south africa
MARCH/APRIL 2026
Adam Scott 25 Masters Deep
BRAZEN THEFT AT AUGUSTA HOW TO Play Like a Kid
LIV GOLF REVIEW
GNOME MADNESS
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6 Editor’s Letter BY STUART MCLEAN Voices 8 The Undercover Pro WITH JOEL BEALL 10 Tiger Woods and The Curse of the Rabbi BY JERRY TARDE
48 Swing Analysis LIV Golf’s Sebastian Munoz. BY RON KASPRISKE
121 Wicked wedges BY TOM HOGE The Masters
52 ‘My Rhythm Fooled Everyone’ On the eve of his 25th Masters, Adam Scott reflects on nerves, swing envy and the big changes at Augusta. INTERVIEW BY MAX ADLER
MARCH/APRIL 2026
12 Last Stand of the Masters Gnomes BY SHANE RYAN
60 Buried treasure History of the 16th hole. BY DEREK DUNCAN 66 The Dog Box Breaking club rules. BY ALEX MYERS 72 Jack’s Fairy Tale BY JIM NANTZ 74 Fixing ball marks Try Augusta’s method. BY DREW POWELL
15 Putting after a concession RULES BY RON KASPRISKE 16 ‘The Best I Ever Did’: GD editor Jerry Tarde BY JAIME DIAZ 20 A matter of inches Teeing up ahead of marker. 22 The Core Overcome putting nerves. BY RON KASPRISKE 24 Adventurers Retracing Hagen’s steps. BY JAMIE KENNEDY
RISING STARS Since 2019, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (April 1-4) has showcased the best young talent. Competing this year is South African Megan Streicher.
84 Missing treasures Most brazen thefts the game
has ever known. BY MAX ADLER Features
30 The Fringe BY ALEX MYERS How to Play 32 Forced carry BY NICK BOVA
76 How You Can Drive, Chip and Putt Like a Kid Channel your inner youth to master these shots. BY ANDERS MATTSON
34 Start club back BY MARK BLACKBURN
102 Bryson! Bryson! LIV Golf South Africa. BY STUART McLEAN
36 Four key drills BY BUTCH HARMON
108 Long White Cloud New Zealand’s North Island. BY STUART McLEAN 124 Sunshine Tour Review Casey Jarvis is new No 1. What to Play 94 Every top 10 player putts with a mallet. What explains the mass change in attitude (page 96)? Our equipment editors answer how to keep distance when you lose speed and how to avoid dupes shopping online (page 98). Everything in PGA Tour winner Karl Vilips’ bag (page 100).
38 Check your knees BY TRAVIS FULTON
40 Two-Minute Clinic Hit your irons higher. BY MICHAEL KOLAR
42 Tiger Archive Tips BY TIGER WOODS
44 Better by Saturday Three drives you need. BY TODD ANDERSON
46 Get the Flip out! BY DEBBIE DONIGER
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EDITOR’S LETTER E Do you own a Masters gnome?
PGA Tour caddie answers your questions Surviving Augusta’s greens No 11 at Augusta No 13 at Augusta Rickie Fowler Cameron Young’s pause CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO VIEW OUR TOP SIX VIDEOS parent. Astonishing how popular Bryson DeChambeau has become here since that week. Many locals will be rooting for him to win a green jacket. The last two years he has looked visibly more comfortable as a contender. Bryson and Jon Rahm were two massive drawcards at Steyn City, yet local fans were also there to see a high- quality international tournament. We have had too few in the past 20 years, and the crowds were hungry for the kind of excitement that LIV delivers (Page 102). It reminded me of the suc- cessful rebel cricket tours which were part of the 1980s sporting landscape. South Africans are happy to accept a golf league that has set itself up as an alternative form of entertainment. For those who sign on to the Masters. com website, it has a new feature called Masters Vault. This allows you to search for any shot from any final round going back to 1968. It will quickly hook you. Stuart McLean stuartm@morecorp.co.za
T he major season is again upon us. We’ve had The Players as a warmup, and now the 90th Masters. A tournament which never seems to grow old. Which ev- ery golfer on the planet would love to attend. Golf Digest has dialled back in recent years on its coverage of the men’s ma- jors, but not the Masters. In this issue we present an entertaining lineup of articles (and videos) about the tourna- ment, the course and its holes, its past champions, and this year its merchan- dise. Any South African who has been to the Masters will have brought home souvenirs such as a shirt, a cap, or ball marker from the merchandise tent, but have any of you acquired one of the Masters gnomes? I’d love to know. The first ceramic gnome was intro- duced for sale at the 2016 Masters, with limited stock, and last year’s model was priced at R850, cheaper than a shirt. However, for some years now it hasn’t been easy to buy one because they have become the most successful collectible in the history of Augusta National. People are going crazy for them. The gnome now claims the highest resale of anything ever sold in the Masters merchandise test, measured both as a multiple of the original cost and the highest dollar amount. If you have one in your possession, it could be worth R150 000! On Page 12, Shane Ryan writes about the frenzy for gnomes. We uniquely have two Editor’s Let- ters in this issue. Max Adler, the US edi-
tor, on Page 51 writes about the absence of bad behaviour at the Masters, which is beginning to plague other American tournaments and the Ryder Cup. Galler- ies at Augusta are under much stricter control than anywhere else, and every patron respects an individual player’s right to compete without harassment. A serious infringement could put you in a “dog box” which already includes Gary and Wayne Player (see Page 66). The PGA of America failed to con- trol the dreadful abuse from large sec- tions of the New York crowds at last year’s Ryder Cup, and the DP World Tour we hope will be invested in cre- ating a more pleasant environment at Adare Manor in Ireland in 2027. They need Masters-type security personnel prepared to eject unpleasant fans. Un- fortunately, the Ryder Cup has become a sports event that attracts the worst kind, the opposite of those spectating at the Masters. A repetition of Bethpage Black next year, or 2029, could see an unprecedented boycott of the match by European team members. I experienced mostly exemplary behaviour among the large and loud crowds at Steyn City for LIV Golf. Nearly all were patriotically cheering on the home team, Southern Guards, yet abuse of the opposition was absent. The tournament was a bigger success than I had imagined considering how expensive it was to attend. Many might have felt “ripped off” by the pricing, but tickets are flying for next year. It makes a perfect gift for a golfing
GOLF DIGEST USA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JERRY TARDE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR MAX ADLER EXECUTIVE EDITOR PETER MORRICE INTERNATIONAL EDITOR JU KUANG TAN
TEACHING PROFESSIONALS: TODD ANDERSON, MARK BLACKBURN, CHUCK COOK, HANK HANEY, BUTCH HARMON, ERIKA LARKIN, DAVID LEADBETTER, CAMERON MCCORMICK, JIM MCLEAN, MICHAEL NEFF, RENEE POWELL, RANDY SMITH, RICK SMITH, DAVE STOCKTON, JOSH ZANDER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS: AMY ALCOTT, RANDY MYERS, NICK PRICE, JUDY RANKIN, LUCIUS RICCIO, BOB ROTELLA, BEN SHEAR, RALPH SIMPSON, DR ARA SUPPIAH PLAYING EDITORS: COLLIN MORIKAWA, JORDAN SPIETH
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THE UNDERCOVER PRO
Brooks’ penalty. We’ve been told Brooks is surrendering upwards of $90 million by coming back. Some of that is real cash with known values for FedEx Cup bonuses and charity donations, but a lot of it is theoretical in player equity. Sorry to roll my eyes, but remember the nine figures he already pocketed for playing three years at LIV? That $90 million number is an insult to our intelligence. However, I give Brian Rolapp (PGA Tour CEO) credit here. If reunification ever materialises, the biggest challenge will be managing how LIV guys return. Many won’t have status, so how do you bring them back without inherently punishing those who stayed loyal? We don’t really need anyone from LIV Golf except for a handful of players. Rolapp’s advantage is that he’s new and can re- make things as he sees fit. If this were Jay Monahan’s call, Brooks would still be in limbo. Need a sponsor to re-up for five years? Jay’s your guy. That’s not a knock. That was mostly the job when he inherited it, to appease everyone. But that’s also why he reacted to every- thing during the LIV Golf uprising rath- er than acting. Rolapp wanted Brooks, so he got Brooks. Professional golfers are often called selfish. Frankly, I think we’re a lot like anyone else in that we view larger is- sues through the lens of how they affect us personally. In some ways, LIV Golf’s arrival has benefited us, forcing the tour to add money to our pockets. But I’m a golfer first, and I see how damaging the past five years has been for our sport. This is supposed to be a gentleman’s game, and the golf wars brought out our worst impulses – the greed, the self- interest, the reduction of everything to dollar signs. With LIV Golf drama al- ways in the news, we became too much like the NBA, where the trade-rumour and player-movement economy gen- erates more oxygen than the games themselves. It’s all a compelling form of entertainment, sure, but when it eclipses the actual competition, it’s detrimental to the long-term health of what you’re building. That’s why I’m OK with Brooks, and potentially other LIV guys, coming back. It’s not the end of LIV Golf, but it’s progress. – WITH JOEL BEALL
One thing that really grates me is this notion that “You would have taken the money, too.” It was never some free- for-all. Early on when LIV Golf was recruiting, months before Phil Mick- elson’s comments nearly torpedoed the entire operation, I told my agent I wasn’t interested. I’d done my research, talked to my hometown chaplain and concluded it wasn’t the right thing to do. I nearly drove myself crazy worry- ing about where money would come from, whether it was dirty, what else it funded. I didn’t want to become a di- rect employee of things that contradict what I believe is right. I credit my wife for helping me get there. My wife had asked, “How would you explain this to your mom, to our kids?” The fact that I’d need to justify it at all revealed my answer. So I told my agent, “Don’t even tell me the number.” “We became too much like the NBA, where the trade-rumour and player-movement economy generates more oxygen than the games themselves.” As it all dragged on, I lost count of how many people wanted to know what LIV offered me. Finally, I asked my agent. He didn’t mince words. “They never made you an offer.” Now, I’m a multiple-time tour win- ner. I thought that meant something, given LIV Golf was signing some guys who could barely hold down a card. The fact is, beyond the top 30 in the World Ranking and some internationals, most LIV Golf signings were orchestrated by player-management agencies. Look closely and you’ll find much of their non-marquee talent comes from the same few agencies. The next time you hear a rank-and-file player complain like Wyndham Clark, bet that golfer probably never had an offer. Another thing that I do find annoying is the inflated “money lost” aspect of
Bryson DeCham- beau, which took some unfortunate turns, never seemed particularly mali- cious on Brooks’ end. During its peak, I witnessed a tour
PRODIGAL PRO Other than majors Koepka was absent from PGA Tour events for nearly four years.
official ask Brooks about his intentions with the rivalry. Brooks’ simple response said it all. “Come on, you know I’m not going to club a baby seal.” When Brooks left for LIV Golf, he never badmouthed the PGA Tour. He didn’t sue us or insult our intelli- gence by claiming he wanted to “grow the game.” He thought his career as a competitor was finished, his body too broken to continue, and made a busi- ness decision. I didn’t agree with it. His departure made our tour demonstra- bly worse but he at least handled it in a palatable way. If anything, he’s arguably been our tour’s biggest weapon against LIV Golf. Obviously, that’s what his return now signals about LIV’s overall state and lack of competitive credibility – that he’s willing to forfeit tens of millions rather than stay there. But the biggest blow he delivered came at the 2023 Masters, when he admitted his deci- sion might have been different had he known he’d regain his health. How do you sell LIV Golf when one of your best players is publicly expressing that?! There have been grumbles, of course, that Brooks can return without sus- pension. Wyndham Clark said, “If you would have told me that I could have gone for a year-and-a-half, made a boat- load of money and then be able to come back, play on the tour, I think almost everyone would have done that.” Clark occupies a different position than most because he’s won a major, but his sentiment gets echoed through the locker room by players who haven’t. They don’t realise how much the ma- jor-championship component matters. Win one and you’re treated differently. Just ask Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann, who have been LIV Golf’s best week-to-week players but remain stuck there. Second, the premise itself is flawed: Not everyone had the chance to go to LIV.
How a Lot of Us Feel About Brooks Coming Back A multiple-time PGA Tour-winner takes the long view in forgiving this LIV defector
I ’M FINE WITH BROOKS KOEPKA returning to the PGA Tour. Some pros would go further; they’re downright happy about it. Their reaction has little to do with Brooks as a person. His presence here means his
mained in relatively good graces with us. Sure, he’s a jock, but much of that bravado exists just for the cameras, may- be even just for himself. He treats people with respect, which is really all you can ask from a colleague. Even his feud with
absence there, which raises the value of our tour and brings us closer to what most of us want: this golf schism, this separate-worlds nightmare, to end. Along with Dustin Johnson, Brooks was among the few defectors who re-
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THE NEXT ONE’S GOOD
The Curse of the Rabbi Is this why Tiger went winless in 10 straight majors during his prime? BY JERRY TARDE
close. Well, this time, my rabbi has had enough. He drops the flags and hats and scorecards and the Sharpies, and he looks up to the heavens and lays on Tiger what we’ve come to call The Curse of the Rabbi: “Never again, Tiger, will you win another major championship in your life,” and that is that. Remember, this was 2002. Tiger, in his prime, had won six majors in the previous 25 months. The rabbi had put the curse on him in June. Woods doesn’t win a major the rest of that year. He doesn’t win a major the next year. He doesn’t win a major the following year. He’s gone the next 33 months, 0-for-10, no majors. I call the rabbi, and I say to him, “Would you write this story for Golf Digest?” Between giggles, he says, “Of course,” and he does. A couple of weeks later, right before we go to press, I get a phone call from the rabbi saying, “Is it too late? I changed my mind. I want to pull the story.” I ask why. He says, “It would not be good for my people,” so I pull the story. The next day I get a call from Mark Steinberg, Tiger’s manager, and he says, “Are you running the rabbi’s story?” I say, ”Why?” He says, “I need to know.” I say, “OK, no.” “Oh, good,” he says. “Tell him to send me everything he’s got; I’ll get Tiger to sign it all.” The rabbi sends the flags, the score- cards, the golf balls, the hats, the post- ers, and Tiger signs them all. The rabbi lifts the curse. It’s April 2005. Look it up. Tiger wins the next major, the Masters. When you see that pitch shot from behind the 16th green on the last day at Augusta National, the most famous in Tiger’s storied career, when the ball makes its last turn and the Nike logo drops into the cup, you now know the miracle belonged not to Tiger but to my rabbi.
I MAY BE A GOOD CATHOLIC boy, but the closest religious figure in my life has been a retired rabbi from Long Island named Marc Gellman. He co-starred for many years on a cable TV show called “The God Squad” with the late Mon- signor Tom Hartman. The rabbi plays golf. As he says, there are better rabbis and there are better golf- ers, but there are no better golfing rabbis than him. He’s a very funny man. His historical significance is that he was the catalyst in bringing the US Open to Bethpage Black in 2002. This classic golf course open to the public had never hosted a national champion- ship before. He brought it to the atten- tion of the USGA, but more important, he was politically connected in New York State to get it done – a giant task when it takes 10 years from agreement to holding the event. A lot of people were involved, but the rabbi got it done. As a reward, the USGA makes Gell- man the honorary scorekeeper in the final round of the US Open. He gets to walk the last 18 holes in the last group,
inside the ropes, privy to everything. On the first tee, the rabbi asks the lead- er by four strokes, “Hey, Tiger. I’ve got these flags and hats
MORTAL MISTAKES After dominating, Woods began a curious slump at age 26.
and scorecards I need you to sign, so I can auction them off for charity,” and Woods agrees. They go 18 holes, and Tiger wins heroically. After the round, the rabbi patiently waits outside the scoring trailer with his flags and scorecards and Magic Marker, but Tiger comes out and, boom, rushes right past him without signing any- thing. The rabbi goes to the parking lot and waits by Tiger’s car while he finishes his interviews with the press and televi- sion, and, boom, again, Tiger goes right by him. The rabbi is not easily deterred; he’s pissed but unbowed. He goes to Tiger’s hotel and waits in the lobby. When Tiger finally comes back, he says, “Tiger, I have these flags you agreed to sign for charity, for the little people.” Once again Tiger snubs him, walks right to the elevators and the doors
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COLLECTIBLES
Last Stand of the
speak for themselves and the mania shows no signs of relenting. “We sold Tiger’s irons from the Tiger Slam for over $5 million,” Carey says, “and I get more emails about these damn gnomes.” Why on earth would Augusta get rid of them? Most companies, after launch- ing a product that sends the consum- ing public into hysterics as they line up in the predawn hours praying just for the chance to throw $49.50 into your coffers, would respond by producing as many as possible as quickly as pos- sible. But as Carey says, only Augusta National would get upset that it was selling too well. The year 2026 would serve as the 10th anniversary and a convenient milestone on which to conclude the franchise. Our merchandising source put his certainty at “95 percent plus.” Augusta would not confirm this and could always pivot, but the writing on the wall seems to spell doom for our bearded friends. In the end, it’s about self-image. Our merchandising source says the club is concerned about longer wait times. (Golf Digest Senior Manager of Social Media Will Irwin spent 50 minutes in line to get his gnome last year). Waiting in line detracts from the ideal patron experience but, perhaps more im- portantly, reads as gauche. Whatever money is generated isn’t a sufficient counterargument to what it costs in prestige. This isn’t just about gnomes – it’s been estimated that Augusta National grosses about $70 million in merchandise for the week – but the gnomes have become a glaring symbol of the hyper-consumerism the club is trying to curb. If 2026 is indeed the last stand of the Masters gnomes, they can go to their Valhalla with a smile in their hearts and a glow on their ruddy cheeks. How many of us are lucky enough to be made obsolete because we were just too good? The truth is, nixing the gnomes means they’ll never die – rarity drives value, and these little guys will live on in the nooks and crannies of the Internet. Even if exiled from Augusta, their pric- es will rise to staggering heights that a simple little gnome could never achieve on his own.
have it.” Other amateur collectors I spoke with echoed the same idea. The gnomes are popular because the gnomes are popu- lar. People want the gnomes because people want the gnomes. Well, OK, but something had to spur this. According to Carey, that “some- thing” was the pandemic. “COVID really put a spotlight on all collectibles,” Carey says. “The greater sports-collectibles industry all of a sudden doubled or even tripled. It was a perfect storm of being stuck in your house watching ‘The Last Dance’ doc- umentary, having more time to be on websites like mine and revisit nostal- gia, go back to the roots of what made you happy. That was the fire that got it started.” Carey has no memory of anybody caring about the gnomes at the 2019 Masters, but by 2021 everyone wanted one. “Gnomes have become a glaring symbol of the hyper-consumerism the club is trying to curb.” “It’s the tail that wags the dog,” Carey says. “It’s more about the col- lectible and the collecting aspect. You can’t dislike the item, but the frenzy is about collecting.” (Note: Golf Digest has a business relationship with Carey’s company, Golden Age Auctions.) Carey gives credit to Augusta for changing the style every year. The first gnome was a golfer who wore an argyle green-and-white sweater. Then in 2018 it was a Masters caddie, and the years since have showcased various patrons with lawn chairs and backpacks and ice cream sandwiches and all kinds of funky hats, even a gallery guard. (On that note, an actual gallery guard told me he amuses himself by telling patrons who ask about the mysteries of Augusta – “What’s down that road?” – it’s where the gnomes live.) Of all items in Masters merchandis- ing, the gnome is the only one that merits its own sign limiting purchases to one per customer. The resale prices
that he became part of the “series badge programme” which under certain cir- cumstances can be passed down to chil- dren. Nikki has been to every Masters since ’97 except the COVID November Masters of 2020. She and her family didn’t even know about the gnomes until 2021, when they lucked across one during the Drive, Chip and Putt competition. She mostly bought that first one because it looked like her dad. Now she has five, including the 2020 Santa gnome that her husband bought as a gift (she didn’t ask him how much it cost). The rest of the on-site purchases have taken considerably more plan- ning, as well as an earlier alarm. “It’s just kind of become a thing,” she says. “Let’s try to keep getting them because we can.” Brandon Greene is the General Man- ager of the Augusta GreenJackets, the minor baseball league affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, and he’s made a point to attend every Masters since moving to Augusta in 2015. He missed out on the gnomes in 2016 and 2018, but a year later, as Tiger Woods was pulling off a miracle, he walked to the shop “like a normal person” and bought one as a piece of decor for his new house. The next year, he bought the COVID gnome from a catalogue, and then it was off to the races. Now he’s got seven of the nine, and like Dunagan, he’s had to get more resourceful each year. One year, at the point of hopelessness when a trip to the shop came up empty, a security guard tapped him on the shoulder and hooked him up with a gnome that had been held for someone who never came. Greene has no intention of selling them – the seven dwarves occupy a prideful spot on his mantle, with the most recent featured on his TV stand – but when he needs to amuse himself, all he has to do is fire up the Internet. “Sometimes I’ll get on eBay and be like, man, these things are going for $20 000 for a whole set!” As with Dunagan, I pressed Greene about what made these gnomes so at- tractive. He spoke about the ties to the city and the general Masters motif that predominates, but he came back to the same rationale: “Once you get a few things, it gets addicting. Now I want it just to say I
I t’s no exaggeration to call Ryan Carey, founder and owner of Golden Age Auctions, the big- gest player in golf memorabilia. He has all kinds of sale-price records from clubs to trophies to green jackets. But for most of the last decade, Ryan Carey has refused to deal in gnomes. You might forgive his scepticism. In 2016, when Augusta National sold its first gnome exclusively at Berckmans Place – the fancy, semi-secret food-and- merch playground tucked beyond the tree line of the fifth and 16th holes that sometimes serves as a testing ground for new products – none of its market- ing wizards thought it would become a phenomenon. Sure, gnomes are cute, and at 34 centimetres look nice on a mantle. Who could have foreseen they’d be treated by early rising Masters patrons the way rabid teens once treat- ed John Lennon and Paul McCartney? Augusta didn’t even bring gnomes back for 2017. They returned in 2018 and gained notoriety and collectible value during the pandemic, but Carey con- sidered them a fad. The memorabilia he prefers is “investment grade” mean- ing it should accrue value over time. He figured buyers would eventually come to their senses, and the gnome bubble would burst. This April, for the first time, Car- ey will auction an Augusta National gnome. It’s the original 2016 model, Masters Gnomes Could 2026 be the final year for this merchandising juggernaut? BY SHANE RYAN
MAGICAL MONEYMAKERS Complete sets of Masters gnomes have been listed for more than $20,000.
know, and the most predictable sen- tence of this story is the following: “Au- gusta National declined to comment.” We don’t know who makes the gnomes or where, how many are pro- duced, or who came up with the idea. Through a well-placed source, we know approximately 1 000 were re- leased each day of the 2025 Masters, with about 500 in the main North Shop and others spread between the South Shop by the fifth hole and Berckmans Place. That was about double the vol- ume of previous years, an attempt to restore some sanity to the bedlam surrounding the creatures – people lining up outside the gates at 4am, secondary-market buyers profit-hunt- ing, and a scene more reminiscent of Black Friday at your local Target than the bucolic serenity Augusta National cultivates. Nikki Dunagan identifies as a “Mas- ters nepo baby,” and you should pre- pare to be jealous: Her grandfather was an Augusta native who bought tickets for the first time in the late ’50s (price: $12.50), and went back so many times
which originally retailed for even less than the current going rate of $49.50. Carey predicts it will sell for more than $10 000. “I will admit that I’ve been proven quite wrong,” Carey says. So wrong, Carey explains, that the gnome now claims the highest resale of anything ever sold in the Masters mer- chandise tent, measured both as a mul- tiple of the original cost and the highest dollar amount. As for previous high watermarks, Carey once sold a Scotty Cameron putter that cost $1 000 in the Masters shop for over $5 000. If his 2016 gnome fetches what he thinks, it will be more than 300 times the original. Yet, just as Carey is embracing gnomes as they achieve maximum desirability, rumour has it that Augusta National is poised to do the unthinkable. If you be- lieve the whispers, the ceramic bearded totem that appears in shops this April will be the last of his line. To all of this, we have just one bewil- dered word: Why? Why did Augusta make gnomes in the first place? On the surface, we don’t
PHOTOGRAPH BY TARA SCHUPPIG
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RULES
Putting After a Concession In a match, that could get your side in trouble BY RON KASPRISKE
have happened, it’s covered under Rule 23.6. “A player must not continue play of a hole after the player’s next stroke has been conceded if this would help (his or her) partner.” If this rule is ignored, as it happened at the country club match, the partner who has yet to putt no longer matters in terms of the outcome of the hole. His or her score can’t count for the side, so the partner whose shot was conceded now supplies the team’s score for that hole. Keep in mind that there is no penal- ty, just some bad etiquette and (hope- fully) a memorable mistake for the player who tried to game the game.
You can guess what happened next: The player whose stroke was conceded hit the putt anyway. Clearly, this was done in an attempt to show his partner the line. There was no hiding behind the rule that allows you to practice on the putting green of the hole you’re playing upon comple- tion of it (Rule 5.5b). The reason? This is a team competition, and the hole is not completed until both players
FOR EVEN IN SATURDAY morning matches between old friends, things can get a little
chippy when money is on the line. A recent dust-up that went down at a country club (and one that probably happens a fair amount around the world) surfaced an interesting rules conundrum. In a four-ball match, partners on the putting green had their golf balls on a similar line. The player who was likely to make a higher score was about to hit the putt to show his partner the break. The opposing team, wise in its ways, saw what was about to happen and immediately conceded the putt.
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hole out, have their strokes conceded or concede the hole to the other side. If you’re wonder- ing what should
READ IT, BUT DON’T SHOW IT
A conceded putt can’t be struck.
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REVISED SLUG GD 75TH ANNIVERSARY
parted elders like Pete Dye, Herb Kohler, Frank Hannigan and Peter Dobereiner. His many alliances with industry lead- ers have mostly survived friction caused by moments of unfavourable coverage from the magazine and sometimes Tarde’s own column. “Jerry’s integrity has always been unimpeachable,” says former USGA executive director David Fay. “All the respect he’s earned over the years has cushioned the rough spots. Of course, a round of golf can be the softest cushion of all.” “Relationships are made on the golf course, and deals are built on relation- ships,” says Tarde. “In my experience, playing golf together does something to make those relationships less transac- tional than in other fields. It’s give and take, sure, but golf makes you more in- clined to be a giver and less of a taker.” By reimbursing club memberships and green fees for much of the staff, Tarde has always encouraged mak- ing the golf course an extension of the workplace to spur creativity and foster alliances in and out of the office. Golf Digest has long self-identified as a des- tination for “How to play, what to play, where to play,” but thanks to Tarde, it’s also explored that most rewarding territory of “why to play.” Tarde found his why in the game’s camaraderie. In his nearly finished memoir, which focuses on more than 100 golf people both prominent and ob- scure that he has known over the years, Tarde recounts how he began playing the game around age 13 at Juniata Golf Course, a threadbare par-63 muni a couple of blocks from his family’s two- storey rowhouse in the Kensington- and-Allegheny section of north-east Philadelphia. The all-day rate for juniors was 50 cents. “There was no range, so we never hit balls or practised or studied swings, except to copy the best player, a scratch golfer named Ed (The Bear) Billus who we envied for his ability to hit nothing but low hooks,” remembers Tarde. “We just went round and round and round until dinner, then came back to play skins until dark.” “I fell in love with the Dickensian cast of characters who hustled $5 matches during the day and went to the race- track or Atlantic City at night – so
umnist for the New York Times who is Tarde’s closest golfing friend despite having lost the majority of their $20 closeouts over the last 30 years. “Jerry has this deceptive way of seeming to not really be competing, but then you’re two down after nine, and, of course, he has been REALLY competing all along. It’s maddening, but it’s raised my re- spect and admiration for him. When I do manage to win, I feel like I’ve really done something.” When Tarde breaks away from con- versation to briskly go to his ball, espe- cially late in matches, he’ll lock in with a palpable inner strength that – call me crazy – reminds me how the late Sandy Tatum described what was most memo- rable about his rounds with Ben Hogan. “When it was Hogan’s turn to play, it was on the basis that he had been accorded the privilege of playing that particular golf shot,” Tatum said, “and that privilege carried with it a respon- sibility, and that responsibility was to give that shot all the thought and effort that he could, and to make it as effec- tive as he could. It was a very distinct characteristic.” Put it all together, and it’s what makes Tarde, while certainly not a great golfer, a nearly ideal one. The same qualities that make him a favourite partner on the course are also brought to the board- room. For all his skill as a writer and editor and as a recruiter of talent and wellspring of original ideas, it is his gift for networking and relationships that is most responsible for his astounding 41 years leading Golf Digest. It’s a ten- ure exceeded in the history of Ameri- can magazine publishing by only Jann Wenner (50 years at Rolling Stone) and Hugh Hefner (57 at Playboy). Tarde has countless friendships in the golf world, among the closest with de- The same qualities that make him a favourite partner on the course are also brought to the boardroom.
power to make people better. It’s evident in the joy he exudes when gener- ously sharing what he’s always found so fulfilling. The more I’ve been privileged to be part of some
MAN OF LETTERS
Tarde studied journalism at Northwestern, interned at Golf Digest, then became the head editor at 28.
of these rounds, the more I see Tarde as a deceptively passive but passionate evangelist. By temperament, Tarde is a natu- ral listener who is comfortable with thoughtful silence. Walking up a fairway together, I used to awkwardly struggle to fill the perceived void. Now I better understand to relax and remember that words can get in the way of those ineffa- ble moments of immersion in the game. I’m convinced that this disposition was steadying for Nick Taylor when he won the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am while partnered with Tarde, who was unflappable as ever with CBS cameras trained on his every shot. Poise under pressure serves Tarde’s game in a way that is inspiring, which is saying something for a guy with mid-80s mph driver clubhead speed who rarely cracks 200 yards (183 metres) even with a perfectly flighted draw. While genetics insured that he would never be a long hitter, it’s instructive that back in his early 30s, Tarde got down to a 1-handi- cap by practising his wedge game every morning for a summer at Winged Foot. The first time I played with him, in 1987 at Spanish Bay, he shot 74. Now at age 69, he’s a hard-to-beat 12 index who squeez- es everything he can out of hitting every fairway (once on a buddies trip in Scot- land, he played 10 rounds with the same ball) and blends a useful short game and an especially cold-blooded knack for making eight footers for four-net-threes with an original 3-ball putter he’s been using since Dave Pelz invented it in 1985. He keeps big mistakes to a minimum, letting that pattern insidiously insinuate itself until the opponent beats himself, bringing forth from Tarde a sympathetic word or nod but no hint of surprise. “He’s the sweetest, kindest, most vicious competitor I’ve played with,” says Thomas Friedman, the three-time Pulitzer-winning foreign affairs col-
IN A WAY THAT LEAVES ME even more convinced that golf is the greatest game of all, I’ve always found it tremendous fun to play 18 holes with Jerry Tarde. I can hear the howls that opener just set off. “Isn’t that guy your boss? Even if it wasn’t fun, what else are you going to say?” Yes, this is a house job, but I go forth confidently because however conflict- ed and compromised the assignment might seem, the case supporting the premise is overwhelming. First, this is the concluding install- ment in a series celebrating Golf Digest’s 75th anniversary, and no one has been more responsible for the publication’s success in becoming the standard of golf journalism than Tarde. Second, nothing
provides a more cogent representation of his philosophy, leadership and iden- tity as a guardian of the game than the way he goes about a round of golf. Of course, Tarde would never make this big a deal about it. His style is un- derstated but substantive, careful never to let what’s most enjoyable fall victim to over analysis. Outwardly, all he does is “play happy” in the best Bob Rotella- approved meaning of the term. He likes to revel in watching the ball fly over an artful landscape (Pine Valley if you’re lucky) and in between shots retell slight- ly embellished tales usually involving now absent Golf Digest figures, both for the hilarity of the punchline and as fond tribute. But inwardly Tarde is a golf roman- tic who knows the game possesses the
‘The Best I Ever Did’ How editor Jerry Tarde transcended to golf evangelist BY JAIME DIAZ
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK SOMMERFELD
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75TH ANNIVERSARY
foreign to my world at the time,” he says. They were known by names like Moon Man, Chollie Binoculars, Stiff Arms, Tombstone and Wawa. Even as Tarde developed his gritty game, he says, “For me it was definitely the people first, the competition second. I don’t know that I’ve ever had as much fun as playing two-man nine-hole matches against 15 other pairs over that hardpan muni with sunflower stalks topped by beer cans for flagsticks.” Tarde would accumulate a tidy sum each summer, bolstered by shifts work- ing behind the counter selling balls and cleaning golf carts, which got him dubbed Pro Shop Jerry. After getting a fake library card with the name “Jack Nicklaus” for the city’s public library, he vividly remembers when his rela- tionship to golf irrevocably deepened – watching on television as Nicklaus on the final day of the 1972 US Open at Peb- ble Beach hit the flagstick with a 1-iron on the 17th hole. A few days later, he was hooked permanently reading Dan Jenkins’ account of Nicklaus’ victory in Sports Illustrated. This quickly morphed into a singularly focused ambition to become the editor of Golf Digest. An outstanding student, Tarde quit his championship high school debate team to become the editor of the school newspaper. He also gave up a path to the seminary, which had started with being an altar boy and congregation bingo caller, to study journalism at Northwest- ern. When he left for college, the mot- ley crew of pirates at Juniata took up a collection – he still has the list of 42 contributors who staked him $68. In Chicago, Tarde met his impor- tant mentor, World Golf Hall of Fame entrepreneur Herb Graffis, then in his mid-70s, who encouraged him along his chosen path. Accordingly, in 1977, to pad his resume for his future job, he joined the PGA of America as an assistant pro at Juniata (he got his amateur status back in 1980). It helped, as he came to Golf Digest as an intern at age 21. He was hired as a full-time writer and editor for Golf Digest the next year. In 1984, when he was just 28, his vision came true. In an interview for the head job, Tarde told the magazine’s co-found- er, Bill Davis, his simple plan: “I’m not
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important journal- ism that Golf Digest ever published un- der his watch. The two-part series ap- peared in April and May of 1990 and
looking to change anything. I just intend to make everything better.” That he did. Right away he hired Jen- kins himself, who had just left Sports Illustrated in a huff and was eager to show off his new fastball. Then, in quick succession, he hired his “Murderer’s Row” of writers including Dobereiner, Tom Callahan, Peter Andrews, Dave Kindred, Dave Anderson and David Owen. Tarde also got cultural icons like John Updike, George Plimpton, Alistair Cooke and Friedman to write for the magazine. Ongoing features like “Amer- ica’s 100 Greatest Courses,” “The Search for America’s Worst Avid Golfer,” “The Hot List,” “My Shot” and others became popular staples. When recently asked to choose the best he ever did, Tarde thought about it for a couple of days. With a choice that is consistent with his deep belief that golf can improve lives and that the oppor- tunity to become a golfer should never be unfairly denied, Tarde decided that assigning Marcia Chambers of the New York Times to investigate golf’s long history of discrimination against wom- en and people of colour led to the most
A GOOD PARTNER
Nick Taylor won the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with Tarde.
raised the issue that caused Hall Thomp- son, the president of Shoal Creek where the PGA Championship was about to be held, to fatefully say, “We don’t discrimi- nate in any other area except the Blacks.” The American Bar Association awarded Chambers and Tarde its Silver Gavel Award in 1991 for “outstanding contribu- tion to the public understanding” of law and justice, marking the first time that a sports magazine had been so honoured. “Marcia’s stories provided more good for the game where it needed it most,” says Tarde. “It didn’t do enough, and the battle continues, but it was a significant step that led to a major change of direc- tion in the game’s culture. As I tell my golf friends, it’s our job to be evangelists, and on that story we were.” That is what Tarde has been and continues to be, even when it’s just play- ing golf.
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GOLF DIGEST COMMUNITY
A Debate of Inches We asked our panel of golf obsessives, “Would you ever call a penalty on someone for teeing off in front of the markers?”
Keely Levins, contributing writer: In a junior tournament, I saw a girl tee up in front of the markers, and I said, “Hey, I think you’re in front of the markers.” Then her dad started yelling at her, Move the ball back! She was so in the zone that she didn’t hear him either, and she hit it. I had to call the penalty on her, which did not feel great. If I’m playing in something of consequence, I’ll say something before they hit. If we’re playing in anything else, I’m not going to say anything. An honest mis- take of an inch or two just isn’t worth what’s basically guaranteed to be a tense interaction. Max Adler, editorial director: A close friend once called this penalty on himself in a club championship quali- fier, just missed match play, then won the whole thing the next year. Karma works. To avoid unpleasantness, let’s all just make a habit of teeing a solid foot behind the markers from now on. – EDITED BY DREW POWELL
Christopher Powers, senior writer: The only time I’d even consider such traffic-cop be-
Sam Weinman, digital editorial director: The short answer is no, I couldn’t see myself doing this. The lone potential exception would be a variation of all the “He started it!” arguments we’d revert to as kids. Imagine we’re playing, and you’ve suddenly decided you’re Slug ger White ( PGA Tour rules official ). You question if my drops are slightly above my knees or if I’m using a different kind of ball than I started with. You want to do petty? I CAN DO PETTY. Not only did you tee off in front of the markers back there, but you were 30 seconds late to the first tee, and I’m sorry to say you’ve already been DQ’d. Dave Shedloski, contributing editor: Depends. If I notice it, I would stop him before he committed the infraction. If I didn’t notice it before he hit, I would point out what he had done and leave it to him to assess the penalty on himself. Now, if we are playing a match, then all bets are off, and I am taking advantage of his error and calling it out.
haviour is if I genuinely hated the per- son. And I rarely, if ever, find myself playing with people I genuinely hate. Now, if it’s in a competition, I could may- be see myself mentioning to them that they should back up a step, just to pro- tect the field. Casual round with a few bucks on the line? So long as they aren’t deliberately teeing it up five to 10 yards closer to the hole, who the hell cares? E Michael Johnson, equipment editor: Well, I have two answers. In match play, there is no penalty, and although I’m entitled to make them re-tee, I’m not going to be that petty. Stroke play is dif- ferent. I’m obligated to protect the field and don’t get to choose which rules we play by, so, sorry, pal, add two and re-tee. That said, if I’m aware someone is ahead of the markers, I would let them know before they hit. Not doing so and then calling it out seems the greater offence.
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THE CORE
movement-variability training. It helps your nervous system to stay flexible so that when things don’t go perfectly, you can quickly adapt.” Also important is hydration. A study in Scientific Reports found that even being a little dehydrated negatively impacts HRV. Also, brisk walking on a regular basis can boost it – another reason to ditch the golf cart. There is one more thing to remem- ber, Shear says. Rest and recovery are super important. If you go from a relatively inactive lifestyle to working out five days a week, or you begin hit- ting balls multiple days for hours at a time, that added stress will likely hurt HRV and potentially ruin all the hard work you’re doing.
tion, which looks at stress,” he says. “It can be used in athletic performance to accurately reflect recovery status, determine if an athlete is overtraining and identify when an athlete might be more or less adaptive to training. The measure can also predict when a play- er might or might not play well – and even when they are more susceptible to illness or injury.” In other words, monitoring HRV and working to improve it also is an impor- tant step to understanding when to train and when to rest. You know those days when you hit a bucket of balls for over an hour? Check your HRV the next day. Just a hunch, but the pacing between beats likely will be much more regular – meaning bad – than normal.
IT’S TRUE THAT ALL YOU need are two fingers and a stopwatch to figure out if your
If you’re interested in monitoring and improving your HRV, the follow- ing products ( below ) can be super help- ful. Even if you don’t want to invest in one, a lot of evidence suggests aerobic and strength training can make a differ- ence, says Golf Digest Certified Trainer Karen Palacios-Jansen. “I mix golf-spe- cific exercises with swing training, and that naturally works on HRV through ‘It helps your nervous system to stay flexible so that when things don’t go perfectly, you can quickly adapt.’
heart is in overdrive as you play golf. Your heart rate is a key indicator of how the sympathetic nervous system, the fight-or-flight nerves, are behaving. Knowing you are nervous is one thing, but what if you could better control those feelings and the manifestations it has on your body (shaky hands, jerky backswing, etc)? Many of the game’s best players know about a “hack” that you can also utilise
when you’re stepping on the first tee or standing over a testy four-footer. It’s something called heart-rate variability or HRV. If you’re not familiar
THE SPACE BETWEEN A healthy heart typically doesn’t beat uniformly.
HELP FOR YOUR HEART Here are some of the popular HRV products on the market, ranging in price from thousands of dollars to a few hundred. Many pro golfers use these, says golf-fitness trainer Ben Shear.
with the term, HRV is the measured time between heart beats. Just because your pulse is 70, that doesn’t mean the time between beats is uniform. In fact, it shouldn’t be. A variance in time between beats is a key indicator of good health, says Ben Shear, Golf Digest’s Chief Fitness Advisor. Shear has trained many pro golfers (includ- ing European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald) and is the architect of Golf Digest’s Fitness Trainer Certification. His gym is in Jupiter, Florida. Although the science of HRV has been around since the 1960s, the train- ing for it has become increasingly pop- ular among elite athletes only in the past decade or so. There are a number of devices that can improve HRV, but even holistic techniques such as meditation, sleep and breathwork can improve the variance in the gaps between beats. If your HRV improves, so does your ability to adapt to stress, to squelch the sympathetic nervous system, to im- prove endurance and to recover from fatigue. In a gruelling match, winning can come down to three things: (1) How stressed your brain is, (2) How nervous you are, (3) How much energy you have left. If your HRV is better than your opponent’s, Shear likes your chances. “HRV is a measure that reflects the ANS (autonomic nervous system) func-
Hoolest Pro, $799
Whoop 5.0 ( left ), $239
Shiftwave Pro Chair ( below ), $9 950
These headphones are designed to activate the nerves that work with the vagus nerve. The “vagal” nerves carry signals to your brain, heart and digestive system. They’re a key part of your parasympathetic nervous system, which is the “rest-and- digest” part (hoolest.com).
This lightweight band monitors your HRV, among many other useful health metrics, and comes with a 12-month subscription. It can go up to two weeks without needing to be recharged (whoop.com).
One of the best products for rest, recovery and improving the autonomic nervous system, Shear says. The designers say it “uses gentle pressure waves that work with your nervous system to slow your heart rate, quiet your mind and put your body in a deep rest-and-recovery state” (shiftwave.co).
Truvaga Plus ( right ), $499
This device, synced with your smartphone, stimulates the vagus nerve, which controls a host of body functions related to better health. Activate the device, hold it to your neck and monitor your progress (truvaga.com).
Pulsetto Lite, $474
Jostle the Jitters A cool, sciency way to overcome first-tee anxiety and putting nerves BY RON KASPRISKE
This device is worn around your neck and is also designed to stimulate vagal nerves. The inventors suggest you use it two or three times a day for up to an hour per session (pulsetto.tech).
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