Having been in this position my- self many times, I know my own “lying eyes” honestly tend to see whatever is the most advantageous route even when science and logic might challenge its likelihood. This is also the rationale people use when finding loopholes in the tax code. However, McIlroy said he believed in karma; as a fellow Irish Catholic, I understand the intertwining of con- science and consequence. All three of these players – Rory, Jordan, Viktor – might one day be candidates for the Bob Jones Award. Although tense in the moment, the
praise a man for not robbing a bank as to praise him for playing by the rules,” Jones said. A Masters green jacket might make you a prince of the church, but the Bob Jones Award confers sainthood. Occasionally, you get a head- scratcher. I remember bumping into Nicklaus at a US Open dinner when he shook hands with the Bob Jones honoree and immediately turned to me and said, “What he win it for?” Does anyone really meet the full measure of the immortal Bob Jones, who knew unimaginable success in youth only to suffer the cruellest
incident ended amica- bly. Both Hovland and Spieth dashed from the scene without comment after the round, but Rory took the high road and declared: “Jordan was just trying to make sure that I was doing the right thing.” These situations recall an opinion piece Peter Dobereiner wrote in April 1984 headlined: “The Rules: Are you a Tom or a Gary?” It was during the first televised Skins Game when Tom Watson accused Gary Player of
disease stealing his body and leaving his mind untouched within it? “As a young man he stood up to just about the best that life can of- fer, which is not easy, and later he stood up with equal grace to just about the worst,” wrote Herbert Warren Wind, who got it in 1995. Is Tiger really wor- thy? It’s a judgment call. To quote Hum- phrey Bogart’s descrip- tion of Claude Rains in “Casablanca”: “He’s just like any other man only
Jerry Tarde, who served on the Bob Jones Award committee for 25 years, thinks the next one shouldn’t go to a pro but to the Bandon Dunes dreamer Mike Keiser.
Now that we can measure impact conditions with launch monitors, we’re able to clearly see the difference between the strike of a pro versus that of a typical amateur. One thing that jumps off the screen is the difference in dynamic loft. Think of it as “delivered loft,” meaning the orientation of the clubface as it meets the ball. For full iron shots including distance wedges, technology confirms that most amateurs deliver the club with too much loft into impact when compared to skilled players. Many amateurs attempt to scoop the ball off the turf and leave the face open, which leads to poor contact. To hit your iron shots more like a pro – lowering your dynamic loft – close the clubface earlier in your downswing and have the shaft leaning towards the target as the club meets the ball. To get a feel for this move, cradle a golf ball in your lead hand and mimic a swing. The goal is to have your knuckles down as that hand approaches the ball and remain like that into the follow-through (above). If you have the ball “cradled” with your lead wrist bowed, you’ve got the move to lower your impact loft. Re-create that feeling when you go back to hitting shots off the turf. – WITH RON KASPRISKE JOANNA COE is one of Golf Digest’s Best Teachers in Pennsylvania. She is director of instruction at Merion GC. WHAT TECHNOLOGY HAS TAUGHT ME LOWER YOUR DYNAMIC LOFT FOR PURE CONTACT BY JOANNA COE
illegally moving some grass to hit a chip shot. Keep in mind: Player (1966) and Watson (1987) have won Bob Jones Awards. Both men were honest practitioners of the rules, but one consistently went right up to the line in taking advantage of his options, and the other asked where “the line” was and kept as far from it as humanly possible. Dobereiner wrote: “Player looks upon the rules as the golfer’s Bill of Rights. Con- versely, Watson sees the rules as the Ten Commandments.” We all fluctuate between these pillars of faith as we chase our ball around the course. Depending on where you fall on the spectrum, you may be happy or sad to find Rory depicted as Gary Player and Jordan as Tom Wat- son or even Tiger Woods held up against the standard of Bob Jones. Golf is a game of judgment calls, and that’s what makes the playing so special.
more so.” Although Woods’ integrity has never been questioned in com- petition, it’s the full measure of his probity and evasion off the course that gives pause. It might be unfair, but his agent and team share in the total judgment. The other ruling that had us sec- ond-guessing occurred at The Play- ers in an odd six-minute passion play when Rory McIlroy, among the leaders, drove it into a water hazard on the seventh hole during the first round and was cross-examined in real-time on television by his fellow players, Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland. The question was wheth- er the ball entered above or below the hazard line, affecting where he could drop, nearer the green or well back. It didn’t matter – or maybe it did – as he double-bogeyed the hole after Spieth and Hovland ultimately yielded that, in the absence of video footage, it must be the player who makes the judgment call.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 21
JULY/AUGUST 2024
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