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Say a Prayer The US Open returns to Oakmont Country Club , June 12-15, for a record 10th time. Contestants will face devious greens, sinful rough and the notorious Church Pews bunker (page 54). Oakmont is No 5 in Golf Digest’s 2025 ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses (see page 82.)
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Features 46 Man of Steel My keys to turn your iron play into a strength. BY JOAQUIN NIEMANN 54 Oakmont Overhaul US Open preview. BY DEREK DUNCAN 60 Greatest Shot in US Open history BY CHRIS MILLARD 96 The Greatest Gig Steve Williams’ new book. BY STEVE WILLIAMS & EVIN PRIEST
6 Editor’s Letter BY STUART MCLEAN Mind 8 Undercover Pro WITH JOEL BEALL
10 Journeys AARON RAI, WITH KEELY LEVINS
12 Three Risks to Golf’s Momentum BY JERRY TARDE
14 Don’t be a Sucker RULES BY RON KASPRISKE
16 Undercover Caddie WITH JOEL BEALL
108 Game Changer How the Big Bertha revolutionised golf. BY ELY CALLAWAY
18 Chicago, Chicago BY CHRISTOPHER POWERS 20 The Best I Ever Did Leadbetter & Faldo. BY JAIME DIAZ
Where to Play 68 Olivewood Escape An Eastern Cape lifestyle.
24 Ask the greenkeeper BY DREW POWELL
72 Best Facilities Top 10 in eight categories. 80 Autumn Classic Champagne Sports Resort.
26 Hole-in-one debate Tradition or punishment? How to Play 30 Jake’s power boost BY DAVE ALLEN
82 America’s 100 Greatest Why “easier” courses are getting more respect. BY DEREK DUNCAN What to Play 86 Mini drivers are the latest trend on tour, but are they right for you? Our equipment experts explain the pros and cons. How to pick the right shafts for your game (page 91), and when is the right time to get fit for new clubs (Page 92)? A clubfitting expert explains why timing is important . What’s in PGA Tour winner Davis Thompson’s bag (Page 94).
32 How to scout a green BY MARK BLACKBURN
34 The Core BY RON KASPRISKE
39 Fairway bunker tips BY DAVID LEADBETTER
40 Jack Nicklaus Archives BY RON KASPRISKE
42 Stop chunking chips BY JACKSON KOERT
44 Swing Analysis Jake Knapp’s effortless power. BY LUKE KERR-DINEEN
102 Best Young Teachers Six lessons to get better.
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EDITOR’S LETTER E THE ENJOYMENT OF A 6-HOUR ROUND
I played my first six-hour round re- cently, and it was an interesting experience, not the horror show I would have imagined. The course was full, there were golfing fourballs of varying abilities in front of our group, so we all stayed patient and went along with the flow, if you could call it that. It helped that the weather was sublime, and we were on a weekend break, so the slow play didn’t bother us overly much until later in the day when I realised we were running out of daylight and the temperature was swiftly falling as the sun dipped. As often happens, every- one then began playing faster. In fact, having teed off well before high noon, we hadn’t even calcu- lated how long we had been out on the course, until on one of the closing holes I glanced at the Tag Marshal pace of play on the GPS screen of our golf cart and saw that we were 80 minutes behind schedule. Ridiculous. That’s when I first looked at the time. I’ve been in five-hour rounds which had seemed interminably slow, yet this one strange- ly hadn’t felt half as bad. Reflecting afterwards about the reason for the round taking so long, it was clear that the speediness of the greens had been a main contribution. This was an individual tournament – so everyone had to putt out – and our fourball alone was probably spending 10 to 12 minutes chipping and putting around each green, so there goes nearly three and a half hours. Plus, there was
a 30-minute delay at the turn where groups backed up. Slow play is considered a major issue in golf today – a deterrent to newcom- ers and youngsters taking up the game – yet it must be taken in context. The nature of the game is such that on a busy competitive day you’re going to experience holdups and the trick is not to let the situation bother you. The third round of the US Women’s Open just concluded at Erin Hills saw six- hour rounds on the Saturday with the competitors in threeballs. The greens were brutal, as is usually the case at any US Open, with their slopes and runoffs. It was absorbing golf to watch though, and again it didn’t feel that long to be a distraction. (On a side note, did you know that 1904 women golfers entered the championship?) The professional tours admit to hav- ing a slow play problem, and all kinds of solutions have been proposed to alleviate that – including in 2018 the first ever tournament where the DP World Tour pros were timed on every shot they played. It was the Shot Clock Masters in Austria, and a digital clock mounted on a cart travelled with each group. It was never tried again though; the pros must have given it the thumbs down. Many must have felt hurried. It did give rugby administrators an idea though; in 2023 the shot clock was introduced for kicks at goal. Golf Digest’s Undercover Pro dis- cusses slow play on the PGA Tour in
New Golf Comedy series Ping’s G440 LST Driver Tested Bubba Watson’s 2012 Masters How pros hit fairways Nelly Korda’s swing Tour Technique Jon Rahm CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO VIEW OUR TOP SIX VIDEOS this issue (Page 8) and offers several interesting theories about the root cause of it. He talks about how long the tour pros spend on the greens – using trends like Aimpoint – compared to how quick they play their tee shots, and then takes aim at junior golf. As a kid I remember playing as fast as we could in order to fit in as many holes as possible in a day; nowadays juniors are video- taping every swing, marking the ball on short putts, and pacing off shots around the green, instead of relying on feel. But maybe they are on to something. Pros generally have slower swings today compared to their predecessors, and it’s due to taking an unhurried approach. Stuart McLean stuartm@morecorp.co.za
EDITOR STUART MCLEAN DESIGN ELINORE DE LISLE MEDIA SALES DANIEL EGDES (daniele@morecorp.co.za) 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, 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, BUBBA WATSON A LICENSING AGREEMENT BETWEEN WARNER BROTHERS DISCOVERY AND MORECORP, OWNERS OF THE PRO SHOP AND WORLD OF GOLF. WARNER BROTHERS DISCOVERY IS A GLOBAL LEADER IN REAL-LIFE ENTERTAINMENT, SERVING A PASSIONATE AUDIENCE OF SUPERFANS AROUND THE WORLD WITH CONTENT THAT INSPIRES, INFORMS AND ENTERTAINS.
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MIND / UNDERCOVER PRO M
Everybody has Slow Play Wrong
deciding whether that fender scratch warrants an insurance claim or a po- lice report. Let’s put a shot clock on the greens. That’s where time goes to die. IT’S WHAT’S ON THE LINE. Few guys are truly comfortable out here, which maybe sounds ridiculous given all the extra money we can make now. The pressure of finances, points and status is constant, grinding away at you shot after shot, tournament after tourna- ment. On a tour where 190 guys play the minimum 15 starts for member- ship, maybe 25 or 30 feel “safe.” The calculations and ramifications can run through your mind over every putt, every chip, every drive. With the more closed nature of signature events and the amount of tour cards being reduced, I can’t imagine pace of play getting any
THE PGA TOUR ANNOUNCED at the Players Championship that it is cracking down on slow
over a tee shot? Everybody watching is thinking, Come on, hit the ball already! But put that same golfer on the green and suddenly we’re all patience and un- derstanding. Nobody bats an eye when a guy spends three minutes reading a putt from every angle. Dustin Johnson is the classic example. Tee-to-green, the dude is a blur. He hits before his name’s announced. But hand him a putter? Might as well pack a lunch. When he and his caddie, his brother Austin, circle a green, they look like two guys
play. The tour execs say they are going to publicly release the names of slow- play offenders and even assess penalty strokes. Great ideas, but what hasn’t been said is what’s causing all the five- hour-plus rounds. IT’S THE SHORT GAME. Ever notice how fans and even some players are quick to roll their eyes when someone freezes
ILLUSTRATION BY EVANGELINE GALLAGHER
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more visualisation before pulling the trigger – all because you’ve got nowhere else to go while waiting for the group ahead. Before you realise it, you’ve ab- sorbed the very behaviour you despise. My closest friends flew from Europe to Austin a few years back to watch me at the Match Play Championship. Their verdict after following me for 18 holes was, “When did you get so damn slow?” The American tour had rewired my golf brain without my even noticing. IT’S GAMESMANSHIP. I’ve played with Jason Day in a non-tournament round. That man can move. Come tournament time, he’s as methodical and unhur- ried as a wedding where both families brought their extended relatives. But while he’s walking along at a snail’s pace, he might suddenly speed up when it’s your turn, moving just enough to break your focus. It’s not just him. Dozens of guys have this same curious habit, and if you’re not expecting it, the move can get just enough under your skin to cause a problem. We will call each other out for quick-triggering, but a warning from a competitor is a small price to pay for getting inside his head. IT’S THE COVERAGE. The Open Cham- pionship is always among the slowest tournaments of the year. It’s such a dif- ferent game with the wind, the ground, and the setups. When a seemingly per- fect drive can bound into a pot bunker or a gentle breeze can transform into a sideways gale, every shot demands careful consideration. Despite the deliberate pace, I consistently hear from friends that The Open is their favourite broadcast. When interna- tional feeds take over from American production, gone are the excessive pre- taped biographical packages, footage of players marking two-foot putts and relentless commercial breaks. Instead, viewers are treated to what they crave: an uninterrupted symphony of pure golf shots. When viewers can witness more golf from more golfers, the per- ception of slow play diminishes. The game itself becomes the focus rather than the waiting. Perhaps the “slow- play problem” isn’t about pace at all but rather about how we choose to frame and present those inevitable pauses in the broadcast. – WITH JOEL BEALL
“I don’t care what the studies say. If
occurred in junior programmes where every swing was video-taped, every statistical category tracked, every de- cision scrutinised by hovering coach- es, parents and trainers. As a result, the tour is increasingly populated by technicians who play chess while their predecessors played jazz. IT’S FEATURED GROUPS. You know who’s quietly becoming slow? Scottie Scheffler, and it’s not his fault. Have you ever seen the absolute madness that follows star pairings? One guy hits one ball slightly off line and watch what happens. It’s like herding cats trying to clear everyone out. If you think play- ing with these guys is tough, try going directly in front of or behind them. You’re standing over a par putt while 50 people are stampeding past you to get into position to see the marquee group. IT’S AIMPOINT. Sorry Lucas Glover, Max Homa, Keegan Bradley, et al. I don’t care what the studies say. If I’m play- ing with an AimPointer, I know I can go ahead and cancel dinner reservations. IT’S THE CULTURE. I played a few rounds with Tom Kim before he came to the PGA Tour. The transformation is strik- ing – while he wasn’t exactly a road- runner before, he certainly wasn’t the tortoise he’s become. After competing on three major tours worldwide, I can tell you with certainty that American professional golf is the slowest. What’s fascinating is how it spreads. That one group moving at a glacial pace creates a bottleneck that ripples backwards, hole after hole, and nothing – abso- lutely nothing – infuriates professional golfers more than waiting. The irony is that our instinctive response to combat this slowness is to unconsciously adopt it ourselves. Suddenly you’re taking those extra practice swings, that addi- tional read from behind the ball, one I’m playing with an AimPointer, I know I can go ahead and cancel dinner reservations.”
faster. When your livelihood depends on each stroke, deliberation isn’t just un- derstandable – it’s inevitable. The tour’s structural changes have only amplified the pressure cooker that already existed. IT’S JUNIOR GOLF. Most of the slowest guys on tour are 28 or younger. This new generation was raised in the era of analyt- ics and microscopic dissection of every aspect of the game. These young pros are stepping off yardages for simple 40- yard pitch shots previous generations would execute on feel. They’re having five-minute strategy sessions with their caddies when the right play is glaringly obvious to everyone watching. This ap- proach isn’t entirely their fault. These pups have been conditioned since child- hood to trust systems over instincts, data over intuition. Their development
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‘I turned Pro when I was 17. I wasn’t ready’ I missed my first four cuts. I had a lot to learn, but I saw how accurate I was. I picked up on the little things By Aaron Rai with Keely Levin N o one in my family played golf. My dad, Amrik, was a ten- nis player and says my tennis stroke looked more like a golf swing, so he got me plastic clubs. I played my first tourna- ment when I was 4 years old. The age group was 12 and un- der. I had many family members watching. I won the nett division and finished second gross. I played in tournaments every month after that. It didn’t take long for me to know I wanted to pursue golf.
2017, my mum came with me to the Kenya Open, her first time back since she was 14. She came onto the 18th green when I won. It was Mother’s Day in the UK. It was the most memorable moment of my career. ● ● ● I moved up to the European Tour where I won the 2020 Scottish Open in a playoff with Tommy Fleetwood. In golf you lose over 95 percent of the time. Having that small percentage where it goes the other way is invaluable. I tend not to look at leader boards. Instead, I try to completely focus on the process at hand. ● ● ● Because of my finishes in 2020, I got into the PGA Championship, two WGC events and the Open. I played solid, which got me into the top 200 in FedEx Cup points, which then got me into the Korn Ferry finals where I finished third and got my PGA Tour card. It took me a couple of hours to internalise what I had done. ● ● ● As a pro I haven’t always played well, but I’ve seen enough to know I can hang around. Being in a late group on Sundays with big and loud crowds is what I aim for. I need to keep putting myself in that position because you can’t simulate it. Last June I played in the final group on Sunday with Akshay Bhatia at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. We both shot 72 and lost by one to Cam Davis. Six weeks later I had a closing 64 to win the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina in my 89th start on the PGA Tour. That took me all the way to the Tour Championship. ● ● ● A lot of the crowd don’t know me. The fact I don’t have any social media ac- counts probably accounts for that. Social media amplifies the highs and the lows. That’s not an environment that I want to expose myself to. I don’t really see how it’s going to help my golf. ● ● ● I still use iron covers. It’s the little things in life, the interactions that peo- ple have with one another, the gestures, the thoughts, the moments that reinforce character. It all adds up to build some- thing strong. I don’t want to lose sight of what’s important. Although I have access to plenty of equipment now, it’s the mes- sage and the meaning behind those iron covers that keep me using them.
We were a working-class family. My mum, Dalvir, immigrated to England from Kenya with her family as a teen- ager. She has had many jobs, from men- tal-health nurse to aerobics instructor. My dad was a community worker who was born in England but whose family immigrated from India. My dad read golf books to learn about the swing. ● ● ● He bought me a set of Titleist 690 MBs when I was 7, which were the top Titleist clubs at that time. I prac- tised every day, in all weather. When the clubs got muddy, my dad used a pin to clean every groove. Then he’d put baby oil on the face to prevent rust. He bought me iron covers to protect them. I learned early to value what I had. ● ● ● For guidance, my dad leaned on Shaun Ball, a coach at the par-3 course where I practised. Ball said, “Put Aaron in different situations and let him figure it out.” That was empow- ering. When I turned 12, I started work- ing with Andy Proudman and Piers Ward. They still coach me. ● ● ● My dad reached out to local papers to raise awareness and maybe some funding for my golf. A man reached out asking if I’d try his gloves. They
were all-weather, and I’d wear one on each hand. I loved them. At practice, I forgot one and had to play with one glove. It was awful. I’ve played with two for 20 years, still that same brand: Macwet. ● ● ● Shabir Randeree, owner of the first course I joined, became a close fam- ily friend. He funded my golf and my private high school education. Junior memberships were inexpensive. He helped me join different courses from a young age so that I would become ver- satile. He’s still my sponsor. ● ● ● I turned pro when I was 17. I talked to my parents and Shabir. We believed turning pro was the best way to learn, even though I probably wasn’t ready. ● ● ● It was lonely. I started on the EuroPro Tour. I missed the first four cuts. The guys out there were longer, had more awareness, better strategy, smarter shot selection and putted better. I had a lot to learn, but I saw how accurate I was. I picked up on little things they did. I lost my card two years in a row but got it back every year at Q school. ● ● ● Finally, I finished in the top five and graduated to the Challenge Tour. In
PHOTOGRAPH BY JENSEN LARSON
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AARON RAI PGA TOUR WINS 2024 WYNDHAM AGE 30 WR 30 ORIGIN WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND
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Three Risks to Golf’s Momentum BY JERRY TARDE
A POPULAR IRISH GOLFER who has flip-flopped so many times I’m not sure where he stands
now, spoke the unvarnished truth when he said he used to be opposed to the PGA Tour partnering with LIV. But look at how much money he made last year, and, well, you know, it’s all good. We’re sick of pro golf’s infatuation with money and inability to bring the top players together. It reminds me of what Dr Cary Middlecoff, the only den- tist to win two US Opens, said about the senior tour when it was getting going. “If we play too many times,” he said, “We might remember what it is we don’t like about each other.” That’s sure to be the case with today’s stars. If they get together too often, we – meaning you and I – might remember what we don’t like about them. Four majors may be enough. LIV has spent $5 billion so far on pro- moting team golf, which nobody cares about (outside the national teams of the Ryder, Walker, Solheim and Curtis Cups). Team golf ranks with square drivers, bubble shafts, Feather-lite irons and the Polara golf ball as ideas whose time never came. Team golf is even the least interesting thing about TGL, the indoor game with the best moment of the year: when Tiger Woods mistook two football fields for one foot- ball field. If pro golf doesn’t collaborate on a compromise, the overall game risks losing its momentum. This theme be- came apparent to me while moderating a discussion at the annual Golf Course Superintendents Association of Amer- ica conference. “Ten years ago, if you’d have told anybody that this game could grow by 50 percent, all of us would’ve called BS on that,” said Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA. “And if I would’ve said, the majority of that growth is go- ing to be women, juniors and people of
Your Enthusiasm: “A good compromise is when both parties are dissatisfied.” It’s not so funny that the PGA of America is now saying they weren’t consulted when its own press releases show the opposite. Everybody needs to get onboard. The third risk is in sustainability. Cli- mate crisis is out of vogue in Washing- ton, but extreme weather events hit golf courses hard this past year. “Things are going to change a lot in Washington and in your individual state and city, but long term, you have to see this challenge,” Whan said. “We golfers are stewards of the land, relative to what else could be there.” The USGA has taken the lead with its 15-30-45 campaign: In the next 15 years, they’re spending $30 million to reduce water usage on golf courses by 45 percent. “Water is the greatest risk to golf’s future and always will be,” added Greg Nathan, CEO of the National Golf Foundation. Sustainability isn’t popular in some quarters, and it’s different from Arizona to Florida, but the game needs a cohesive strategy based on collaboration. We all know the values that guide us on the course: civility, sportsmanship, integrity, honesty, respect and respon- sibility. Golf leaders desperately need to practice the way they play.
colour, then you would’ve said I was smoking something.” The National Golf Foundation num- bers agree. Total participation is up 38 percent since 2019, with women up 41 percent, kids up 48 percent and peo- ple of colour up 44 percent. Last year marked the seventh straight year that on-course golfers increased with a net year-over-year gain of 1.5 million – the largest single-season jump since 2000. Whan says golf’s leading organisa- tions were not aligned at the height of the Tiger boom. Covid caused the in- dustry to coalesce around shared objec- tives, and we didn’t waste a good crisis. The second risk to the game’s mo- mentum is how the industry reacts to the distance rollback to be imple- mented by the USGA and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. It will hit pro golf in 2028 and recreational golf not until 2030. New ball regula- tions will reduce driving distance 13 to 15 yards for tour pros and less than five yards for the rest of us. Balls fly- ing further require more land for golf courses, which stresses affordability, labour and water usage. The solution doesn’t seem to make anybody happy, but I like what Larry David said in Curb
ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL BYERS
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AWARD-WINNING DISTANCE
MIND / RULES M
Your opponent is way up in the match but has to leave. What do you do if he offers a half? BY RON KASPRISKE Don’t be a Sucker
but then your opponent informs you he has to leave early. Instead of taking your money, he graciously offers to call the match a draw. Should you agree to it and save 50 bucks? Strictly speaking under the Rules of Golf , the answer is, don’t be a sucker. While this might seem like a gener- ous offer, your opponent actually must forfeit the match for leaving early. He should be paying you. If you want to let him off the hook for the R50, that’s your business (and we salute your kindness) – but you’re still the winner. Keep in mind, so long as it doesn’t de- lay a competition, you both can agree to stop a match for any reason and start it up again at another time (Rule 5.7). However, if he wants to stop and you don’t, the match must keep going or he loses. It’s also important to note that while you can concede a stroke, a hole or even a match, you can’t concede multi- ple holes at one time as a way to speed up the outcome.
GOLF HAS ALWAYS BEEN grounded in good sports- manship. There are all sorts
and you started a match in some for- mal competition, both sides would be disqualified for purposely ignoring a rule. Another thing you can’t do is decide to employ a Model Local Rule when it’s not enacted by the course or committee. An example would be, as a way to save time, allowing anyone who hits a shot out of bounds to use the new lateral-relief-local-rule op- tion. It’s a tough break, but you’ve got to replay from the previous spot, even if that means walking all the way back to the tee. Where things tend to get a little confusing is what is allowed in terms of concessions in match play. Back to the scenario presented in the headline,
of examples of respectable conduct naturally occurring during a round – things such as agreeing to play out of turn when it has no bearing on the outcome, tending the flag for a group, or helping an opponent find his or her ball. Most matches start and end with handshakes (even when you want to strangle someone with your putter). All of this is great for the game, but it turns out there are times when try- ing to be nice or polite actually can land a golfer or golfers in violation of the Rules of Golf . For instance, before a round starts – so there are no hard feelings if one side of a match is a little stingier than the other with conced- ing putts – you and your opponent/s are not allowed to predetermine the length of a putt that would automati- cally qualify as holed. If you did come to an agreement that any putt “inside the leather” was considered good,
your opponent has a big lead with a handful of holes to play. The loss looks inevitable (along with paying out the R50 you bet on the match),
GENTLE-GOLFER’S AGREEMENT? There are times to be accommodating, but this isn’t one of those times.
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MIND / ON TOUR
ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL BYERS
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Undercover Caddie Why do we accept jobs from players with commitment issues?
M aybe your boss is a jerk. Perhaps you’re working in a tempo- rary job or you’re not happy with what you do, but noth- ing better is on the horizon, and you have bills to pay, right? Now you know why we work with caddie killers – players who hire and fire so many loopers you wonder where they all go. They’re actually not the monsters that name conveys. When fans think of caddie killers, they think of the players with short tempers who lose it on their caddies or the high-profile break-ups of a cad- die leaving his player mid-round. Those dustups are dramatic and make for good headlines, and yes, the players involved are usually branded for life as beefheads, but the truth is that this is a normal aspect of our profession, and the normal is usually mundane. I’ve had two experiences with caddie killers. The first was when I was starting out. I had a couple of good runs, but they were all fill-ins or trials. I was looking for something more permanent. An agent called me up, saying his player – a younger guy who after being with one caddie for three years had gone through four cad- dies in the past 15 months – had been impressed with me and wanted to know if I’d take on his bag. We played a lot that autumn, logging five starts, and did well: He had his first top-10 in months and two other top-25s, and he nev- er missed a cut. Seemed like after a couple iffy seasons this guy was getting back on track. A week be- fore Thanksgiving I got a message from the player saying he really enjoyed our time and thinks we make a good team, but his old col- lege teammate wants to give cad-
Think of these like flings. Maybe it will work out. It probably won’t. Some flings will last a week, some for years, but there is going to be an end. Try to have fun and if something more lasting happens, congrats. Admittedly I have a more posi- tive outlook on this thing. Some guys won’t touch players with this stigma. But the way I see it, if a player has a reputation for riding caddies hard and cutting them at the first sign of trouble or for no reason at all . . . well, to develop a reputation means he must have been out here long enough to earn that rep, and that means he’s a damn good player. You’ve seen what tour players make nowa- days. Even if it’s going to be a short ride, it’s a ride that can still be profitable. As for why we sign up for jobs that we know we’ll likely lose, well, the reasons vary. It’s hard to break into this industry and even tougher to stay in it. If there’s an open bag, it doesn’t matter the hardships that could come with it. We have to make a living. Or may- be you do it to get yourself on the radar of agents or other players, so when another job comes avail- able, they think of you. Honestly, deep down, we also believe that we can be difference-makers, that we’re the ones that will be differ- ent. Caddies are humble, yet each of us still has a bit of hubris. If you don’t have that type of confidence, you shouldn’t be out here. – WITH JOEL BEALL
dieing a try, and he feels indebted to the guy, so he no longer would need my services. I was a bit sore; anyone is after losing a job, espe- cially when you did that job well. But you know what? I don’t blame him. He was trying to be a good friend, and more importantly to him he had his confidence back. That friend didn’t make it to the summer before getting canned. The player went through another round of caddies and eventually lost his card. My other experience was work- ing for a player the fans love who had a reputation among caddies as a petulant child and had gone through two caddies in a short time before offering me a job. I found him to be a gentleman and one of the funniest guys I’d worked for. We missed the first cut. He almost won in our second week, then made two cuts but with dis- tant finishes. In our fifth event he started out well but pulled out on Friday with a wrist injury. On Sun- day morning his manager called and said the relationship was over. However, before I had the chance to get upset, that manager said he had a college kid turning pro in a month and asked if I’d like to try out for that. Though that job was temporary, it led me to another job in the manager’s stable, and I’ve been with this current player for, heck, I’ve lost count of the years. Yes, it was weird, and anytime you move on, people ask what happened. Honestly, nothing hap- pened. It just happened. Fans see these relationships like Spieth and Greller and think that’s how it is. Theirs is the aber- ration. Theirs is a marriage. As I try to tell the caddies who are just starting, if you’re looking for mar- riage, you’re going to get stomped.
Undercover Caddie hopes
this column doesn’t get him fired.
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MIND / GAME ON M
This fun variation on Stableford is good for groups of any size BY CHRISTOPHER POWER Chicago, Chicago, You’re My Kinda Game
BEFORE GETTING INTO the nuances of Chicago, here is a quick refresher on Stableford
caps is 3. The goal is to rack up as many points as you can over your designated quota using this type of scoring system (or similar):
swinging. In a typical game, a pot is set before the round and the winner takes it all. However, you could pay out based on the quota tallies, assigning a value to each point. For example, a player finishing five points above the quota would get R50 from a player who only met his or her quota and R100 from a player who came up five points short of his or her quota. For larger groups, you could tally the quotas of fourballs and the high group splits the pot. You also could pay for second, third, etc. What happens if no one makes their quota? Well, that’s up to you. Chip off? VARIATIONS: Is 39 too much? Lower the benchmark to, say, 36. You also could “fine” players for not reaching their quotas. Adjust the scoring if you like. Birdies are worth 5 and triples minus-1. Get creative to spice it up even more. If you have another game or some on- course wagering you’d recommend, message me on Twitter/X @Cpowers14.
scoring (Rule 21.1). An eagle or two un- der a fixed score on any hole is worth four points. A birdie or one under is worth three. A par is two and a bogey one. Now let’s talk about Chicago, a game that puts a fun twist on that for- mat and is designed for players of all handicaps. NUMBER OF PLAYERS: Up to you. BEST FOR: Groups with varying skill lev- els, good scorekeepers, players who can avoid double bogey, players who like to go it alone . . . and birdie machines. HOW TO PLAY: All players are given a “quota” they must meet based on their handicap and a base number of 39. If your course handicap is a 1, for exam- ple, your “quota” would be 38 points (39-1=38). As a 10 handicap, your quota would be 29 points (39-10=29). As a 15, it’s 24 points. The minimum point to- tal for beginners or super-high handi-
EAGLE: 8 POINTS BIRDIE: 4 POINTS PAR: 2 POINTS BOGEY: 1 POINT
To further clarify scoring, let’s say a 10-handicap makes seven pars (14 points), two birdies (8 points), seven bogeys (7) and two double bogeys (0). That’s 29 points, so the quota was met. One less double bogey and that golfer would have gone over the quota, and that’s how to get in the money. The winner exceeds the quota by the most points. Keep in mind, the game is meant to be played using gross scores (not adjusted for handicaps). The rea- son why Chicago is great for players of all levels is because the quota makes winning realistic no matter who is
18 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
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THE ALL-NEW
Sweet spot comparison vs. 2023 P•790 irons. Distance claim based on player testing vs. 2023 P•790 irons. © 2025 Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc.
MIND / 75TH ANNIVERSARY M
Editor’s note: In celebration of Golf Digest’s 75th Anniversa- ry, each issue Writer-At-Large
AS A YOUNG MAN, DAVID LEADBETTER wanted to be a touring pro in just about the worst way. An obsessive reader of golf books and magazines, Leadbetter by his late teens was steeped in the swing technique of every great player and well-versed in the theories of all the top teachers. As he set out on South Africa’s Sunshine Circuit, ostensibly loaded with differ- ence-making knowledge, he became that doomed stock character of the game’s professional minor leagues – the marginally talented perfectionist. “I knew all about good technique but was never happy with my own,” now says Leadbetter, 72, with a chuckle in his home office in Sarasota, Florida, the shelves filled with his lovingly cu- rated collection of golf titles, includ- ing the eight he has authored. “So a lot of doubt, a lot of frustration, a lot of negativity. Ripped up many gloves and
Jaime Diaz will interview key figures in the game to explore what happened when they were at the height of their powers. In June of 1985, instructor Da- vid Leadbetter teamed with Nick Faldo. Faldo willingly suffered through a dif- ficult transition period that threatened to derail his career. But under Lead- better’s steady guidance, the fiercely determined Faldo won the 1987 Open Championship and then five more ma- jors. The success of the pair’s intensive synergy and willingness to risk dramat- ic changes revolutionised the player/ coach relationship. To date, Leadbet- ter students have won 25 majors in the men’s and women’s game. The master instructor considers his contribution to the first as the most significant moment of his career.
‘THE BEST I EVER DID’ When David Leadbetter met a student of equal intensity BY JAIME DIAZ
20 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
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always observing and analysing.” In part to find a better climate for Da- vid, the family of six moved from south- ern England to what was then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) when Leadbetter was seven. He became “mad keen” about sports, excelling at cricket and ten- nis. By his early teens, golf became his passion. Achievement ran in the family. Lead- better’s father, Douglas, had been a decorated World War II bomber pilot, flying missions over Rommel’s army in northern Africa. Young David was most drawn to the stories about his maternal grandfather, George Thomas. After being blinded by a bullet during the Battle of the Somme in World War I, Thomas became one of Britain’s lead- ing osteopaths. “After he learned the curriculum by Braille, he developed a reputation for having an amazing sense of touch and feel in his hands,” Leadbetter says. “Pa- tients would come from all over Europe to see him. I connected to his gift be- cause early on I knew I had this ability, whether naturally or through watching sports and becoming obsessed, to be able to see flaws in athletic motion and understand how it could be corrected. That has never been difficult for me.” Leadbetter knew exactly why Faldo had been dissatisfied with a ball flight that launched too high with too much spin, lacking control in the wind. “Nick had the classic swing of the 60s and 70s – very upright with high hands at the top, big hip slide starting down, big reverse C finish,” Leadbetter says. “It created a steep angle of attack that could cause the ball to balloon. There was a lot of timing needed, which was one reason Nick never varied his superb rhythm, but the hands often had to do a lot of work, making it a hard swing to repeat in pressure situations.” Owing to his intense study of the swings of Hogan and Snead, in the 1980s Leadbetter was influential in moving the teaching community away from the reverse-C swing and towards an awareness that the rotation of the trunk, and not the driving of the legs, was the most efficient source of power and stability in the golf swing. Accord- ingly, he guided Faldo into a more
ship. Knowing that Mark O’Meara and Hank Haney had recently collaborated on a successful swing change, Faldo found the amiable and rangy Leadbet- ter wielding his VHS recorder on the practice range at the 1985 Memorial Tournament. “I had shared some of my ideas with Nick the previous December, but now he was very forthright and direct,” re- members Leadbetter. “He said, ‘I know what I’ve got is not good enough to be the best.’ He wanted to win majors. He wanted to be No 1, and he wanted me to help him. “I told him we would be doing some things that were radically different from what he’d been doing and that he would probably go backward before he went forward. I estimated it would take about two years. Nick said, ‘Fine. I want you to throw the book at me.’ You don’t The failures convinced Faldo that his willowy golf swing was not built to hold up to the demands of a major championship. often get someone like that, so I didn’t have any qualms. It was an honour.” In two years and a month, Faldo would win the Open Championship, his first of six majors, at Muirfield. “We were two driven people whose strengths complimented each other, seeking a shared vision, knowing we were doing something new and excit- ing,” Leadbetter says. “There was so much energy, chemistry and karma involved, it almost didn’t matter what the obstacles were, we were going to be successful.” The foundation for that work was laid in early childhood before Leadbet- ter ever heard of golf. A serious asth- matic condition marked by persistent laboured breathing caused his sternum to protrude. “It was a bit of a trauma with the other kids,” he says. “It prob- ably made me a little bit of the outsider,
snapped a few shafts. I needed a sports psy- chologist before there were any. Probably I wasn’t good enough anyway, but I defi- nitely didn’t have the temperament.”
JUST DO THAT At Wentworth in 1989, when Faldo was European Tour Golfer of the Year (opp. page).
When he was 24 and his 10-foot bird- ie putt on the last hole of the 1976 Eu- ropean Tour Q School expired an inch short of the cup, ending an uncharac- teristically clutch closing nine of 32 that left him a stroke short of gaining full playing privileges, he decided his competitive career was over. “The best putt I ever missed,” he says. He turned to teaching. In addition to all the technical knowledge he’d stored up, he’d gained empathy and under- standing as a competitor. He discov- ered he had what his friend J J Rivet, a noted expert in athletic movement, would call a “biomechanical eye” that can spot small flaws, inefficiencies and power leaks in a full-speed swing. Whereas tournament golf had come hard for Leadbetter, teaching tourna- ment golfers came easy. He set up teaching headquarters at the now-defunct Grenelefe Resort, about 70 kilometres southwest of Or- lando. During the early 1980s, he began coaching Nick Price and Denis Watson, both of whom had grown up with Lead- better in Zimbabwe. The three would stay at Leadbetter’s condo, located hard against the practice range, and use the training-camp environment for intense practice sessions to further improve their ball-striking. In 1983, Price won his first PGA Tour title, and in 1984, Watson would win his first three. Nick Faldo, desperate for improve- ment, took notice. The Englishman had been an emerging star, who in 1983 had won five times on the European Tour to earn the Order of Merit and then won on the PGA Tour in 1984. He also had a Ryder Cup record of 11-4-0. Faldo, though, had fallen short while in Sun- day contention of two majors, the 1983 Open and the 1984 Masters, prompting the tabloid tag of “El Foldo.” The fail- ures convinced Faldo that his willowy golf swing was not built to hold up to the demands of a major champion-
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MIND / 75TH ANNIVERSARY M
won their first ma- jors. Faldo’s steady run of poor finishes also cost him spon- sors. “Outwardly at least, it was like he really didn’t care,” remembers Lead- better. “He just set that Claret jug as his holy grail, and that was it.” As Faldo told Guy Yocom in 2006, there was more. “I’ve kept much of that experience to myself. It was dark, intense and sometimes negative, won- dering when the changes were going to take – and if they would take.” In 1987, they did. “Everything finally became less conscious,” Leadbetter says. A turning point was at the Magno- lia State Classic in Mississippi, the opposite-field event the week of the Masters, which Faldo was not invited to for the second year in a row. “I could sense that Nick was uptight about missing Augusta. Without really think- ing the last thing I said to him was, ‘soften your arms.’ With that thought, he went and shot four 67s and finished second. It was a breakthrough feeling for Nick that he carried right through Muirfield, something I said purely on instinct.” In May, Faldo won the Spanish Open, his first victory in three years, on a course set up by Seve Ballesteros to ap- proximate major-championship condi- tions. It was a positive signal to Faldo that his game had a new dimension. The Open at Muirfield would be Fal- do’s first major of the year, but Lead- better had to stay in the US. Before the championship he told Faldo, “You’re ready.” “In retrospect, it was almost ideal,” says Leadbetter of the week that Faldo turned 30. “By my not being there, Nick had to take off the training wheels, and that’s when he really owned the chang- es he had made. That final round of 18 pars, that penetrating 5-iron approach on the last hole, held up. Muirfield was the giant step for both of us.” For all the great players that Lead- better coached over more than four decades, he never had another whose perfectionism so thoroughly matched his own. SEEING GREEN Leadbetter eyes Faldo’s putting stroke the week of his first Masters victory.
rounded motion in the backswing by having him turn his left forearm clock- wise along a flatter plane while pivot- ing more deeply into a flexed right leg. In the downswing, initiating the tran- sition with a turning rather than the sliding of the hips shallowed the plane into impact. The former reverse-C fin- ish was transformed into one marked by a straighter body and a lower arm follow-through. The result was a lower, more pen- etrating ball flight that was easier to control and allowed more shot-making versatility. With the rotational big mus- cles allowing the hands to be more pas- sive, Faldo’s swing would be less timing reliant and more resistant to pressure. It was a swing built more for precision than power and so was especially suit- ed to iron play. “Major championships test iron play more than any part of the game,” Leadbetter says. “Every great player has been a great iron player. Nick became one of the best ever.” When Faldo and Leadbetter began working together in June of 1985 in the Central Florida heat at Grenelefe, the soon-to-be 28-year-old Faldo would hit more than a 1 000 balls a day. “He was relentless,” Leadbetter says. “When I spent a week with Nick, I was mentally tired but also exhilarated. He was a perfect student. He had learned the new movements pretty quickly. Of course, they hadn’t been embedded in tournament play, which is the hard part that takes time.” There were legions of British doubt- ers who feared their young hero would lose his way with this obscure guru. They gained more ammunition as the year went on, as Faldo finished at the bottom of the field in strokeplay events, including a T-53 at the Open, and then was forced into the lion’s mouth at the Ryder Cup at the Belfry. Faldo was expected to be a stalwart on a European team vying to win for the first time since 1957, but with the swing changes he simply wasn’t ready for such a pressurised arena. After playing poor- ly while paired with Bernhard Langer, Faldo asked captain Tony Jacklin to keep him out until the singles, which he would also lose. The roasting he and Leadbetter received would have been
“When I spent a week with Nick, I was mentally tired but also exhilarated. He was the perfect student.” worse but for Team Europe winning. “That was too much, too soon, and Nick was exposed,” Leadbetter says. “The thought crossed my mind that if he was ever going to quit this project, this was the time. But he kept looking big picture and never had a questioning word, which increased my confidence that something very good was going to come of this.” Yet 1986 was another long year, high- lighted only by a fifth-place finish at the Open at Turnberry. Faldo increased his intensity, diligently following Leadbet- ter’s encouragement of constantly re- peated swing drills. “Nick is very much a feel player, contrary to how he is perceived,” says Leadbetter. “He did the drills because he understood that they reinforce an exaggerated feel that you can keep within yourself and repeat. It’s that feel, not thought, that you rely on in competition.” There was no ignoring the ticking clock as Faldo’s contemporaries, San- dy Lyle, Langer, and Greg Norman, all
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MIND / ASK A GREENKEEPER M
You Might Be Throwing Broken Tees in the Wrong Spot Where you toss them can have a substantial impact on the grounds staff BY DREW POWELL
TOSS TOSS Discarding your tee stubs into the rough helps grounds staff.
If you’re like many golfers, you might haphazardly flick broken pegs to the side of the tee markers or in the rough. But sometimes the smallest things can cause bigger headaches for maintenance staff. We asked Brandon Coe, the golf course superintendent at Orchards Golf Club in Massachusetts, where we should throw our tee stubs.
Coe: Any tees that are even slightly poking up are the worst, especially for the equipment. If you catch that at the right angle, that can do some damage. I prefer they don’t get pushed into the ground because they’re just going to sit there, and if you end up doing any sod work, it’s just a pain. Do you have a preference between wooden or plastic tees? Coe: Wooden tees are preferable. I encourage golfers to use wooden tees because they are biodegradable. Plas- tic tees are a concern for the property. Wooden tees are cheap, and you can buy them in bulk. I mentioned you should toss your broken wooden tees in the rough, but plastic tees are a different situation. Try and hold on to those because we don’t want that kind lying around anywhere. They’re not biodegradable, and they can really damage the equipment, even in the rough.
Golf Digest: Brandon, where do you think golfers should discard their broken tees? Coe: I don’t think there’s a perfect an- swer for it. It’s going to differ from golf course to golf course. In a perfect world, if you have a good maintenance budget and you have proper staff, if you’re go- ing out daily and you’re collecting tees on the tee box, that would be perfect. The majority of clubs are probably better off just tossing them into the rough where they can be mulched up by mowers. That’s what I tell mem- bers at my club to do. Depending on the rough height, the tees will likely be mulched up by the mower when it goes around. We use a blade mower in the rough, so it’s going to chop it up pretty good, and it’s not really a concern for the equipment. Either that or the tees are going to get worked in through the profile, and it’s just going to end up in the soil where it’s eroded over time, especially the wooden tees. Is there a downside to leaving the stubs on the tee box? Coe: Yes. I prefer that they get tossed into the rough and mulched up because the worst thing for us as a maintenance
staff is having them on the box where mowers are going to catch them. It can do a pretty good number on a reel mow- er, which is what we use on tee boxes. They’re better off in the rough be- cause we take a typical rotary mower that you use at home, just with a big blade, and it chops the tees up well. It’s not going to be any concern for the mower. If they’re left on the tee box and not getting picked up daily, if they get clipped by a mower, it’s a different kind of mower. On the tees we use a reel mower that’s cutting really tight and at a low height. It’s pinching the grass. If you get tees caught up in there fre- quently, it’s going to damage it. That’s our concern because it can add up on the machines being on the tee box. Tees that are left on the tee box are also a problem because it’s an extra hour’s worth of collecting the tees, so we’re not mowing over them. It’s an ex- tra strain on the staff. If you accidental- ly run over a tee with a mower on the tee box, it can not only damage the mower, but it can alter the cut of the grass. Some golfers forget to take out the stubs from the ground after hitting an iron shot. Is that bad?
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24 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
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