταρτινγ
ΤΑΛΤΖ, χονσιδερ χοµπλετιον οφ αλλ αγε αππροπριατε ιµµυνιζατιονσ
αχχορδινγ το χυρρεντ ιµµυνιζατιον γυιδελινεσ
 αρε πρεγναντ ορ πλαν το βεχοµε πρεγναντ. Ιτ ισ νοτ κνοων ιφ ΤΑΛΤΖ χαν
ηαρµ ψουρ υνβορν βαβψ
 αρε βρεαστφεεδινγ ορ πλαν το βρεαστφεεδ. Ιτ ισ νοτ κνοων ιφ
ΤΑΛΤΖ πασσεσ ιντο ψουρ βρεαστ µιλκ
Αφτερ σταρτινγ ΤΑΛΤΖ, χαλλ ψουρ ΗΧΠ ριγητ αωαψ ιφ ψου ηαϖε ανψ οφ τηε
σψµπτοµσ οφ ινφεχτιον λιστεδ αβοϖε. Δο νοτ υσε ΤΑΛΤΖ ιφ ψου ηαϖε ανψ
σψµπτοµσ οφ ινφεχτιον υνλεσσ ψου αρε ινστρυχτεδ το βψ ψουρ ΗΧΠ.
Τελλ ψουρ ΗΧΠ αβουτ αλλ τηε µεδιχινεσ ψου τακε, ινχλυδινγ πρεσχριπτιον
ανδ οϖερ−τηε−χουντερ µεδιχινεσ, ϖιταµινσ, ανδ ηερβαλ συππλεµεντσ.
Ωηατ αρε τηε ποσσιβλε σιδε εφφεχτσ οφ ΤΑΛΤΖ?
ΤΑΛΤΖ µαψ χαυσε σεριουσ σιδε εφφεχτσ, ινχλυδινγ:
 Σεριουσ αλλεργιχ ρεαχτιονσ. Ιφ ψου ηαϖε α σεϖερε αλλεργιχ ρεαχτιον,
δο νοτ γιϖε ανοτηερ ινϕεχτιον οφ ΤΑΛΤΖ. Γετ εµεργενχψ µεδιχαλ ηελπ
ριγητ αωαψ ιφ ψου γετ ανψ οφ τηε φολλοωινγ σψµπτοµσ οφ α σεριουσ αλλεργιχ
ρεαχτιον:
− φεελ φαιντ
− σωελλινγ οφ ψουρ φαχε, εψελιδσ, λιπσ, µουτη, τονγυε, ορ τηροατ
− τρουβλε βρεατηινγ ορ τηροατ τιγητνεσσ
− χηεστ τιγητνεσσ
− σκιν ραση
 Χροην×σ δισεασε ορ υλχερατιϖε χολιτισ (Ιν⇓αµµατορψ βοωελ δισεασε)
χαν ηαππεν ωιτη ΤΑΛΤΖ υσε, ινχλυδινγ ωορσενινγ οφ σψµπτοµσ.
Τελλ ψουρ ΗΧΠ ιφ ψου ηαϖε νεω ορ ωορσενινγ σψµπτοµσ οφ ιν⇓αµµατορψ
βοωελ δισεασε δυρινγ τρεατµεντ ωιτη ΤΑΛΤΖ, ινχλυδινγ: στοµαχη παιν,
διαρρηεα (ωιτη ορ ωιτηουτ βλοοδ), ωειγητ λοσσ.
Τηε µοστ χοµµον σιδε εφφεχτσ οφ ΤΑΛΤΖ ινχλυδε: ινϕεχτιον σιτε
ρεαχτιονσ, υππερ ρεσπιρατορψ ινφεχτιονσ, ναυσεα, ανδ φυνγαλ ινφεχτιον.
Τηεσε αρε νοτ αλλ οφ τηε ποσσιβλε σιδε εφφεχτσ οφ ΤΑΛΤΖ. Τελλ ψουρ ΗΧΠ
αβουτ ανψ σιδε εφφεχτ τηατ βοτηερσ ψου ορ τηατ δοεσ νοτ γο αωαψ.
Χαλλ ψουρ δοχτορ φορ µεδιχαλ αδϖιχε αβουτ σιδε εφφεχτσ.
Ψου αρε ενχουραγεδ το ρεπορτ νεγατιϖε σιδε εφφεχτσ οφ πρεσχριπτιον
δρυγσ το τηε ΦΔΑ. ςισιτ ωωω.φδα.γοϖ/µεδωατχη ορ χαλλ 1−800−ΦΔΑ−1088.
Φορ µορε ινφορµατιον, ινχλυδινγ Πρεσχριβινγ Ινφορµατιον, Μεδιχατιον
Γυιδε, ανδ Ινστρυχτιονσ φορ Υσε, χαλλ 1−800−545−5979 ορ γο το τηε
φολλοωινγ ωεβσιτε: ωωω.ΤΑΛΤΖ.χοµ.
ΤΑΛΤΖ→ (ιξεκιζυµαβ) ινϕεχτιον ισ α ρεγιστερεδ τραδεµαρκ οφ
Ελι Λιλλψ ανδ Χοµπανψ ανδ ισ αϖαιλαβλε βψ πρεσχριπτιον ονλψ.
ΙΞ ΧΟΝ ΒΣ−Π 01ΔΕΧ2017
ΠΠ−ΙΞ−ΥΣ−1965 04/2018 ♥ΛΙΛΛΨ ΥΣΑ, ΛΛΧ, 2018.
ΑΛΛ ΡΙΓΗΤΣ ΡΕΣΕΡςΕΔ.

Contents 08/18
Features
cover story
56 Hammer It Like Hideki
What you can learn
from Hideki Matsuyama’s
smooth swing.
BY RON KASPRISKE
62 What’s In My Bag
Hideki Matsuyama
64 Simple and Pure Irons
Why my technique works.
BY BRYSON DECHAMBEAU
68 Patrick Cantlay
Is Ready To Talk
WITH MIKE STACHURA
72 Sand Savior
The bunker technique
that helped Ariya
Jutanugarn win the 2018
U.S. Women’s Open.
BY KEELY LEVINS
74 Hog Heaven to Hell
“400-pound rats”
leave courses wallowing
in devastation.
BY CURT SAMPSON
red gerard: atiba jefferson
8 Editor’s Letter
You Make Me
Feel So Young.
BY JERRY TARDE
Cover photograph by Finlay Mackay
78 Self-Portrait
Legendary photographer
Walter Iooss Jr. on
almost being killed by
Jordan Spieth and
running security for
Michael Jordan.
WITH GUY YOCOM
major preview
84 The PGA Turns 100
88 Eddie Pepperell Pops Off
A tour player blends
doses of humor with
dashes of self-loathing.
WITH JOHN HUGGAN
92 The 50 Greatest
Locker Rooms
Are you a purist, or do you
prefer to be pampered?
BY STEPHEN HENNESSEY
Play Your Best
15 Trojan Goddess
Drives It 402 Yards
How long-driver Troy
Mullins rips tee shots.
BY RON KASPRISKE
swing sequence
18 Breaking Down
Mullins’ Power
20 Tee To Green
Hit your wedges closer.
BY BUTCH HARMON
how to play. what to play. where to play.
22 Boost Your Trajectory The Golf Life
Command your irons.
BY DAVID LEADBETTER 12 Undercover Tour Pro
There are good pro-ams,
24 Navigation and there are bad pro-ams.
Strategy for doglegs. WITH MAX ADLER
BY RON KASPRISKE
36 Think Young, Play Hard
26 Breed’s Basics Red Gerard on going from
Three positions Slopestyle to Slope Ratings.
you need to maximize BY KEELY LEVINS
your distance.
BY MICHAEL BREED 38 The Digest
Four signs you’re taking
28 Gimme One Thing your club championship
Flush it from the rough. too seriously.
BY JEFF RITTER BY SAM WEINMAN
AND ALEX MYERS
30 Golf Digest Schools
A secret to great putting. 40 Fitness
BY STAN UTLEY Tony Finau discusses
playing through pain.
32 5-Minute Clinic BY RON KASPRISKE
Avoiding blowup holes.
BY MATT WILSON 42 Journeys: Andrew Landry
Searching for self-belief.
34 New Looks WITH MAX ADLER
These five compact irons
bring the heat. 44 Sports
BY MIKE STACHURA Golfers take on pickleball.
BY KEELY LEVINS
47 Style: Bucket Hats
Sun protection, on trend.
BY BRITTANY ROMANO
49 Ask Golf Digest
Do golf balls lose
their mojo?
50 Jim Nantz: The View
From Pebble Beach
My first column for
Golf Digest.
WITH GUY YOCOM
52 Book Excerpt:
Dan Jenkins’ 23rd book
100 Closeout
The skinny on locker-
room etiquette.
BY BOB CARNEY
▶ Olympic gold-medal
winner red gerard is officially
golf-obsessed. 36
august 2018 | golfdigest.com 7
Editor’s Letter

Jim has speakers installed in golf. Jim is very quick with

You Make Me Feel So Young all around the property that
play the Masters theme song. I
BY JERRY TARDE would have preferred: “Send in
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief the Clowns.” “I’ve Got the World
on a String.” “My Blue Heaven.”
he idea of Jim Nantz writing a column Check it out on Golfdigest.com/
go/nantzhole and you can see
T for Golf Digest came naturally during
a round at Pebble Beach last year.
a video I took of Jim telling me
about the origins of the hole.
Here’s a fact: Jim Nantz
We were partners in a three-day tournament, knows more people in golf by
which is about as much fun as you can have their first name than anybody
making bogeys. No surprise, Jim tells great else anywhere. When he says,
“Hello, friends,” he really means
stories. And there’s nothing like hitting a crisp it. He started using the phrase
wedge and having his euphonious voice give as a tribute to his father, who
was suffering from Alzheimer’s
it some encouragement. Close your eyes and Disease, and later Jim founded
you think you’re playing in the Masters. the Nantz National Alzheimer
congratulatory, handwritten
notes to people in every walk of
golf life. He is especially good at
reaching out to young people,
who really are lifted by these
things. I think he acquired this
trait from Venturi.
“With the possible excep-
tions of Henry Longhurst and
Peter Alliss, he probably is the
most literate golf announcer
who ever lived. He is a demon
for language and a perfection-
ist maybe to a fault. I did an
interview with him once when
he told what’s now become his
infamous ‘burnt toast story,’ in
which he admitted to carrying a
picture of burnt toast in his wal-

Jim showed up on the first

tee driving a mint-condition
classic Club Car designed to
look like a Bentley. It’s a four-
seater with crocodile-leather
upholstery and a four-speaker
stereo system playing Frank
Sinatra’s greatest hits. “Strang-
ers in the Night.” “It Was a Very
Good Year.” “When Somebody
Loves You.” The license plate
reads: 64OPEN. That was the
giveaway. “It belonged to Kenny
Venturi,” the 1964 U.S. Open
champion, Nantz says. “When
I got the cart from his son Tim,
there was a neatly folded golf
glove and a USGA rules book in
the glove compartment. Plus
a sleeve of Titleist golf balls.
They’re still in there.”
Jim explains how his old TV ments as a kid. Roomed with summer wind Jim Nantz on let to convince waitresses that
tower partner at CBS Sports had Fred Couples at Houston. Got the tee of his back-yard replica he really wants his toast black-
a strong connection to Pebble his first break interviewing ce- of Pebble Beach’s storied ened, not tanned. I originally
Beach. Venturi won the 1960 lebrities in the Crosby. Lead an- seventh hole, with Ken Venturi’s transcribed it as ‘burned.’ Either
Crosby Clambake and was part nouncer for CBS at 30 Masters, cart in the driveway. way is acceptable, but I had to
of the famed “Match” at Cypress 29 Final Fours and 14 seasons of wrestle with him for several
Point (when Ben Hogan and By- the NFL. Fast-forward to buy- Center at Houston Methodist. minutes because he insisted on
ron Nelson out-birdied amateurs ing a Spanish hacienda directly His coordinating producer, ‘burnt.’ ”
Venturi and E. Harvie Ward). above The Lodge at Pebble Lance Barrow, told me: “What Even for this editor’s letter,
Nantz says, “Kenny thought Beach, marrying Courtney amid you see on TV is exactly who he asked to see the picture of
he would live here one day. I the crashing waves of the sev- he is off TV: very friendly, giv- himself that was selected to
feel like part of Kenny should enth hole, and then building a ing, helpful, one of the all-time accompany it. Jim thought it
always be at Pebble Beach, and replica of that par 3 at his home. great friends. It’s not a made-up could be better and asked to
illustration: rami niemi

the cart keeps him here.”
That’s the kind of sentimen-
tal storytelling golfers have
loved about Nantz since his first
Masters in 1986 at age 26.
Everybody knows his story:
Practiced calling golf tourna-
A few years ago, I gave him
a Golf Digest award for the Best
Back Yard Hole in Golf, and we
hit balls to his green. If you look
to the southeast, you can see
the real seventh down by Carm-
el Bay. To complete the dream,
act. You’d be amazed—he does
more favors for people than any
other person of fame.”
Adds Guy Yocom, the edi-
tor who will work with Jim on
his column (page 50): “He’s
one of the great note-writers
arrange for a photographer to
reshoot the picture when he got
back home. That’s the one on
this page.
What’s that Sinatra’s sing-
ing? “My Way.” “All or Nothing
at All.” “Goodnight, Irene.”

8 golfdigest.com | august 2018 Photograph by Rebecca Corvese

“Now you see what I see...”

BUBBA WATSON

TARGETLINE / PRIZM GOLF

™
JERRY TARDE KIMBERLY KELLEHER
chairman & editor-in-chief chief business officer
Jason Adel, Laura Sequenzia, David Stuckey, Andy Sonnenberg
Max Adler Chris Reynolds
vice presidents, revenue
editorial director general manager
Maya Draisin Robert Novick
Michael O’Malley Alan P. Pittman vice president, marketing vice president, business development & finance
executive editor managing editor L. Paul Robertson Chris Petruccelli
executive director, marketing executive director, finance
Peter Morrice Ken DeLago
executive editor design director Janice Trichon Annie Steinhaus Trinh
executive director, finance financial director, pricing & strategy
CONTENT
A DV E R T I S I N G S A L E S
executive producer, video Christian Iooss
executive director, golf partnerships Dan Robertson
senior editors Ron Kaspriske (Instruction), executive director, west coast equipment Bruce Taylor
Mike Stachura (Equipment), Ron Whitten (Architecture) executive director, international fashion Meredith Homet
senior photogr apher / videogr apher Dom Furore executive account director, luxury Diane Mattioli
digital editor Sam Weinman executive director, br and partnerships Piper Goodspeed
executive account directors Tim Begley, Chad Carr, Adam Cooper
deput y digital editor Ryan Herrington senior account directors Alyssa Link, Jaqueline Nikovic
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production manager Byrute Johnson account director, american fashion and retail Drew Osinski
equipment editor E. Michael Johnson executive account director, europe Rula Al Amad
executive account director, northwest Josiah Bunting, Greg Barnes
director of photogr aphy Jennifer Aborn
executive account director, los angeles Jennifer Grace
art director Chloe Galkin account director, los angeles Heather McLaughlin
associate editors Stephen Hennessey, Brittany Romano senior account director, midwest Timothy Carroll
video producers Mason Leverington, Ben Walton account executive, midwest Sarah Ryan
executive account director, detroit Stephanie Clement
assistant editor Joel Beall
southeast representative Rick Hall, Butler & Hall Associates
associate br and editor Hally Leadbetter northwest representative Alex Dobson, Acoustics Communications Group
communit y manager Cory Bradburn european tech/finance/ tr avel representative David Simpson, Simpson Media
manager, audience development Meredith Bausback business director Sally Lyon
data analyst Alex Dalsheimer executive assistant to the chief business officer Melissa Jimenez
sales associates Alessia Bani, Griffin Chin, Sarah Felix, Meredith Folsom, Emily Hector,
executive assistant Jeanmarie Ferullo
Mark Kessenich, Margaret Pascale, Josh Poleka, Susie Stoklosa, Caroline Thomas, Lara Winkler,
Xavier Winslow, Isabella Zaias
CONTRIBUTORS
legend Dan Jenkins M ARKETING
executive director, br and & business development Catherine Fish
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10 golfdigest.com | august 2018

 to feel nerves and pressure.”
Undercover Tour Pro
There are good pro-ams,
and there are bad pro-ams
n the past I’ve used this column to
I criticize PGA Tour policy, but some-
times you have to give credit where
it’s due. Quite simply, the tour has made
Wednesdays great again. The new pro-am
format hasn’t been conducted at every
tournament this season, but where it has,
the vibe in the locker room has been better.
The guys are happier because they love having
to play only nine holes. Amateurs still go 18
and get to team with two pros instead of one.
12 golfdigest.com | august 2018
It’s a smart change for sev-
eral reasons. From the veterans’
perspective, most of us don’t
want to play a full round on the
eve of a 72-hole tournament. If
I draw the afternoon wave on
Wednesday and an early tee
time on Thursday, chances are
I’ll leave the course at dark and
return before dawn. But nine
holes to see the course condi-
tions, hit a bag of balls after-
ward if the swing needs some mately start to feel nerves and
work, then have a relaxing din- pressure. This is the one hole
ner—that’s perfect. these people get to see me play,
For young pros, twice as and I know a poor shot from me
many get the benefit of the pro- will partly ruin their day. Yet
am experience. The old format at the same time, I don’t care.
maxed out at 52 pros, but now Just when I think I’m drifting
it’s 104, or about two-thirds into insanity, the cart comes to
of the field. I tell rookies, you rescue me.
won’t always meet potential When a sponsor is going for
business contacts, but always bulk, I tell them I’d prefer to
work on sharpening your inter- play three holes each with say,
personal skills for when you do. six foursomes. This is enough
Obviously the ams who time to learn a little about each
get paired with Tiger, Jordan, person and offer a tip. But if a
Rory and the other big stars are sponsor is dead set on doing the
bummed to get only half the par-3 “wind-up doll” dance, I’ll
time. But the ams with the con- give ’em what they pay for.
nections to land in those groups
are generally doing more than
I’ve played in lots of pro-am
groups where I’ve been the least
OK in life anyway. accomplished person by a mile.
If there’s one pro-am format
I detest, it’s playing the same
I’ve met generals, actors, CEOs,
stars from other sports, philan-
par 3 all day. When a sponsor
wants maximum value and is
thropists and interesting people
from all walks of life. Quite of-
golfer: ostill/istock/getty images • key: zone creative/istock/getty images plus
looking to expose you to all 22 ten, the honor is truly mine.
groups booked for an outing, But a word of advice if you
this is what they’ll ask for. But
a 185-yard walk is not enough
time for meaningful human
ever play in a PGA Tour pro-am:
Don’t be the jerk sticking his
chest out trying to outdrive me
interaction. I’m like a parrot: or beat me on a hole. Every week
“Hey, how’s your day going? there are always a few. Good
Where you from? Kind of windy news is, we don’t have to put
today, isn’t it?” up with you for more than nine
The first thing I always do holes now. — WITH MAX ADLER
the morning of one of these
torture sessions is adjust the
tee markers. If I have to hit the
same tee shot 22 times, you bet
I’m making it a stock yardage.
My performance will follow a
consistent curve. It takes a few
attempts until I get the hang of
the shot, and then I get hot, and
it’s actually kind of fun for a
while seeing how close I can hit
it. Then, by about the 14th hole,
I get bored and start spraying
the ball. It’s an odd mental
space. It’s absurd, but I legiti-
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 BY RON KASPRISKE

Photographs by Shadi Perez august 2018 | golfdigest.com 15

Play Your Best Swing Sequence
roy Mullins has worked
T with several golf in-
structors, but when the
long-drive champion thinks
about how she developed her
swing, she says intuition de-
I only swung irons for the first
few years when I began play-
ing,” Mullins says. “But I pick
up things quickly, and coming
from a track background [she
competed in the heptathlon at
ing the shot put. It was similar.”
Specifically, she discovered
that generating power with a
driver comes from a blend of
lateral, rotational and vertical
forces—just like it does when
move,” says instructor Trillium
Rose of Woodmont Country
Club in Rockville, Md., one of
Golf Digest’s Best Young Teach-
ers. “Her positions, her angles
at various points in the swing,

GETTING BEHIND IT GREAT RANGE FREDDIE-ESQUE

Troy Mullins
Troy Mullins starts her “She has great shoulder As Mullins reaches
Drives so pure, swing like someone turn, but her hips turn the top, Rose says she
who competes in long- a lot, too,” Rose says. has the look of Fred
it’s hard to believe drive competitions, says “Many golfers try to Couples. “That lead
her swing is instructor Trillium Rose.
“She knows that she can
prevent that much hip
rotation, because that
elbow is really straight.
If that arm collapses,
mostly self-taught create power with a big resistance against you lose the width you
move off the ball. She the upper body helps need to power through
even lets her let knee generate torque. But she the ball. Also, most
kick in and heel come gets power by making people who swing past
off the ground to get all as big a turn as she can. parallel bend their body
her weight on the right There’s more than one toward the target. But
side of the body.” way to do it.” she’s nice and tall.”

18 golfdigest.com | august 2018

 “She loads up, pushes up and then hits up.
That’s what you want for distance.” —Trillium Rose

LAG IT LIKE SERGIO PUSH AND GO UPSWINGER MOMENTUM SHIFT PRO-FILE

“It’s pretty unusual Mullins plants her As she strikes the ball, Her right arm rotates troy mullins
with women to see the let heel and pushes her swing is being over the let in the 31 / 5-8
Los Angeles
clubhead lagging so straight up with that leg supported entirely by through-swing as a
far behind the hands to increase hip speed, her let foot. “Some long result of momentum.
driver
in the downswing, Rose says. “At the same drivers still have a lot “If the club is coming Ping G400
but she’s got lag like time, she’s pushing of weight on the back from the inside through (9 degrees,
Sergio,” Rose says. “The toward the target with foot, because they’re impact, the clubhead 48 inches)
combination of sot grip her trail leg, like a trying to launch it up,” will turn over if your grip
pressure and unwinding sprinter off the blocks. Rose says. “But she’s pressure is light,” Rose ball
really fast with her That combination gives able to hit up on the ball says. “When instructors Volvik Vivid XT
pelvis encourages the you so much speed. It’s because of a significant talk about fully releasing
type of lag you see in a great move to copy if amount of right-side the golf club, this is a
power hitters. you can.” bend in her torso.” great example.”

Photographs by Shadi Perez

Play Your Best Tee to Green by Butch Harmon
Don’t Baby Your Wedge Shots
How to stay aggressive from short distances
he best thing you can do
T for your swing is to let it
be an athletic motion.
What I mean is, let your body and
the club flow back and through
so the swing is smooth and natu-
ral. One area I see a lot of golfers
losing this flow is on short wedge
shots, say, 40 to 60 yards. Be-
cause it’s not a full swing, the
instinct is to overcontrol the mo-
tion. Trust me, that doesn’t work.
The key on those short wedg-
es is to get into a good setup and
make a backswing that allows
you to accelerate through the
ball. Play the ball in the middle
of your stance, and set extra
weight on your front foot. From
there, swing the club back nice
and wide, keeping your hands
20 golfdigest.com | august 2018
“Here’s a great downswing trigger:
Kick in your back knee.”
stretched away from your body
(above, left). The backswing
should be short enough—no
more than chest high—so you
don’t have to ease off the shot
coming down. You always want
your swing to be accelerating
through impact.
A good downswing trigger is
to kick your back knee toward
the target. That’ll shift your
weight to your front side and get
your body turning forward. A
lot of amateurs freeze the lower
body and try to steer the club
into the ball with their arms.
But it’s critical to get your lower
body and weight moving toward
always hit
to real targets
on the range
▶ At my school in
the target so the low point of the Vegas, we installed
swing comes in front of the ball.
That’s how you make ball-then-
big metal plates out
on the range, not
turf contact, which is super im- only for targets but
portant on wedge shots that for the clang players
don’t require a full swing. hear when they hit
Last thing: Keep up your them. Determine
speed all the way to the finish the yardage to
(above, right). Avoid the instinct wedge targets on
to baby the shot. With a short your range, and
enough backswing, you can develop feel for how
make a firm strike on the ball and much swing equals
not worry about it going too far. how much distance.
Commit to this great swing Remember, keep
thought: Wide back, accelerate the swing short,
through. You’ll maintain an ath- and give the ball
letic flow and have a lot more a good hit. Great
success on those half-wedges. wedge players
don’t guide the club
butch harmon is a Golf Digest into the ball. Stay
Teaching Professional. aggressive.
Photographs by Dom Furore
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Play Your Best Step by Step by David Leadbetter
Irons High and Sot
Adjust your backswing to raise your trajectory
lthough they might
A serve you well on a golf
trip to Ireland or Scot-
land, where a lot of times you
can chase the ball onto the
green, those low, and often thin,
iron shots are probably costing
you strokes in the United States.
There are just too many holes on
American courses where you’re
asked to carry the ball all the way
onto the green and then get it to
stop on a firm putting surface.
To get the ball to fly higher and
land softer, you need to hit your
iron shots more in the center of
the face, not a groove or two—or
five!—lower.
One reason amateurs tend to
hit irons too low is that they nar-
row their swing radius, taking
the club back by letting the lead
arm (left arm for right-handers)
22 golfdigest.com | august 2018
bend too much. It doesn’t have
to be locked, but it should main-
tain a fairly straight appearance
all the way to the top. When it
bends significantly, you’ll have
to make a super-fast adjustment
in the downswing to get the
swing radius back to the length
it was at address. Maintaining
the width from address to im-
pact is the easiest and most con-
to the top. Essentially, you’re
straightening your right arm to
prevent the left arm from bend-
ing. Doing this will keep the club
moving on a wide arc and put it
sistent way to hit the ball in the in position to approach the ball
middle of the clubface and get it
to launch higher.
on a shallower path, which in-
creases your chance of hitting
A great way to keep the left the ball in the sweet spot and
arm from collapsing is by actu- letting the club’s actual loft give
ally focusing on the right arm as you a high-and-soft shot.
you take the club back. Push the — WITH RON KASPRISKE
lifeline of your right hand into
the thumb of the left hand, and david leadbetter, a Golf Digest
keep pushing away from your Teaching Professional, runs 32
body as you swing all the way academies worldwide.
compression matters, too
▶ Another reason you hit it low is that your club bottoms out too
soon. You’re probably trying to pick the ball off the turf. The bottom
of your swing might be an inch or so behind the ball, but a tour pro’s
club is still moving downward a few inches past impact. To get the
bottom of your swing ahead of the ball like they do, empty a sleeve
of balls and collapse the box they came in so it’s relatively flat. Place
the box behind each ball you address and then try to hit the ball but
not the box. You’ll notice right away that your successful attempts
produce a nice feel and sound to your iron shots.
Photographs by J.D. Cuban at the Concession Golf Club, Bradenton, Fla.
 The card that
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 illustration: rami niemi

Pine Valley Golf Club’s par-4 sixth hole.

 Navigation Play Your Best

About to Turn a Corner?

First, give that dogleg some thought
BY RON KASPRISKE

ou say you can drive it 300 yards, but the last time you did it the
Y hole was downhill, downwind and the ball caromed off the cart-
path. You say you shoot in the low 80s, but you haven’t carded
an 85 or better without two mulligans and a few generous gimme putts
in about four years. When the question about what tees to play is asked,
you’re already walking back to the blues or blacks. See where this is
going? When it comes to this game, many golfers aren’t exactly honest
about their current abilities—especially when assessing their next shot.
A common mental block is how best to play a dogleg hole with real trouble
on either side of the fairway, says instructor Sean Foley.
“The ball tails off to the right “Mentally, you’ve got to how much of it you want to take
for most of the golfers I see, so stick with your game. Don’t on, Watson says. An accurate
does it make any sense for them let the shape of a hole solely distance measurement to the
to stand on the tee box of a dictate your strategy,” he says. part of the fairway you want to
dogleg-left hole and try to curve “I wouldn’t try to hit a shot I hit is key, but so is that whole
their drive in that direction? No, didn’t know or usually play. If thing about being honest with
but a lot of times they still try,” a driver doesn’t fit the hole, hit yourself.
says Foley, a Golf Digest 50 Best a 3-wood. If a 3-wood doesn’t “Knowing how far you have
Teacher. “What they should fit, hit a hybrid, and so on. Do to carry the ball to clear a dog-
be doing is thinking of how to whatever it takes to put the ball leg’s interior rough or interior
play the hole to the best of their in play. But be clear and commit bunker is not usually thought
abilities. In many cases, that to whatever shot you decide.” about by most golfers, but it’s
means taking a shorter club, If you can’t curve the ball to critical,” Watson says. “That
one that doesn’t peel off to the match the hole’s shape, another being said, most golfers don’t
right as much, and just getting option is to use driver, but play know how far they carry the ball
something out in the fairway. for the “best miss,” says Hall of with a driver, which is impor-
“The reality is, sometimes Fame golfer Tom Watson. If you tant in deciding the line to take
the best you can do is give your- analyze a hole carefully, that when cutting the corner on a
self a chance at a one-putt par. miss should be evident. dogleg.”
You have to accept that your “When curving the ball away That’s why it’s best to be
game isn’t designed for certain from the dogleg, the fairway generous with your target line,
holes, so your planning should becomes a smaller target,” Foley says.
change from How do I get home Watson says. “The golfer must “If it’s a 200-yard carry and
in regulation? to How do I avoid then think about where it’s best your best drives carry about
making double bogey?” to miss the fairway, and this 210 yards, you probably want
That’s good advice, says involves a lot of criteria such to take a less risky route,” Foley
sport psychologist Bob Rotella. as length of the rough, where says. “Better to be farther back
Too often a visually intimidat- the flagstick is located, etc. For in the fairway than trying to
ing hole, one that looks like it example, shortening the hole recover from being too aggres-
necessitates a specific type of by missing in the interior rough sive with your line. The penalty
drive, can cause golfers to divert sometimes can be a good option for not making it on a dogleg is
from their strengths. Bad move. when planning your tee shot, usually pretty severe.”
but not on Pine Valley’s par-4
sixth, the hole you see here.”
If you’re skilled enough to
be able to shape your tee shot
with the dogleg, then consider

Photograph by Dom Furore august 2018 | golfdigest.com 25

that you can use to create a burst
of speed through impact. The
angle between my left forearm SEND ME YOUR SWING AND SEE IF YOU MAKE THE SHOW!
and the shaft is about 45 degrees
here. I have a ton of potential As part of the new Golf Digest Schools digital-instruction program, I’m doing a weekly live-streamed show
energy to unload as I start my called “The Leading Edge.” Check it out—we do a lot of swing and short-game instruction, even putting.
forward motion toward the ball. And every other week, I dedicate the whole show to looking at viewers’ swings. If you email me your
Third, I’ve clearly gotten swing or short-game technique (pitching, chipping, bunker play, putting), you might see yourself on my
lighter on my lead leg during the teaching screen during the show. Send your swing video to michael.breed@golfdigest.com. To find out
backswing. Think of any power- about the other benefits of subscribing to the new Golf Digest Schools, go to golfdigest.com/allaccess.
ful throwing motion, like a foot-
ball pass or baseball pitch: The
front foot often comes off the
ground, with the weight going to
the back heel. That comes from
the hips and shoulders turning
fully. From there, you can drive
forward and apply all the power
you’ve stored on the way back.

michael breed is Golf Digest’s

Chief Digital Instructor.

26 golfdigest.com | august 2018 Photograph by Shadi Perez

Patience.
Repetition.
Dedication.
Time.
That’s what it
takes to become a
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Play Your Best Gimme One Thing
Flushing it From the Rough
Don’t turn a thick-grass lie
into a one-shot penalty
BY JEFF RITTER
hen you’re done cycling through
W the typical phases of a golfer’s
mental state after hitting one in
deeper rough—from disappointment to
anger to anguish to finally, resignation—
give yourself a healthy slap in the face
(glove hand, preferred) and cue the inter-
nal “Raiders of the Lost Ark” theme song.
You’ve got this.
Not only are you going to put the ball
back in play, you’re going to give yourself
a decent chance of hitting the green. It
helps to have the right attitude, but what
really matters are the adjustments you
make to your club selection, setup and
swing. They’re not that complicated, and
remembering to do even a few of them
can help keep you from playing your
next shot a couple of steps in front of
where you are now. So take heed.
First, club selection. If the green is
too far away for a short iron—which is
always the smartest option from the
rough—go with a hybrid or higher-loft-
ed fairway wood instead of a longer iron
when the lie isn’t that bad. It’s a judg-
ment call, but I wouldn’t use anything
more than a short iron for the scary lie
you see here. But why a hybrid instead of
a long iron? The wider sole gets through
the grass more easily, so you don’t have
to throw your back out to reach a green.
Second, address. Make sure the ball
is no farther forward than center in your
stance, grip down a touch on the club,
and put a little more pressure on your
front foot. This will make it easier to get
the clubhead back to the ball with as little
interference from the grass as possible.
Also keep in mind that the blades tend to
tangle around the club, which can twist
the face shut. That makes it a lot harder
to get the ball up and out. To counteract
this, set the clubface a touch open and
hold on to the grip a little tighter.
Third, the swing. Adopt a takeaway
where the hands hinge the clubhead
abruptly upward, certainly more than
they would for a fairway lie. This sets up
that sharper angle down into the ball you
want for decent contact.
I realize that sounds like a lot to re-
member, and many of you are looking
for that “one thing” to hit this shot. Fair
enough. Here’s your swing thought: up
and oomph. Up means a steeper take-
away to help avoid the grass, and oomph
means swinging down with an aggres-
sive attitude. Feel like you’re going to
power through whatever dares to stand
in your way, and your clubhead will
reach the ball with plenty of energy.
The superintendent might think
charles lindsay
his rough is tough, but we know better.
—WITH RON KASPRISKE
jeff ritter is director of instruction
at the Pronghorn Resort in Bend, Ore.
 LEADERBOARD
ADVERTISING l OFFERS l EVENTS l PROMOTIONS

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To learn more, call 1-866-943-7266 or visit mdanderson.org/golf.
Play Your Best GD Schools

f you asked a lot of golfers how to teach the putting stroke, they
I might say that when holding the club, the arms and shoulders
create a triangle shape that points down at the ball. The goal is
keeping that triangle shape intact during the stroke. I get the visual, but
Flip the Triangle I think it’s upside down. The best putters make a stroke where the put-
It’s the secret terhead creates the triangle’s base and the grip end is the point. Can you
picture that? This principle is why anchoring a putter against your chest
to great putting is now against the rules. It makes putting way easier. Fortunately, you
BY STAN UTLEY
can use my triangle visual without anchoring. It will make your stroke so
good, it will seem like cheating. But it isn’t. — W I T H M AT T H E W RU D Y

Think hands, not arms

▶ One feature of inconsistent

putting strokes is too much
shoulder-and-arm action. When
you pull your arms back and
then push them toward the
hole to make a stroke, you’re
essentially swinging the wrong
end of the club and relying on
a fundamentally inconsistent
power source. For reliable dis-
tance control, I like a putting
stroke that has fewer moving
parts and takes advantage of
gravity. You have to flip the
triangle! Work on keeping your
hands relatively centered in
front of your body, and use
your wrists and elbows to
swing the putter back (above,
let). Instead of pushing the
arms toward the target (below),
let the putter use gravity to fall
into the back of the ball. This is
all the force you need to hit the
putt (let). For long putts, just
bring the club back farther. The
more time and distance it has
to reach the ball, the faster it’s
moving when it gets there.

30 golfdigest.com | august 2018

 “Most golfers use way too much
effort to hit putts.”

Feel the natural fall

▶ To get a better sense of how

gravity, not your arm swing,
should let the putter fall into
the ball, set up on a green next
to the collar and the ball a foot
into the fringe. While holding
the putter with just your trail
hand, swing it back with your
wrist only (let) and then let it
drop down to make the ball
pop up and roll. You’ll quickly
discover that you don’t have
to add force with your hand to
hit a putt with enough speed
to get the ball rolling a long
way. Ater several reps, switch
to your lead hand and do the
same drill. Then finally, practice
two-handed putts on the green,
feeling that same free-fall sen-
sation. Remember, it’s OK if
it seems like your wrists and
elbows are doing most of the
work. In fact, it’s a sign you’re
doing it right. Now you know
the secret.

stan utley is based at Grayhawk

Golf Club in Scottsdale.

Practice hitting it flush

▶ If you make solid contact

using gravity to propel the
stroke, the ball rolls effort-
lessly. Improve your contact
with this drill: Stick a metal
hoop into a green (right), or
a couple of tees about two
inches apart. Now put a ball on
the green so the back half is
behind the hoop or tees, and
make a “dead weight” stroke
letting gravity do the job. Hit
the ball with the center of the
face, and the putter should
contact the tees or the hoop
squarely ater impact. If you
manipulate the stroke with your
hands, or shove the putter to-
ward the ball, it will hit one side
of the barrier before the other—
something you’ll feel right away
as negative feedback.

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

Play Your Best GD Schools

“PHIL
MIGHT
GO FOR
BROKE,
BUT NOT
ALL OF US
LEFTIES
ARE RISK-
TAKERS.
FROM
hether you find your ball in a difficult lie or you’re playing a hole with a
W design feature that makes you anxious, these are the moments in any JAIL, I’M
given round that often determine if you stroll or trudge back to the park-
ing lot. To avoid taking big numbers, go with the play that has a higher chance USUALLY
of success—like finding the quickest route back into the fairway from the trees
(above). To punch out, play the ball back in your stance and make an easy swing
TAKING
with your 7-iron, focusing on solid contact. Here are four other typically nerve-
wracking situations and how to deal with them. —WITH RON KASPRISKE
THE
matt wilson, a Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, is based at Golf Canada in Oakville, Ontario. SAFE OUT.”
narrow fairways

Thread the Hula Hoop

▶ You’ve got trees pinching in on both sides of the tee box, and the
landing area looks narrower than a row house’s back yard. How in
the world are you going to put this one in play? Start with a real-
ity check. Don’t try to hit your first dead-straight drive since the
New Kids on the Block were actually kids. Commit to your natural
shot shape and aim accordingly. That means seeing where the
ball should finish and where it needs to start. Now here comes
the Jedi Mind Trick: Once you’ve set up to play your shot shape
and are ready to swing, take one last look down the fairway and
visualize you’re about to park one on a driving range (let). Erase
the trouble from your internal vision. That will help you alleviate
tension and make a confident swing.

32 golfdigest.com | august 2018

“It’s OK to be nervous. Just slow down
your pre-shot process to keep calm.”
nasty bunker lies

Forget the flag and

aim for the fat part
of the green

▶ When you find your ball in

a bad lie in a greenside bun-
ker—especially this downhill
beaut I’m dealing with (let)—
ratchet down your goal. My
advice is to aim for the fattest
part of the green, even if it’s
away from the flag. Don’t try
to be a hero. This downhill lie
means the ball will come out
lower and with less backspin
unless you adjust your stance
and swing to compensate.
Get into as stable a stance
as you can with your shoul-
ders aligned down the slope.
Open the face of your wedge
and then swing down the
slope with as much energy as
you can muster without losing
your balance. You need the
open face to get the ball up
and the speed to impart more
spin to stop the ball.
forced carries
Be realistic about
how far you hit it
▶ You’re capable of hitting that
5-iron 190 yards; I believe you.
But honestly? If I gave you 10
tries, how many would end up
10 to 20 yards shorter? That’s
what I thought. When you’ve got
to carry a hazard or some other
obstacle to reach the green,
it’s smart to pad the distance
you need to hit your next shot.
Maybe go with the yardage to
the back of the green instead
of the middle. If you don’t hit it
perfect, you’ll still likely land the
ball somewhere safe. Another
way to make sure you get it there
is by hitting the ball solidly. Do
that by making a smooth—not
slow—swing while keeping the
clubhead traveling low through
impact. A good swing thought
is to pretend you’re hitting an-
other ball in front of the one
you’re addressing (above). This
will help override the impulse to
rise out of your posture during
the downswing in the hopes of
hoisting the ball onto the green.
If you stay down through impact,
you’ll compress it.

tight lies around the green

Take a little off the top

▶ Too oten I see amateurs try to chip off a tight lie using their most loted club
with the handle leaning too far forward. Bad choice. The club doesn’t interact
with hard turf very well if you go that route. You’ll likely chunk or thin the shot.
Instead, take your sand wedge, lean the handle slightly forward at address,
and play a medium-trajectory shot. It helps if you keep your lead arm (let for
righties) sot and your shoulders level with the ground (let). Narrowing your
stance also will help you from overswinging. Speaking of the swing, a great
thought to get the club to slide under the ball and pop it up is to focus on
giving the grass a little flattop buzz cut through impact.

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

 taylor m a d e
p7 9 0 b l ack

The matte-black
special-edition
irons have a
sleek new look,
but the horse-
power is the
same as the first
version. The thin,
L-shape face and
hollow body are
supported by a
foam injection,
and tungsten
provides stabil-
ity. $1,600

pxg
0 3 1 1 p ge n2

The luxury
brand’s second
generation of
irons includes
this P model,
shaped like the
original but with
a thinner topline
and less offset.
s technology improved in drivers, heads got A flexible face

A bigger. More volume meant more technology

to help you hit it farther and straighter. But
structure and
pliable polymer
filling in the hol-
with today’s irons, it’s sort of the opposite. The goal is low body boost
distance. $3,200
to fit springlike face technology into a smaller, more
attractive package. “The smaller you get, the more dif-
ficult it is,” says Paul Wood, Ping’s vice president of
engineering. “There’s less room to pack the benefits of
a larger shape.” The goal, he says, is simple: “Make an
iron that looks like a muscle-back and flies like a game-
improvement iron.” The result is a new category of
“players distance” irons that have compact shapes and
thin faces that produce faster ball speeds. Another
benefit of thin faces? They flex in a way that launches
shots higher than traditional compact irons, another
distance booster. Here are five irons to consider.
c all away
ro g u e p ro
b l ack

It’s got all the

technology
of the original
Rogue Pro, in-
cluding a thin
wraparound cup-
face for distance
and air-infused
urethane in its
shallow cavity
for feel. The new
all-black cosmetic
stretches from
head through
shaft. $1,100

to u r e d g e
e xotics cbx
i ro n - w o o d

Based on the
company’s driv-
ing irons, this
full set uses an
L-shape face
insert of high-
strength steel
that overlaps
around the
sole for better
distance—even
on shots hit a
groove low. The
rounded sole
ping and progressive
i500 offset improve
turf interaction
The high- and confidence
strength steel at address. $900
found in Ping’s (six clubs)
game-improve-
ment G700 is
used for the
i500’s forged
face insert. The
compact hollow
body has the
thin topline and
minimum offset
that better play-
ers like. $1,400

Photograph by Ivory Serra

waiting game Golf “helps me with my patience,” says snowboarder Red Gerard.
 edited by peter finch

From Slopestyle to Slope Ratings

Olympic gold medalist Red Gerard
on his latest obsession: golf
here’s a laid-back quality to ing in Gerard’s group, every-

T Red Gerard. He’s thoughtful

and funny, never rushing.
thing from rap to rock.
“We’re putting the cart in
reverse when one of the guys
is hitting; we’re playing mu-
It suggests an unforced confidence, sic,” Gerard says. “If you take
the kind of self-assuredness most teens it seriously, you don’t want
to be in our group.”
would love to have. ▶ But then, Gerard is Though Gerard’s game
far from a normal teen. He won the first is casual, he got to see how
gold medal for Team USA in the 2018 the pros do it at the Players
Championship this year as a
PyeongChang Olympics. The event guest of the PGA Tour. One
was Slopestyle, where snowboarders fly of his biggest takeaways,
perhaps not surprising for
down the course, riding on rails and hit- a Winter Olympian: He
ting jumps, hurling their bodies through couldn’t believe how hot it
was. He and his dad were
the air. At 17, he was the youngest constantly looking for shade.
U.S. snowboarding gold medalist ever. “I like Tiger and Rory,”
Gerard says. “Tiger’s my
Gerard and two of his snowboarding coach, Dave favorite. I didn’t know much
brothers recently moved Reynolds, will find places about him going into this
from Colorado to Carlsbad, to play. “In the summer, year, and he’s amazing. His
Calif. While there, he’s been we’ll go to New Zealand and comeback from his injury—
playing a lot of golf—a game Australia, because it’s winter getting back into his zone—
his dad, Conrad, introduced there. My coach and I will is amazing to watch.”
him to as a 10-year-old. find par-3 courses and bring Gerard’s game is
“I’m kind of obsessed,” a few clubs. He’s really good, a work in progress. “Nothing
says Gerard, who began but it’s pretty casual.” is the strongest part of my
teeing it up regularly a That’s a good descrip- game,” he says with a laugh.
couple of years ago. “I’ve tion of Gerard’s attitude “Actually, I made a birdie
“I like watching been playing every day
lately. It’s very different from
toward golf. He doesn’t keep
score, so he’s not sure what
chipping with a 7-iron.
I’m pretty good at that kind

the ball go snowboarding. It helps me

with my patience.”
He describes golf as
his handicap is. He likes to
take a cart—though his dad,
whom he calls “the king of
of shot.”
You won’t find him
spending a lot of time on the

up in the air, “harder than snowboarding.”

There are no real similarities,
other than “if you can grind
driving the ball far”—prefers
to walk. Music is always play-
practice green. Putting is not
his favorite part of the game.
But hitting balls? That’s a

seeing it out on the bad days, you

end up learning something
and getting a bit better.”
different matter.
“I like the range,” Gerard
says. “I like watching the ball

the ball fly.” Even when he’s travel-

ing for training, he and his
go up in the air, seeing the
ball fly.” — KEELY LEVINS

Photograph by Atiba Jefferson august 2018 | golfdigest.com 37

The Golf Life The Digest

“
I PLAY GOLF
WITH FRIENDS SOMETIMES,
BUT THERE ARE
NEVER FRIENDLY GAMES.
—ben hogan

”
three ways to squeeze more golf into your family vacation 4 signs you’re taking
the club championship
way too seriously
▶ Unveiling your
tournament
scripting on Face-
book. ▶ Answer-
hogan: yale joel/getty images • illustration: rami niemi

ing a question
from your wife by
saying you’ll talk
after the round.
▶ Scheduling
two-a-days with
your mental
coach. ▶ Renting a
car for the week
so you can act like
it’s a courtesy car.
38 golfdigest.com | august 2018
 by sam weinman + alex myers

shirts vs. skins

▶ Want to beat the summer heat? The good
and bad of going shirtless, according to
Cody Shining, director of golf at Baker’s
Bay Golf & Ocean Club in Abaco, Bahamas
(where it’s allowed).

PROS CONS
eastwood: archive photos/stringer/getty images • wine: ben miller/getty images • golfer: cy cyr • arch: davel5957/getty images • course: dmytro aksonov/getty images

Provides a more Re-application of

relaxed environment sunscreen through-
in general. Makes the out the day leads to
golf round much less greasy hands, which
tense, less serious. isn’t great for your
It’s just a fun day on grip. Also, we’ve
the course. noticed that spray
sunscreen is really
The relaxed environ-
ment calms your
bad for the grass.
real men
nerves, improves
your play.
Players who first try
it aren’t quite used
drink rosé
to it. It’s odd seeing ▶ Being a “real man” isn’t
When groups their stomachs as about what you do as much
finish their rounds, they address the ball. as how you do it. Real men
everyone’s happy, belt Cher at stoplights,
everyone had a good With plenty of spots real men hit from the forward
time. I’ve never to grab a cocktail tees if they feel like it, and,
seen someone on the course, the when it’s summer and the
more people drink,
sulking in his cart, sun is going down, real
the more clothes
angry over a lost bet, come off. men drink rosé. Damn
a bad round, etc. —christopher powers good rosé. Like the 2017
stars like ours, a
reload ▶ Is your group’s on-course dialogue getting recalibrating your perfectly peachy vintage
from California winery
a little tired? We’ve got some suggested alternatives:
golf-season goals Tank Garage; the 2017
magic maker, a bone-dry,
instead of this . . . try this
▶ Provencal-style collabora-
skulled it tion by Saved winery and
hit a house! full flaps! tattoo artist Scott Campbell;
▶ and the 2017 diving into
you got a
hampton water, a rich
little quick
French fruit bomb with Long
a little meat Island spirit, backed by Jon
left on ▶ Bon Jovi. If it’s tough enough
that bone for Jon Bon, it’s tough
sorry, partner, enough for you.
it’s just not my day me so far? ▶ —coleman bentley
laid the sod over it

5 things you didn’t know about golf in st. louis

1 2
Gary Player
3
Jack Nicklaus’
4 5
Glen Echo Ben Hogan won Bellerive was
Country Club completed the five points led his second PGA to be the site of
hosted the 1904 career Grand the U.S. team Championship the World Golf
Olympic golf Slam at the to a Ryder Cup at Norwood Championship
competition. 1965 U.S. Open victory at Old Hills in 1948, event that was
That was the at Bellerive, site Warson Country the last time canceled right
last time golf of the 2018 PGA Club in 1971. he played in ater 9-11.
appeared in the Championship the event in
Summer Games Aug. 9-12. its match-play
until 2016. format.

august 2018 | golfdigest.com 39

The Golf Life Core

injuries. Justin Rose is listed on

the company’s website as an en-
dorser along with Tiger Woods’
former coach Sean Foley and
PGA Tour trainer Craig Davies.
“I can’t think of a therapist
on tour who isn’t using it,” Da-
vies says. “It works amazingly on
acute conditions like ligament
sprains, arthritis, muscle strains.
It’s less quick on tendon issues,
as older injuries don’t draw out
the electrons as fast.”
Finau says he had never tried
the tape before the Masters but
has used it nearly every day
since. “I’m a big believer in it,”
he says. “It really keeps the sore-
ness down. I feel different when
Playing Through Pain it’s not on my ankle.”
One patch, which adheres
to the skin at the site where you
How did Tony Finau finish the Masters? feel pain, is supposed to last 24
hours, the website says. A pack-
age of 24 medium-size patches
is $36, and a package of 48 in
atching the video of golfer Tony Finau partially dislocating a left- various sizes is $90.
W ankle bone—and then reorienting it—while playing in the Mas-
ters Par-3 Contest might be as fascinating as it is macabre.
“I had to make a lot of adjust-
ments to play that week,” Finau
says. “I was hitting more off my
Especially knowing what we know now. It was one thing for Finau (above) back foot and getting ice and
to stand up and hobble off the course after hurting himself celebrating compression for the ankle as
much as I could. But there’s no
a hole-in-one; it was a whole other thing to come back the next day and doubt the tape helped.”
shoot a four-under-par 68 in the first round of the tournament. —RON KASPRISKE

Finau returned for the final

three rounds, too, and somehow
finished tied for 10th on an ankle
that looked like it was hobbled
by Kathy Bates in “Misery.”
“Honestly, I don’t know how
I did it. It was a miracle,” Finau
says. “Three weeks after the
Masters, I was still struggling
with that ankle. My trainer [Stu-
art Love] deserves a lot of credit
for keeping the swelling down.”
Like most trainers would do,
Love stabilized Finau’s ankle
with tape. But not just standard
trainer’s tape. Finau is among
study suggests a better way to warm up
▶ If you want to make a better backswing and hit more
greens in regulation, a dynamic warm-up is better ▶ Use a lighter-
than long-hold stretches, a study published in Phys- weight medicine ball
ical Therapy in Sport concluded. The University of or dumbbell.
Witwatersrand in South Africa tested 100 elite male
golfers (ages 16 to 25) and found that those who per-
formed dozens of reps of an exercise with a medicine
ball that mimicked a wood-chopping motion before
playing had better mobility in their backswings and
were more accurate with their shots than those who
did long-hold stretches. Both groups also used a
type of massage known as trigger-point therapy to
prep their muscles. ▶ “My experience has shown this
andrew redington/getty images

a growing number of pros who
have tried the adhesive patches
from StaminaPro. Its makers
say that the patches are charged
with electrons captured from
200 natural ingredients such
as Omega-3 fatty acids, anti-
oxidants and Vitamin D—all be-
lieved to reduce inflammation
and help speed recovery from
study is on the right track,” says Golf Digest fitness
advisor Ralph Simpson. “Before you play, foam-roll
key areas of the body involved in the swing, and
then do some dynamic, golf-performance exercises.”
▶ Try this one from Simpson (right): Hold a med ball
next to a hip in a semi-squat stance. Quickly lit the ball
high over the opposite shoulder as you straighten your ▶ Shit your
legs, and rotate your upper body toward the opposite weight toward the
hip. Then chop down switly back to the start position, direction the
squatting again. Do 30 to 50 reps from each hip. —rk med ball is moving.

40 golfdigest.com | august 2018 Illustrations by T.M. Detwiler

The Golf Life Journeys

42 golfdigest.com | august 2018


Andrew Landry
Searching for self-belief
n college they called me Roadrunner.
I My freshman year, I weighed 115
pounds, but I hit these low bullets off
the tee that ran out 280 yards. Not exactly
Golden Bear, Tiger or Great White Shark, but
better to have a nickname than nothing.
i was a cocky little s ___.
My older brother and our
friends learned golf at a Groves,
Tex., muny known as The Pea
Patch. It had no bunkers, dry
water hazards, internal out-of-
bounds whose only function
was adding interest to the tree-
less, flat ground—it was about
the worst golf course you could
imagine. Except the tiny, raised
greens taught you to scramble.
●●●
i’m not the first pga tour
winner raised at the pea
patch. Chris Stroud grew up
there, too, and I followed him
to Lamar University. But the
best decision I ever made was
transferring to the University of
Arkansas when Lamar’s head
coach got the job there. I think
I’d have followed Brad McMa-
kin anywhere. His assistant,
Layne Savoie, would make me
practice my short game for 10
hours before I could get a les-
son. Ditching the idea of trying
to out-ball-strike other golfers
helped make me a three-time
All-American.
●●●
but my first four years as
a pro, i struggled. I lived in
Baton Rouge, and no club in the
area would grant me playing
“My mom and dad cut grass
to help pay my entry fees.”
privileges. The only person who
respected me as a golfer was the
coach at LSU, who’d let me hit
balls on the back of the range.
The only rounds I played were
in tournaments. Friends asked
when I was going to give it up.
●●●
my dad is a delivery man
for fedex, and my mom
is a school teacher. On
weekends they cut grass to help
pay my entry fees. I always paid
them back. You play harder
when it’s your money. Golfers
bankrolled by someone else
tend to think fatalistically: If I
don’t make it, I don’t make it.
●●●
my girlfriend, elizabeth,
convinced me to reboot.
That is, to go back to everything
I’d done in college: same coach,
same clubs, same everything.
I gave up my mini-tour equip-
ment deal and paid, which
hurt, for a new set of Pings and
started driving seven hours
each way to Austin to get les-
sons from the legendary Chuck
Cook, who’d trained Savoie.
●●●
i signed up for q school
in mississippi. I told myself
this was my last shot. The site
had narrow fairways and small
greens to fit my game, plus,
I wouldn’t know a soul, so I
wouldn’t get preoccupied with
who might be beating me. The
first round I shot 81, dead last,
and cried. It hit me that I’d need
to figure out a job, and I didn’t
know anything but golf.
my roommate that week
was austin cook. We said
a prayer. The next day it rained,
and I shot 64, the low round
by three. I’d finish second. I
cleaned out my bank account
with a ring for Elizabeth, then
flew to South America to start
the 2016 Web.com Tour season.
Crazy how a few birdies will
change your life.
●●●
the story of my win in
colombia was wind
delays. A lot of guys suffered
near-unplayable conditions
many times before getting
called in, but not me. Darn if I
didn’t play the back nine, the
teeth of the course, every time
with the wind down. I won, but
did I deserve it? Later, Jordan
Spieth told me he struggled
similarly after his first PGA Tour
win, when he holed a question-
ably struck bunker shot to steal
the John Deere Classic.
●●●
that win boosts my sta-
tus, and now i’m getting
into pga tour events.
Then the world really meets
me when I lead the U.S. Open
at Oakmont. I was in the final
pairing on Sunday but shot
78 to finish T-15. A few shots
I wish I could have over, but I
think I handled myself well for
being thrown on that stage. It
helped having Chuck Cook on
the phone, who told me Satur-
day night to get ready for the
hardest round of my life. He’s
seen it all from the USGA. It
also helped that I was playing
for someone other than myself.
The week prior in Memphis,
I’d become aware of Austyn, a
young leukemia patient from
near my hometown, being
treated at St. Jude Children’s
Hospital. Thanks to early-
round rain delays at Oakmont,
there was just enough time to
expedite a deal to capitalize on
my TV exposure. A box of shirts
with Moonshine Sweet Tea
patches arrived at my hotel Fri-
day. I donated my sponsorship
check and started a GoFundMe
account to raise $37,000 for
Austyn that weekend.
●●●
golfers who lose their
pga tour cards automati-
cally go back to the web
.com tour, right?
Wrong. At the end of 2016, I
found myself with no status
anywhere. I should’ve hedged
by playing some Web.com
events, but those are hard
scheduling decisions when
you’re in the fog of it. Plus, my
head was on getting married.
Wasn’t the plan, but after our
wedding and a six-day bender
in Cancun without my clubs,
I flew to Orlando for Q school.
Oh, and my caddie phones to
say he’s ditching me for an-
other player.
●●●
i chip in twice on the final
nine holes to get my card.
The rest is recent history. This
year on the PGA Tour, I lost in a
playoff at Palm Desert and won
in San Antonio.
●●●
mini-tour players think
there’s some secret to
making it on the pga tour.
But it’s nothing other than
self-belief. I had it, but it went
missing for four years.
●●●
though i did learn some
scheduling tricks.
Like at the 2017 Web.com Tour
Championship in Jacksonville,
some other guys and I with PGA
Tour cards locked withdrew on
the weekend so we could travel
to Napa to get extra practice
rounds in for the first PGA
Tour event of the season. Any
strategy is better than none.
Like, my parents believe in
me, but they haven’t stopped
cutting grass.
—WITH MAX ADLER
Photograph by Walter Iooss Jr.
The Golf Life Sports
“People play for the first time
and can’t wait to try again.”
Is Pickleball For You?
The little racket sport
that’s taking the
golf world by storm
BY KEELY LEVINS
olf instructor Hank Haney is a “fanatic”
G about it. “Seriously,” he says. “I’m so into
it.” Former USGA executive director Da-
vid Fay calls it “terrific,” adding, “I took one les-
son and feel like I got it.” What are they so excited
about? A simple racket sport, known as pickle-
ball, that’s finding its way into golf clubs nation-
wide. ▶ “It’s a crazy phenomenon,” says Marcin
Rozpedski, the 2016 pickleball national cham-
pion and sports director at the Lakes Country
Club in Palm Desert, Calif. “It’s been out since
the ’60s, but in the past two years, it’s grown so
quickly.” ▶ If you’re not one of the reported 2.8
million pickleball players in the United States,
here are the basics: Think of it as a miniature
form of tennis, with a plastic ball (similar to a
Wiffle ball) and underhand serves.
44 golfdigest.com | august 2018
The court is 20 feet by 44 feet
with a low net in the middle, and
you can play singles or doubles.
Doubles is more popular.
Games are usually played to
11. You have to win by two, and
only the server can score. Often,
you’ll play three games. In total,
it’ll take about an hour to an hour
and a half to play all three games.
Rozpedski has seen players at
his club take to the sport quickly
for several reasons. For one, it’s
relatively cheap. Rackets cost
about $50, and if you can’t find
a pickleball court, you can play
on a tennis court and use chalk
to draw in the correct lines.
“Once you get people to play,
it’s inevitable that they’ll love
it because it’s very social,” Roz-
pedski says. “It’s a small court,
you get four people on that
space, and you talk like you’re
next to each other.”
Haney, Tiger Woods’ for-
mer instructor and a Golf Digest
teaching professional, has been
playing for two years. He has
taken lessons and competed in
tournaments, and he even built a
court at his house. He plays three
hours a day during the summer.
As for why golfers seem
to enjoy pickleball so much,
Haney has a few theories. The
sports are similar in that they’re
both lifetime sports, and you
can partner with a better player
to have a chance at winning
matches. But that’s where the
similarities end.
“People play pickleball for
the first time, and they think,
I did pretty good. They can’t
wait to try again. With golf, it’s
harder,” Haney says. “Golf-
ers probably aren’t looking for
another steep-learning-curve
sport. That’s part of pickleball’s
appeal. It’s a lot more exercise
than you think. Golfers like the
exercise and the competition.”
Among tour pros who have
caught the bug is Daniel Sum-
merhays. When he built his
house, he put in a half basketball
court. Trying to see what else he
could play there, he came across
pickleball. He’d played once in
high school and decided to give
it a try. Pickleball quickly be-
came his nongolf sport of choice.
“It’s very competitive and
fast, so it stimulates your brain,
but we won’t get hurt playing it,”
Summerhays says.
Summerhays plays with
friends and even competes in
some amateur events. He also
plays with his wife and kids, and
he travels on tour with his pad-
dles. He says Matt Kuchar, Phil
Mickelson, Ricky Barnes and
Patton Kizzire have picked up
the sport, too.
“When I’m leaving a tour
event, one of the first things I
do, besides looking forward to
spending time with my family, is
to text my pickleball group ask-
ing where the game is the next
morning,” Summerhays says.
If you’re looking to become
part of the craze, Rozpedski sug-
gests visiting the U.S. pickleball
association’s website, usapa.org.
There you’ll find places to play
and guidance on how to start.
Pro tip: When you start play-
ing, you might hear players re-
bhpix/istock/getty images
fer to The Kitchen. This is the
area seven feet from the net. In
that area, you’re not allowed to
volley the ball back to the other
team. It’s technically called the
non-volley zone, but drop “The
Kitchen” in your first match, and
you’ll sound like a pro.
IT’S TRUE THEY
DON’T MAKE
THINGS LIKE THEY
USED TO. THEY
MAKE THEM BETTER.

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 Style The Golf Life

The Shady Bunch

Serious sun care
doesn’t have
to be boring. Try
these bucket
hats for starters
BY BRITTANY ROMANO

what you need to know about sunscreen bucket hats (clockwise from top left): lacoste
Men’s Cotton Piqué Bucket Hat, $60 carhartt wip
Anderson Bucket Hat, $65 fila Reversible Bucket Hat, $29
▶ Bucket hats offer more sun protection than other caps,
ralph lauren Reversible Packable Bucket Hat, $145
shading the face, ears and neck. But UV rays reflect at all
illustration: rami niemi

galvin green Ark Golf Hat, $75 herschel Lake Bucket

angles, so you need effective sunscreen. Apply a shot-glass
worth of mineral-based sunscreen—like Neutrogena Sheer
Zinc Dry-Touch Sunscreen (SPF 50)—every two hours. For
a little color, try Bare Republic’s Mineral Neon Sunscreen
Sticks (orange and blue on model, above). If you must use a
spray, the Neutrogena Cool Dry Sport Fullreach sunscreen
is easy to apply, oil-free and sweat-resistant.
Hat, $40 paa Tennis Hat, $120 asos Safari Bucket Hat, $16
eyewear (clockwise from top left): oakley
Targetline with Prizm Jade Polarized Lens, $183 maui jim
Red Sands, $229 maui jim Red Sands, $229 maui jim
Tail Slide in Frosted Crystal, $249 maui jim Kanaio Coast,
$249 oakley Targetline with Prizm Ruby Lens, $153
oakley EVZero Stride with Prizm Daily Polarized Lens, $203
shirt: adidas Ultimate365 Solid Polo Shirt, UPF 50+, $65.

Photographs by Giovanni Reda august 2018 | golfdigest.com 47

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CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS. © 2018 PGA TOUR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. #LIVEUNDERPAR

Does there come a point
Q when a new ball starts to
underperform? Am I crazy to
use a ball until I lose it? These things
are $4 apiece! NICK FOSTER, PA LM COAST, FLA.
Play it ’till you
A lose it, says
Frederick
Waddell, senior manager
of golf-ball product man-
agement at Titleist. As
long as the ball looks good
to your eye, it’s ready for
the next tee, he says.
You’re not going to wear
the ball out by playing it
round after round, and
you won’t decrease its ball
speed or lower its spin
lettering: daniel pel avin • ball: james worrel/getty images
rate. That said, if it hits
something like a tree or
cartpath, give it a close
look. Shear or scuff marks
about the size of a dime or
greater will likely affect
the dimples and compro-
mise its aerodynamics.
▶▶▶
How are groupings
decided for the first day
of a PGA Tour event?
BARRY BAGLEY,
PALM DESERT, CALIF.
For tee-time purposes,
the PGA Tour sorts play-
ers into three classes. The
Ask Golf Digest The Golf Life
Equitable Stroke
Control? Is the max
I can take on any hole
a double bogey or a 7?
BOB PAPE,
PONTE VEDRA BEACH
Equitable Stroke Control
first consists of major is a way to keep really
champions, recent tour-
nament winners and
bad holes from unfairly
inflating golfers’
players with an accom- handicaps. With ESC,
plished body of work. the maximum number of
They get the better times, strokes you can take on
meaning not crazy early any hole is based not on
or late, and are likely to your Index but your
appear on TV Thursday course handicap. So if
or Friday. The second cat- your 9.3 translates to a
egory comprises active course handicap of 9 or
and successful perform- lower, the most you can
ers, fully exempt players take on any hole for
who are solidly inside the handicap purposes is
top 125. The final group is double bogey. When
for Monday qualifiers, your 9.3 gives you a course
players with limited handicap of 10 or higher,
playing status and those your max score on
playing on sponsor any hole for handicap
exemptions. purposes is 7, regardless of
Tournament hosts do par on the hole. Note: In
have a measure of auton- 2020, when the new World
omy. A local hero playing Handicap System kicks
on a sponsor exemption in, the most you’ll be able
can magically draw a to take on any hole is a net
more favorable time with- double bogey, regardless
in his category, so area of your course handicap.
fans don’t have to start
loading the car at 5 a.m. submit your burning
▶▶▶ questions here:
If my Index is 9.3, am I ask@golfdigest.com or
a 9 or a 10 handicap for on Twitter @GolfDigest
The Golf Life The View from Pebble Beach

A century of PGAs, with a few

more milestones to come.
the first of 99 Jim Barnes won the
first two PGA Championships, in 1916
and 1919, interrupted by World War I.
Jim Nantz minute of the job. What’s more, with it came
early-evening playing privileges, which took
My first column for Golf Digest, away the cost burden for my parents.
My primary role was keeping the range

and why 100 is in the air ready for a fresh start the following day.
Though the word “fresh” doesn’t exactly
describe the scent of the range back then at
Battleground. On many a scorching summer
don’t like hot takes any more than I like hot cakes. afternoon, while daydreaming, I would pick
I’m more likely to quote the golfer George Burns
I than the legendary late comedian by the same
name who lived to be 100. But it was Burns the
the range by hand, armed with two scoopers
as I wandered around an eight-acre field that
doubled as the underground home for the
club’s leaking septic tank.
latter who once said, “I would rather fail at something I love It wasn’t pleasant, but it didn’t matter.
I had Augusta on the brain. From age 11 on,
than succeed at something I hate.” ▶ So here I am writing my days were often spent mapping out how
my first column for my all-time favorite publication—Golf one day I would get noticed by CBS Sports.
Digest—hoping not to fail, because as most of you know, After all, it was the network that broadcast
the Masters. That was the dream.
I love golf like I love oxygen. We’ll cover a lot of ground This past April, I broadcast the Masters for
in the coming months. Insights into Pebble Beach and the the 33rd time. At my first, in 1986, Ken Ven-
PGA Tour, my experiences calling golf for CBS Sports, and turi for some inexplicable reason predicted
I would be able to claim 50 Masters telecasts
my associations with the many remarkable people I’ve by the end of my career. I was 26 at the time.
gotten to know over the years. Some history, some views Jack Nicklaus had just won his sixth green
jacket in epic fashion, and Venturi was gid-
on contemporary subjects and some looks into the future. dy with excitement at what we had just wit-
For some reason the number 100 is in the As I begin my latest endeavor around golf, nessed. “It will be an unbelievable ride for
air these days. Maybe it’s because I’m living I can’t help but remember with deep appre- you, Jimmy, but it will never get better than
at Pebble Beach, where we’ll mark the 100th ciation my first employer. From 1975-’79, this,” Venturi said as he drove us back to the
year of our historic golf course in 2019. Birth- I worked for PGA professional Tony Bruno. compound in his golf cart.
days, anniversaries and milestones always For five years I watched, lost in admiration, Many years later, I was speaking at the Bel-
receive special treatment in my nostalgic as Tony ran the golf shop at Battleground Air Country Club and recounting Kenny’s
broadcast universe. As a storyteller, dates Country Club in Manalapan, N.J. Tony put outrageous forecast. The legendary Jack
and time equal context. So this is the right in 80-hour weeks doing what nearly 29,000 Whitaker was in attendance and had intro-
time to pay homage to an organization that men and women club pros do every day: duced me that night. Jack said, “I heard what
is on the move and one whose membership Keeping the game alive with a smile. you said up there about wanting to broadcast
is close to my heart. More than likely it has You learn pretty quickly that golf pros 50 Masters. One problem: You need to make
to do with the world gathering at Bellerive never have a bad day, at least not in front of it 51.” I asked Jack why. He answered, “Be-
Aug. 9-12 for the 100th playing of the PGA their audience. They laugh along with the cause your 50th Masters will be in 2035. That
Championship. members’ bad jokes, they remember everyone will be only the 99th playing of the tourna-
In my mind, the PGA of America has by their name (plus their children’s names), ment. You need to be there for the 100th.”
never been given its full due as a guardian listen intently as each player takes you shot There’s that number again.
of the game. Sometimes we paid observers by shot through their round, be it a 79 or a 97. In the meantime, I’ll be honored to be in
in media mislead the public into thinking They give lessons, manage tournaments, run St. Louis to broadcast the 100th PGA while
this group of golf professionals is all about the junior program, make sure the golf carts remembering a mentor in Tony Bruno, and
conducting the PGA Championship and the are operational, sell a shirt, custom-fit folks all the thousands of men and women like
Ryder Cup—its two prized events. But as I for their equipment. Trust me, there are count- him who are stewards of the game. George
bettmann/getty images • gluekit

can attest firsthand, the PGA of America’s
reservoir of responsibilities runs far wider
and deeper than that.
less nuances to being a golf professional. Burns at a ripe old age would have marveled
Above all, Tony taught me how to be a at them. After all, they’re succeeding at
pro—to always have my attitude in the “on” something they love.
position and to never overlook the little de-
tails that are important. Back then, I kept the
carts charged, cleaned clubs, greeted golfers
in the parking lot, ferried them from their
cars to the golf shop, and picked up balls on
the range. Sometimes I would get a dollar
tip from a generous member. I loved every

50 golfdigest.com | august 2018

The Golf Life Book Excerpt

before the internet Western Union

Sports Makes You Type Faster workers at the Quonset hut in 1954,
three years ater Jenkins' first Masters.

Dan Jenkins’ 23rd book includes buffet of weather in one week—ideal, hot,
windy, warm, rainy, freezing.
a tale of his obscure Grand Slam The writers were still dressing in coats
and ties at golf tournaments. I suppose it
was because Grantland Rice did. I was ex-
BY DAN JENKINS cited to see the nattily attired Rice at my
first Masters. This saintly gent in a shirt, tie,
sweater, checkered jacket and light-gray hat.
o this sportswriter walks into a press room . . . I saw him across the crowded tent. But I was

S ▶ That sounds like the start of a joke, right? But it isn’t.

At this writing, it has been my job to spend one year
too shy to introduce myself to the gentle-
man who, along with bringing dignity to my
profession, had given the Masters its name.
and four months of my life in Augusta, Ga., covering the Three years later, he passed away.
Masters for 68 consecutive years. ▶ That’s a Masters record In 1953, we scribes were delighted to find
that the tent had been replaced by a Quonset
for journalists that stretches from the Augusta National hut. Although it was as poorly lit as the tent,
veranda to a public course in Istanbul. Each day I go to the it was larger and roomier. There was more el-
bow space and aisles in which to move about
mailbox to see if the prize money has arrived yet. No luck so far. without knocking a colleague’s Pulitzer ef-
But it’s been a great gig. Western Union operators were clacking fort sideways.
augusta national/getty images

I started in the old press tent in 1951.
It overflowed with grown men in fedoras
bumping into each other, or their folding
chairs and Smith-Coronas. A few 40-watt
bulbs dangled from the ceiling. There was
a din of phones ringing and bells pinging
on wire machines. The place was dense
with cigarette smoke. I knew this was
where I belonged.
on their whining contraptions in a cramped
alcove sending out urgent pieces about Ben
Hogan and Sam Snead, the only two golfers
of interest in those days. Sports editors back
in the offices in New York, Chicago, even
Fort Worth, took a dim view of their writers
filing stories on golfers they’d never heard of.
The tent was open at two ends—we could
catch the breezes. Augusta used to offer a
I was privileged to meet Bobby Jones back
then. He used to invite two or three writers
to lunch with him in his cottage most days
EDITOR’S NOTE: Excerpted with permission
from Sports Makes You Type Faster, a collec-
tion of 57 essays by Dan Jenkins on team and
individual sports, copyright © 2018 by Dan
Jenkins, published by TCU Press, 208 pages.

52 golfdigest.com | august 2018

“The place was dense with cigarette smoke.
I knew this was where I belonged.”
of Masters Week. I was fortunate to be
invited to one session. My relationship
with Hogan had something to do with it.
Jones couldn’t have been more gra-
cious. Except when I wanted to talk about
Bobby Jones, he wanted to talk about Ben
Hogan.
Another brush with him came on the
Augusta National course before the 1954
Masters. Writers were welcome to play the
course for free if they showed up on the
previous weekend. I was standing on the
15th tee with two other writers when a cart
pulled up behind us. Sitting in the cart
were Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts.
They both smiled at me. Cliff Roberts
also associated me with Hogan. He said,
“We came out to see how the new mound
is playing on this hole. Don’t let us bother
you.”
Bother me? Why would it bother me? I
only had to hit a drive with Bobby Jones
watching. Happily, my soaring hook
didn’t hit anything but a pine tree.
Within the Quonset hut there slowly
emerged an interview area. Daily leaders
were brought in, and on Sunday night the
losers and the winner appeared. It was
standing-room only, and the questions
were mostly hollered out by those writ-
ers who fancied the sound of their voices.
The interview area saved us the
trouble of tracking down the competi-
tors elsewhere, but it took away part of
the fun in that exercise. The field was
smaller, and every competitor lockered
upstairs in the main clubhouse, which is
now exclusively a dining room. Hogan on
this side of the room, Snead on that side.
Tables, chairs and sofas in between.
It developed into a competition for
those of us on strenuous deadlines. It in-
volved climbing over fellow typists and
corners of furniture to obtain a quote from
an immortal. Not that I enjoy a scrum. But
I was young then.
The Quonset hut expanded to include
an upstairs loft for writers as the coverage
grew, and an indoor area turned up for
the traditional pimento-cheese and egg-
salad sandwiches, two favorites of Chair-
man Roberts. I should have bought stock
in them. They exist to this day, as much
of a Masters fixture as Magnolia Lane.
In the early ’90s, we arrived to find
ourselves in an enormous facility that
could pass for a lecture hall. It came with
a dining room on the top level above the
dreaded stairs that took you to and from
the row where your assigned seat was lo-
cated. The lecture hall provided a daily
buffet, TV sets and a view of the world’s
largest indoor scoreboard.
With that improvement, the Augusta
National made the USGA and R&A look
like slumlords with their crowded press
tents. Along with the Masters today, only
the PGA of America at its major con-
stantly strives to enhance our quality of
life and typing.
Looking back on it, I recall that I wrote
about Hogan and Snead in the old tent,
about Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus
in the Quonset hut, and about Tiger
Woods and Phil Mickelson in the lecture
hall.
Trudging forward amid talk of a new
facility, I was eager to see what the lat-
est Augusta National pressroom had in
store for us. It was rumored to be deca-
dent. When I arrived for the 2017 Masters,
the press building’s stunning exterior all
at once brought to mind Windsor Castle,
Versailles, the Biltmore Estates, Twelve
Oaks and Tara.
There it stood in the midst of a grove
of beautiful trees and manicured lawns,
all of which looked as if they’d been
there forever when in fact they’d been
planted, placed and groomed practically
overnight.
After entering and touring the inside,
I swooned at the comfort and conve-
nience. Comfortable working spaces were
provided for 450 journalists—I remem-
bered how there used to be only 30 or 40
of us—with huge TV sets on walls and
smaller ones at each desk where you sat
in swiveling leather armchairs. Through
a huge glass vista you could look out at
the practice range. There existed a lavish
snack bar predictably stocked with the pi-
mento-cheese and egg-salad sandwiches
but with other treats added, and down the
hall a real restaurant with smiling servers
and sumptuous cuisine.
When I’d first entered and was point-
ed toward the elevator in the lobby that
would lift me to the second-floor work-
ing and dining area, I almost shouted,
“Look, no more stairs—I’ll live to type
another day!”
If a palace guard had been around any-
where, I would have asked him if my bed-
room suite was on the same floor as Marie
Antoinette’s or Scarlett O’Hara’s.
On the morning of the first day of the
tournament, I couldn’t help but reflect
on the fact that I alone had achieved the
Grand Slam of working in all four Mas-
ters press facilities. And it had taken only
seven decades.
 HIT IT LIKE HIDEKI
BY RON K ASPR ISK E

STOP.
56 golfdigest.com | august 2018
&GO!
Photographs by Finlay Mackay
 UBBA WATSON
lets both feet shift
toward the target
as he smashes the
ball, and Jim Furyk loops his club from
a nearly upright orientation at the top
of the swing to one of the best impact
positions in golf. Jordan Spieth’s left
elbow juts toward the target through
impact, and Dustin Johnson bows his
left wrist as he takes the club back.
If you’re learning how to swing or
just taking a lesson to improve, the
idiosyncracies of many of the game’s
best players probably wouldn’t be
things an instructor would try to get
you to copy. They’re too individualistic.
But that’s not the case when it comes
to the signature feature of Hideki
Matsuyama’s swing—it just might be
the thing you need to hit better shots.
“There’s a distinct pause between his
backswing and downswing. Everything
stops for a split second,” says Jim
McLean, one of Golf Digest’s 50 Best
Teachers. “It allows him to get in the
same great position at the top and
sync up his downswing beautifully.
The pause makes it special.” ▶ ▶ ▶
58 golfdigest.com | august 2018
 how the pause came to be

▶ As noticeable as the interlude is, and as much as

it has helped Matsuyama’s swing—the 26-year-
old has been 10th or better in the World Golf
Ranking since the fall of 2016—would you be-
lieve he’s not doing it on purpose? ▶ “I’m not try-
ing to stop,” Matsuyama says through a Japanese
interpreter. “When I first came to the PGA Tour
in 2013, everyone was hitting it a long way, so
subconsciously my takeaway was getting faster,
because I wanted to hit it farther. I wanted to slow
down my backswing, and I think that’s when I
really noticed the pause.” ▶ Just like some good
players of yesteryear who paused, such as Bob
Murphy and Cary Middlecoff, Matsuyama has
improved his timing—and thus his ball-strik-
1 2 ing—because he isn’t starting toward the target
prematurely. He was a top-seven performer on
the PGA Tour in 2017 using the strokes gained/
tee-to-green and strokes gained/approach-the-
green statistics. And he won three times.

should you be pausing, too?

▶ Although McLean cautions that stalling can

hurt the fluidity of a swing—most athletic tasks
are performed better if the person is in motion—
he does think the benefits are numerous. If you’re
able to complete a full backswing and pause ever
so briefly before starting the downswing, you’ll
likely find your ball-striking improves, he says.
▶ “When you pause, it gives you a greater aware-
ness of your position at the top,” McLean says.
“Do you feel loaded into your right side? Is your
upper body coiled? Is the clubface open or closed?
That’s the first benefit, because if your backswing
isn’t good, your downswing probably won’t be,
either.” ▶ The pause also can trigger a better
downswing sequence. “You want to start the
3 4 downswing with the lower body, feeling pressure
build under the ball of your front foot,” McLean
says. “The pause gives you time to think about
how to start down until you’re able to do it subcon-
sciously.” ▶ Another benefit of the pause is that it
allows the golfer to make a through-swing where
speed builds, culminating as the club moves
through the impact zone, McLean says. Too
often amateurs are swinging their fastest at the
start of the downswing, which is a power drain.
▶ Says McLean: “Pausing can improve timing,
cure clubface issues, give you a better sense of
footwork, balance and help you accelerate the
club into the ball.” ▶ If you want to try it, McLean
says experiment on the range before taking it to
the course. One note of caution: “Fight the urge
to start down super fast with the club. Let speed
ramp up toward the ball, not sooner,” he says.
“And if you can’t fully commit to the pause, even
a slight hesitation will help you make a better
backswing before starting the downswing. It’s
the key to swinging in sync.” Just like Hideki.

5 6
 on the range with hideki
Ever wonder how the best players
prepare for a round? You can join Hideki
Matsuyama as he goes through his pre-
round warm-up by checking out our new
video series: undercover lessons. Go to
golfdigest.com/allacess to check out Hideki’s
range session and the full Golf Digest Schools
program, including 250-plus video lessons
and the chance to get your swing
and equipment analyzed by Golf
Digest-certified experts.

‘I’M NOT TRYING TO STOP.

I JUST DON’T KNOW ANY OTHER WAY
TO HIT IT MY BEST.’
 What’s In My Bag

HIDEKI
MATSUYAMA

age 26 DRIVER

lives specs Srixon Z785, 9.5˚, 45.25

Ehime, Japan inches, Graphite Design DI-8 TX shat,
D-5 swingweight
story Five-time
winner on PGA I’ve been using a TaylorMade
Tour, including driver, but this one is promising.
two WGC events The shape fits my eye, and the
flight is more my preference.
up for the cup
I’ve been fortu-
nate to play in
Distractions on the green
three Presidents
aren’t good. That’s why
Cup matches. I use only a single black
The first time, in line on my Srixon Z-Star
2013, I was over- XV to help with alignment.
whelmed. I felt it
was a little too
much, too fast. I
finished 1-3-1, but FAIRWAY WOOD
I’m proud of it.
specs Srixon Z F85, 15˚, 42.5 inches,
unpredictable Graphite Design DI-9 TX shat, D-4.5 swingweight
I’ll go through
periods where I Like the driver, this one is new for me.
change equip- I’m always looking at fairway woods, but
ment a lot. Other this one works off the tee and the fairway.
times, I just can’t The shat is heavy at 95 grams.
IRONS
find anything to
replace my favor- specs Srixon Z U85
ite clubs and will (2-iron); Srixon Z965 PUTTER
stick with them (4-iron through pitching
for a long time. wedge), True Temper specs Scotty
—with ron Dynamic Gold S400 Cameron by Titleist
kaspriske GSS Timeless, 35
shats, Iomic X grips
inches, 4˚ loft
What I like about
these is how the I like to try
club yards*
sole moves through different putters,
driver 285 the ground. I put but I always seem
half a gram of lead to come back to
3-wood 260 tape on the back. this one. I’ve used
It makes impact it for most of the
2-iron 240 feel better. past five or six
WEDGES years. I just like
4-iron 225 the shape when
specs Cleveland 588 RTX 2.0 I look down at it.
5-iron 215 Precision Forged (52˚, 56˚, 60˚),
True Temper Dynamic Gold S400
6-iron 205 shats

7-iron 190 These spin the ball so well

and are versatile for all types
8-iron 175 of grasses. The lots are
bent slightly weaker to hit
9-iron 160
my yardage gaps.
pw 145

52˚ 130

56˚ 110

60˚ 95
* carry distance
ANOTHER ROUND?
Great Taste. Only 96 Calories.

MILLER LITE. HOLD TRUE.

simple
&

64 golfdigest.com | august 2018

WHY MY TECHNIQUE WORKS—EVEN WITHOUT SAME-LENGTH CLUBS

I
BY B RYS ON DE C H A M B E AU
’ve always been interested in the how and why of the golf swing. I want to understand my motion and
what I need to do to make adjustments when necessary. I studied physics at SMU, but you don’t need
a science degree to grasp that mastering one swing is easier than mastering a variety of them. So with
the help of my coach, Mike Schy, I set out to build a single swing that would work no matter what club I
was using. I try to make every swing on the same plane, and I have my irons set up so that they’re all the same
length, lie angle and swingweight, with the lofts stepped in 4-degree increments. With two wins in less than two
seasons on the PGA Tour, including the Memorial Tournament in May, I guess you could say it works for me. But
I also think you might find it to be an easier way to play golf. Even if you don’t switch to one-length clubs, you
can take a lot of what makes it work and improve your game. I’ll show you how here. —WITH MATTHEW RUDY

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

‘NO MATTER WHAT IRON
I’M HOLDING, MY SETUP SHOULD
LOOK NEARLY IDENTICAL.’

. . . instead of a big shift

▶ Some players use a big weight shift to get more leverage from
the ground so they can swing the club faster. But when it comes to
accuracy, my pivot makes it a lot easier to hit it in the center of the face.
Here’s a drill to make you more sensitive to the correct motion. Rotate
around each hip joint like I am (below) and then with your weight cen-
tered. Feeling the differences will help you pivot better when you swing.

hit it straight with rotation . . .

▶ Before you grab a club, learn how to move your body better. Rotating
it around a single axis gives you the best chance of repeatedly making
good contact with the ball. My thought is to pivot around my let hip
joint as that axis (above). When I swing down into the ball, I rotate as
quickly as I can. The most precise wedge players use the same concept,
keeping their weight on their front side and rotating without any shit.

66 golfdigest.com | august 2018


making a case for my approach to golf
▶ In the photos for this article, I’m
demonstrating with a pitching
wedge and a 4-iron. But no matter
what iron I’m using, the shaft is
37.5 inches long—about the same
as a typical 6-iron. All my irons
have the same lie angle, too, about
10 degrees more upright than stan-
dard. Because they’re all the same
length and lie, I find it easier to
consistently set up the same way
and swing on one plane (above). It’s
how I’ve been playing since 2011,
when I turned 18. The large grips
I use also help. They discourage
a lot of extra hand action when
I swing. Fewer variables mean
there are fewer things to investi-
gate when I’m off. The proof my
set makeup and swing style really
work can be seen in my progres-
sion of improvement. It started
in 2015, when I won the NCAA in-
improve your ball-striking at address
▶ Once you can understand and feel a good impact position, you’ll have
a better chance to re-create it. For me, that means returning to where I
started. When I address the ball, I closely mimic the position I want to
be in at impact. My hands are higher, holding the grip more upright and
leaning slightly more toward the target (below) than you’re probably
used to seeing from other pros. This helps me hit it straighter.
add some width to hit it your best
▶ Extension is a concept you hear oten in golf instruction. The idea is
to swing into the ball with the arms fully extended to hit it great. To get
good width, I focus on what my right arm should be doing. Here I’m prac-
ticing where I want it to be at this point in the backswing (below). By
establishing this width, I put myself in better position to be extended as
I swing through impact. It’s a simple drill that will help you pure it, too.
dividual championship and the
U.S. Amateur. Then I won the DAP
Championship on the Web.com
Tour and got a PGA Tour card for
2017. In my rookie year, I earned
my first PGA Tour title at the John
Deere Classic and followed up with
another win this year. Although
my game can get even better, I’m
also interested in growing the game
and making it possible for more
golfers to play well. That’s where
I think my approach has real
potential. If you can remove
some of the variables that make
consistently good ball-striking
difficult, we should be able to get
more people into the sport and
keep them playing. I get some fun-
ny looks from time to time because
my clubs and swing are different
than almost every other pro, but
I’m happy to be a trailblazer.
august 2018 | golfdigest.com 67
 fir st person

68 golfdigest.com | august 2018

 ▶ EDITOR’S NOTE Patrick
Cantlay doesn’t automatically
come to mind for a list of
today’s top-five 20-something

PATRICK tour players, which would have

been inconceivable five years
ago. Time was when he was

CANTLAY
rising faster than Jordan Spieth
or Justin Thomas or Jon Rahm.
In 2011-’12, Cantlay had been
the No. 1-ranked amateur golfer

WAS THE in the world for 54 consecutive

weeks, a record that still

NO. 1 stands. His amateur career

included low-am finishes at

AMATEUR the U.S. Open and the Masters

and being named winner of

IN THE the Fred Haskins Award, the

Phil Mickelson Award, the

WORLD Ben Hogan Award, the Mark

McCormack Medal and the Jack

BEFORE Nicklaus Award—all by the

end of his sophomore year at

A FRACTURED UCLA. Cantlay turned pro that

June and won the Colombia

SPINE Championship in 2013, his

second tournament on the

AND THE Web.com Tour, before suffering

a back injury while warming up

DEATH on the range.

During the next three

OF HIS years, he played a total of nine

tournaments while trying to

BEST FRIEND resolve what eventually was

diagnosed as a stress fracture in

LEFT HIM his L5 vertebrae.

Cantlay’s road back became

IN LIMBO. even more torturous in

February 2016 when his best

HE PERSEVERED. friend, high school teammate

and caddie, Chris Roth, was
WITH MIKE killed in a hit-and-run accident
while the two were crossing a
STACHURA street in Newport Beach, Calif.
Almost a year later, Cantlay
PHOTOGRAPHS BY made the cut at the AT&T
Pebble Beach Pro-Am and
SPENCER earned fully exempt status on
a medical extension in just
HEYFRON his second event back with a
runner-up finish at the Valspar
Championship. By the end of
the year, he became the first
player since Tiger Woods to
reach the Tour Championship
in 12 or fewer events.
When Cantlay won the
Shriners Hospitals for Children
Open last fall in a playoff, it
completed a comeback that
seemed remarkable to nearly
everyone but him. Here’s his
story, in his words. ▶
IT
A BEST FRIEND, AND A TRAGEDY
ne of those guys who

O
made a big difference
HAPPENED IN AN INSTANT. When I made a swing in balancing my
perspective was my
on the range at Colonial in May 2013, it felt like a best friend, Chris Roth.
knife had been stuck in my back. Completely out If I was sometimes
of nowhere. I hadn’t known pain like that before, introverted to a fault, Chris
easily made up for it. We’d been
not even when I broke my wrist in eighth grade. This was a friends forever, and he started
stress fracture in my spine, and the only cure was a whole caddieing for me when I was an
amateur. We even joked in high
lot of rest. I had no idea one moment could have such a school that we were going to be
lasting effect. Until then, my life—and especially my golf one of those great caddie-player
life—had been pretty charmed. Maybe “charmed” isn’t teams like Bones and Phil.
Chris wouldn’t let me feel sorry
really the right word, because I had worked really hard for myself while I was trying
to put myself in that perfect position. Everything was to figure out how to get myself
physically better in 2014. And
playing out just about as it should have. I’m not that cocky. 2015. And 2016.
I just expected it to be that way because that’s what I had In February 2016, having
been preparing for. You do the work, you get the results. not really played golf in more
than a year and having just
But sometimes you don’t something different, including enough to be on the PGA Tour. decided I couldn’t play at the
see everything as clearly as that I’d never play golf again, It made it easier for me to see CareerBuilder Challenge, I was
you thought you did. I had to and as I hung on through 2013, then that my goal of playing not in the best place mentally.
learn how those changes— watching my Web.com position on the PGA Tour was possible, There wasn’t a real clear path.
sudden, unexpected, small drop every week while I sat maybe even probable. That month, I met with my
or large, happy or sad—were on the sidelines, it started to But now with my back the doctor, and his report was
opportunities to give my screw with my expectations. way it was, it began to seem worse than I had expected:
life momentum and energy So to hear from the doctor less clear how I would return Don’t even pick up a club for
and direction. after a couple months off that to that level. And it would have the rest of the year. Another
You’ve got to imagine every summer that I might need to been easy to get consumed by lost season on the PGA Tour.
experience you’ve ever had, skip the rest of the year, it was my frustration, but these guys Devastating. It just seemed
no matter how big or small, a shock. I did play a few events really helped me stay focused like the vision I had for myself
is literally changing you all to finish high enough in the on getting back on tour and kept getting farther and farther
the time. You have to learn Web.com playoffs to get my playing the way I dreamed away, maybe even disappearing
to be objective about your PGA Tour card, but I knew I about as a kid. completely. I just felt like I kept
experiences. If I’ve learned wasn’t healthy. And it wasn’t at There were other guys at getting kicked in the teeth over
anything over the past five all clear how I was going to get Virginia, too, older members and over and over again.
years—and I’ve learned a lot— healthy. who helped me without even Being as discouraged as I was,
it’s that everything you think I would wake up every day, knowing that’s what they were it took someone as positive as
you know for sure, you really do a couple hours of physical doing. We’d play cards or just Chris to get me up off the couch.
don’t. But what I could know for therapy and then . . . rest. talk, and those friendships That’s just what happened that
sure is who I am, and what I had That’s it. Every day you want with men who were 70, 80, 90 Friday night of the accident.
to do is commit to the process to be doing something active years old gave me a powerful We were walking down the
of understanding all the things to make yourself feel better. perspective about taking the street in Newport Beach on what
I needed to do to excel, to grow, Accepting that doing nothing long view. I really came to trust had been a really great night.
to get better. I call it “the 24/7 was mandatory, that was the their advice, and had I never And then in an instant, it wasn’t.
game.” To be successful, to hardest part. gotten hurt, I probably would A car came out of nowhere
overcome the hurdles in front Fortunately I had a great have missed that opportunity. and hit Chris so hard, it threw
of me, I had to commit to the support system. In addition What I really learned from his body all the way across the
best possible process 24 hours to my family, I had the group them is that there’s a lot you intersection. He couldn’t have
a day, seven days a week. That at Virginia Country Club, don’t know, especially when been walking more than 10 feet
process interests me. where I work with my teacher, you’re 22. in front of me. I knew it was
But process doesn’t always Jamie Mulligan. Growing up awful immediately, even as
immediately have an answer at Virginia with some of the I was dialing 911. And I knew
for pain. My back hurt, and players Jamie works with— Chris wasn’t really there
other than knowing it hurt, I John Cook, Paul Goydos, anymore by the time I got to
didn’t know anything. Nothing John Merrick, John Mallinger him. It was that quick.
was certain. Every doctor said and Peter Tomasulo—I felt Nothing made sense for
comfortable being around a while after that. I was with
adults even from a young age. Chris’ family, and I felt giving
I was learning from those the eulogy was the thing I was
guys, learning how to get good supposed to do. I remember

70 golfdigest.com | august 2018

telling them, “If you need
somebody to say something,
I can do it.” I just wanted to
do a good job, to illuminate a
little part of what he was like to
everybody. It was easy to paint
him in a good light because
you just had to paint him in the
light that he was.
The pain I had been in for
those past three years was
nothing like this. I know other
people tie my injury and Chris’
death together, but one is
temporary, and the other is
permanent.
As tough as it was to see a
future in golf before Chris was
killed, it was even tougher to
see anything after he was gone.
And not having golf to turn to
made it 10 times worse.
I’d even considered going
‘I JUST FELT LIKE I KEPT GETTING KICKED IN THE TEETH OVER AND OVER AND OVER.’
back to school, but I wasn’t
finished with golf. I can’t
imagine doing anything
halfway. I thought, If I go back
to school, I want to go back to
school and only do school and
get all A’s and spend my time
making business connections so
I can set up what I’m going to do
after school. So I didn’t feel like
I could do the physical therapy
and get the kind of rest I needed
to compete if I also had school
going. Sure, there are 24 hours
in a day, and yes, you can do
multiple things. But not to do
everything 100 percent.
But 100 percent is what
rehab really required. And
that’s hard to do, especially
when I had seen so many
doctors. I was getting various
opinions on what’s the right
thing to do, so picking one
and sticking to it, even when
I was having doubts, was
difficult. It was hard for me to
believe I was picking the right
treatment strategy, and it was
easy to worry that I might be
going backward without even
realizing it. I found myself
wondering if 75 percent was
the best I would ever be, and
what would that mean? Then
another nine months go by,
and it was hard for me not to go
see a different guy who says he
can make me better in a week
or two. The simple fact is this:
Not knowing spent a lot of my
mental energy.
Eventually, with help from
the people in my inner circle
and the right physical therapy,
I decided I wasn’t going to let
it bother me mentally even if it
was bothering me physically.
My attitude was going to be,
if it hurts, it hurts, and I don’t
attach any emotion to it. It just
“is,” and when it hurts, I do
“this,” and when it doesn’t hurt,
I do “this.” And I’m not going to
wallow in not feeling great.
Still, my progression back
was very slow. I might hit 30
balls and then skip a day or
two, but I had to be content to
make small improvements and
not go too fast. Being patient
about my career wasn’t what I
was thinking when I turned pro
at 20, for sure. And it certainly
didn’t get any easier when I was
23 or 24.
When I finally got to the
point where I was ready to
play the PGA Tour again, I
wasn’t going to let those 10
tournaments on my medical
extension fade away. Playing
that first week at Pebble Beach
in 2017 without pain was a huge
accomplishment. Finishing
second a few weeks later at
Valspar, I felt great about
accomplishing my goal of
having a regular tour schedule.
And still, I walked off the 72nd
hole really disappointed that
I had bogeyed the last hole to
miss a chance at winning. My
mind-set hadn’t changed. If
I’m playing a tournament, then
I was going to prep as best I
could to win that tournament.
Winning is just a result of the
process. I might not have been
back all the way physically, but
at that instant, when I knew
I was playing tournaments to
win, I knew I was back mentally.
It wasn’t about earning
money or top 10s or exemptions.
Once I got a taste of competing,
I really started to believe again
that every time I teed it up,
I was playing to win. And the
byproduct of that attitude was
playing my way into the Tour
Championship.
WINNING A PLAYOFF
month and a half after
A
the Tour Championship,
it’s Sunday, and I’m in a
playoff with Alex Cejka
and Whee Kim at the
Shriners to win my first
PGA Tour event, something at
one point I was sure was going
to happen four years earlier.
I’ve come this far, and all of a
sudden, there’s this scraggly
tree in my way. It’s not that I
didn’t see the tree. I just didn’t
see it as an obstacle. Not from
where I had been. When it came
down to the moment, it was
simple: I thought, I want to give
myself the best shot at making
par. I really had only one shot:
low, cut 4-iron, keeping it out of
the water. I knew I could hit the
shot. I decided I was going to do
it, and I hit it. That’s really all
there was to it.
Yeah, it was a great shot, but
there was no big surprise in my
mind that I was here, holing
august 2018 | golfdigest.com
that winning putt. Tournament
wins are just markers of the
work I had been doing. So
when I won the tournament,
it didn’t feel like there needed
to be any big exhale or sigh of
relief. Instead, I thought, What
do I do now to play the game as
good as I possibly can the next
time? That’s the 24/7 game I
talk about playing: learning and
growing from each moment.
What did the last five
years teach me? When
something really bad or life-
altering happens, you want
to acknowledge that it has
affected you. You don’t want
to shy away from it or pretend
like it never happened. You
want to realize the great impact
it has had on you, but at the
same time, even if it’s massive,
you don’t want to have it
consume you so you become
jaded or apathetic or negative,
and you don’t like the person
you become. Walking the fine
line of having something bad
happen to you, taking your time
to mourn and letting it affect
you without letting it beat you
down so hard that it takes you
away from what you want to
accomplish is very difficult.
Accepting it and realizing it
happened and dealing with it as
best you can—that’s kind of the
art of life.
71
 RIYA JUTANUGARN
was on her way to the worst col-
lapse in major-championship
history, blowing a seven-shot lead
on the back nine of the final round
of the U.S. Women’s Open in June.
She needed something good to
happen to hold off Hyo-Joo Kim in
a playoff—and she got it, ironical-
ly, by relying on a part of her game
she had just been focusing on prior
to the event.
She saved par twice from green-
side bunkers—the first to extend
the two-hole playoff (left) and the
second to win it two holes later.
Her final bunker shot nearly went
in the hole, but she settled for a
tap-in par to win her second major.
“After the work I had been doing
in the bunker, I felt comfortable in
that playoff,” she says.
The technique she used was
a little unconventional, but it’s
worth copying if you’ve got some
green to work with and there’s
real trouble on the other side of
the hole, says her coach, Gary
Gilchrist. In those cases, flying
the ball all the way to the hole and
hoping it will check up is risky.
How did Jutanugarn get the ball
to release? She aligned her body
slightly left of the hole, opened the
clubface a little and played the ball
back, off her right ear. From there
she made an armsy swing with the
hands moving toward her left hip
after impact, Gilchrist says.
“It’s a swing where the body fol-
lows the arms,” he says. “You want
to hit about two inches behind the
ball so it spins less and rolls, and
you’re using more of the leading
edge of the club, letting it dig more
than a normal bunker shot.”
To help that happen, Gilchrist
says to lean your knees toward the
target at address so your left thigh
is supporting your weight.
“It should stay mostly on your
left side when you swing. This cre-
ates more of a descending blow,”
Gilchrist says.
Do that and the ball will roll, so
don’t forget to do one more thing:
You’ve got to read the green like
you’re putting. —KEELY LEVINS

august 2018 | golfdigest.com 73

‘4 0 0 - P O U N D R AT S ’ L E AV E C O U R S E S WA L L O W I N G I N D E VA S TAT I O N

illustration by tavis coburn

BY CURT SAMPSON

august 2018 | golfdigest.com 75

THE PIGS ATTACKED
AT MIDNIGHT.
Entranced by the delicious mingled aroma of pecans
on the ground and beetle larvae (grubs) beneath
it, and sensing no danger from their chief predator
(men with guns), a score or so of feral hogs trotted on
comically short legs out of the Trinity River bottom
and onto lush, delicious Waterchase Golf Club in Fort
Worth. The hungry porkers plunged their spade-like
snouts into the soft turf; they can go three feet deep
if the digging is good. Within moments, a swath of
green had been ripped to pieces, as if by a drunk with
a rototiller. When the pigs wallow, it’s even worse.
▶ Waterchase superintendent Hud Haas, a frequent
victim of the nocturnal army, struck back. He filled
a five-gallon plastic bucket almost to the brim with
corn, then poured in a pint or so of milk, and then a
40-ounce bottle of Olde English 800, a high-alcohol
beer. Haas allowed the ghastly mixture to ferment in
the maintenance barn for a few days, then he spread
it on the floor of his three-by-15-foot trap. One lucky
Haas has worked at And it’s getting really ex-
night the super’s trap filled up like a Tokyo subway
Waterchase for 20 years. pensive. As many as eight
car, with 10 anxious oinkers, but much more often, He has trapped hundreds million wild pigs in America
the cautious pigs take a whiff and take a pass; prey of hogs, and he’s shot more do $1 billion to $2 billion in
who observe the capture of fellow pigs seldom make than a few, but he sounds damage a year to farms, lawns,
the same mistake. ▶ Turns out that Sus scrofa are discouraged. “I guess they’ve cemeteries and golf courses.
contributed photograph

in the top four in animal intelligence, up there with destroyed four or five acres of
my course in total. Thousands
chimps, dolphins and elephants. Feral hogs scrape
and thousands and thousands
up against telephone poles because, it is thought,
of dollars of damage. It’s
they’re trying to transfer insect-repelling creosote onto Mother Nature at her worst.
their hides. They don’t see well, but they can smell I’ve got to deal with it. But
odors seven miles away and 25 feet underground. it gets old. Real old.”
One Dallas-area club spent more
than $500,000 on hog defense
and repair in 2017. Feral hogs
haunt the night in 40 of our 50
states and are a particular prob-
lem in Florida, Oklahoma, Cali-
fornia and, most of all, in Texas.

76 golfdigest.com | august 2018

 Half a world away, a well-
known golf club in Hong Kong
admitted it has a pig problem
but didn’t want to acknowl-
edge it for this article. Says
John Walker, the South Cen-
tral representative of the Golf
Course Superintendents As-
sociation of America: “I could
give you the names of 100 su-
perintendents having trouble
with hogs.”
Ron Wright, the GCSAA
Southeast rep, says the situ-
ation is far less dire in his re-
gion, but he has seen some
damage. “I don’t know if
they’re smart or just very adap-
tive,” he says. “They’re crafty
critters. They eat everything.
the big dig
the author surveys
t h e a f t e r m at h o f a
h o g at ta c k at a g o l f
fac i l i t y b o r d e r i n g
a branch of
the trinity river.
But to me they’re nothing but
400-pound rats.”
Four-hundred pounders
roam the land, for sure, al-
though most of the adult pigs
in a sounder—the collective
noun—weigh between 100 and
200 pounds. (The Internet pro-
vides photographic evidence
of an Alabama boar as big as
a Chrysler Town & Country.)
But do they really resemble
rats? Well, feral hogs do not
put you in mind of a porcelain
Porky Pig piggy bank or of
Wilbur, the radiantly pink pig
in Charlotte’s Web. They’re not
cute: No one knows how many
calves and lambs they devour
each year—because they eat
THERE’S AN OLD SAYING:
“IF A PIG HAS A DOZEN PIGLETS,
13 SURVIVE.”
every molecule of the new-
borns. They befoul water and
destroy habitat. They’re not
supposed to be aggressive, but
when a 132-pound boar wan-
dered out of a park and onto
a city street—last year, again,
in Hong Kong—he put two
humans in the hospital and the
rescue van in the body shop.
What with their terrifying
tusks and bristle-brush hair,
and the brucellosis, trichino-
sis and other osis-es they can
carry, the rat reference doesn’t
seem so far off.
Pigs were introduced to
North America by European
explorers 500 years ago—a na-
tion of bacon mavens thanks
you, Hernando de Soto—but
things went south when Eur-
asian wild boars were brought
here in the 1930s for hunting
purposes. The new pigs bred
with free-range or escaped do-
mestic pigs, creating a hybrid
that is amazingly prolific and
amounts to an invasive foreign
species, like kudzu or zebra
mussels. Feral hogs are the
fastest breeding large mammal
on earth. Eat, breed, repeat. . . .
Eat, breed, repeat. . . . A single
sow can re-create herself 24
times by the time she’s 2 years
old, and the babies are as du-
rable as little footballs. “If a pig
has a dozen piglets,” they say,
“13 survive.”
victims strain to adapt
D
uring the floods in
Houston last August,
wild pigs rose out
of the overflowing streams
and bayous like a bad dream.
They’ve dined at—or on—
many nice area country clubs,
including BlackHorse, Shadow
august 2018 | golfdigest.com
Hawk, Willow Fork and the
Golf Club of Houston, which
has hosted the PGA Tour’s
Houston Open.
During dry conditions, any
irrigated ground becomes a buf-
fet, and golf courses lose again.
As Superintendent Haas said,
the big pig problem has gotten
very old. Eradication is impos-
sible. Containment is barely
working. Bullets, fences and
traps have hardly made a dent.
Poisoning and edible contra-
ceptives, with their uncertain
effects on the food chain, are
truly bad ideas.
In Texas, and in spots
throughout the South, one can
see the coming aporkalypse.
But if swine can adapt, so can
we. Guided hunting companies
are proliferating (check out
Hogswat.com). Ben Wheeler, a
little town in northeast Texas,
stages an annual Fall Feral Hog
Festival. There’s a hog cook-off,
a hog call-off, a parade and I
hope never a Miss Pig competi-
tion. In Texas, the hog-hunting
season is 365 days a year, ther-
mal imaging and night-vision
goggles are perfectly fine,
and it’s legal to use a machine
gun—or a chopper. Type
Helibacon.com into your
search engine.
On a brightly lit day last
October, at a fancy new club
in north Texas, golfers on the
first and ninth fairways stood
open-mouthed as three pigs
played through. Two were
black, one was a sporty black
and white. The normally noc-
turnal animals cantered across
the greensward and into the
thick woods on the perimeter.
They didn’t look like they were
in any big hurry.
77
legendary photographer walter iooss jr. on almost being killed by jordan spieth, running security for

M Y S H OT • 7 4 • M O N TAU K • N E W YO R K
michael jordan, breaking down tiger, and going face to face with jimi hendrix & supermodels.

with guy yocom

SELF:
:RAIT i’m photographing jordan spieth
in Dallas. We’re in a hitting bay at
Trinity Forest, and I need him to aim
a 6-iron shot at a camera stationed
directly up the line of play. For the
moment, the camera is right by my
head. I’m controlling it remotely,
and I plan to move, because I value
my life. I toss Jordan a synthetic ball
that is soft, but not that soft, and tell
him what to do. Within three seconds,
before I can move away, he lets it rip.
The ball misses my head by an inch
and slams into a wall behind me. It
plugs for a second, then falls to the
ground. I gave him a look that said,
You just came this close to killing me.
Jordan had a look of his own that said,
Hey, I did what you told me to do. All
he saw was the target. I’ve never seen
a golfer with that kind of confidence.
august 2018 | golfdigest.com 79
the thing i’m expert at—the thing I really
take pride in—is breaking people down to
who they really are. Athletes sometimes proj-
ect something superficial or not really genu-
ine, something other than who they really are,
and I want to get past that. Johnny Manziel,
when he came to Cleveland, showed up for a
Golf Digest shoot completely disinterested. I
overheard him say to someone in his posse,
“We might be out of here in a minute.” I’d
planned for that. I’d brought a group of pic-
tures I’d taken. “Johnny, do you know who
this guy is?” I said, and showed him a portrait
I’d taken of Johnny Unitas. He shrugged, but
after I showed him more of Joe Montana,
Joe Namath, LeBron James and a few other
greats, his demeanor changed. In 30 seconds,
he went from wanting to get out of there to
taking it seriously. We did a great shoot.
●●●
there was a day in 2008 when we had 15
minutes to photograph Tiger Woods. I was
one of two photographers, and we decided
we’d get exactly 7½ minutes apiece. The last
thing I want is pictures that suggest Tiger
was rushed, which can happen because the
camera doesn’t lie. So when Tiger came in
and we said hello, I spoke very slowly, like
there was all the time in the world. I said,
“Tiger, here are a couple of examples of what
we’re going to do.” In the group of pictures
were a few shots of swimsuit models. “Oh,
Photographs by Walter Iooss Jr.
IOOSS CALLS THIS CASUAL 1965 SHOT OF ARNOLD
PALMER AND JACK NICKLAUS “BY FAR THE MOST
WELL-KNOWN” OF HIS GOLF PHOTOGRAPHS.
man, that’s Marisa Miller!” Tiger said. It to-
tally took his mind off the clock. That’s what
I mean by breaking someone down. The pho-
tos turned out great.
●●●
i didn’t need the full 7½ minutes, by the
way. I have two rules of the road for photo
shoots that happen to apply to everyday
life. One, always finish in less time than you
agreed on. If you finish early, it will increase
exponentially the chances of the subject
working with you again. Two, leave the lo-
cation better than you found it. No empty
water bottles, no chairs out of place. People
remember these things.
●●●
the shot of marisa miller that wound up
on the cover of the 2008 Sports Illustrated
Swimsuit Issue happened late on the after-
noon of the fourth and final day of shooting.
The good stuff usually happens at the end.
So if you’re deciding which of the 100 photos
you just shot at the beach should go on Face-
book, start at the last one and go backward.
●●●
in 1984, we were in Jamaica, driving to the
location on the coast, me in the front seat
and Paulina Porizkova, who is as gorgeous a
model who ever lived, sitting behind me. An-
other swimsuit-issue shoot is minutes away,
and I wanted to study her face. Tough job,
I know. But when I turned to look at her, I had
a hard time because she was reading a book
pressed close, almost to her nose. I said, “Pau-
lina, have you thought of getting glasses?” She
lowered the book and said, “I don’t want to
see everything.” I thought that was telling.
●●●
in 2015, i shot lexi thompson for a Golf
Digest cover. We draped a towel over her
shoulders, to suggest she’d just come from a
workout. It was only mildly provocative, but
still, I admired her tremendously for kind
of creeping up to the edge. Golf is the most
conservative of all major sports, and pushing
the limits takes courage. Lexi is not a profes-
sional model, but she sure posed like one,
expressing herself with an ease far greater
than I anticipated.
●●●
michael jordan taught me how fame can
close in on a person. We did two books and
a lot of other photography together, so I was
around him a lot. When he was with the
Bulls, he needed his own dressing room.
Every famous person that came through
Chicago wanted to meet him. When he went
out, he always built in 40 extra minutes to
handle the autographs and requests to have
pictures taken with him. People shouting
his name, crowding in on him and wanting
to touch him . . . terrible. You could see why
Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and so many
others wound up with problems.
●●●
michael became acutely aware of his envi-
ronment at all times, like his whole head was
a set of eyeballs. When we did the book Rare
Air in 1993, there was a night in Miami we
were supposed to go out to dinner. Michael
was exhausted, lying in the hotel room in his
sweats, leaning toward calling it off. Then he
said, “OK, we’re going, but here’s the deal:
no cameras, and you’re running point.” He
meant he wanted me to run interference,
keep the people off. It was no easy job. I
spent the night with Michael, Scottie Pip-
pen and Horace Grant, shouting at people,
“Not tonight!” It was exhausting. I was in
awe of how Michael controlled his day-to-
day life, the unspoken rules he put in place
to survive. One of them was, you never lied to
him. Anyone in his circle who b.s.’d him was
cut out immediately and was gone forever,
because he didn’t have time for it.
●●●
still, i’d rather be michael than Tiger
Woods. The level of fame is similar, but the
difference is, the adoration for Michael made
the loss of privacy more tolerable to him. He
found a way to embrace the attention, while
Tiger hates it, which only makes it worse.
But I sympathize with Tiger because his per-
sonality is different. Not everyone is wired
like Michael, or Arnold Palmer. Do you think
Bubba Watson or Dustin Johnson could
handle being closed in on like they were?
No way—they aren’t cut out for it.
●●●
in 2000, Tiger was at his zenith, playing-wise.
I had the idea I’d follow him at the WGC-
Match Play at La Costa and try to re-create
the famous Hy Peskin shot of Ben Hogan hit-
ting a 1-iron to the 72nd green at Merion at
the 1950 U.S. Open. I had to close to within
several feet of Tiger, which did not go over
very well with his caddie, Steve Williams.
They didn’t know me at that point. Williams
is glaring at me and pointing, uttering some
very choice swear words as kind of a warning
not to get too close or to snap my shutter at
the wrong time. Finally he walks up to me.
“Hey, mate, you ever shot a golf tourna-
ment before?” he asks.
“Yes, many,” I say.
With that, he strides away, the warning
very much in place. A month later, I went to
Isleworth in Florida to shoot an SI cover of
Tiger. I introduce myself to Tiger and say,
“If I look familiar, it’s because I shot you
at La Costa a while back. Did you notice me?”
“Every hole,” he says. He said nothing
more about it, which meant, he more or less
trusted me. We’ve gotten along ever since.
RICKIE FOWLER HAMS IT UP FOR IOOSS
DURING A COVER SHOOT FOR THE JANUARY
2015 ISSUE OF GOLF DIGEST.
my father was a jazz musician who for a
time played with Benny Goodman. He asso-
ciated everything to sound. We’d be walking
down the street, and he’d stop and say, “Lis-
ten to that,” and sure enough, there would be
an unusual sound coming from somewhere.
One time we passed a shoeshine stand, and
we paused for a couple of minutes, listen-
ing to the rhythmic snap the attendant
made with the towel. He passed that gift of
observation to me, except it was with im-
ages rather than sound. He gave it to me by
accident. In 1959, he took me to a New York
Giants football game at Yankee Stadium.
He’d given me a Pentax camera with a tele-
photo lens. The images I saw through the
viewfinder were different from what I could
see through my eyes. I could control that
FOR THE DECEMBER 2012 GOLF DIGEST, IOOSS
SHOT COVER PHOTOS OF MICHAEL J. FOX, BILL CLINTON,
MORGAN FREEMAN AND MICHAEL PHELPS.
world. Everything I’ve seen since, I automat-
ically put a photographic composition to it.
●●●
my parents divorced when I was 4, and it
was hard because I idolized my father. Last
year my wife and I were out to dinner in Mon-
tauk. The restaurant was playing old and
obscure music. This song comes on, which
I recognize immediately as “Rose Room.” I
recognize the recording, too—it was from a
Benny Goodman concert at Madison Square
Garden in 1941. I also recognized my dad’s
stand-up bass playing on that song. I jump
to my feet and exclaim, “My father!” My wife,
Eva, gave me a look of understanding. She
knows how much I loved him.
●●●
the other thing my father did was insist,
when I was 16, to go to a public high school in
East Orange, N.J. My grandparents pushed
to send me to St. Thomas Choir School in
Manhattan, to get me out of what they called
“the jungle.” My dad, who was a very street
smart and wise man, put his foot down. “Pri-
vate schools in Manhattan aren’t the real
world,” he said. He wanted me to grow up
in an integrated, more raw environment. It
probably was his greatest gift, because from
an early age I could go anywhere and relate
to almost everyone.
●●●
felt forum, new york, 1968. I was doing
freelance work for Atlantic Records at the
time, photographing musicians in concert:
Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones, Aretha
Franklin, James Brown and so on. That night
I was shooting Jimi Hendrix, who clearly was
august 2018 | golfdigest.com 81

wasted but was playing like you wouldn’t
believe. Suddenly he stopped in mid-song.
Looking right at me, he slurred, “Everyone
needs to turn off their flashbulbs, or else
I can’t continue to sing.” At that moment,
I can’t say the fans were very enamored
with my art.
●●●
even with famous people , there’s almost
always an in. There was a time when Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar was getting a lot of hate mail
and death threats after a home he’d owned
in Washington, D.C., was the site of mur-
ders committed by a Muslim group. I was
assigned to go down and photograph Ka-
reem for SI but knew he wasn’t looking for
publicity and wasn’t going to let me in. Les
McCann, a well-known jazz-musician friend
of mine, knew that Kareem loved jazz and
suggested I buy a few rare records and offer
them to Kareem. Les also told me to tell Ka-
reem that he’d sent me. I did that, and sure
enough, Kareem let me in. Music is a great
connection to athletes.
●●●
in 1965, I was 22 years old and knew hardly
anything about shooting golf. But I get a
call anyway to go to Laurel Valley Country
Club in Ligonier, Pa. My assignment there
is to shoot Arnold Palmer with President
Dwight Eisenhower. I’m standing around
with Arnold waiting for Ike, and there’s a
delay. Arnold says, “Come with me.” I follow
him into a room off the locker room where
Arnold, needing to kill some time, casually
sits at a table with Jack Nicklaus. The two of
them begin talking. Arnold kind of forgets
I’m there. Almost as an afterthought, I start
shooting. The light is bad and nothing is set
up, but I snap a couple of rolls of film any-
way. Today, one of those pictures is by far the
most well-known of the tens of thousands of
golf photographs I’ve shot over the past 60
82 golfdigest.com | august 2018
JASON DUFNER WAS THE REIGNING PGA
CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER WHEN HE DID THIS SHOOT
WITH IOOSS FOR THE AUGUST 2014 ISSUE.
years. I wouldn’t call that photograph an ac-
cident, but certainly it came out of nowhere.
Sometimes it happens like that.
●●●
arnold was the perfect embodiment of
what a human being should be. He treated
every person exactly the same: with dignity.
Every person wants to feel like they matter,
that they have worth. Arnold sensed how im-
portant it was, and he gave you that. He also
wanted it for himself. When you saw Arnold
in photographs and on TV, you saw a man
fighting not just to win, but to earn his dig-
nity, like we all do. That was his charisma.
●●●
jack nicklaus was a killer. Covering so
many sports for so long, I recognized a few
athletes who truly understood the impor-
tance of winning. Michael Jordan, Bill Rus-
sell, Wayne Gretzky—winning was much
more than a punch line. Their skills were
awesome, but they supplemented them with
their reputations for being merciless. They
wanted to intimidate and use fear to their
advantage. Jack was expert at that. His com-
petitiveness was masked by the niceties of
golf—the handshakes, waves to the gallery
and so on. He played within those parame-
ters, but at heart he was a killer. You ever see
video of Jack screwing around, hitting trick
shots and goofing off? No, because it doesn’t
exist. He played to win—period.
●●●
chance favors the prepared man. Take
The Catch, the shot I got of Dwight Clark
catching the winning touchdown pass from
Joe Montana at the NFC Championship
game in 1982. I liked shooting receivers, and
I preferred doing it with a normal 500-mil-
limeter lens, pre-focused to 10 feet. That
way you can get something close to you.
Don’t ask me why I was in that corner of the
end zone. That part was luck. But the rest of
it—the ball nestled perfectly in Clark’s out-
stretched hands at the apex of his jump, the
picture being in focus and nicely in frame—I
was prepared for. I’d also practiced that shot
and had gotten one similar with a receiver
for the Browns named Dave Logan. It’s what
I was trained to do.
●●●
joe montana will beat you, or learn to beat
you, no matter the game. Very few athletes
are like that. In 1999, we were on Necker Is-
land [Virgin Islands], waiting to shoot Joe
and his wife, Jennifer, for a couples edition
of the SI swimsuit issue. My assistant, Welch
Golightly, and I are shooting baskets on a
court there. Joe arrives, and before we say
anything, Welch flips him the ball as sort
of a challenge. Joe gave us a look like, Oh,
really? and from 20 feet, hit nothing but net.
His form and the release were perfect—he’d
been an all-state basketball player—and the
look in his eye was a little defiant. Welch
and I looked at each other and said the same
word at the same time: “Player.” You could
just tell he’s a guy who will end up beating
you at anything.
●●●
i saw things in NFL training rooms dur-
ing the 1970s that were tough to take. Guys
routinely would get their knees drained with
these long, thick needles that made you sick
just to watch. Or they’d get injections of local
painkillers I could tell were agony. The har-
rowing part was how routine it was. Sonny
Jurgensen told me his knee was killing him
during a game once, and that the doctor
didn’t bother to take his pants off, just sunk
in the needle straight through his uniform.
I liked the training rooms because all the
players came through there, the conversa-
tion was good and they were the site of some
gritty, real images. But damn, there was a lot
of suffering in there.
●●●
photography is incredibly competitive.
Take someone like Neil Leifer, one of the
great sports photographers who ever lived
and for a long time one of my colleagues
at Sports Illustrated. I always felt like I was
competing with Neil, because we wanted the
same things: covers, important assignments,
opening spreads. We had different work-
ing styles, Neil always highly prepared, me
much looser. He’d arrive for a football game
several hours before kickoff, while I might
arrive only an hour early. But the quality
of Neil’s work—his photograph of Muham-
mad Ali standing over Sonny Liston after
knocking him out is the greatest sports pho-
tograph of all time—made me work harder
and pushed me to improve. Just as the Roll-
ing Stones drove the Beatles to be better and
vice versa, Neil brought out the best in me.
It wasn’t bad for Sports Illustrated, either.
●●●
in 1980, I was assigned to work at a party at
Lake Placid on the eve of the Winter Olym-
pics. I noticed Bill Eppridge, who is best
known for taking the incredible photograph
of the Robert Kennedy assassination in 1968,
was also there. He was dressed in Army cam-
ouflage, which made no sense to me. When
I asked him why, he said, “Because no one
will look at me.” Since then, when shooting
publicly I’ve made a point of trying to be the
most nondescript person in the room.
●●●
on saturday at the 1968 U.S. Open at Oak
Hill, I made the mistake of stepping into a
bunker to get a photograph. To Joe Dey, the
USGA’s executive director and my nemesis
already for sins such as venturing too far
inside the ropes, this was the last straw. He
took away my credential and had me thrown
off the grounds. It was traumatic for me, like
a soldier having the epaulets torn from his
uniform. It was a huge problem because
I needed to be there on Sunday, and now I
can’t work. My bosses intervened, and the
next morning I was ordered to Joe Dey’s of-
fice in the clubhouse to issue an apology. He
was a scary guy, the ultimate authority fig-
ure known for wearing a dark wool blazer in
even the hottest weather. He’d had a health
episode that caused one of his eyes to droop,
which gave him a demonic look as he lec-
tured me in the strongest possible terms.
I apologized, but it wasn’t the last time I
pushed the boundaries. My feeling was, to
get the best photograph, you sometimes
have to risk getting thrown out.
●●●
from 1986 to 1990 , I did a lot of work for
Camel cigarettes, through McCann Erick-
son, the famous ad agency you saw on “Mad
Men.” I made a lot of money there. One of
the projects could only be shot in the remote
jungles of the Philippines, for the broadleaf
banana and cocoa palms they wanted to
show. I thought it was going to be a tropi-
cal paradise, but it turned out to be hell. Six
weeks of heat, rain, snakes, boredom and
biting insects. When I got home, I felt like I’d
been repatriated.
●●●
lee trevino , you couldn’t take a bad pic-
ture of him. The photograph of him wearing
a pith helmet, holding a snake in one hand
and a hatchet in the other shortly before
he won the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion, I shot
that. More than 40 years later, I shot him
posing with a snake for Golf Digest. Over
the years, Lee always recognized me in the
gallery, used me as his straight man as he
wisecracked with the galleries. “Look at the
KATE AND ARNIE: MODEL KATE UPTON JOINS
ARNOLD PALMER FOR A COVER SHOOT FOR
THE DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE OF GOLF DIGEST.
long-haired photographer,” he’d say. “I’ll bet
he smoked a pound of marijuana last night.”
The gallery would roar, then Lee would look
at me and wink. We both understood it was
all about entertainment.
●●●
lee was a hard worker. It seemed like he
never took a week off. At the end of that big
1971 season, SI named him Sportsman of the
Year and sent me to Dallas to shoot him for
the cover. Lee invited me over to Thanksgiv-
ing dinner at his house. We ate a huge din-
ner, then went to his screened-in porch to
shoot the portrait. Shortly after we started,
I looked through the viewfinder and saw that
Lee was nodding off. He was that exhausted.
He’s one of two guys who fell asleep on me.
The other was Cal Ripken Jr. Toward the
‘THE WALLS [TIGER] CREATED OUT OF NECESSITY,
THE COMPLEXITY OF BEING HIM, HAVE ALWAYS COME
ACROSS IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS.’
end of his streak of playing in 2,632 consecu-
tive games, we were working on the photog-
raphy portion of his book, Cal on Cal. The
timing was such that it had to be done at the
end of a twilight doubleheader in August. It
was nasty hot and humid, and by the end of
the second game, he was whipped. But he’d
given his word he’d do the shoot, and to this
guy, a deal was a deal. Shortly after I sat him
down, I watched him begin to nod off. I actu-
ally felt guilty about waking him up.
●●●
when i look at the pace kept by Jordan
Spieth, Rickie Fowler and the rest, I don’t
see how they can last 10 years. The pres-
sures are so much more intense than in the
old days. Sponsors and media never let up.
The practice and training are so grueling.
The recovery periods, the time needed to rest
the brain, are too short. I’m not an expert at
golf, but I’ve witnessed the lives of athletes
up close for six decades now. One thing I can
say for sure is, Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18
professional majors will never be broken and
probably won’t even be approached.
●●●
so who’s still out there? Tiger Woods,
obviously. As many times as I’ve photo-
graphed him, something has always gone
missing. The walls he created out of necessi-
ty, the complexity of being him, have always
come across in the photographs. One day
I hope to look through my viewfinder and
see in Tiger’s eyes a man who finally is at
ease about trying to connect with us. There’s
so much more beauty in there. But it’s a
tough get.
august 2018 | golfdigest.com 83
▶ The PGA has been played in every month but January, March and April, but
when the 100th championship is played Aug. 9-12 at Bellerive Country Club in
St. Louis, it will end the traditional late-summer finish to the major-champion-
ship season. Golf returning to the Olympics kick-started a shake-up in the sport’s
calendar—the 2016 Rio Games moved the PGA out of August for the first time in
almost half a century—and prompted the PGA’s long-term move to May begin-
ning next year at Bethpage. ▶ It has been 26 years since Nick Price won in the
PGA’s last visit to Bellerive, born as The Field Club nine-holer in 1897. Just five
pga of america

years after a Robert Trent Jones 18 was opened in 1960, Gary Player completed
his career Grand Slam by winning the first U.S. Open that scheduled an 18-hole
Sunday final round instead of the traditional 36-hole Saturday finish that Ken
84 golfdigest.com | 2018 pga championship
Venturi endured the year before at Congressional. It was also the first U.S. Open
televised in color. NBC televised an hour of Player’s playoff win over Kel Nagle on
Monday, and Player donated all of his winnings to charity. ▶ The biggest difference
in the course from Price’s win in 1992? The PGA of America’s Kerry Haigh says
it’s the short-cut zoysia grasses around the greens. “That cut has been forged in
and around many greens and into many of the bunkers, which obviously brings
them more into play,” says Haigh, who adds that Bellerive features “some of the
largest greens in championship golf, some 10,000 square feet, and certainly large
bunkers.” ▶ One other potential change from 1992: The average high temperature
for August in St. Louis is 88 degrees, but Haigh recalls showing up for work at
that PGA wearing a jacket because of the cool temps. ▶ Almost like it was May. ▶
opening hole bellerive starts with a 425-yard par 4 and plays at 7,317 yards and par 70.
TELEVISION SCORECARD 100 YEARS
all times eastern hole yards par
OF PGA SITES
visits per state, including this year
Aug. 9-10, 2-8 p.m., TNT 1 425 4
Aug. 11-12, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., 2 410 4
12 New York 11 Ohio 9 Pennsylvania
TNT; 2-7 p.m., CBS 3 148 3
6 Illinois, Michigan, Oklahoma 5 Minnesota
4 521 4
4 California, Kentucky, Wisconsin 3 Colorado,
FUTURE 5
6
471
213
4
3
Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina,

PGA SITES 7 394 4

Texas 2 Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Maryland,
Washington 1 Massachusetts, Oregon,
8 610 5
Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia
2019 Bethpage Black, Farmingdale, N.Y. 9 433 4
2020 Harding Park, San Francisco
2021 Kiawah Island (Ocean), S.C. out 3,625 35 BELLERIVE
2022 Trump National, Bedminster, N.J.
10 508 4
CHAMPIONS
2023 Oak Hill, Pittsford, N.Y.
2024 Valhalla, Louisville 11 355 4 year winner
2025-2026 To be announced 12 452 4
2027 Aronimink, Newtown Square, Pa. 13 180 3 1965 U.S. Open Gary Player
2028 Olympic Club, San Francisco 14 410 4 1992 PGA Ch. Nick Price
15 495 4
gary kellner/getty images

No later than 2030 Southern Hills, Tulsa 2001 AmEx Ch. Canceled (September 11)
16 237 3 2004 U.S. Sr. Open Peter Jacobsen
17 597 5 2008 BMW Ch. Camilo Villegas
beautiful parkland 18 458 4 2013 Sr. PGA Ch. Kohki Idoki
bellerive’s 12th hole (above)
is a 452-yard, in 3,692 35
dogleg-left par 4.
total 7,317 70

86 golfdigest.com | 2018 pga championship

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Photograph by Andy Ford
august 2018 | golfdigest.com 89
 DDIE PEPPERELL will let you know what he’s thinking. Whether there are quite a few bmws
taking on life’s amusements and challenges on his provocative in the car park. There you
Twitter account or posting alternately funny and brooding items go. That says it all. Or maybe it’s
to his blog, the 27-year-old pro from England chronicles the roller just that the finance deals are
coaster of a career that experienced an uptick in February with good these days. [Smiles.] Lis-
his first European Tour victory. ▶ “I didn’t think winning a tournament would ten, Louis Oosthuizen lost his
give me as much satisfaction as it has,” he wrote after the Qatar Masters. “It’s card a few years into his career.
made me realize my apathy and lack of interest is mostly a deception I’ve just Look what he has gone on to do.
played on myself.” But, he added, “If I ever get above my station, my sister So people lose their way, lose
will put me right. She has a knack for four-letter curses and pinpoint truth- their cards and come back.
I’ve never had a Plan B.
telling.” ▶ Pepperell has endured plenty of humbling moments, including the
It’s always been about Plan A.
time his credit card was rejected the morning he won a Challenge Tour event
So I don’t really know how to
in 2012. Now a member of the European Tour’s Tournament Committee, he
advise young people. Do I tell
candidly addressed his life and self-doubts in two sit-downs with Golf Digest. them to do what I’ve done,
tell us about the dream intermittent. I tend to write the first day and 64 the second. which is fairly unique? Or do
you had of trying to buy only when I want to or feel like But I did it the other way and I tell them to do what most
a car but getting a surprise I have something to say. I write was leading or one shot back people have done? In my mind,
instead. I did have a dream mostly when I’m struggling or after 18 holes. But to follow that there is an inherent fear of fail-
about a tiger, but any others I’ve playing badly, or when I read up with a 76 that included a ure. So there has only been one
had, I’m not sharing. [Laughs.] more. If things are going OK, double bogey on the last, where way with my Plan A: execute
The tiger dream was weird, I’m not thinking about stuff as I drove out-of-bounds and it. If my career ended now for
though. I dreamt that I bought much. I’d hate to have to write missed the cut, was disastrous. whatever reason, I’d be sad, but
a BMW 7 Series in China. It was to deadlines. I say that because it was tough I feel like I’ve learned enough
£100,000, and I arranged to ●●● to hit O.B. on that hole. It was through playing for 20 years
have it shipped home. But they this after not reading your a terrible, terrible shot. It was and professionally for six that I
delivered a baby tiger instead. first book until you were worse than that shot Jordan could go and do something else.
I have no idea what that means. 19? I was on holiday in Cyprus Spieth hit on the 13th hole at ●●●
But in the dream, I was fuming. with my girlfriend. It was Birkdale last year in the Open. you could be an after-
●●● Lawrence Dallaglio’s autobiog- This was Jordan without a right dinner speaker. I’m not sure
what makes you laugh? raphy [former England rugby arm. I haven’t cried many times about that. I’d need a few jokes.
Sometimes Twitter. captain]. I found it fascinating. in my career, but when I got As I’ve gotten older, I’ve real-
●●● And something clicked in my back to my room, I broke down. ized that the future is never
you get closer to the edge mind after that. I was off and It was a sickening moment for as bleak as you think it might
than most golfers on running. me, my family and anyone who be. But when you’re young,
there. I probably go over that ●●● really cares about me. you don’t think like that. I was
edge sometimes. I don’t care if what pisses you off? ●●● fortunate in many ways. I have
people give me abuse because Nothing, really. I always start can you recall looking up a great family. My dad never
they don’t agree with my opin- from the assumption that we and seeing where the ball pushed me. I see some kids
ion on something. Get over it. are all imperfect. So I’m never was headed? Oh, yes. But the I grew up with who never made
That’s just life. So as long as surprised—or not often. I am worst moment was the feeling it but were plenty good enough.
I don’t cross certain boundar- surprised when I see someone at the top of my swing. I was I have to think that has some-
ies—which I never get into—the do something really good. I literally frightened. I knew I thing to do with their family
rest is just a joke. And Twitter is never expect that. I always as- was either going to flat hook it influences.
that side of me. sume that we’re all a bit shitty. or block it. I chose to block it. ●●●
It would be easier for me ●●● I was in a bad way with my one of your low points hap-
not to get involved on social you’re a cynic. I am. Which is swing then, and it became men- pened before you won on
media. I actually delete most of not to say I’m pessimistic about tal. So I was back at qualifying the challenge tour. When
my tweets [@PepperellEddie] everything or want the world to school. I played there predomi- I went to pay my hotel bill on
before I send them. I get that come crumbling down. But I do nantly with my 3-wood and got the morning of the final round,
I’m probably not doing myself think too many people expect through. my credit card was rejected.
many favors commercially. perfection these days. And that ●●● I didn’t have enough funds, so
[In a spat with veteran tour pro isn’t realistic. was going there a big blow my mum came to the rescue.
Gary Evans, Pepperell tweeted, ●●● to the ego? No. I don’t have Actually, my mate Laurie Can-
The beauty of having no spon- only a couple of years an ego. ter paid, then my mum paid
sors is that you can actually say ago your career was at ●●● him back.
what you think.] But if someone a low ebb. you lost your oh, come on. everyone does. ●●●
is giving me some crap, I’ll have tour card under traumatic No, I don’t think I do. I know the woman in your life [jen
a bit of fun. Sometimes that circumstances. run me a lot of people would love to rhodes] has had a big influ-
comes off, sometimes it doesn’t. through that again. In 2016, do what I do for a living. But ence on you, hasn’t she?
●●● I came to the final event of the that works both ways. I’m sure [pepperell once deleted his
we get more thoughts on season, the Portugal Masters, there are some very successful twitter account to improve
your blog [eddiepepperell right on the bubble for keeping people here at Frilford Heath their relationship, saying
.wordpress.com]. my card. It would have been a [Golf Club] who I would love to he was spending time on
My blog has always been a bit lot less stressful had I shot 76 emulate. social media “narcissisti-

90 golfdigest.com | august 2018

cally.”] you’ve had a long
relationship for one so
young. Yeah, that’s not normal,
is it? [Laughs.] We’ve been to-
gether since we were 16, so over
10 years. She’s great. We’re very
different. She’s intelligent. She
studied law. She has a master’s.
And now she’s training to be
a health coach. I see that as a
great opportunity for her. As
a society, we have become way
too interested in curing people
rather than preventing the ac-
tual illness.
●●●
has anything changed for
you since winning in qatar?
The big thing I learned was that
I was able to hit the ball—by
and large, at least—as well in
the final round as I had over the
first three days. Anyone who
has played golf under pressure
will know that the tendency
is to move faster, especially
the big muscles. But that week
was different. I’d just started
with a new instructor, Simon
Shanks—which is a great name
for a golf coach—and his assis-
tant is Matt Hacking, which is
even more incredible.
I’ve always thought of Zach
Johnson as an example of how
to win tournaments. I mean,
why has he won more times
than, say, Paul Casey? He’s even
won more often than Henrik
Stenson on the PGA Tour.
There’s no way that Zach is a
better ball-striker—or a better
golfer—than either of those
guys, but when it comes to the
crunch, Zach can hit the right
shots when he absolutely has
to. That shows how it all comes
down to swing feelings.
●●●
so you get your mental re-
assurance from a physical
feeling? Exactly. And I always
thought that would be the case.
I have never questioned my
mental capability to win. Why
should I? I won as a kid. I won
as an amateur. I won on the
Challenge Tour. I’m not all of
sudden going to be afraid to
win on the European Tour. That
makes no sense to me. Which
is not to say that it’s not harder
to win on the European Tour.
It requires more types of shots
and a better quality of shot.
I could always achieve that level
when not under pressure. But
I found it more difficult when
I was under pressure.
●●●
i was particularly im-
pressed with that drive you
necked out there on the
72nd hole. [Laughs.] I nearly
missed it.
●●●
your temperament is
clearly more artistic than
scientific, and that makes
the shots you hit a little
different from the norm.
fair? When it comes to hitting
the same shot over and over,
I’ve either got too much talent
or a lack of talent. Whatever,
I can’t do that. I wish I could go
to a course in easy conditions
and shoot 25 under par. But
I’m not good enough to do so.
I happily admit that. I’ve not
got the driving game or the
putting game. But I have got the
ability to hit a variety of shots.
I’m creative with shots. I play
better in the wind than most
other guys on tour. I can adapt
to different conditions. That is
a skill, and that’s my skill.
We’re all different. That’s
important to realize, I think.
I just have to hope that the
modern game encompasses a
I KNOW WHERE THE 65 CAME FROM TODAY. LAST NIGHT, UPON STEPPING DOWN FROM THE TOP OF THE
BUNK BED (OF WHICH LAURIE WAS SHARING WITH ME), MY BOXERS GOT CAUGHT AND I GAVE MYSELF, FRANKLY,
A TREMENDOUS WEDGIE. I WAS HOPELESS AND STRANDED FOR A MOMENT. IT GAVE ME PERSPECTIVE.
big enough variety of courses
so that I can still succeed being
me. I think I can have a great
career and earn a lot of money
with the game I have. And if
it changes over the next five
years, I can always go off and
try something else.
●●●
if the ball was reined in
and allowed to go sideways
more, you would benefit.
Trust me, I hit it sideways
enough. [Laughs.] The interest-
ing thing for me stems from
hitting so many 3-woods off the
tee. If they hauled the ball back,
people are going to have to hit
more drivers. They just will. So
those who will benefit most are
the best drivers of the ball.
Arguably, if there is more
sidespin on the ball, I would
find it easier to shape and get
it in play. And when I look at
Rory, I think he would benefit
from the old equipment. When
he stands up under pressure, he
wants to hit that 15-yard draw.
That’s the shot he sees. But the
modern equipment stops him
from doing that. I wouldn’t be
buying shares in myself or Hen-
rik should a ball change come
in—we just don’t hit driver
enough. But I would buy shares
in Rory or Dustin Johnson.
They’re the best drivers, and
they would only be helped by a
ball change.
●●●
what energizes your brain
when you’re not playing
golf? I’m really into the mar-
kets and the economy. I used
to follow politics, but I grew
to hate that. I find economics
fascinating, though. At home,
I often have Bloomberg or
CNBC on. I know that sounds
incredibly boring to most peo-
ple, but I enjoy it. I don’t active-
ly invest, though. I’m not trying
to make money. I’m just inter-
ested in where money comes
from and how it all works. More
generally, I’m intrigued by how
we all become victims of our
own success. There seems to
be a natural undercurrent in
nature and in life—no matter
what industry you’re in—where
things flow in cycles. And the
economy is like that in that
there are always going to be
recessions and expansions. It
almost always comes down to
how people feel about things.
Careers are like that, too. I know
mine is. I’ve often had some
of my lowest points right after
my biggest successes. Why is
that? Because I get complacent
and stop focusing on the right
things. And when I’m in a low,
I have to re-think and reinvigo-
rate myself. So I rise again. But
I love the rawness to life, good
and bad. And often it is bad.
People fail, and people die. But
that’s necessary to show the
disgusting beauty of life. We
can’t avoid it.
august 2018 | golfdigest.com
you’re on the european
tour tournament commit-
tee. you’re not the typical
committee member. is this
the first sign of the ero-
sion of an inquiring mind?
[Laughs.] I did it because I
didn’t want to be that guy who
complains in ignorance. I don’t
complain about many things
on tour. I don’t complain about
bus schedules or the food in the
players’ lounge. Some players
do. I think we’re pretty lucky,
and there are bigger issues.
I want to understand the pre-
dicaments the tour faces in a
whole host of areas. It’s been
brilliant, too. I get the chance
to spend time with [CEO] Keith
Pelley. I get to understand his
vision and the way he is. I get to
spend time listening to Thomas
Bjorn in an environment where
he is really productive. He can
be good and bad at times, I
know, and I’ve said that to his
face. But I really quite like him.
And in committee, he has been
brilliant. Which is not to say we
haven’t had disagreements.
●●●
what are your politics?
Away from golf? That would
get me in trouble. All I would
say is that I am a big advocate
of freedom and responsibility.
There are so many things right
now where people just don’t
accept responsibility. They
spend too much time trying to
get the government to subsidize
their needs or wants. Pro golf-
ers are more likely to sit on the
right politically, much more
than on the left, because of the
nature of golf. To be success-
ful on tour—which is difficult
to achieve—you have to take a
lot on yourself. There is no one
holding your hand out there.
It’s a cutthroat environment
professionally. And that trans-
fers into how a player is likely to
see the world politically. Which
is definitely what has happened
to me over the last five or six
years. Having experienced the
tour, I’ve come to see that as
resembling real life.
91
flag-bearer Burning Tree (No. 31) represents a membership of admirals, generals, cabinet secretaries, intelligence agents and U.S. presidents.
 greatest golf locker rooms in america
gutter credit tk

august 2018 | golfdigest.com 93

like a beautifully designed hole, the finest locker rooms leave a lasting impression.

midwest chill
Milwaukee Country
Club (No. 16) has
old-school charm.

seminole g.c.
juno beach, fla.

▶ “It is quiet, pleasant and

elegant—one of the better
places in Florida to change
your shoes,” Dan Jenkins
wrote in 1965. Not much has
changed in more than 50
years. With 30-foot-high wood
ceilings, taxidermy on the walls
and gold lettering on boards
listing winners of the club’s
prestigous tournaments, you
step back in time here.

castle pines g.c.

makes a great golf castle rock, colo.
locker room? Is it
▶ Dressed in a suit and tie,
a storied history, locker-room manager Tom
modern luxury Horal—in his 34th year at the
club—remembers your name
or simply an unassuming place to change your shoes? For our latest and drink order after one visit.
ranking of America’s 50 Greatest Golf Locker Rooms, we put this question

previous pages: courtesy of burning tree club • courtesy of milwaukee country club
to Golf Digest’s 1,500 course-ranking panelists. The answer, we found, 3

is that no one style of a quality locker room appeals to all, although ones adios g.c.
oozing character seem to resonate more. The locker room at Seminole coconut creek, fla.
Golf Club, the 1929 Donald Ross design in Juno Beach, Fla., tops our ▶ The locker room has a
list—just as it did on our 2007 inaugural ranking in Golf Digest Index second-floor gym with floor-
to-ceiling windows overlooking
magazine. “It’s so authentic and unchanged, you could picture Ben Hogan
the course. Walk a few steps
changing his shoes with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth,” says one from the gym and you’ll find
panelist. Other historic clubs making our list include Augusta National yourself in one of the bars
named to our list of Best 19th
(No. 8), Oakmont (No. 12), Winged Foot (No. 33) and Merion (No. 36). For Holes in America.
golfers with more lavish tastes, there are the ultra-modern locker-room
4
experiences: Sip a house-made cabernet on the balcony at The Bridges
at Rancho Santa Fe (No. 22) or get in a workout at the second-story gym indian creek c.c.
overlooking the course at Adios Golf Club (No. 3). Thirty-three of the miami
locker rooms on our ranking, in fact, were built in 1970 or later compared ▶ You’ll often find celebrities
to 17 classics. But whether you’re a purist or enjoy being pampered, playing cards and knocking
back a cocktail in this locker
the locker rooms on these pages are some of the best places to relax and
room featuring cathedral-style
ruminate about the day’s round. —STEPHEN HENNESSEY wood detailing.

94 golfdigest.com | august 2018

 5 8
the madison club
la quinta, calif.
▶ Rock music blares throughout,
and the posh grillroom has a
Vegas-like sports ticker on the
huge, wide-screen TV.
6
whisper rock g.c.
scottsdale
▶ Several dozen PGA Tour
players are members, including
Phil Mickelson. Need to
rejuvenate after your round?
Hit up the “nap room.”
7 after his death.
stock farm club
hamilton, mont.
▶ A stuffed cougar and
mule-dear heads adorn the
walls, and antlers are used in
chandelier fixtures and table
lamps—appropriate decor for
this log-cabin-like hangout.
marisa reinert/ the bridges at rancho santa fe
augusta (ga.)
national g.c.
▶ This might be the most
coveted place to visit among
golfers: Walk upstairs for the
Champions Locker Room—a
must-see for any Masters fan.
9 12
the golf club
new albany, ohio
▶ A very large oil painting of
club founder Fred Jones sits
on a shelf above the Cotswolds
stone fireplace, as if he’s still
watching over the club, long
10
nanea g.c.
kailua-kona, hawaii
▶ Walk through the locker room
to find open-air showers in an
outdoor courtyard with gray-
pebble floors and lava-rock
outcroppings. Also, you need
to try the homemade cookies.
hot spot Golfers can enjoy a post-round soak at The Bridges (No. 22) at Rancho Santa Fe.
11
friar’s head g.c.
baiting hollow, n.y.
▶ Likened by some to a new-
age luxury hotel, the ambiance
here is cozy. The small locker-
room bar offers views of the
first tee and ninth green.
oakmont (pa.) c.c.
▶ Hundred-year-old spike
marks on the benches and
compartments used by
members to hide booze during
Prohibition are just two signs
of its history.
13
forest creek g.c.
pinehurst, n.c.
▶ It’s like stepping inside the
most glamorous horse stable.
The 9,000-square-foot locker-
room has stall doors that
separate each set of lockers
and a roof with wood shingles.
14
the alotian club
roland, ark.
▶ How far does the service go?
Garbage is refrigerated on-site
(to avoid any odors) during the
day before being shuttled out
in electric carts.
15
sherwood c.c.
thousand oaks, calif.
▶ Vistas of the rolling L.A.
hillsides from the patio, where
you might see Wayne Gretzky
or Justin Timberlake, make
this one of the West Coast’s
coolest hangs.
16
milwaukee c.c.
river hills, wis.
▶ The bratwurst and sausage
highlight the daily spread.
Rumor has it Brett Favre was
asked to leave after knocking
over a trophy while tossing a
football between locker rows.
the alotian club staff will shine your shoes three times during one visit:
your golf shoes before and after a round, and your street shoes while you play.
17
diamond creek g.c.
banner elk, n.c.
▶ Period artwork and furniture
give this rustic, modern
clubhouse more of a luxury
mountain lodge feeling than
a golf locker room.
18
kinloch g.c.
manakin-sabot, va.
▶ Attendants will detail your car
as you play. Bartenders greet
guests upon entry, asking for
your drink order.
19
muirfield village g.c.
dublin, ohio
▶ Jack Nicklaus made
milkshakes the signature drink
at his home club as a nostalgic
nod to operating the soda
machine at his dad’s pharmacy
as a teenager.
20
old memorial g.c.
tampa
▶ With on-site cottages and no
official closing time inside the
locker-room bar, things can get
rowdy at Old Memorial, named
one of Golf Digest’s Best 19th
Holes in our 2008 ranking.
21
calusa pines g.c.
naples
▶ Owner Gary Chensoff
traveled to golf’s best clubs
for inspiration. The result?
“It’s like you’re stepping into
a locker room that has been
there for more than 100 years,”
says one panelist.
96 golfdigest.com | august 2018
22
the bridges
at rancho santa fe
(calif.)
▶ A vineyard on property
produces the club’s own wines.
Enjoy a cabernet or sangiovese
in the locker room or on the
balcony with views of the
Southern California foothills.
23
old sandwich g.c.
plymouth, mass.
▶ Locker-room attendants
will happily take your lunch
order as you relax in the steam
bath post-round.
24
gozzer ranch
golf & lake club
harrison, idaho
▶ An outside bar is tucked away
in a forested area between
the locker room and first tee,
serving drinks and tacos.
25
sebonack g.c.
southampton, n.y.
▶ As if you were checking into
a hotel, guests are welcomed at
a desk inside the locker room.
26
sea island g.c.
st. simons island, ga.
▶ This is the highest-ranked
locker room open to the public.
The 6,000-square-foot space
has an exercise room, rainfall
showers and one of the best
cigar rooms around—with views
of the Atlantic Ocean.
27
champions g.c.
houston
▶ A marker on the horseshoe-
shape locker-room bar denotes
where co-founder and three-
time Masters champ Jimmy
Demaret would drink his post-
round martini.
28
sage valley g.c.
graniteville, s.c.
▶ Founder Weldon Wyatt,
emulating nearby Augusta
National, wanted every detail
taken to the next level. That
includes a new pub where
transfusions are poured into
huge goblet glasses.
29
mountaintop
golf & lake club
cashiers, n.c.
▶ A full-service spa includes
a large steam room with a
shaving sink, sauna, whirlpool
and cold plunge pool.
30
the country club
chestnut hill, mass.
▶ The patio overlooking the
18th green is where the
1999 U.S. Ryder Cup team
celebrated its epic comeback.
Lights over each locker still
operate by pull string.
31
burning tree club
bethesda, md.
▶ Former presidents and
congressmen of both parties
are members, and everyone
eats together at the long
dining tables.
32
shadow creek
north las vegas
▶ Hanging above the urinals
are the course records of Tiger
Woods and Fred Couples,
including a quote from Freddie:
“Make sure you put this above
the urinals next to Tiger’s
record,” after tying Tiger’s
record of 60 in 2007.
33
winged foot g.c.
mamaroneck, n.y.
▶ A trophy case greets entrants
with decades-old memorabilia
before entering a two-level
locker room filled with photos
of past major champions.
34
mayacama g.c.
santa rosa, calif.
▶ Lockers are positioned
around the massive stone
fireplace, which is so big
an attendant has to climb
inside to stoke the flames.
35
preston trail g.c.
dallas
▶ The all-male club has strict
rules: You must be 21 years
old to play (even Dallas native
Jordan Spieth didn’t get an
invite ’till his 21st birthday).
36
merion g.c.
ardmore, pa.
▶ During the Great Depression,
the club looked at cutting
expenses like water costs from
its legendary showers, which
require oversize supply pipes
and drain plates. A member
footed the water bill for years
to keep its tradition intact.

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their work with passion. In
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on well-paid jobs as lawyers to
start pursuing their favorite vice
professionally. With VICE Golf
they founded a young company
whose employees not only work
together, but also join each other
for a round of golf. Together they
produce and sell irst-class golf
balls which have been awarded
the gold medal of the renowned
Golf Digest Hotlist 2018.
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WHAT IS THE VICE WAY?
NO MIDDLE MAN
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HALF THE PRICE
Unlike other producers of pre-
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misingly relies on e-commerce
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money. As Duellmann puts it: “A
golf ball produced by a traditio-
nal premium golf brand reaches
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mediaries on average and is of-
ten sold at four to ive times the
original price. Meanwhile, we
do without expensive stores and
traditional sales channels. In fact,
we want to enable our customers
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Balls, caps, gloves, hats, or golf
bags are then directly delivered to
your door, as quickly as possible.
ding prices. Customers
– by visiting a casino,
playing more golf.”
his concept underlines the zest
for life and the spirit of the time
which Duellmann, Stoeckl, and
their employees aim to transfer
onto their products and ultima-
tely the customers. “We live in a
time characterized by an urge for
self-realization and resource opti-
mization. However, the traditio-
nal sport of golf is rather the op-
posite of economical and flexible.
his is a major reason why young
people are saying goodbye to golf
courses. We want to break this
vicious circle!” says Duellmann.
Furthermore, golf often tends to
lack a cool and dynamic image.
VICE Golf consciously chose to
go against this trend. “he strict
were the main reason for us to
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try. We are conscious and coni-
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charismatic boys with their base-
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lish, extraordinary brand world
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directly to the minds (and hearts)
of the descendants of Generation
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or casinos are only the beginning.
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vicegolf.com
5 women’s
locker rooms that
get it right
▶ Not enough attention is paid
to where female golfers change
their shoes, and the amenities
they’re given. Aptly summed
up by one of our panelists, who
has played at many of the best
clubs in the country: “We are
usually an afterthought, even
at some of the nicest courses.”
And as another panelist stated:
“Many women’s locker rooms
are so small, they only have
one or two extras, or none at
all, for guests.” We hope that
changes. Here are five clubs
that get it right. —SH
coeur d’alene
(idaho) resort
▶ You can schedule a chair
massage before or after
your round.
cascata, boulder
city, nev.
▶ Guests are welcomed with
the beverage of their choice,
a wide selection of snacks and
a personalized locker.
somerset hills c.c.,
bernardsville, n.j.
▶ Many members say it’s nicer
than the men’s locker room.
Music plays on wireless
speakers throughout the
newly designed space.
kohanaiki,
kailua-kona, hawaii
▶ Walk through the club’s
garden-pool entrance to this
“incredibly lavish experience,”
as one panelist puts it, which
includes poke bowls for
lunch, pineapple water spiked
with vodka and ice-cream
sandwiches on 18.
shinnecock hills g.c.,
southampton, n.y.
▶ The newly renovated women’s
locker room is on the top floor
of the clubhouse, offering a
bird’s-eye view of the course.
Shinnecock honors its history,
having women members since
the club’s founding in 1891.
98 golfdigest.com | august 2018
37 41 46
congressional c.c. pine valley (n.j.) g.c. glenwild golf club
bethesda, md. and spa
▶ Simple, unadorned beige park city, utah
▶ At the bottom of a non- metal lockers, wood-paneled
descript staircase, you enter walls and green carpeting ▶ It’s hard to get lost exiting
a darkened room with a ensure that all your attention is this locker room: The spa
miniature four-lane bowling on the golf course. and the golf-shop doors are
alley with a fully stocked bar, right outside the exit door,
immediately transporting you 42 as are carts to the practice
back to the 1920s. area or first tee.
san francisco g.c.
38 47
▶ Ancient pistols are on display,
the preserve g.c. a nod to the Broderick-Terry garden city (n.y.) g.c.
carmel, calif. duel in 1859, which took place
yards from the seventh hole. ▶ Sport coats are mandatory
▶ Everything is posh and lavish, in the men’s-only clubhouse,
including the hot tub with a 43 no matter the weather. Metal-
window overlooking the course, grate lockers and coat racks
which sits within the 20,000- national golf links to hang guest jackets are also
acre Santa Lucia Preserve. of america decidedly old school.
The experience is unique, with southampton, n.y.
very few groups being out 48
there each day. ▶ This historic sanctum sits in
the basement of the clubhouse. the g.c. at black rock
39 A quote above the entrance coeur d’alene, idaho
reminds players that faster
robert trent jones matches should play through. ▶ Lodge-style chic: You can get
g.c. gainesville, va. a shoe detail or massage as you
44 gaze at the full-size elk mount.
▶ Four former presidents
(George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, ocean forest g.c. 49
George W. Bush and Barack sea island, ga.
Obama) are members. Guests butler national g.c.
are known to open their lockers ▶ One of the most relaxing oak brook, ill.
to see if they’re in town. spots in golf might be the
library in the locker room, which ▶ Locker-room maître d’ Tony
40 overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Ulloa learns guest names before
they arrive. The lounge on
the bear’s club 45 the upper level has a gigantic
jupiter, fla. window with views of the 18th.
medalist g.c.
▶ It has an impressive hobe sound, fla. 50
pro-golfer membership that
rivals Whisper Rock, and ▶ If Tiger Woods is home, the estancia club
there are six bays in the men’s you’re likely to find him here. scottsdale
locker room for members to Super Bowl weekend is unique:
choose from. (Yes, six.) unlimited golf, stadium seating ▶ Challenge the chef’s staff to
to watch the game, and a half- make anything not on the menu.
time steak-and-wine dinner. Full massages are offered, too.
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 Presented by and

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Closeout
The Rules of the Room
Locker-room etiquette made simple
▶ it’s not easy being naked.
It’s also not easy acting like it’s
easy being naked. That, none-
theless, is rule No. 1 of good
locker-room etiquette. Rule
No. 2 is, act like it’s no big deal
to see other guys being naked.
▶ nudity , of course, is just
one element of locker-room
etiquette, but while we’re on it,
most of us would prefer to see
you nude as little as possible.
It’s not that we can’t handle it.
But must we? We won’t take
you for a prude if you wrap a
towel around your waist while
you shave or check out
“SportsCenter.” We kind of
100 golfdigest.com | august 2018
BY BOB CARNEY
understand why you’d want
to remove it on the scales,
though. Every ounce counts.
▶ bring a towel to stand
on if you worry about germs.
Those little paper slippers work
just fine, but your failure to use
them is no breach of etiquette.
If putting them on were slightly
easier and didn’t risk a fatal fall,
we might feel otherwise.
▶ sit on a towel , so the
powder you applied doesn’t
end up on another member’s
navy-blue gabardines.
▶ be neat. Put the clothes you
shed into your locker, and if
you’re a member, clean it out
at least once every Ryder Cup.
Put your duffel on top of your
locker, not on the bench,
so the fellow with the locker
opposite has a place to sit.
▶ move quickly through
your appointed rounds.
Some people seem to forget
they are sharing the facilities,
a lapse that is more than
annoying during, say, the
pre-cocktail-hour shower
at a member-guest.
▶ tip the attendant . Five
dollars per pair of shoes
(street shoes or golf shoes)
is standard. If you’re a guest,
offer to tip the attendant
unless you know that tipping
is forbidden. In that case,
offer thanks instead.
▶ if you invite a guest , alert
your locker-room attendant so
he can secure a locker for your
guest and greet him by name.
▶ keep the phone calls
to a minimum. Most clubs now
allow phone calls in the
locker room—if not every-
where else—but it’s still polite
to keep your calls to a mini-
mum. Honestly, we are no
more interested in the size
of your business deals, than
we are in the size of your, um,
portfolio.
Illustration by Jason Lee
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