Golf International - Issue 102

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INTERNATIONALMAGAZINE

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ISSUE 102 • JUNE 2011 • £4.25

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

THE MANY GLORIES OF GOODWOOD / LATEST SHADES / GOLF IN ST MORITZ / MOTORING & MORE

Master BlasterOn the tee with Masters champion Charl Schwartzel

Dazzled by the AzaleasClive Agran’s Augusta debutScreen testTom Cox on the battle of the broadcasters

Peter AllissRobert Green

Jeremy ChapmanJohn HopkinsBruce CritchleyDr Felix Shank

The Major!

Sky Sports’ David Livingstone on 20 years in the world's top golf job

TOP WRITING

THE Gi INTERVIEW

Dan Frost shows you how to build stability and improve the ‘sequencing’ of your swing

US OPEN PREVIEW ERNIE REFLECTS ON 1997 CONGRESSIONAL: A BRIEF HISTORY WIN!LOVE LA MANGA

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Saturday May 7 2011, 7am.

As the last remaining pages of this issue were sent to press in the early hours of

Saturday May 7 it was announced that Seve Ballesteros had finally lost his battle with

cancer following the brain tumour first diagnosed in October 2008. According to the

five-time major champion’s official website, Seve passed away peacefully, surrounded

by his family at his lifelong family home in Pedreña. He was 54.

It was the news none of us ever wanted to hear but increasingly feared we would.

Seve’s condition had worsened just three days earlier, during – by unfortunate coin-

cidence – the week of the Spanish Open in Barcelona, where he had won the last of

his 87 career titles in 1995. Word quickly spread that Ballesteros's situation had

taken a critical downturn. Jose Maria Olazábal was too emotional to speak to the

media in the aftermath of his second round – “I can’t talk,” Olazábal said. “I can only

wait, and cry.”

As the sporting world mourns the passing of a true legend, European golf wakes up

today to the realisation it has, finally and painfully, lost its talisman. There is no

other golfer who can replace him. Seve, the first man from this continent to claim a

Masters title (in 1980 – a feat he repeated at Augusta three years later) and a three-

time winner of the Open (in 1979, 1984 and 1988) was golf’s natural-born genius.

And yet he remained one of us.

In 2010, during his last television interview with the BBC, Ballesteros spoke of fight-

ing cancer. “You can’t have it all in life,” he told Ken Brown. “One day you feel fantas-

tic, the next you never know what is going to happen. You just take a look at how

many days of glory I had before. It has been a fantastic life and this, what has hap-

pened to me, is what I will call destiny; one test that God is putting on me.”

We dedicate this issue to Seve’s memory. May he rest in peace.

Editor: Richard Simmons [email protected]

Editor in Chief: Robert Green [email protected]

Equipment Editor: Dominic Pedler [email protected]

Design: Tony Seagrave [email protected]

Professional Teaching Panel: Robert Baker, Tim Barter, Pete Cowen, Jim Christine,Dan Frost, Andrew Hall, Simon Holmes, Paul Hurrion,Stuart Morgan, Denis Pugh, Stuart Smith, DavidWhelan & Jonathan Yarwood

Regular Contributors: Clive Agran, Peter Alliss, Colin Callander, Jeremy Chapman, Tom Cox, Richard Gillis,Anthony ffrench-Constant, Michael Flannery, John Hopkins, Tony Johnstone, Kevin McGimpsey,David Purdie, Ronan Rafferty, Sarah Stirk, JayneStorey, Paul Trow & Jake Ulrich

Photographers: David Cannon, Peter Dazeley, Ross Kinnaird, Andrew Redington, Getty Images,Charles Briscoe-Knight, Matthew Harris, MarkNewcombe, Eric Hepworth, Steve Read

Regular Illustrators: Peter Clark, Harold Riley, Dave F. Smith, Tony Husband

Overseas correspondents: Karl Ableidinger AustriaJan Kees van der Velden HollandSpencer Robinson Hong KongMario Camicia ItalyAndy Brumer USA

Advertising/Publishing Director:Peter Simmons [email protected]: (020) 7828 3003 • Mobile: 07827 995 080

Advertising Director:Nick Edgley [email protected]: 07774 703 491

Advertising Consultant:Ian Harkness [email protected]: 01702 558512 • Mobile: 07980 464 378

US Travel Representative:Gary Edwards [email protected]: (00) 1 843 849 1308

Special Projects:Brosnan Event Management Tel: (020) 8691 6836

Printers: St Ives Web Ltd // Tel: 01726 892400

Distribution: Comag // Tel: 01895 433600

ALLIANCE MEDIA

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ISSUE 102 • JUNE 2011

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FIRST UP

RICHARDSIMMONS

Seve:one of the greatest, most gifted golfers the world has ever known

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PLEASE QUOTE SOURCE CODE: GiJUNE102 Offer applies only to mailing addresses within the UK only and whilst stocks last

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8 FIRST UPTalking to sports supremo Barry Hearn for the interview last issue set editor Richard Simmons thinking about how golf can attract a younger audience – and this might be the answer

40 AND ANOTHER THING...Such was the drama that unfolded on the finalday of this year’s Masters it was easy to forgetthat Charl Schwartzel produced a fantastic lastround to win. Robert green didn’t

42 ON THE AIRThe contrasting reactions of Tiger Woods andRory McIlroy at the end of a mesmerisingMasters spoke volumes, writes Peter Alliss

46 BETTINGAfter the excitement of Augusta it’s to theCongressional Country Club, Maryland, for theyear’s second major. Gi’s betting expertJeremy Chapman talks US Open

46 19TH HOLEA gaping hole in an otherwise exemplary CVwas plugged in April as Clive Agran at lastexperienced a week at Augusta

162 THE LAST SHOTHow can it be, in the modern era, and withEuropeans dominating the world order, thatthree of the four majors take place in the US?John Hopkins suggests our own PGAChampionship should be the fifth

Essential readingfrom the best in the game

14 LETTERSDo you have an opinion you’d like to share?Why not email us? You could win the latestFootJoy shoes and wind-shirts

23 PLANET GOLF19th Hole Q&A David Livingstone...EwenMurray presents his personal Top 10 of theFinest Things in Golf...2 Minute Lesson withJonathan Yarwood...Jayne Story and Chi-PowerGolf...more advice from Dr Felix Shank... newgear for summer...The Major!... nEW The RulesOffice – how’s your general knowledge?...Divots..!

90 THE AMATEUR SCENEOfficially still an amateur, England’s Tom Lewishas racked up the air miles this year in a bid totest his game against the very best in twoleading professional events - Gi caught up withhim. Plus we bring you our regular round-up ofamateur tournament news, while ColinCallendar reports on exceptional low scoring inthe McEvoy Trophy

152 WORLD TOURNAMENT NEWSTrading places: it’s like a merry-go-round at thetop of the official World Rankings, as at the endof April Lee Westwood’s numbers come up forthe second time following his back-to-backvictories in the Far East. Plus there’s a round-upof the latest tournament results from the worldof professional golf. Edited by Andy Farrell

JUNE 2011 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM 107

GLORIOUS GOODWOOD / SUNGLASSES / MEMORABILIA / MOTORING & MORE...

GOLF INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE JUNE 2011

Subscribe TODAY and you will receive a dozen Srixon golf

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Regulars ColumnsISSUE #102 // JUNE 2011

54 SHOCK & AWE Until you have actually set foot inside the gatesof Augusta National it’s virtually impossible to describe the experience. Now he’s been,Clive Agran tries

66 REALITY T.V. At his home in Diss, Norfolk, Tom Cox was glued to the action as this year’s first major was played out both on Sky and the BBC

76 CONGRESSIONAL CONFESSIONALSteve newell talked to the two-time US Open champion and recent inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Ernie Els, as he prepares to return to the scene of his 1997 victory

98 CONGRESSIONAL COUNTRY CLUBAs it prepares to host the US Open for the third time in its history, bruce Critchley examines the pedigree of Congressional

124 SLOW PLAYMalcolm Allen reveals to Gi readers someground-breaking, not to say mind-bending, newinitiatives that will probably be introduced intogolf clubs in Britain, with the aim of making thegame more...er, whatever

134 C’EST MAGNIFIQUEWith green fees running between 30 and 60 euros, the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, 100km northeast of Paris, is fast gaining a reputation as a golfing destination par excellence. And that’s before you uncork the bubbly, as Andrew Marshall reports

140 JEWEL IN THE SUNFor many Turnberry is the UK’s ultimate resort, a magical place where the world-class golf is more than matched by the hotel and – as Gi’s Dominic Pedler can testify – luxury apartments

144 TRAVEL PAGES In association with our travel partner Your Golf Travel we bring you the very latest stay-and-play deals at home and abroad, including Palmares in Portugal’s Algarve, a luxury break at Gleneagles and a package to watch the Solheim Cup at Killeen Castle

Features

107 THE MANY GLORIES OF GOODWOODAs Steve newell samples downs golf and five-star service

112 LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDEWe check out the latest in performance sunglasses for golf

114 MEMORABILIAAuction-room expert Kevin Mcgimpsey answers more of your letters

116 HIGH ON ST MORITZPeter Swain loaded his sticks on the train from Zurich for St Moritz

120 MOTORINGAnthony ffrench-Constant drives the Audi A7 TDI Quattro S-Tronic

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The 18th at Congressional -

possibly the toughest finishing hole

in major championship golf

PHoTogRAPHy by JoHn MuMMERT / CouRTESy uSgA

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ISSUE #102 // JUNE 2011 // MORE GOLF WITH THE EXPERTS...

Probably the best instruction on the Planet!

Improve your power moveswith Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, page 48

WITHIN PLANET GOLF30 2-Minute Lesson: Jonathan yarwood shows

you how to develop a better wrist action

'whip' that will help you generate more

speed, greater power

30 Chi-power GOLF: Jayne Storey suggests a

series of easy-to-follow exercises that can help

you to warm up the key muscle groups before

heading out

48 ALL POWER TO HIMSouth Africa’s Charl Schwartzel

produced the round of his life

to win the Masters in a

thrilling finale at Augusta,

blending tremendous power with

an exceptional putting touch to round out his

week with a stunning 66. Here, life-long friend

Andrew Park takes you step by step through the

swing of golf’s newest superstar, highlighting the

specific moves you should try to copy

66 BUILD YOUR SWING AROUND BALANCEMaking his debut on our cover this issue, one of

the UK’s leading young coaches, Dan Frost,

reminds you of the importance of what he regards

as golf’s lost fundamental – balance. With a series

of dynamic drills, he illustrates how you can quickly

and easily improve the stability, ‘sequencing’ and

speed for better ball striking

130 IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT PUTT During a seminar at The Belfry Dr Paul Hurrion

unveiled his latest Quintic Ball Roll Analysis

system that is now guiding regular golfers – as

well as tour stars – to the correct specifications

and stroke. Dominic Pedler was there for Gi

126 NEW SERIES: In the first of a new series shot on

location at Lough Erne Resort, in Northen Ireland,

Director of Golf and head pro Lynn McCool gives

you the tools to play better sand shots

130 MIND FACTOR GOLF A Lesson in Learning: Armed with some

illuminating new research, leading European Tour

mind coach Dr Karl Morris says it’s not what you

learn but how you learn that determines the rate

of improvement

PHoTogRAPHy CouRTESy oF nIKE goLF

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PLANET GOLF


DAVID LIVINGSTONE // EWEN MURRAY’S TOP-10 // DR FELIX SHANK // CHI-POWER GOLF // THE MAJOR...

ECCO COMFORT CLASSICINSIDE THE LEATHER

GOLF

The signing of U.S. Open Champion GraemeMcDowell was a major coup for Danish shoe experts,Ecco, and the Irishman will be the first of their starnames to wear the new Comfort Classic golf shoes,an elegant, city-inspired design combining rich leatheruppers and a genuine leather welt.

The shoes also showcase the special Hydromaxleather made exclusively at Ecco factories through aspecial ‘tanned-in’ process which ensures the materialremains soft and breathable while keeping the feet dry.

Other features include a “Second Skin” liningthat wicks moisture away while molding effectivelyto the foot’s contours; a removable, leather-coveredinsole with a Comfort Fibre System designed tokeep the feet cool; and a Direct InjectedPolyurethane construction for support as well ascomfort. Colours include Coffee/Whiskey and Blackand White. Guide: £160. www.ecco.com/golf

Gi: You are one of a handful of presen-

ters to have been with Sky Sports for the

full 20 years – how did it all start?

DL: I started out as a classic news

reporter in the early 1970s, did all the

training and was fortunate enough to

move into sport from there. Mostly foot-

ball. Then I started working for Scottish

Television as a reporter and production

journalist. I was with BSkyB from Jan 1

1990, the merger with Sky Sports taking

place later that year. Sky won its first

Premier League contract in 1992 and I

was a reporter on live games for the first

six months or so of that season. Then

Sky bought the rights to screen American

golf and so the adventures began. In

those days it was novel – the PGA Tour

seemed a world away. But Sky saw an

opportunity to screen live golf in prime

time and I was just lucky. They gave me

the opportunity to present the coverage,

which was just a huge break for me. I

could never repay the debt to Sky.

Gi: Was golf a passion at the time?

DL: I played a little bit and I knew golf, I

had worked in golf, but it was quite

something to go on to present live golf.

And I think it showed. Ken Brown and I

started at around the same time – he had

never done TV – and I don’t think it is too

unkind to say it was the blind leading the

blind. But you know that’s what has been

so wonderful about Sky over the last 20

years. Sky itself was going through its for-

mative years and it gave these incredible

opportunities to people like myself. They

stuck with us. If you look at Sky over the

last 20 years its gone from being a train-

ing camp to being a finishing school.

Anyone coming in now is the finished

article.

Gi: I read somewhere that you had some

help from sports psychologist Alan Fine?

DL: One of the producers had mentioned

to me that I had a tendency to um and

err quite a lot – a subconcious habit that

had to be broken. It just so happened I

was talking to Alan about how he was

helping David Feherty to overcome quit-

ting on his shots. He told me about a

technique he used, which was basically to

attach a financial penalty every time you

made that particular mistake (it worked

for Feherty – he won the Italian Open). I

His is surely one of the most enviable jobs in all of golf – as theever-reliable anchor to Sky Sport’s comprehensive coverageDavid Livingstone travels the world watching the best playersin the game. Editor Richard Simmons dropped in on him

planet golf 19Th hOLE Q&Aplanet golf

19TH HOLE Q&A

DAVID LIVINGSTONE

GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JUNE 201110

was heading out to the TPC for the

Players Championship, facing long hours

over four days, and I decided to try it –

and I didn’t umm or err once. I haven’t

seen Alan since, he’d probably want a

cheque off me!

Gi: What would you say has been the

ultimate high of your job?

DL: I’d say quite early on, the first Ryder

Cup for Sky Sports in 1995, which turned

out to be such a massive Ryder Cup. As

you know, at Oak Hill a few of the

European team were getting up there

close to their sell-by date. We knew it,

they knew it: Howard Clarke, Seve, Mark

James, Philip Walton, these guys knew

they were unlikely to make another Ryder

Cup. They were in the team because of

their huge experience and on that final

day they really made that experience

count. The way it all happened on that

final day – the Americans just in the lead

thanks to Corey Pavin’s chip-in at 18 on

the Saturday night – it was still the best

final day I have been at. A lot of people

were questioning Sky’s longevity and

commitment to golf and I think the cov-

erage we put together that week demon-

strated something. Of course the result

went so well for us. I think Sky derived a

lot of benefit for that result, especially for

Gallacher winning at the third attempt.

Gi: Happily, Sky’s arrival also coincided

with the birth of Tiger’s pro career.

DL: I think the Tiger Woods story is the

one we have all been privileged to have

been a small part of. With Butch

[Harmon] working as part of the Sky

team, and Butch being so much a part of

Tiger’s development, we have had a ter-

rific insight to the career of the world’s

best player. And, through Butch, Tiger

actually became a little bit a part of our

team for a time. The first time I met him

was at the US Open at Oakland Hills in

1996, when he was still an amateur. He

had played in the Masters that year and

made the cut. At Oakland Hills he had

just about everything on his card from a

2 to a 7, spectacular golf, fairly ‘green’ in

places, but just so exciting. They brought

him over to our studio for a live interview

on the Friday afternoon. The USGA offi-

cial accompanying him nudged me and

said it was the first time Tiger had made

the cut in a major, and you know, some

times when a USGA official tells you

something you don’t question it. So even

though I was half thinking to myself,

‘hang on, what about the Masters?’, I said

this to Tiger. And Tiger just said straight

back: ‘No, I made the cut in the Masters’. I

knew right away what kind of a young

guy he was. He doesn’t forget anything

and is a stickler for detail. We [Sky] were

on the run with him from the very start.

He gave us a five year high, at least, even

when he quit working with Butch. He was

very good to us and always has been.

Gi: What do you think of the way

Tiger treats the media?

DL: In the early days I kind of admired

that part of him, I thought it was a clever

thing to be guarded. He was young and

didn’t want to say the wrong thing. But as

the years go by I just wish that he would

open up a little bit. Particularly after all

the trouble he has been through. All this

business about saying he wanted to be a

‘better human being’, I think he could

have helped himself by being just a bit

more open to the media. Having said that

he has been quite self-deprecating recent-

ly. I have noticed he pokes fun at himself

but he still doesn’t give away too much.

I’m not criticising him – how can you –

but I wish he would just give back a bit

more.

Gi: Give us a reason to love him a little

bit more?

DL: Absolutely. That’s the distinction

between Tiger and Mickelson. It’s pretty

obvious to me that Phil is the most

loved golfer in America while Tiger is

the most respected. I hope he doesn’t

take offence to that – but how can he?

It’s the way it is. How can you love

someone when he doesn’t give you any-

thing. I think we all respect his golf

game and his right and judgment as far

as his own PR and all the things that go

with it, which is fair enough up to now.

But I want him so much to get love back

from the galleries because he needs it

after what he’s been through.

Gi: You hadn’t been to Augusta ahead

of this year’s Masters – did you get the

opportunity to really experience the full

thrill and spectacle of the place?

DL: My first day there was a practice day

and I just walked the course as a punter.

To me that was the biggest thrill of all at

Augusta – just being one of the specta-

tors, because I couldn’t believe how spec-

tator-friendly the course was, how easy it

was, for example, to cross over fairways

and get from one part of the course to

another. People talk about it being a hilly

and a demanding walk, which is true.

And how easy it is to walk down to Amen

Corner – that’s the part of it for anyone

who has been, you stand down there and

think of all the years you have watched it

on TV. It really blows you away. From a

spectators point of view, how well they

are looked after, beautiful picnic areas,

the concessions are reasonably priced. I

can really see why anyone who has been

lucky enough to go just loves it and feel

such a part of it. In fact more than at any

other golf tournament the crowd literally

is a part of it – certain parts of the course

need the crowds to define the playing

area and create the atmospehere.

Gi: Knowing the affection for Peter

Alliss and the BBC how daunted were

you at the prospect of broadcasting the

Masters?

DL: On a personal level I was very ner-

vous about the whole thing. There was a

tremendous pressure. The BBC has cov-

ered the event with distinction for so

many years and they do things their way

and we do it our way. We had to show a

great deal of respect and seriousness

about what we were doing but at the

same time we needed to stamp our own

mark on the coverage. Sky Sports and the


Thanks to butch

Harmon’s relationship

with Tiger, Sky Sports

has enjoyed a good

relationship with the

14-times major cham-

pion

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planet golf LATEST GEAR


planet golf

In the zone – Yonex eZoneThe Japanese masters of super stylish equipment return with the premiumeZone series whose flagship drivers come in a choice of 450cc and 420ccheads, both with a classy traditional pear shape and a centre of gravityaligned exactly in the centre of the clubface (unlike so many rivals where thesweetspot can be particularly high in the face).

The standard shaft is Yonex’ new Nanopreme model developed in collab-oration with a US nanotechnology company to provide more power from ahighly elastic form of graphite and more control and stability through impact.Guide: £299 (£349 with Yonex Rexis shaft).

The eZone irons continue the theme of precision CG placement, startingwith the lavish Composite iron which now lowers the CG dramatically with acleverly concealed 20g tungsten sole weight within an L-shaped cavity con-struction that effectively hottens up the sweetspot across a larger area of themaraging steel face.

While visually far sleeker than a typical hybrid-style set, the Compositestill delivers an ultra forgiving performance helped further by the sameNanopreme shaft (£999, 5-SW).

The eZone range also includes two top-end forgings: the Forged Type PB,a moderate ‘Pocket Back’ cavity that comes standard with the excellentNippon 950 lightweight steel shaft (£999 4-SW); and the sumptuous MBMuscle Back which Japanese whizz kid, Ryo Ishikawa, is already playing. www.yonex.com/golf

Nike’s Master plan – the 20XI golf ballsNike enjoyed some great publicity at Augusta as Charl Schwartzel took thegreen jacket playing a full bag of the company’s clubs as well as the OneTour D ball, while Masters week also saw the launch of the ball that willreplace it: the Nike 20XI, in appropriately themed green logos and numbers.

The R&D team highlighted the new core construction which, in place oftraditional rubber, is made from a special injected-molded lightweight resinclaimed to offer a 2-3 mph faster ball speed than previous offerings and alsoa greater MOI from the relatively heavier three outer layers.

As with other rivals chasing Titleist’s dominance with their ProV1 andProV1x double act, the 20XI comes in two versions, each with subtly differ-ent performance characteristics despite sharing the same 4-piece construc-tion, 360 dimple pattern and urethane cover.

The 20XI-X is designed for less spin along with a slightly higher compres-sion and a slightly harder cover to promote distance.

The 20Xi-S has a slightly lower compression and a softer cover engi-neered for increased spin and control.

Stewart Cink is among those already claiming an extra 10 yards distanceoff the tee, while initial reports from Golf Ball Selector suggest both balls arelower launching, lower spinning and slightly firmer feeling than the One Tourrange they replace, yet with excellent greenside control. www.nikegolf.com

Carry and roll – Powakaddy’s latest golf bagsWhile best known as the market leader in powered carts, Powakaddy’s bagrange has grown significantly in recent years, with a new crop for 2011 invarious categories and colour combinations.

Designed specifically for use with an electric trolley, the Deluxe IV cart bagfeatures features 13-way, full-length club dividers, water resistant zips andlining, velour lined valuables pocket, anti-wear patches and quick-fixing rain-hood hat. The bag comes in two different material finishes and six colourcombinations, including White/Chilli Red, White/Sapphire Blue in PVC (at£149.99); and Black/Blue and Black/White in nylon (£129.99).

The Sport III bag is a lightweight but sturdy construction with two apparelpockets, 11-way club dividers, four side-mounted pockets and a drinkscooler pocket (£99.99); while, at the same price, the Ladies Deluxe is partic-ularly stylish lightweight nylon design also with 14-way full length dividers toensure no snagging of clubs.

All feature Powakaddy’s innovative key lock system which securely fas-tens the bag to the key plate of all of the company’s electric carts.www.powakaddy.com

From exotic white drivers and matching shafts to new irons, putters, bags and balls,Dominic Pedler brings you a selection of the latest equipment on the market.

In gear for summer

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The key to this drill isthat you really ‘crank’the wrists back to setthe clubshaft up in this90-degree angle bythe time your handsreach waist-high

With the lower bodystabilising and ‘resisting’ the rotationof the upper body,completing your shoulder turn rewardsyou with a compactand fully coiled backswing

Now for perhaps thekey move: this releaseand crossover of thehands and forearms iswhat will enable you tocreate a real swish ofthe shaft through theimpact area – speed

Take a regular stance, butgrip down towards the headend of a mid-iron, and thenprepare to make a swing. Toprime your motion, move thegrip a couple of feet forward(above), then let it fall andgather up that momentum tocontinue into the backswing 2.1.

3. 4. 5.

planet golf 2-MINUTE LESSON


planet golf

Good ‘sequencing’ of theswing sees the arms releasethe club in tandem with therotation of the body throughthe ball and towards the target.Here, you should be able tosee your gloved left hand clearly beneath the right

Develop a better wrist action ‘whip’– and generate more speed

Good players often disguise the quality oftheir hand action within the overall frameworkof their body movement. But if you asked atop player to hit a full shot without using muchin the way of body turn, you’d be astonishedat the power and distance they could achieve.And that is down to the sheer quality of handaction that accelerates the clubhead throughthe ball – something this drill will help you toimprove in your own swing.

Take a mid-iron, turn it around and grip allthe way down the shaft towards the headend. Then take your regular set-up and getready to make a full swing, the objectivebeing to create as loud a swish as you canthrough the impact area. (Go ahead and trythis with your regular motion and see whatsort of noise you can make.)

Now, here are the key points I want you tofocus on to improve the quality of your wristaction and your ability to ‘load’ and unloadthe shaft in the pursuit of speed.

To start, move the grip a couple of feetforward (inset), so that when you let it fallinto the backswing you can pick up on itsmomentum and really ‘crank’ your wrists tohave the clubshaft set in this 90-degree posi-tion (2) by the time your hands pass waist-high. Don’t be afraid of really hingeing yourwrists back on themselves; as you do this youwill be aware of the grip-end of the club reallygathering pace as it swings up on its way tothe top (3).

Moving into the downswing, and herecomes the real crux of this drill: as youunwind, I want you to focus on swingingthrough this fully released position immediate-ly post-impact (pic 4 and main image right).This crossover of the hands and forearms isone of the common denominators in all goodswings; it is evidence that the wrists have fullyand freely released the club and expended allof their stored-up energy. Within the frame-work of a consistent body action, that’s thekey to generating clubhead speed.

“Use this as a warm-up exercise before you tee offand really loosen up thehands and wrists so thatwhen you revert to a regu-lar grip you can go afterthat same sensation of the wrists adding speed and‘whip’ through the ball....”


By Jonathan YarwoodPHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE CANNON/GETTY IMAGESWWW.GOLFJY.COM

planet golf NEW SERIES


planet golf

THE RULES OFFICE

DIVOTS BY TONY HUSBAND

PGA Professional and Rules expert Ashley Weller tees up a new serieslooking at some of the common areas that can cause misunderstanding –and poses 10 True/False teasers to test your general knowledge

By their very nature the Rules of Golf can be quite

complicated when you get down to the detail. I have a

theory, yet to be proven, about club golf: if I could wit-

ness every shot of every player in every group in the

next Monthly Medal, I think I would witness a breach

of the Rules by around 50% of the field. Not cheating,

just unknowing breaches of the Rules. I hope this

new series will give you an awareness of how to pro-

ceed in a given situation – and give you confidence to

use the Rules to your advantage.

Ball Unplayable – Rule 28

“Remember your A,B,C.”

Sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) we don’t hit the

ball exactly where we anticipate and the ball ends up

in a nasty place. Whilst a Rory McIlroy might be able

to extricate it with a heave of a wedge, the rest of us

would do better to take a deep breath, assess our

options, and possibly save ourselves a number of

shots by declaring the ball unplayable and proceeding

under the provisions of Rule 28 rather than take sev-

eral hacks trying to get back on the fairway.

First, some basics:

Q: Who is the judge as to whether a player’s ball is

unplayable?

A: The player makes the decision, regardless of how

good or bad the lie of the ball is.

Q: Can the ball be declared unplayable anywhere on

the course?

A: The only place a player may not declare his ball

unplayable is in a water hazard.

So, you’ve decided to declare it unplayable – how do

you proceed? You have three options, and to remem-

ber them, go back to school and think of your A,B,C:

‘A’ - AGAIN – play a ball as nearly as possible at spot

from which the original ball was last played.

‘B’ - BEHIND – Drop a ball behind the point where the

ball lay, keeping that point directly between the hole

and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no

limit to how far behind that point the ball may be

dropped.

‘C’ - CLUB-LENGTHS – drop a ball within two club-

lengths of the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer

the hole.

Hint: If the ball lies in a bunker you may proceed

under option A,B or C, but the ball must be dropped

in the bunker if proceeding under option B or C.

ALL THE ABOVE OPTIONS CARRY A ONE-STROKE PENALTY.

THE PERILS OF GETTING IT WRONG...

At the recent Texas Open, Kevin Na boarded the 9th tee

for his 1st round. After smashing his drive deep into the

woods he declared his ball unplayable and returned to

the tee. However, when this ball also found its way to vir-

tually the same place Na lost his cool. Instead of return-

ing to the tee to play 5, he took a wild swipe at the ball,

which ricocheted off a tree, hit him (incurring a further

one-shot penalty) and finishing even deeper in the trees.

Unfortunately for him, now his Option A (Again) would

only mean him dropping where his previous stroke was

made, his option of returning to the tee having now dis-

appeared. Many swipes later he got the ball back to the

fairway, eventually holing out for a 16, a record for a par

4 on the PGA Tour.

10 Teasers – True or False?1. A player may repair a pitchmark on the greeneven if his ball lies off the green.

2. If the player’s club strikes the ball more thanonce in the course of a stroke, the player mustcount the stroke and add a penalty stroke, makingtwo strokes in all.

3. When proceeding under the Unplayable BallRule, the player may clean his ball, but may notsubstitute another ball.

4. If a player’s ball in motion is deflected orstopped by himself, the player is penalised twostrokes.

5. A player is entitled to see his ball when makinga stroke.

6. If a player’s ball lies on a wrong putting greenhe may play it as it lies.

7. A dropped ball must be re-dropped if it rolls toand comes to rest more than two club-lengthsfrom where it first struck a part of the course.

8. When any part of the ball overhangs the lip ofthe hole, the player is allowed enough time toreach the hole without unreasonable delay and anadditional 20 seconds to determine whether theball is at rest.

9. A player may stand outside the teeing ground toplay a ball within it.

10. In foursomes, penalty strokes do not affect theorder of play.

(For answers and the relevant Rule see below)

1. True (16-1), 2. True (14-4), 3. False (may substitute

another ball) (28), 4. False (19-2), 5. False (12-1),

6.False (25-3), 7.True (20-2), 8. False (16-2), 9. True (11-

1),10. True (29-1)

Ashley Weller is a PGA Class AA member and has been Golf

Operations Manager at Nizels Golf & Country Club, Kent since

2006. He is a member of the PGA Rules Panel, officiating at

tournaments throughout the UK and Europe. In February this

year he attended the world-famous R & A Tournament

Administrators and Referees school at St. Andrews with dele-

gates from 50 countries, passing the exam with a Distinction.

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generation, but rarely has he been gracious. I find that difficult to

understand. After all, it’s part of the game of life. I don’t think I ever

saw Muhammad Ali be ungracious in the same manner. He might

have been a bit snappy on occasion, but there were always shafts of

wit or a twinkle in the eye. Only on a handful of occasions have I

seen that in the case of Tiger Woods.

At Augusta, there were moments when Woods played majestically.

He didn’t win but he looked back on track. How wonderful it would

have been if he had come off the 18th green and, when asked the

usual questions, taken his hat off, rubbed his fingers through his

hair, smiled, and said something like: “Oh, that was better. I really

did feel I had a chance of winning coming down the stretch. You

know, it was wonderful to get that feeling back.” The smile would

continue and he might have said how he enjoyed the affectionate

glow emitting from the crowd. But no. Po-faced and rude.

In the history of the game, no other great player has behaved in

the boorish manner of Tiger Woods when being interviewed. Go on,

put your thinking cap on, go back through all the faces of the great

champions you’ve seen play, and remember. I agree they didn’t all

jump about like Coco the Clown, but they did show a gracious side.

Perhaps it would be better described as “style”. Tiger certainly looks

stylish but on too many occasions his crassness shows and when

the opportunity comes along to reflect the warmth of the masses,

he spurns it. Well, that’s his business. It’s nothing to do with me

and I don’t care. I’m just sorry that a player of such immense talent,

who has been through some of the biggest personal turmoil of any

human being, doesn’t appear to have the ability of looking in the

mirror and doing a bit of self-analysis.

ory McIlroy's demise over the last nine holes of the

Masters caused much discussion in golfing circles.

Not since Jean van de Velde's monumental blow-up

on the 72nd hole at the Open Championship at

Carnoustie in 1999 had there been so many errors

before so many eyes. In the space of three holes, McIlroy’s dreams

were shot. His tournament ended, the caravan moved on.

I’d say that 90% of commentators, writers and observers gave

their considered opinion that McIlroy would take a long time to

recover. One or two even intimated that the

wounds could stay forever. That’s why I was

delighted to see, contrary to so many ‘expert’

opinions, he played so well the following week

in the Malaysian Open. I can’t imagine what it

must have been like flying from Augusta to

Kuala Lumpur after suffering so many body

blows, sitting with friends who would commis-

erate, arms round shoulders, trying desperately

to find kind and sensible words of encourage-

ment. You know the sort of thing – “Take the

positives out of this”, “Learn from your mis-

takes”, “Don’t let it happen again”, “You’re only

in your early 20s – there’s plenty of time”, and

so on.

Brian Moore, writing in the Daily Telegraph,

had some very punchy words on the question of

how sportsmen and women should behave in

moments of adversity, particularly when the

sporting gods have dealt them cruel blows.

Comparing McIlroy with Tiger Woods and their

respective attitudes in front of the cameras is

like comparing Irish Stew to a hamburger.

Moore thought McIlroy’s calmness could be

seen as “worrying” and came up with the old

line: “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a

loser.” Moore speaks from the stance of playing

a game at the highest level where the ball is

“shared”, where physical aggression comes very

much into play. He played rugby, where they stamp, claw, gouge,

punch and sometimes suffer irreparable damage in the cause of

sport.

Moore enjoys being controversial and I enjoy much of his writing,

but on this occasion I can’t agree. Golf is not a shared-ball game. It’s

slow-paced, the demons are created in the player’s mind and he or

she has to learn to deal with them. The dear late Sir Henry Cooper

told me long ago that boxers had to learn to control their aggression

outside the ring. Within the ropes be a mean, fighting machine, but,

whatever you do, don’t get into a pub argument and hit someone on

the nose, because your fists will be classed as lethal weapons.

Tiger Woods is some 15 years older than McIlroy and, without

question, has been a magical performer, the greatest by miles of his

ON THE AIR

Different ways of handling adversity

PETERALLISS

R

On the threshold of winning his first major championship, poor Rory McIlroy suffered a traumatic collapse at the Masters while Tiger Woods, as usual, carried on regardless

Is there a tougherjob in golf whenthings ain't goingTiger's way?Money aside, ofcourse

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Like just about everyone else I was engrossed in this

year’s Masters which must surely rank among the great

major championships of the modern era. Not since Jack

Nicklaus romped away with his sixth green jacket in 1986

have I found this tournament so utterly gripping – and the

quality of the golf this year was exceptional.

Writing in this magazine last year, following Charl’s

back-to-back wins in his native South Africa, I noted that

he was about to enter a phase of his career that would do

justice to his tremendous talent, and the way he handled

himself over those potentially treacherous closing holes to

win his first major championship was just unbelievable.

We all feel for Rory McIlroy but at the same time you have

to stand up and applaud anyone with the guts to reel off

four straight birdies to make a major breakthrough.

And when you take a look at these fantastic images of

his swing, (overleaf) it’s easy to see why Charl has long

been regarded as one of the hottest talents in world golf.

So for all of you young and athletic golfers out there, take a

good look at this fantastic swing, and pay particular atten-

tion to the role of the legs/lower body in the coiling of the

backswing and (even more important) the way the legs sta-

INSTRUCTION CHARL SCHWARTZEL

Analysis: Andrew ParkMASTER CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR,DAVID LEADBETTER GOLF ACADEMY / ORLANDOSWING SEQUENCE COURTESY NIKE GOLF

The new Masters champion is helpedinto the green jacket by three-timeswinner Phil MickelsonPHOTOGRAPHY BY ACTIONIMAGES.COM

ALLPOWER

The key to winning often liesin capitalising on your good fortune and after chipping in fora three at the 1st and holing awedge for eagle at the 3rdSouth Africa’s Charl Schwartzelcertainly did that, ultimatelyclosing out his final round atAugusta with four straightbirdies for a gutsy 66.

TOHIM

POWER PLAY


POWERTOHIM

MASTERS SHOCK & AWE

GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM MARCH/APRIL 201122

Until you have actually been there it’s impossible to fully understand what Augusta National and the Masters tournamentis all about. Gi’s Clive Agran took the fast plane to Georgia

“What’s up with you?” my wife asked as she

found me leaping around the living room

repeatedly yelling ‘Augusta’. “The Editor of

Golf International has just had a baby girl,” I

explained. “How lovely,” my wife said,

pleased that I was at last revealing a softer

side to my nature. “Augusta’s such a pretty

name.” “Actually it’s Alex. But it means,

come April, he’ll still be changing nappies

(ho! ho!) and won’t be able to go to Augusta

for the Masters. And so there’s a good

chance I’ll be able to take his place.”

Like every other golf fan on the planet, I

had long nursed an ambition to go to the

Masters. My original plan was to actually

play in the tournament but as an indifferent

handicapper with a tendency to slice that

was never very likely to happen.

Better at spelling than golf, I turned to

writing. More capable of splitting infinitives

than fairways, I eventually evolved into a

golf journalist. However, on discovering

what I did for a living, the first thing people

would ask was: “What’s Augusta like?”

Revealing that I had never been there was

embarrassing. No one was interested in how

many Open Championships I had witnessed

or wanted to hear about the time I chatted

with Arnold Palmer, my credibility was shot.

But at last, aged 62 and a third, I finally

made it to Augusta and so you had better

want to know what it’s like.

Shock & awePROLOGUE

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AUGUSTA

MARCH/APRIL 2011 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM 23

Shock & awe

MASTERS TV REVIEW

GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM MARCH/APRIL 201124

At his home in Diss, Norfolk, Tom Cox was glued to the action asthe year’s first major was played out both on Sky Sports and BBC Maybe it’s a little different if you’ve only discov-

ered televised golf in the last couple of years

but to the vast majority of British viewers, the

idea of watching the first major championship

of the year without the voice of Peter Alliss is a

little like going to your granddad’s birthday and

realizing that nobody’s invited your granddad.

Yet, as the 75th US Masters kicked off, where

was Alliss? The answer was that he was waiting

for the live coverage to kick in on Saturday,

along with the rest of the BBC team, while, for

the first time, Sky Sports broadcast exclusive

coverage of the first two days. This was a disori-

entating experience that brought with it many

questions. What, for example, was that weird

pointy wand Mark Roe kept waving about in the

studio? Had nobody thought that snatch of soul

music to signal an ad (changed, thankfully, after

the first day) might get a tad annoying? And

had Colin Montgomerie ever looked more like a

small child, granted to appear on TV courtesy of

Jim’ll Fix It?

I think the idea of Sky at the Masters is a little

too new for me to properly comment on. It’s a

bit like the golf version of having a new mum.

She could be quite a good mum, but, even so, I

wouldn’t be able to tell, because I’d miss my

usual mum too much. One welcome addition

was that, for the first time, we were treated to

live coverage of the pre-tournament Par-3

Contest. Had a non-golfer tuned in here, they

would have seen a rather ebullient advert for

the game, including the site of Gary Player, Jack

Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer larking around like

old school friends. Player, one senses, was tak-

ing proceedings just that bit more seriously

than the other two. “What does it take to win

The Masters?” he was asked, and immediately

answered, “The lowest score!”. It was jocular,

but also with just the hint that, somewhere

deep inside, he still believes himself capable of

achieving that score.

Overall, though, Player, and particularly

Nicklaus and Palmer, seem at a happy pro

golfer’s age now, having long since got past

those middle-aged moments when a top pro

realizes he isn’t going to win any more, and

strives to find a way to fill the gaping hole left

where a workaholic determination to win once

was.

Reports of Tiger Woods being “washed up”

might be premature, but there is a sense – with

the exception of his almost zesty back nine run

on Sunday – that he is experiencing a slight

flash forward to the emptiness of that unhappy

champion’s mid-life crisis. If you taunted a

wasp, forced it into a tiny red shirt, and forced

Reality TVSchwartzel adds the final touch to a scintillating last-round 66

PHoTogRAPHy by gETTyIMAgES.CoM

AUGUSTA

MARCH/APRIL 2011 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM 25

Sweet justice for Luke Donald after hitting the flagstick at 18Sky’ s Diana Dougherty & Monty

KJ Choi is the first to congratulate the new champion

No Australian has ever won at Augusta – this year

both Adam Scott (left) and Jason Day (above) were in the

thick of it all the way on Sunday

Just a perfect day for the Par-3 Contest



PHoTogRAPHy by MATTHEW HARRIS

PHoTogRAPHy by MATTHEW HARRISPHoTogRAPHy by gETTyIMAgES.CoM

PHoTogRAPHy by MATTHEW HARRIS

INSTRUCTION DAN FROST


By Dan FrostSHOT ON LOCATION AT STOKE PARK • WWW.FROSTGOLF.COMPHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN MURRAY

BuildaroundBalance

your swing

“For so many golfers balance is the forgotten fundamental of the swing – and, critically, one that plays a pivotal part in every aspect of the movement.”

Swing plane, spine angle, ‘smash factor’,‘late hit’, ‘X-Factor’, ‘V-Gap’ – and so thelist goes on. Common phrases you mayhave heard banded about in reference tothe swing. And while this may all soundrather sexy, the one key area of the golfswing generally overlooked as players goin search of extra speed and distance isbalance. I see so many players tied upwith complicated theory that they neglectthis critical fundamental of motion. If onlythey focused on improving their dynamicbalance all of these things would slot intoplace a lot more naturally.

So, over the following pages, let meshare with you some of the drills I use inmy everyday coaching that really bringabout immediate improvement not onlyin your overall sense of balance but inthe ‘sequencing’ of your swing as youbuild stability from the ground up.

COVER STORY / BALANCE IS POWER


Show me a golfer who displaysexcessive movement in the lower halfof the body and I’ll show you a playerwho finds it incredibly difficult toenjoy any sort of consistency when itcomes to winding and unwinding thebody in the golf swing.

With poor ‘sequencing’ and a limit-ed wind-up in the backswing, thedownswing is then devoid of thatautomatic recoil that characterises adynamic movement. The forwardmotion, drive and release has to bemanufactured (as opposed to being

reactionary) – and is all the poorer for it. This simple resistance band exer-

cise is designed to improve the veryfoundation of your golf swing. All youhave to do is loop the band justabove your knees and make it tightenough so that when you are in agood address position, knees flexed,your leg muscles feel ‘engaged’.

Focus on feeling the weight bal-anced in the middle of your feet,not biased towards the heels ortoes. With the band around yourlegs you will be encouraged to

maintain a solid base to yourswing, improving your balance dra-matically, keeping your feet veryquiet and ‘heavy’.

With improved sequencing in thebackswing (i.e. a much better work-ing relationship between your armsand rotating upper body) you willdevelop a more efficient coil andreap the benefit of then unwindingthe spring with real gusto – morespeed, more distance and moreaccuracy. For starters, that’s a prettygood combination!

FOUNDATIONSound leg action keeps you ‘grounded’

With a small resistance band inplace, your leg muscles shouldfeel ‘engaged’ at the set up asyou flex your knees and takeyour regular stance

The key is then to maintain that senseof athletic stability in the legs as youinitiate your backswing – feel the resis-tance in the knees as you turn and coilthe upper body

This supportive leg action provides youwith a terrific sense of balance – andthis compact three-quarter swing with afull coil is more effective than a longer,looser alternative (inset)

A few days before the start of the 1997 US

Open Ernie Els and his then coach Robert Baker

were plotting their way around Congressional

Country Club’s revered Blue Course. They

reached the par-four 17th, arguably the tough-

est hole on the course and given the nature of

major championship golf, one that would prob-

ably play a pivotal role in determining the win-

ner of this 97th US Open.

Ernie dropped a ball in the middle of the fairway

at around typical driving distance. At that time it

was a 5-iron into a narrow sliver of a green with

water guarding the left and back portion of the

putting surface – very dangerous, very USGA. A

soft draw was the perfect shot to what they antici-

pated would be Sunday’s high tariff, back-left pin

position. Ernie pushed one shot right. He then hit

another to the same spot. At the third attempt he

produced the perfect shot and his ball arced from

right to left and thudded down into the centre of

the rock-hard green, gently rolling towards the

imaginary pin location. Job done. Time to move on.

A week later I travelled to Florida to shoot a

magazine feature with Ernie. Robert Baker was

there, too. He’d videoed those practice shots on

Congressional’s 17th hole and now he showed me

the footage. It was not the sort of moment one for-

gets. The shiny US Open trophy was glinting next

to us on the kitchen table of Ernie’s Lake Nona

home. He had won his second US Open and, yes,

the 17th hole was what had sealed it for him. That

Sunday, in the heat of the battle, he produced the

shot of his life. A 5-iron, a soft draw, just as they’d

rehearsed it a few days before. Foresight and cir-

cumstance had come together in perfect harmony.

It doesn’t get sweeter than that.

“Yeah, we kind of knew that could well be a cru-

cial hole when it came down to it,” comments

Ernie. “With that pin position on Sunday, the 17th

wasn’t ever going to be a birdie hole, not realistical-

ly anyway. Making par there was huge as it hap-

pened, because pretty much everyone else was

making bogey or worse.”

Tom Lehman was one of them. The third round

leader and reigning Open champion had blown his

chances when he sent his Titleist for an early bath

on this penultimate hole. Ernie’s playing compan-

ion Colin Montgomerie bogeyed it, too. Ernie

walked to the 18th tee, at that time a par-three

over water, with a one-shot lead. Much could hap-

pen still. “I just thought to myself, ‘please God

don’t hit it in the water’!” jokes Ernie.

He didn’t. A solid shot into the centre of the

green and a nerveless two-putt kept Monty’s chal-

lenge at bay and Ernie was a two-time major cham-

pion.

“The thing that week, the really big thing, was

my putting,” recalls Ernie. “We had to finish our

third rounds on Sunday morning and I hit some

key shots to make birdie on 15 and 17, but the par

saves were even more important. I made some

FEATURE


CongressionalConfessionalSteve Newell talked to the two-time US Open championand recent inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame ErnieEls, as he prepares to return to the scene of his 1997 victo-ry. Life is good for the Big Easy, but can the mightyCongressional Club inspire him to rediscover the old magic?

US OPEN PREVIEW

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really big saves and that gave me a lot of belief

going into my final round that afternoon. You

need that belief in any tournament, but especially

in the final round of a major championship.”

History still reminds us that Ernie had soft

hands and nerves of steel that final day. He holed

a chip on the 10th hole for birdie, which gave

him a share of the lead, and he kept holing putts.

“I made a few nice little knee-knockers coming

down the stretch,” he says with almost a cheeky

smile. “Even the putt on 18 was no gimme, it was

at least four feet, but I hit a sweet putt right into

the heart of the cup.”

Ernie was 27 years old. With his second US

Open in the bag, he played sublime golf that

summer and with Greg Norman and Tiger the

three of them had a bit of a ding-dong battle for

the No.1 spot. They traded places almost on a

weekly basis. For much of the first half of 1998

Ernie was the No.1 ranked player.

Few could have foreseen, least of all Ernie that

he would not make it to the top spot again.

Equally, few could have predicted that Tiger

would win 14 majors. “I played for ten years

when that guy dominated,” says Ernie. “He won

14 majors. Think about that, 14 majors and in

such a short period of time. For guys like myself,

Phil, Vijay, Davis, Fred Couples, to have played

under a guy who was that good, we took a beat-

ing, not only from him, but from the media, too.

It was a tough 10, 12 years for us. Maybe if Tiger

hadn’t come along I’d have maybe won six or

seven majors. Who knows?”

Who knows, indeed? One thing we do know is

that back in 1997 Ernie went into the US Open

with no great form to speak of. His PGA Tour

results were poor, with only a couple of top-10s

all season, and the week before the US Open he

missed the cut in the Kemper Open. The omens

weren’t great, but his golf at Congressional was.

There are parallels with Ernie’s form this season.

Golf being the funny game that it is, perhaps

Congressional could light a spark in his game as

it did in 1997.

“Overall my game has actually been pretty

good for a while,” says Ernie. “You’re always

working on things and trying to get better. That’s

the nature of the game. I’m not changing things

in the way Tiger has and actually, on that point, I

have to say I have a lot of respect for what Tiger

is trying to do. But as a player you have to keep

working on things. I think that’s something the

average golfer doesn’t fully understand. We’re

not like robots; we can’t turn up and play the

same every day. Things change, your body

changes, your swing changes. But the key thing

for me is the putting. The game is still fun, but I

could do with making some putts. That’s why

I’m not having four good rounds the same week.

I’m not making enough putts.”

Ernie shouldn’t have any trouble getting re-

acquainted with Congressional’s greens, but

much else about this course has been re-config-

ured since 1997. The USGA was not a huge fan

of a par-threeclosing hole for a major champi-

onship. “With a PGA Tour-level player, you let

them put a mid-iron in their hand, they're not

going to hit it in the water,” says Mike Davis,

senior director of rules and competitions at the

USGA. So, the original 17th is now the 18th,

although significantly extended in terms of its

length, and the old par-three 18th has become

the 10th, still a par-three but running in the

opposite direction (see panel on page xx to

appreciate the full extent of the course changes).

Ernie has defended over 60 professional titles

in his 20-plus years on tour and going back to

the scene of a major win is extra special. “Yeah,

obviously I’m looking forward to going back for

the US Open for all sorts of reasons. I’ve played

the course in its new configuration and I like

what they’ve done. It’s a different golf course

now, especially finishing on the old 17th hole.

That might suit me!”

What definitely suits Ernie is life in Florida. He

has a beautiful family home at the Bear’s Club in

Jupiter and the quality of life could not be better.

“The kids love it here,” beams Ernie, “and Ben

goes to a nice school and is doing great. He’ll be

nine years old this year and he’s starting to say

some words, forming sentences and so on. The

move has been good for him. It’s been good for

all of us.”

Ernie doesn't tend to talk much about Ben or

how his diagnosis for autism has impacted on

ERNIE IN ’97


CongressionalConfessional

Having rehearsedthe shot in practice,Ernie knew whatwas required whenhe faced a 5-iron toa tight pin at the17th on the finalday – and he nailedit. Monty matchedErnie’s closing 69,but a second round76 proved costly

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FEATURE


Country ClubCongressionalThe 1997 US Open at Congressional Country Club produced an epic – and the stage is once again set for this historic haven of privacyto welcome the game’s greatest players, writes Bruce Critchley

US OPEN PREVIEW

At 494 yards the par-four 11thhole is a tough two-shotter playedthrough an avenue of trees, with acreek lurking to catch anythingright of the green

PHoTogRAPHy by JoHn MuMMERT / CouRTESy uSgA

CONGRESSIONAL COUNTRY CLUB


“Putting is an art not a science,”claims Ben Crenshaw, which is all very well

when you’re blessed with the perfect stroke of

that particular two-time Masters champion. But

for the rest of us – and that includes tour pros

such as Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy –

science is very much transforming our under-

standing of the mechanics of putting and the

way both our stroke and our equipment influ-

ence the vital dynamics of the golf ball on its

final journey.

In the same way that conventional launch

monitors such as TrackMan, Vector, FlightScope

and Foresight GC2 have revolutionised the long

game, so the equivalent technology for the more

modest – but most used – club in the bag is

now emerging as an essential part of the clubfit-

ting process for golfers of all levels.

One session on the latest Quintic v2.4 system

will dramatically alter the way you think about

the very nature of putting: opening your eyes not

only to obvious alignment issues but, more fun-

damentally, to the nuances of ball speed, spin,

launch angle and the nature of true roll.

Quintic does all this through a state-of-the-art

camera which (operating at 260 frames-per-sec-

ond) only needs to capture the movement of a

specially marked golf ball over the first 12 inches

of its journey for the software to impute all the

clubfitter needs to know about your clubface

contact and the resulting influence on the ball in

terms of the roll and path of putt.

While some of the parameters Hurrion himself

summarises below can get rather techie in

nature, it’s worth stressing that Quintic is emerg-

ing as a highly practical tool, in practice, both for

coaches as a teaching aid and for clubfitters

who can now match a player’s putter specifica-

tion to their style of stroke far more swiftly and

efficiently than ever before.

Previously privy only to Hurrion’s roster of tour

pros (which, along with McIlroy and Harrington,

includes Lee Westwood and Robert-Jan

Derksen), the Quintic software is now available

to all through the network of Gel Golf Fitting

Centres around the country. You don’t have to

use a Gel putter to be assessed by a Hurrion-

trained expert – though you may nevertheless

want to one a try (see sidebar on Grooves).

It’s worth mentioning that Hurrion came into

the business of equipment ‘micro analysis’ fol-

lowing his time as personal biomechanist to

INSTRUCTION


In searchof the

Following last month’s putting instruction featuring Dr Paul Hurrion’s work with Rory McIlroy, we focus on how the same coach’s Quintic Ball Roll putting analysis system is now guiding regular golfers – as well as tour stars – to the correct specifications and stroke. Dominic Pedler reports on the ultimate launch monitor for your putting.

Perfect Putt

British javelin legend, Steve Backley, over the

course of two Olympics.

“As well as measuring all the speeds, angles

and trajectories of the javelin itself we would

analyse all the body movements, such as shoul-

der separation, etc, using everything from force

platforms to 3D simulation,” he recounts. “Back

in those analog days, the number crunching

could take as long as 24 hours to get the data

for each training session. Now with the latest

digital putting technology, the numbers and the

feedback to the player are instant.”

Following Gi’s visit to The Belfry to see the

system in action, here is Hurrion’s instant guide

to the putting parameters that the Quintic v2.4

measures (illustrated by some accompanying

screen grabs) and why they matter so much to

your own putting game.

PAUL HURRION’S GUIDE TO THE

QUINTIC V2.4 PUTTING DATA

Unlike the long game, where hooks and slices

and their causes are far easier to spot, many

putting flaws are invisible even to the trained

eye. So the Quintic process starts with helping

the golfer to understand the result of any putt –

why they missed the hole, whether through

alignment or from a particular ball dynamic at

impact. Have they pulled it? Have they hit it

slightly out of the toe generating some hook-

spin? Was it mis-alignment at address? Or have

they hit a good putt but just mis-read it?

Unless you know what it is, you can’t work on

your game in any meaningful way. It only takes

half a dozen putts for Quintic to paint a highly

revealing picture of a player’s putting profile.

Here are the main things we look for:-

1) Ball speed

Obviously the pace of any putt is crucial, but

developing a consistency of ball speed for any

given length of putt is an often overlooked fac-

tor. If you’ve got more than 1 mph variation in

pace for the six putts of 20 feet in our typical

test, you’re going to be struggling. You might hit

most of them at 5 mph – but even a 1 mph vari-

ation will makes a difference of some 4 or 5 feet.

The software also includes a special graph of

ball speed over time, where we’re looking for a

fairly straight line reflecting a uniform decelera-

tion to confirm the golf ball is hugging the

ground throughout the putt. A wavy line shows

there are moments when the ball is in the air and

the putt is therefore slowing at different rates.

This information really helps the golfer to

understand the importance of pace and feel,

and the clubfitter to identify what loft the player

needs on their putter to get a smooth roll.

2) Side spin

Just like any other club in the bag, the ball can


In association with GEL Golf,

Paul Hurrion has launched a number

of GEL

Fitting Centres around

the UK that reflect

their philoso-

phy that for

the best

results on the

greens, putters

need to be spe-

cially-fitted to the indi-

vidual.

Hurrion is convinced that whilst

most golfers recognise the benefits of

custom-fit irons and drivers, it won’t be

long before custom-fit putters really taking

off especially given the number of times a

player uses his putter in a round of golf.

Hurrion’s unique fitting procedure uses

specially-designed GEL equipment (a fit-

ting tool, GEL mirror and ProStance) and

nine skill drills alongside the Quintic Ball

Roll Software that tracks the performance

of the ball as it leaves the putter face in a

similar way that Trackman follows the flight

of the ball off clubs and irons.

“Once you know exactly what is hap-

pening to the ball thanks to factual data

provided by the Quintic Software, it is

easy to provide expert advice on how

to alter the putting stroke, posture,

change the set-up of the putter or even

recommend an entirely different type of

putter in order to improve a golfers

putting skills and hole more putts,”

says Hurrion, who also linked up with

GEL to co-design the GEL Paul Hurrion

Signature Range of Groove Putters.

GEL Golf’s unique groove and insert

technology that it uses in all of its putters

is based on scientific testing that has

proved that the use of grooves in the put-

ter face creates instant forward roll on the

golf ball, thus reducing the unwelcome

effects of skidding and giving a truer roll.

The GEL Paul Hurrion Signature Range

uses light aluminium inserts allowing

weight to be distributed elsewhere in the

putter head, pulling the centre of gravity

up the putter face increasing forward

roll. The Hurrion putters also incorporate

tungsten weights to create MOI, and dif-

For more on GEL Golf, visit www.GELGolf.co.uk GEL Golf is offering three Gi readers the chance to be custom fit with a GEL PaulHurrion Sedo II at the nearest GEL Fitting Centre with each fitting and putter worth over£200.

To enter, simply answer the following question:How many drills come with the GEL Training Mirror designed by Dr Paul HurrionAnswer A: 3 B: 6 C: 9To enter visit: www.golfinternationalmag.com/competitionsor answer on a Postcard to: GEL Competition, Golf International Magazine, 10 Buckingham Place, London, SW1E 6HX

COMPETITION CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT ON 31ST MAY 2011

WIN A CUSTOM-FITGEL PAUL HURRIONSEDO II PUTTER!

WIN

If you are an amateur golfer taking on the profes-

sionals you need all the help you can get so it is

probably not the ideal start if your driver snaps

on the first tee.

That is what happened to Tom Lewis, from

Welwyn Garden City, when he competed in the

Dubai Desert Classic in February.

Somehow, despite hardly hitting a fairway and only

finding six greens in regulation, Lewis got it round in

one-over par, made the cut and finished in 59th place

against the top players in the world and pocketed yet

another silver medal for being high amateur.

Lewis, still just 20, is hoping to turn profession-

al the day after the Walker Cup in September but

he has had plenty of experience of mixing it with

and shining against the megastars.

In November’s New South Wales Open at

Vintage Golf Club Lewis nearly pulled off a memo-

rable win against the paid boys shooting a final

round 66 to get himself in a play-off with Peter

Cooke and Peter O’Malley.

O’Malley prevailed on the third extra hole but a

week later at the Australian Open at The Lakes,

Sydney, Lewis again made his presence felt by fin-

ishing 12th ahead of the likes of Michael

Campbell, Stuart Appleby and O’Malley. If had

been a professional he would have trousered the

thick end of £14,000 but you get the impression

Lewis won’t be short of a few quid when he takes

the plunge.

Lewis’ ability to adapt to the company of pro-

fessionals is typical of the young golfers being

churned out by the England Golf Union and their

AMATEUR

34 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JUNE 2011

England’s AceGlobe-trotting England International Tom Lewis epitomises thecurrent crop of elite amateurs who are more than good enoughto compete with the pros. It's a case of timing the transition, andfor Lewis, the Walker Cup comes first, writes Adam Hathaway

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training schemes.

Players such as Tommy Fleetwood, Matthew

Nixon, Chris Wood and Oliver Fisher are all out

there earning a crust, if they are not all banking

lottery-winning style sums of money every week,

and some other contemporaries from further

afield, Rory McIlroy and Matteo Manassero need

one of Ernie Els’ wheelbarrows for their cash.

Watching these players and from his own expe-

rience of playing with the pros Lewis knows there

is a better than even chance that he will sink

rather than swim in the paid ranks.

“It is nice to know there are players out there

who we feel we are as good as and they are earn-

ing a living and making cuts,” says the former

British Boys’ champion.

“I played a lot of a lot of junior golf with Matteo

and what he has done has been amazing.

“I missed a lot of putts that week at the New

South Wales Open. I didn’t really know what to

expect but I got into a play-off and just didn’t pro-

duce. It was a shame to finish second but it

opened a lot of doors for me and gave me a lot of

confidence for the next week.

“Then I didn’t really hole a lot of putts but I still

got up there in the top 12. I went straight to Dubai,

my preparation wasn’t great going straight there

after a month in Australia and my driver snapped on

the first tee, I couldn’t hit the fairways, only hit six

greens and still shot one over in the first round. But

it was another silver medal and a great experience.”

The experience of his dad, Bryan, who was a

European Tour professional for a couple of years

in the 1980s will help as well.

Bryan was one of a group of more than handy

golfers, including Bobby Mitchell and Trevor

Powell who emerged from Welwyn Garden City

about 35 years ago. You might have heard of

another one of them who had a reasonable

amount of success in the pro game.

His name is Nick Faldo.

Lewis Snr now works at a Hertfordshire driving

range but his experiences on tour will help his son

on the daunting trip into the professional game.

Lewis adds: “He can give me an insight. He has

been there and done it and he knows what’s what.

It is good to have that help.”

Before all that is the hectic schedule of amateur

events. When Golf International spoke to Lewis he

was packing his bags for The Lytham Trophy.

Then his diary told him he had a trip to Ireland

coming up, a Walker Cup get together in Aberdeen

and entries at every major amateur tournament

this summer including the Brabazon Trophy, the

English Amateur and the Amateur Championship.

They don’t get must rest these lads but the

treadmill will start in earnest if he gets his Tour

card in the autumn.

And Lewis is sure he will fit in, he is currently

looking for a management company and it would

be a shock if none of the big firms picked him up.

Sleaford’s James burnett shot a level-par final round

of 72 to claim the Lima International Championship in

Peru by a runaway four shots. Burnett, 19, finished

with a six-under par total of 282 – four shots ahead of

joint runners-up Antonio Hortal, from Spain, and

Uruguay’s Juan Alvarez.

Burnett’s win was built around a second round 66,

six-under par, and steady closing rounds of 73 and 72.

Hugo Dobson from Fynn Valley helped England to the

team event honours which they shared with a pair

from the hosting club.

Leading scores: 282 J Burnett (Eng) 71 66 73 72;

286 A Hortal (Spa) 74 70 73 69; 286 J Alvarez (Uru) 68

71 74 73; 287 A Jordan (Peru) 72 66 72 77; 287 A

Ortiz (Costa Rica) 72 72 72 71: Team: 581 England,

Lima GC; 583 Spain; 585 Peru

Cheshire’s bronte Law (above) made it seventh time

lucky when she held her nerve through a sudden

death play-off to win the Scottish Under 16’s Open

Stroke Play Championship at Strathmore.

The England girl international, birdied the third extra

hole to beat Chloe Williams of Wales. The two girls

had both finished the 36-holes of regulation play on

two-under par – with Bronte completing her second

round with a birdie on the 18th to force a play-off.

Bronte said: “This is the reward for seven years of

hard graft in this competition. It’s also my last time here

and that meant a lot.”

England won the team competition, thanks to Law,

Amber Ratcliffe and English U15 champion Georgia

Hall (Remedy Oak).

Leading scores: 142 Chloe Williams (Wrexham) 70

72, Bronte Law* (Bramhall) 72 70 (Law won play-off at

third extra hole); 143 Amber Ratcliffe (Royal Cromer)

74 69; 145 Ellie Goodall (Selby) 77 68; 148 Clara

Young (North Berwick) 75 73.

Hampshire’s Elaine and Charlotte barrow, from

Brokenhurst Manor, won the Mother and Daughter 27-

holes Stroke Play Foursomes at Royal Mid Surrey by

a shot from Christine and Charlotte Griffith of Walton

Heath recently.

Charlotte Barrow, aged 14, a five-handicap, follows

in the footsteps of England girl international, Alex

Peters, from Notts Ladies, winner of the event for the

past three years with her mother, Ann.

Leading scores: 114 Elaine & Charlotte Barrow

(Brockenhurst Manor) (75 & 39); 115 Christine &

Charlotte Griffith (Walton Heath) (78 & 37); 116 Jill

Thornhill & Caroline Weeks (Walton Heath) (77 & 39);

118 Elizabeth Boatman & Alex Howe (Royal

Worlington/Royal County Down) (79 & 39); 121 Carol

& Lauren Blease (Burhill) (79 & 42)

England girl internationals Alex Peters and Heidi

baek teamed up to win the London Foursomes for the

host club, The Berkshire.

Peters’ home club is Notts Ladies, while Baek’s is

Felixstowe Ferry in Suffolk, but both teenagers are also

junior members of The Berkshire while they study at

Wellington College.

In the final they came through with a 3&1 win over

Sundridge Park, represented by Kim Morris, a two-

handicapper, and former Dutch international, Tita

McCart.

The competition is open to clubs within a 45-mile

radius of central London and attracted 87 entries for 64

places. The ballot came at a combined handicap of 16

compared with 20 last year.

Cheshire’s Sue Dye is the English senior champion for

the second time after beating Nottinghamshire's Janet

4&2in the final at York Golf Club – sealing the victory

with back to back birdies.

Meanwhile the all-Yorkshire final of Flight Two was

won by Pat Wrightson of Huddersfield who beat

Carolyn Kirk (Ganton) 2 up.

Semi-Finals: Janet Melville (Sherwood Forest) beat

Barbara Laird (Sandiway) at 20th; Sue Dye (Delamere

Forest) beat Roz Adams (Addington Court Ladies') 2/1

Final: Dye beat Melville 4/2

nathan Kimsey from Woodhall Spa equalled the

competition record when claiming the Peter McEvoy

Trophy at Copt Heath Golf Club (photo page 102).

Kimsey shot a four round total of 272 to equal the

mark set by John Parry in 2004, give him a six shot

win over Chobham’s Greg Payne and join Lee

Westwood and Justin Rose on the winners list.

The most remarkable round of the week however

came from Ireland’s Dermot McElroy who broke the

course record in the final round with a ten-under par 61

to finish fourth.

The 17-year-old Irish Boys’ Champion followed

Rory McIlroy round in 2005 when he shot a 61 at

Royal Portrush and looks set to make the Walker Cup

team this autumn.

Leading finishers: 272 Nathan Kimsey (Woodhall

Spa); 278 Greg Payne (Chobham); 279 Rhys Pugh

(Vale of Glamorgan); 280 Dermot McElroy

(Ballymena); 281 Jack Colegate (Rochester &

Cobham); 282 Jamie Bower (Meltham) & Gavin

Moynihan (Donabate).

Nuneaton’s Andy Sullivan (above) was in record

breaking form at the Selborne Salver at Blackmoor

carding a first round 60 to shatter the tournament’s

lowest score and handing in a 36-hole total of 129, the

best in the event's history.

Sullivan had a ten-foot putt on his last hole, the

ninth, for a 59 in the morning but his brilliance was

more than enough to account for runner-up Neil

Raymond of Corhampton.

Raymond’s total of 131 would have won every

Salver in history barring this one and Royston’s Stuart

Phillips and Steve Brown from Wentworth were a fur-

THE AMATEUR SCENE


NEWS IN BRIEF...AMATEUR SCENE...NEWS IN BRIEF....

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GLORIOUS GOODWOOD / SUNGLASSES / MEMORABILIA / MOTORING & MORE...

GOLF INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE JUNE 2011



If you were asked to picture a typical scene at

Goodwood then horsepower of some description

probably springs to mind, either the four-legged or

the four-wheeled variety. This majestic estate set in

the sublime Sussex countryside hosts Glorious

Goodwood, the famous five-day horse race meeting

every July, bookended by the Goodwood Festival of

Speed and the Goodwood Revival, the largest ‘car cul-

ture’ events in the world and a double-whammy cele-

bration of all things motorsport from the classic to

the modern. There are people, literally tens of thou-

sands of discerning people, who won’t miss these

events for all the tea in China.

Goodwood is truly one of the country’s great

stately homes. Originally a small Jacobean house it

was bought as a hunting lodge by the 1st Duke of

Richmond, son of King Charles II. Greatly extend-

ed over the years it is now worth visiting not least

to stand and stare at the art collection, which

includes breathtaking paintings by van Dyck,

Canaletto and Stubbs. That’s just the tip of the ice-

berg at Goodwood, though.

“There is so much our customers can take advan-

tage of when staying here,” says Lord March.

“Whether enjoying a sumptuous private event at

Goodwood House, getting behind the wheel at the his-

toric Motor Circuit, taking to the skies from

Goodwood Aerodrome or enjoying the Goodwood

Hotel and its modern Health Club and Waterbeach

Spa facilities, nowhere else in the world can offer such

an extraordinary and diverse range of luxury experi-

ences as you will find here.”

Fittingly for this regal location, you will also find

the Royal & Ancient game. Golf has in fact been an

attraction at Goodwood for more than a century,

although for much of that time it has been something

of a hidden gem. The original nine-hole course was

conceived by six Sussex gents way back in 1892. The

entrance fee and annual subscription was just one

guinea, but a lack of membership in any significant

numbers was a major problem until the sixth Duke of

Golfer and motorsport enthusiast Steve Newell didn’t knowwhich way to turn at the Goodwood Festival of Speed PressDay. After a mind-altering passenger ride in Ferrari’s dazzlingnew 458 Italia, he had his senses soothed on the springy fairways of the Downs Course and spoke to Lord March about the good life at Goodwood!

Make a date at glorious Goodwood

Richmond’s family stepped in and saved the day. It

then thrived and in 1962 it became the Goodwood

Golf Club.

Lack of membership at Goodwood hasn’t been

a problem in its modern incarnation. A major ren-

ovation of the Downs Course in 2004 coaxed this

James Braid classic into the 21st century and

despite the worst recession in living memory

membership has since thrived thanks to the inno-

vative blend of traditional golf club membership

and a new Credit membership, which allows

golfers to effectively ‘play as they go’.

“In all honesty, the recession has probably helped

golf at Goodwood,” says Lord March, “as the flexible

and affordable Credit membership has given people

more value to their golf and meant that when they

haven’t been able to play due to various reasons they

haven’t been penalised with a standard golf subscrip-

tion. Our numbers have increased year-on-year over

the past three years, which shows that our member-

ship program is perceived in a very positive light by

the local golfing community.”

Lord March, who took over the running of the

estate from his father in 1994, has a passion for per-

fection and in all of Goodwood’s many showcase

events he skillfully blends traditional values with

modern accoutrements. The same principles have

been applied to the golfing experience. “If we were to

have golf at Goodwood,” explains Lord March, “we

wanted it to be the best, but also different and aimed

at a younger audience. I wanted golf to move on, to

take all the authenticity and history we have in our

various sports and deliver this to our golfing experi-

ence in a modern and exciting way, which is relevant

today. The Kennels, the clubhouse for our members

at Goodwood, is the physical embodiment of that.”

Very special it is, too. The elegant Georgian

façade of the Grade 1 listed Kennels clubhouse

built in 1787 for the Duke’s faithful hounds, now

houses a wonderfully stylish and contemporary

interior where members can relax and enjoy a

long lunch, supper, or homemade cake and a pot

of tea. In homage to the building’s origins, dogs

can become members, too. A collection of named

water bowls is lined up in the lobby!

“Golf at Goodwood is golf as it should be,” pro-

claims Lord March. “In other words, simple, flexible,

not in any way stuffy. Unusually and refreshingly,

there’s no dress code and, yes, we encourage mem-

bers to bring their dogs to the course and the club-

house afterwards – after all it was the Kennels!”

Golfers and their pooches will get equal amounts

of joy from a walk around the Downs Course.

Dramatic changes of elevation in the valleys and hills

GOLF AT GOODWOOD


Golfers who take advantage of Goodwood’s innova-tive membership program not only have two fine golfcourses to enjoy but also access to the stylishKennels Clubhouse (left) in addtiion to the mainclubhouse (above). In addition to the golf, motor rac-ing, of course, is central to the Goodwood experi-ence, the Festival of Speed (July 1-3) and theGoodwood Revival (Sept 16-18) being among themost anticipated events on the social calendar


TAG HEUER ‘GOLF’With lightweight stainless steel arms that wrap aroundand hug the head for a comfortable fit, these new golf-specific sunglasses from TAG Heuer filter the perfectbalance of sunlight to enhance contours and depth. Guide: £210www.tagheuer.com/eyewear

SERENGETI ‘MAESTRALE’These Maestrale sunglasses are so lightweight & comfortableyou will not realize that you have them on. Featuring exclusivelens technology including photochromic & polarized proper-ties, spectral control, anti-reflective coating and impact resis-tance. Fantastic for sport, driving and casual wear. Guide: £149www.serengeti-eyewear.com

SUNDOG ‘ATTACK’The Melanin infused lenses developed in conjunction withEssilor lens of France represents one of the most importantadvancements in Sundog Eyewear, with significant benefitsto vision. Mela lens filtration of the visible spectrum results inrelaxed vision without the alteration of colours, actually pro-viding for better natural colour distinction. The result isimproved vision without fatigue – especially with bright sun-light and reflection from the ground. Guide: £59.99www.sundogeyewear.co.uk

Look on the bright side!Some might say the warmest April onrecord doesn’t bode well for the summer –but here’s hoping...

TAG HEUER ‘RACER’A combination of high-tech fittings and noble raw materi-als ensure the RACER has all of the precision and per-formance qualities that are the hallmark of TAG HeuerEyewear. Available in 7 frame sizes and 6 colours. Guide: £130www.tagheuer.com/eyewear

OAKLEY ‘FLAK JACKET’ (below)The ever popular Flak Jacket series features an inter-changeable lens design, so you can change your opticsas easily as you change your club. The lenses feature apermanent Hydrophobic™ coating that repels water,oils and dust, the G30™ lenses actually enhancing yourdepth perception by boosting visual contrast. Guide: £135;www.oakley.co.uk

OAKLEY ‘FAST JACKETS’ (above)A brand new edition to the Oakley range and worn byOakley ambassadors Rory Mcllroy and the ever-colourfulIan Poulter the Oakley Fast Jackets represent the next gen-eration of performance eyewear from one of the world’sleading sports fashion brands. Available from May 2011.Guide: £190 (Polarized version £230)www.oakley.co.uk

SUNGLASSES


CEBE ‘EYEMAX’This lightweight sports model offers a wide field of visionand features rubber nose pads/temple tips and anti-fogventilated lenses. The impact resistant 1500 grey flashpolycarbonate lenses promise 100% UV protectionwhile the flash mirror coating helps to eliminate any glarein bright conditions. Guide: £50www.cebe.com

8

ADIDAS ‘ADIVISTA’ (below)Engineered specifically for the needs of the golfer, the newAdvista from adidas promises easy adjustability andergonomically formed hinges for a perfect fit and wearingcomfort. With its newly developed lens, the LST™ Vario(Light Stabalising Technology), these sunglasses aredesigned to adapt to every light condition.Guide: £135www.adidas.com/eyewear

BOLLE ‘VORTEX’ (above) & ‘DRAFT’ (below)The Vortex is a new half-rim model which is lightweight,comfortable and extremely flexible. The 100% UV protec-tive B-clear lenses offer the highest optical clarity and greatperipheral vision. The lenses are engineered for maximumimpact resistance and feature a hydrophobic coating keep-ing your view perspiration and dust free. The Draft modeloffers the same performance in a smaller fit.Guide: £108www.bolle.com

NIKE ‘SHOW-X1’The shield lens Nike Show-X1 sunglasses promise grip,stability and comfort. They feature interchangeable lens-es, adjustable temples and Nike Max Optics LensTechnology for precise vision at all angles. Ideal not onlyfor golf but many other sports. Frames available in avariety of colour options. Guide: £129www.golfsmith-europe.co.uk

ADIDAS ‘RETEGO’ (above)Developed with the help of adidas ambassador JustinRose, the Retego model bridges the gap between per-formance and fashion, delivering a confident look andcrystal-clear vision. The specially curved lens filters aredesigned specifically for golfers, providing a wide rangeof vision perfect for playing ‘side on’. Guide: £120www.adidas.com/eyewear

FOR THE SEASONED TRAVELING GOLFER,

transport sets the tone for the trip, so when I

arrived at St Moritz railway station to find a

chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce waiting to whisk me

up to Badrutt’s Palace Hotel – all of 800 yards

away – I knew right away that this was no ordi-

nary golfing weekend.

I had flown into Zurich a few hours earlier and

taken a train for the two-hour journey south. In

my experience, rail travel and golf bags can be a

tricky combination, but, this being Switzerland, it

all went like clockwork.

Six thousand feet up, St Moritz is the latest

Alpine skiing destination to make a pitch for the

lucrative summer golfing market. Their boast that

‘golf balls fly higher at altitude’ obviously needed

verification, so I had accepted an invitation to

play in the hotel’s annual competition for heavy

hitters.

Founded by a committee of Brits in 1893,

Samedan is the oldest course in Switzerland and

one of the first clubs to be recognized in conti-

nental Europe. With the famous Cresta Run, creat-

ed by thrill-seeking English tobogganists in 1884,


ST MORITZ SAMEDAN – SWITZERLAND’S OLDEST COURSE

High on St MoritzSt Moritz might be thecelebrity skiers’ favourite, butcan its two courses rival itsCresta Run and many pistes?Peter Swain hits the slopes

Courses in Switzerland are

playable from June through to

September, and if you time it

right the colourful Alpine

blooms will be out in force

TRAVEL / SWITZERLAND


High on St Moritz

So, accepting the fact that it provided

us with yet another Bank Holiday

opportunity to jam soil under the fin-

gernails and bellow at the kids, how

was it for you?

At the time of writing, the Royal Wedding is still

a week away. But, by the time you read this, the

pomp, circumstance and Kleenex will have all

been packed away until it’s Harry’s turn, and the

only thing fascinating about the myriad fascina-

tors inevitably on display remains the question of

how it’s humanly possible to spend so much on a

scant fistful of feathers that resembles nothing so

much as a freshly shot crow.

Giggling in church is utterly addictive, and the

opportunity to have a seriously good belly laugh

over the hats has always been the best thing about

attending a wedding. Let’s hope the friends of the

Windsors did not disappoint.

One of the more fascinating aspects to the

build-up, however, has been the incendiary grump

of one particular national newspaper at the news

that one of those friends, Audi’s head of public

relations in the UK, secured himself a berth at the

wedding breakfast.

Somewhat disingenuously sidestepping the fact

that having spent a small fortune over the years in

sponsoring their annual charity polo matches and

a slightly larger fortune in donations to said chari-

ties Audi’s PR boss has inevitably become quite

matey with the Princes, what ruffled the feathers

of this particularly right wing branch of the Fourth

Estate appears to be the news that most of the

royal family currently biff about in Audis and that,

though they do pay for them, they receive – gasp –

a discount. Outrageous…

Same as it ever was; Audi has long pandered to

celebrities and VIPs with favourable lease or pur-

chase terms and there’s absolutely no doubt that

the resultant ‘halo’ effect has much to do with the

company’s UK sales currently going through the

roof. Man Does Job, shock, horror…

Indeed, one can only speculate as to just how

hard the likes of luxury rivals BMW, Mercedes and

Jaguar (anyone remember Jaguar?) are now kick-

ing themselves that, when it comes to putting

noteworthy bums on seats, Audi appears to have

cornered the market. Because, let’s face, if you’re a

premium segment car manufacturer these days,

you really do need an edge…

After decades of carefully crafted Ultimate

Driving Machine marketing, BMW opted for the

‘radical design’ route under Wisconsin wun-

derkind Chris Bangle, who baffled all and sundry

with talk of ‘paradigm shifts’ whilst describing

creased bodywork as ‘flame surfacing’ and (best

of all) daytime running lights as ‘optical wave

guides’.

With most of the results now resembling

upturned, clinker-built boats with interiors exud-

ing more than a whiff of the brash American, this

approach has not found universal favour. Such

remains the power of the brand, however, that it

doesn’t seem to matter to most blue and white

propeller aspirants, who’ll still buy anything thus

badged that’ll take polish.

BMW’s argument that ‘something had to

change’ appears to cut no ice with Mercedes,

which, rather, has simply focused on putting back

a deal of the money they so blatantly sucked out

of the build process a few years back, to remark-

ably good effect.

Jaguar, meanwhile, under designer Ian Callum,

has proved immensely successful at melding the

startlingly new with enough styling tradition to

both attract a new, younger breed and keep its


AUDI A7 3.0 TDI Quattro SE S-tronic

With a marketing strategy that has seen the ultimate in productplacement, Audi has elevated its status in the world of luxury refinedmotoring. And in the delectable shape of the A7 Quattro it boasts oneof the finest saloons a lot of money can buy, as Gi’s correspondentAnthony Ffrench-Constant reports

Audi excels in the art of discretion

ageing, diehard customer base happy, and seems

now to lack only a marketing budget the size of

Audi in the UK.

All of which leaves Audi very much in the dri-

ving seat with cars which – despite the unneces-

sarily brash Big Grille which still reminds me of an

inflatable doll wearing chrome lipstick – remain

relatively discreet and ideally anonymous in com-

parison to most of the competition. Let’s face it, a

second glance is the last thing any royal would

wish for when out and about incognito…

Now, accepting that the happy couple will have

been cramped by ceremony into relying on horse-

power of a somewhat more traditional nature,

Audi’s only opportunity to shine on the day itself

must have come in the guise of the going away

car. And with new models currently thicker on the

ground that ticks on a sheepdog, the newlyweds

will have hardly been hampered by choice.

Easily the classiest small car around at the

moment (amazing what a difference a simple lick

of contrasting paint to the roofline makes); the A1

might make an appropriately parsimonious state-

ment. However, though a recent slog to Newcastle

revealed it to be surprisingly comfortable over a

long haul, I doubt the A1 would boast the luggage

capacity appropriate to a freshly shackled bride.

Besides which, given the persistent insistence of

the sat’ nav’ in the specimen I drove that the Tyne

be crossed via the wholly pedestrian Millennium

bridge, the risk of first night marriage consumma-

tion failure is, perhaps, too great.

The most recent addition to the Audi fleet and

seven years in the making, the largely flawless

A6’s only failing is that it seeks to appeal to the

broadest possible customer spectrum by being so

utterly anonymous that it is, frankly, almost too

anonymous. A perfectly decent drive albeit, it’s far

more of a technological tour de force than any-

thing of a thrill to helm, having rifled the A8’s on-

board equipment parts bin so rigorously that the

only reason to now buy the latter is a requirement

for greater cabin space.

So with Prince Charles already ensconced in an

A8, and the disappointing A5 Sportback serving as

proof that even Audi can, on occasion, find itself

with sand in the Vaseline, my prediction is that it

was an A7 in which the newlyweds finally slunk

away from Buck House.

Its looks marred only by the size of that front

grille, the A7 is the best looking car Audi has pro-

duced since the entirely handsome A5, and is

notably gorgeous when viewed from anywhere

astern. On board, all is exactly where you left it in

your last Audi, which means it’s extremely well

screwed together, good looking, ergonomically

excellent and properly comfortable. The only

glitch being the propensity for a pale beige

coloured parcel shelf to reflect so strongly in the

steeply raked rear screen that you absolutely can-

not see out by day…

As with the more recent A6, technology is all

important, and the A7 may be loaded to the gun-

wales with diverse multimedia interface systems

which, with such goodies as the inclusion of web

links to Google, will turn the car into little short of

a fully-functioning mobile office. Personally, I can

think of little worse than escaping the office to go

for a drive in a car which doubles as an office, but

many will surely find such a facility invaluable.

Audi does tend to overload its press cars with

toys; in the case of the 3.0 TDI Quattro SE S tronic

I drove, to the tune of some £25,775 over the

basic asking price of £47,200. You pays yer

money….

A head-up display which fills the base of the

windscreen with information such as speed and

navigation instructions annoyed me terribly until I

discovered how to switch it off. At which point I

missed it so much I promptly reinstated it.

Suggesting that you can, however, have too much

of a good thing, a fiddly seat massage control sys-

tem proved even more annoying, relentlessly

pummelling my already perfectly comfortable

anatomy every time I tried to merely adjust the

lumbar support.

Most expensive by far of the options fitted was

a Bang & Olufsen sound system which demands a

wallet-fleecing £6300 for the privilege of watching

the tweeters ooze ICBM-like from the dash top

every time you start the car. Granted, the sound is

wonderful, but no more so than the far less pricey

Mark Levinson systems of Lexus fame.

If, as is now often averred, we’re becoming

increasingly more interested in on-board ‘infotain-

MOTORING


While the over-sized front grill may irk the occasionalmotoring journo’, you can do nothing but drool overthe rear view of the A7. Onboard, it’s pure Audi, theergonomically excellent cabin concealing every con-ceivable technology – at a hefty price should youlean on the frills and extras

...the A7 is the best lookingcar Audi has produced sincethe entirely handsome A5,and is notably gorgeouswhen viewed from any-where astern. On board, allis exactly where you left it inyour last Audi, which meansit’s extremely well screwedtogether and properly com-fortable...

FEATURE RULES / UPDATE


Malcolm Allen reveals to Golf Internationalreaders some ground-breaking, not to saymind-bending, new initiatives that will probablybe introduced into golf clubs in Britain with theaim of making the game more...er, whatever

New regulations for slow play in golf will likely

come into effect on April 1, 2012. Slow play is a

major concern to players and officials of the

game and the five- to six-hour round is not

unusual in professional competitions. Many

private clubs are also experiencing tedious,

extended rounds in competitions. The R&A have

long been concerned with this unwelcome trend

and in Section 1 of the Rules of Golf, Etiquette:

Behaviour on the Course, their advice on pace of play

is clear. Unfortunately, it is often ignored. The R&A have

accepted that if they cannot persuade golfers to avoid slow

play then they may have to regulate them. The new rules, if

adopted, will be used in both professional and amateur

slow-play competitions.

RULES OF GOLF APPENDIX IVAccepted Rules of Slow Play

Rule 1: The Teeing Ground

(a). No slow player will approach the teeing ground until it is

completely clear of other players. The initial approach will

be made without a club or ball in order for the player to

ascertain the direction and distance of the next hole. The

player may then return to his bag to select the required club

and a ball.

(b). After teeing-up, the slow player must retreat at least ten

yards, keeping the ball and the intended target in line, and

consider the shot for an appropriate length of time. He may

then select another club or put on his glove, or do both of

these things, before addressing the ball for the first time. A

player may step back from the address no more than three

times.

(c). A player may have no more than six practice swings and

five jiggles before the final address, which must last at least

20 seconds before the stroke is made. The player must

retain his position on the teeing ground until 10 seconds

after the ball has come to rest.

(d). On returning to his bag, the player will return the club to

the correct slot in no more than three attempts. All clubs,

including irons, will have head covers which require careful

replacement. Before moving to his ball, the player should

remove his glove, adjust his clothing and consult his score-

card.

PENALTY FOR BREACH

OF RULE

For the slow player – none

For the following groups – a hint of impending doom

Rule 2: The Walk

(a). A measured pace is to be maintained, but never directly

towards where the ball has come to rest. Should a partner be

required to play first, the slow player must never walk for-

ward of him regardless of whether his ball is in line of play

or not.

(b). Within ten yards of his ball, the slow player will reduce

his pace appreciably before circling his ball in order to

examine the ground around it. Before playing the ball, proce-

dures prior to the address as set out in Rule 1 of this Annex

will be adopted.

(c). At no time during the walk will the player consider

which club to use next or acknowledge the presence of any-

one else playing with or behind him.

PENALTY FOR BREACH OF RULE


For the following groups – at least two shots dropped through

rising exasperation

Rule 3: Searching for lost balls

In searching for a lost ball, the slow player will conform with

Rule 12. In addition he must:

(a). Never take his bag to within 50 yards of the search area.

(b). Never carry a suitable iron or two that may be used

when the ball is found.

(c). Always search assiduously for a ball in stableford com-

petitions even when he is already three over handicap par

for that hole.

A quick guide to thenew rules on slow play

Mickelson drives at 18 lastyear en route to his third greenjacket. For fans everywhere,the opportunity to see Augustain 3D will this year turn it into awhole new ball game



For the following groups (now two groups of fourballs) – some

shared blaspheming and an increase in the floridity of the

complexion of any retired major.

Rule 4: The Putting Green

Approach

When approaching the putting green, the slow player will

ascertain the route to the next hole and position his

bag/trolley on the opposite side of the green to it. He will

then approach his ball on a circuitous route from beyond

the flag, at times stooping or moving backwards or sideways

to establish the contours of the green from all angles, except

that of his line of putt, taking care to remove all loose

impediments anywhere on the green.

Preparation

On reaching his ball, he will mark it carefully and take it to

his bag to clean. The cleaning process will not start until it is

his turn to putt. After cleaning, he will replace his ball so

that the maker’s name, or any self-inscribed mark, is lined

up exactly on the calculated putting line. This may be

adjusted no more than four times. The player will then enter

the final phase of lining up. This must include:

(a). Calculating the line from the other side of the pin, from

both sides and again from behind the ball.

(b). Kneeling or crouching using the putter as a plumb-line

or as a prop, preferably on someone else’s line.

(c). Removing the pin to gaze into the hole.

(d). Marking his ball carefully before adjusting its line follow-

ing the second deliberation.

e. Retreating to the edge of the green to ask his partners if it

is his turn.

The putt and sequential actions

(a). Unless a putt is holed, the slow player must not follow

the ball immediately. Instead he may check the line and

practice his stroke a minimum of three times before mark-

ing his ball and lining up again until such time as the putt is

holed. In a friendly, it is essential to hole out even though

the putt is given.

(b). Before leaving the green, two more practice putts are

permitted to ensure the line is noted for future play. The

score should be registered before moving to the player’s

bag/trolley and the scorecard checked while ambling along

the front of the green to the next hole.



For the following groups (now three) – much angry discussion

and the suggestion of at least one seizure

Rule 5: Equipment

(a). The Glove. The glove must never be put on until immedi-

ately before the address and must be removed prior to the

walk. It must be removed one finger at a time prior to

putting and placed partly in the hip pocket.

(b). Tees and markers. These must always be difficult to get

at, often necessitating the removal of the glove or a search

in the bag. When waterproof trousers are worn during a

round, tees and markers must be left in the pocket of the

normal pair of trousers in order to make them even more

difficult to get at.

(c). Spectacles. These must always be cleaned, whatever the

weather conditions, after the first address and before the

stroke. In wet weather, the club may be leaned against the

player’s thigh while the cleaning process is conducted so

that it invariably falls to the ground, thereby necessitating

the use of a towel to dry the grip.

(d). Measuring devices (MD). MDs should be used prior to

every shot and the distance passed to anyone within

earshot. It is especially important to measure the distance

from tee to pin on the par-fives. If the ball falls appreciably

short or overshoots the green, the distance should be

checked again.

(e). The scorecard. For accuracy it is preferable to mark the

scorecard on the green or close to it. This will render unlike-

ly a false score being recorded due to a lapse of memory.

The running total will be checked at least four times per

round prior to the address. At the conclusion of the round,

the scorecard will be completed on or close to the green.

PENALTY FOR BREACH OF RULES


For the following groups (now four) – two broken clubs, a

damaged tree, a bruised dog and collective heart rates

through the roof

Rule 6: Awareness

Except in the unlikely event that he might drive through or

hit a player in a preceding group, the slow player needs to

be totally unaware of other players, including his partners.

The only exception to this rule will be in the bar after the

game when he will ask the players coming in behind him if

they had enjoyed their rounds.

The author is the secretary of Ashridge Golf Club.

A NEW DIMENSION



It doesn’t matter whether you are eight or eightyyears old, the one thing that the average lady clubgolfer has in common with all her counterparts isthe belief that you can use the same technique asyou would to chip the ball from greenside grass toplay a regular bunker shot. Wrong. The simple real-ity is that if you want to glide the clubhead throughthe sand beneath the ball – your No.1 objectivehere – you have to commit to accelerating theclubhead through impact at significant speed.

While there are the obvious benefits of clubheadspeed for generating power and distance off thetee, few ladies appreciate that it is also required toplay bunker shots successfully. Without accelera-tion to a completed follow-through it is virtuallyimpossible to splash the ball out of the bunker andonto the green with any sort of consistency.

In fact lady golfers aren’t alone in fearing the

dreaded sand shot; there are plenty of men whoavoid going into bunkers at all costs, too. Eventhough men have greater natural strength andtherefore the ability to generate clubhead speed,many don’t realise that they need to use this in abunker and attempt to play sand shots with a deli-cate action that inevitably fails to get the ball out.

So, the key to successful sand shots is acceler-ation with good arm extension – never quit.

As with every shot in golf it is important toremind yourself of the basics, so I’m going to giveyou a refresher course in the fundamentals that willmake the greenside sand shot easy. After that aselection of simple drills that you can practice toimprove your clubhead speed. As you’re about todiscover, once you learn to accelerate the club-head through the sand you’ll never panic whenfaced with a bunker shot again.

INSTRUCTION SAND PLAY

Speed is of the essence: a com-mitment to accelerating the club-head all the way through thesand – extending the arms free –produces the desired result

By Lynn McCoolDIRECTOR OF GOLF & HEAD PROFESSIONAL, LOUGH ERNE / WWW.LOUGHERNERESORT.COMWRITTEN WITH CARLY CUMMINS / PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW HARRIS

BUNKER

BASICSDoes the very thought of finding your ball in a green-side trap fill you with dread?Help is at hand. In the firstpart of our new instructionseries written by ladies forladies, Lynn McCool, Directorof Golf and Head Professionalat the wonderful Lough ErneResort in Northern Ireland,explains why learning to gen-erate more clubhead speedthrough the sand is the secretto escaping successfully firsttime, every time.


There are four fundamentals that you must get

right in order to address the ball correctly in the

bunker…

1. Select your sand wedge and grip down the

handle about three inches, this will promote

greater control.

2. Shuffle your feet down into sand. This will

enable you to feel the texture of the sand and get

some idea as to its consistency – i.e. deep or

shallow, fine or heavy. It also gives your stance a

solid base and prevents the feet from shifting as

you make your swing, which is easily done on a

soft, unstable surface. This stable base will also

help lower your centre of gravity closer to the

sand, giving you a much greater chance of

splashing the ball out on a bed of sand.

3. Position the ball between the centre of your

stance and left heel. This is a detail you should

experiment with until you find the position

that matches up with the bottom of your

swing arc, thus enabling you to slide

the clubface underneath the ball. [With

the ball too far back you will be prone

to hitting bunker shots ‘heavy’ as the

club will still be on its descent; con-

versely, play the ball too far forward you

are likely to thin a lot of these shots as the

club is travelling ‘on the up’.

4. Hover the club above the ball. A common

mistake many golfers make is to hover the

club directly behind the ball just above

the sand. This encourages a shallow

takeaway and makes it difficult to get

the club travelling on the correct steep

The ideal set up for a sand shot is to aim the

body just a touch left of the flag, perhaps

between 10 and 20 degrees, the leading edge of

the club pointing at the target. What you don’t

want to do is exaggerate this adjustment, so that

you end up with your body aiming way to the left

of the target (framed red above – a common fault

that makes it very difficult to synchronise the

movement of your arms and body).

In reality modern sand wedges have such a

good design that if you want to keep things really

simple you can address the bunker shot with

your stance and clubface virtually square to the

target and there will still be plenty of ‘bounce’ in

effect to ensure the clubhead glides through the

sand and the ball pops out.

Most important of all, once you are set up and

ready to go, remember to engage your wrists

early so that you pick the club up a little steeper

in the backswing than usual – this will ensure that

you create the angle necessary to slap the flange

LYNN MCCOOL

Body alignment is justslightly open – notexaggeratedly so

BASICSTHINK ‘SOFT HANDS’When it comes to grip pres-sure, imagine you have a deli-cate bird in your hands. In otherwords, change your grip pres-sure from the usual 7 or 8 on ascale of 1= light, 10 = tight, toaround 3 or 4. With a lightergrip pressure you’ll be able togenerate more clubhead speed

Feet shuffleddown into thesand for stability

Clubhead hoveredabove the ball

‘Short’ grip forheightened senseof control

Bunker BasicsThe Set Up

BodyAlignment & Aim

No! Body line way too open

INSTRUCTION


hen you stop and think about it, it’s

quite astonishing the mountain of infor-

mation that exists on the mechanics of

the golf swing. So much has been writ-

ten over the years about what consti-

tutes a sound technique and what you

have to do to build one. There are umpteen schools of

thought: you may favour a certain teacher, be that a David

Leadbetter, Pete Cowen or Butch Harmon. You may believe in

a certain ‘method’, be that the ‘One Plane’ or ‘Two Plane’ swing

or the ‘Golf Machine’. And all of that is just fine because I am

not here to tell you what to do in your golf swing. I am going

to leave that to the professionals who are better qualified than

I am. But what I am going to do is ask you to think about the

way in which you learn – and isn’t it remarkable that so little

has been written on that subject?

The fact is, unless the information you receive from your

chosen coach or method becomes actual physical motion, then

it is nothing other than information.

Information is fine, it is the starting point, but we need to

know how to change our swings so it becomes our actual bodi-

ly motion. It becomes more than a concept, it becomes a phys-

ical act we can perform and repeat.

We may not like to even consider this when so much is

talked about ‘muscle memory’ but to actually change your

swing you have to change your brain. You have to alter the

neural pathways in your brain which send the commands to

your muscles. By understanding a little more of how our brain

works, we can then get down to the job of taking good techni-

cal information and making it an efficient golf swing in as

quick a time as is possible. We need brain compatible learning.

In many ways, it is absolutely stunning there is so much

information out there on what to do in your swing yet so little

on how you go about it. Switch on the Golf Channel, buy golf

DR KARL MORRIS

W

By Dr Karl MorrisEUROPEAN TOUR MIND COACH • WWW.GOLF-BRAIN.COM

It isn’t what to change but how to change yourswing that determines your development as aplayer. Might this be the next frontier in golf instruction? On the basis of some remarkablenew research into the way the brain processesand distributes information, leading EuropeanTour mind coach Dr Karl Morris is convincedthat methods of learning, rather than teaching,hold the key to experiencing accelerated improvement in performance

magazines, look on YouTube and you will be inundated with

concepts about the golf swing. Coaches talk endlessly about

how they see a swing, how it should look, how biomechanical-

ly sound it is. We are in a way crazy with this in so much we

are drowning in information but thirsting for knowledge.

How can we look at the latest swing idea if we haven’t got

the faintest idea on HOW we put that information into our

body as actual motion?

For those of you who have spent time with me before you will

recognise the fact I firmly believe in good sound technique. I

get very tired of people saying golf is ‘all in the head’. No, it

isn’t! A good swing will hit better shots than a bad swing and

no amount of mental training can make up for a dreadful

technique. As I have said over and over again, a good mental

approach will get the best out of your swing but it won’t make

a bad swing a good one.

What is so exciting here is starting to look at the latest

research on how your brain works to help speed up the

process of making the swing changes you and your coach

deem necessary to take your game to the next level.

In many ways, this article started to take shape in my mind

through a passing comment that I read a few years ago made

by the greatest ever British golfer, the six-time major champi-

on Sir Nick Faldo.

We all know the story of how Nick completely remodelled

his swing with the help of David Leadbetter. This process took

Faldo a good couple of years of arduous work and a dramatic

decline in scores and performance. For a period of time, Faldo

was written off and got told time and time again he should

have left his swing alone. Should have kept it as it was.

Faldo ignored the advice, kept working hard and the rest, as

they say, is history. However, Nick Faldo did say recently if he

had his time again, he would have still made the swing change

BUT he would have enlisted the help of a sports psychologist

or a mind coach to speed up the process!

How many times have you been frustrated when you have

been for a lesson, gone away and worked on your game think-

ing you have changed your swing, only to look on video and

LearnıngA Lessonın


see it is exactly the same! It can

feel like all of that effort is get-

ting you absolutely nowhere.

Well, it is time to do some-

thing differently because the

definition of insanity according

to Albert Einstein was to keep

doing something the same way

and expect a different result!

What I am about to share

with you will involve you sus-

pending your judgement for a

while, taking in some new ideas

and approaches and then being

able to go out and take ACTION.

Again, for those of you who

have spent time with me before,

you will recall how much I

believe in the power of action.

You achieve nothing in life by

thinking about it. You need to

get up and do.

I also really like the idea of

stacking the deck as heavily in

your favour as possible.

Everything I am sharing with

you has the intent to give you

the best possible chance to

make the changes you really

desire. And, be able to take the changes out on the course and

perhaps, more importantly, for the changes to actually work

out on the golf course under the pressure of a competition or

tournament.

It has been so interesting for me to be able to study the

world of neuro science and hear how the concept of ‘brain

plasticity’ has taken hold on the scientific world in the past 10

years.

If you had a meeting a decade ago with a bunch of neuro

scientists and you had asked them if they thought the brain

could be changed past a certain age, say 16 or 17, you would

have got an unequivocal NO. It was deemed in the scientific

community that once our basic development had taken place,

then we were pretty much limited to what we had.

Also, it was a firmly held belief that at a certain age, we

started to LOSE our brain capability and function.

Ask the very same community a decade later and you will

get a completely different set of answers. The term ‘brain plas-

ticity’ refers to the capability of our brain to change, to grow

and to alter its function. To such an extent that now there is a

real buzz about the fact it seems when there has been damage

due to accident or disease which results in loss of function of

certain parts of the brain, then it seems other brain areas can

be recruited with the correct training to ‘take over’ the func-

tion of the area which has been damaged. It is very early days

in the research but there has been anecdotal evidence of peo-

ple with limbs which had ceased to function and that conven-

tional medicine had given them no hope. They have literally

learned how to move again by recruiting new areas of the

brain that have not been damaged.

How exciting a concept is that? And, more importantly, if

the ‘correct training’ can get the brain to recover function after

damage, then surely with the ‘correct training’ we can change

our golf swings?

The way you swing the golf club is a result of neural pat-

terns in the brain and this research is confirming it can be

changed but we need to know how to change the brain.

We need a system to best take advantage of this amazing

piece of machinery – our brain.

Part of the process of having ‘brain compatible’ learning is

to understand what doesn’t work. In his marvellous book the

User’s Guide to the Brain, Harvard psychologist John Ratey

talks about learning movement skills and how we are able to

transfer initial learning into long term memory.

Consider this phenomenal research he refers to in his book

from the Johns Hopkins University: a team of neuro-scientists

found within the first 5-6 hours of practicing a new skill, the

brain shifts the new instruction from the short-term memory

to the areas responsible for permanent motor skills. As sub-

jects initially learned a task, the prefrontal cortex (involved in

short-term memory and many kinds of learning) was relatively

active. When the subjects returned 51/2 hours later, they had

no trouble retracing the movements but, at this point, the pre-

motor cortex and the cerebellum regions which control move-

THE MIND FACTOR ESSAY

European TourMind Coach KarlMorris has justreleased his latestproduct TheChampion Code, an8-CD programmedetailing his workwith major winners.To find out more goto www.golf-brain.com

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Turning information into physicalmotion is the challenge that facesall who play the game – even themost supremely talented

TRAVEL


CHAMPAGNE-ARDENNE

A taste of what you can expect – themagnificent château overlooks the 18thgreen at Golf de Troyes-la Cordelière


Lying some 100km north-east of Paris, the historical province of Champagne-Ardenne is not only home to theworld’s finest sparkling wines. Enjoying the most tranquil ofcountry settings, among the outstanding stately homes andelegant châteaux you will also find some terrific golf.WORDS: ANDREW MARSHALL • PHOTOS: PAUL MARSHALL

magnifique!

ALREADY BLESSED WITH ARGUABLY THE MOST IDYLLIC SEASIDE

setting in the British Isles, with unmatched views from the famous

hilltop hotel and a glorious history of Open Championship drama

over the spectacular Ailsa links, it would have been easy for the

Turnberry Resort to rest on its laurels.

And yet due to both its exclusive status as an Open venue and the

ambitious vision of new owners keenly aware of the constantly

changing travel market, Turnberry has seen some stunning develop-

ments over the last few years – both on and off its famous golf

courses.

The opening of the Lands Of Turnberry apartments this spring,

eight spacious, self-catering properties perfectly positioned mid-way

between the hotel and the clubhouse, is the latest phase of a compre-

hensive refurbishment that began with the hotel’s own transforma-

tion ahead of the 2009 Open.

Back-track to that previous winter and both the hotel and the

Ailsa were closed for many months while the 800-acre property was

brought up to the lavish standards demanded by the Dubai-based

Leisurecorp – and indeed the R&A.

Quite apart from some controversial course changes, there were

fears that the hotel would lose some of its traditional charm, with its

colourfully loud carpets, creaky floorboards and tartan trim all part

of the faded glory of past decades that could have been eclipsed by a

sterile corporate makeover running to the tightest of deadlines.

But, today, we defy even the most purist golfer not be knocked

out by the new Turnberry experience, starting with the rejuvenated

hotel’s contemporary take on a hundred years of heritage. In fair-

ness, the new owners always promised to respect the property’s his-

tory (as we quoted back in Gi Issue 82 when reporting on the key

course changes). And, far from a few token gestures, many of the

internal changes, décor and fittings have been carefully reconceived

with reference to the hotel’s original plans and surviving pho-

tographs of when it first opened in 1906.

Today’s detailed ceiling cornicing, Corinthian style pillars, art deco

light fittings and the delightful fan-shaped window structures are

just a few of the features that interiors specialist, Mary Fox Linton

(whose portfolio includes One Aldwych and Browns Hotel in London)

has recreated – albeit with a modern slant – to highly atmospheric

effect.

The overall success of the hotel (now part of The Luxury

Collection of 70 similarly select destinations worldwide) is also down

to the mix of influences and a variety of themes that cater to all cus-

tomers and moods. For while the stylish restaurant offering classic

dining is even christened the “1906”, further down the mahogany

panelled corridor you’ll find a sports bar dubbed Duel In The Sun

(matching the renamed 18th hole it overlooks from on high), com-

plete with four wall-mounted HDTVs, a billiard table and (of course)

a framed photo of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus walking off that

same green in 1977.

Talking of which, pride of place among the refurbished bedrooms

(all with mirror panelled wardrobes, freestanding baths and

Turnberry signature tartan cashmere blankets) are four suites named


Gi Travel

Britain’s most desirable golf resort completes the next phase of its multi-million pound makeover with the launch of luxury apartments and a range of family friendly activities to complement the famoushotel and its Open championship legacy. Dominic Pedler sampled the new, all-encompassing Turnberry experience in style

A Jewel in the Sun

after the winners of the four Opens held here down the years. The

showpiece is The Watson Suite, comprising three adjoining rooms

and a private balcony from which to reflect on the American’s hero-

ics (if varying fortunes) in the Opens of ‘77 and ’09, not forgetting his

Senior Open triumph here in 2003.

However, for all the sumptuous luxury of the hotel and its always

mesmirising panoramic views, many golfers – especially those in

groups or in families – will prefer to be based in one of the smartly

refurbished apartments at the foot of the hill, perfectly placed to

enjoy all the hotel facilities as well as the ever expanding golf com-

plex two minutes walk away.

Branded The Lands of Turnberry, and individually named after

other famous Scottish links such as Muirfield, Nairn and North

Berwick, these spacious self-contained units (ranging from 2-6 bed-

rooms) are a particularly cost-effective way of sampling all the

Turnberry trappings but now in flexible five-star self-catering com-

fort, as rated by the Scottish Tourist Board.

My particular apartment, Prestwick, was actually far bigger than

the Watson suite (I took a sneak peak for comparison), with two

huge bedrooms and a matching living area embracing a newly fitted,

open-plan kitchen housing built-in fridge and freezer and microwave

while, elsewhere, all mod cons include power-showers and Wi-Fi.

While it was tempting to nip over to the Tappie Torrie restaurant

in the clubhouse (or back up to the hotel) for every meal, the inde-

pendence proved a real bonus in practice – as I found when not

wanting to miss a moment of the final round of the Masters on TV


TURNBERRY, AYRESHIRE

The approach to thepar-five 7th hole on theAilsa Course, where arunning shot is oftengathered towards thegreen; (left): following amulti-million pound re-fit, the Lands ofTurnberry apartmentsoffer five-star self-cater-ing accommodation


WORLD NEWS

Trading places

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EuRoPEAn TouR 2011The Race to Dubai

Trophee Hassan llGolf du Palais Royal and Golf de L’Ocean, Morocco / 31 March - 3 April

1 David Horsey ENG -13 67 71 67 69 274 € 250,000

2 Rhys Davies WAL -13 67 70 68 69 274 € 130,280

2 Jaco Van Zyl RSA -13 68 73 65 68 274 € 130,280

4 George Coetzee RSA -11 67 71 69 69 276 € 75,000

5 Oscar Floren SWE -10 67 74 68 68 277 € 58,050

5 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet FRA -10 71 68 71 67 277 € 58,050

7 Mikko Ilonen FIN -9 74 64 69 71 278 € 41,250

7 Richie Ramsay SCO -9 70 74 66 68 278 € 41,250

9 Tetsuji Hiratsuka JPN -8 71 68 70 70 279 € 31,800

9 David Lynn ENG -8 75 69 67 68 279 € 31,800

Maybank Malaysian openKuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club, Malaysia / 14-17 April

1 Matteo Manassero ITA -16 66 71 67 68 272 € 288,466

2 Grégory Bourdy FRA -15 71 69 66 67 273 € 192,308

3 Rory McIlroy NIR -14 69 64 72 69 274 € 108,349

4 Rafael Cabrera-Bello ESP -13 69 70 69 67 275 € 79,964

4 Alexander Noren SWE -13 64 69 71 71 275 € 79,964

6 Felipe Aguilar CHI -12 70 70 66 70 276 € 60,579

7 Simon Dyson ENG -10 70 64 76 68 278 € 51,925

8 MD Siddikur Rahman BAN -9 68 71 71 69 279 € 43,271

9 Alejandro Cañizares ESP -8 69 72 68 71 280 € 36,693

9 Martin Kaymer GER -8 70 71 67 72 280 € 36,693

Volvo China openLuxehills International Country Club, Chengdu, China / 21-24 April

1 Nicolas Colsaerts BEL -24 65 67 66 66 264 € 350,946

2 Søren Kjeldsen DEN -20 65 71 66 66 268 € 140,086

2 Peter Lawrie IRL -20 68 64 68 68 268 € 140,086

2 Danny Lee NZL -20 66 68 69 65 268 € 140,086

2 Pablo Martin ESP -20 70 68 67 63 268 € 140,086

6 Christian Nilsson SWE -19 70 65 70 64 269 € 73,699

7 Jamie Donaldson WAL -18 70 61 70 69 270 € 54,327

7 Grégory Havret FRA -18 66 66 68 70 270 € 54,327

7 Danny Willett ENG -18 70 66 69 65 270 € 54,327

10 Richard Finch ENG -17 69 67 71 64 271 € 36,639

Asian TourIndonesian MastersRoyale Jakarta Golf Club / 21-24 April

1 Lee Westwood ENG -19 68 66 66 69 269 $118,875.00

2 Thongchai Jaidee THA -16 67 70 70 65 272 $81,375.00

3 Hyun-bin Park KOR -13 67 68 70 70 275 $34,725.00

3 Thitiphun Chuayprakong THA -13 68 68 69 70 275 $34,725.00

3 Siddikur BAN -13 66 72 69 68 275 $34,725.00

3 Marcus Both AUS -13 70 70 69 66 275 $34,725.00

7 Prayad Marksaeng THA -11 67 70 69 71 277 $20,325.00

7 Kiradech Aphibarnrat THA -11 69 68 71 69 277 $20,325.00

9 Antonio Lascuna PHI -8 67 70 70 73 280 $13,049.86

9 Prom Meesawat THA -8 70 68 69 73 280 $13,049.86

ballantine’s ChampionshipBlackstone Golf Club, Icheon, Seoul, Korea Republic / 28 April – 01 May

1 Lee Westwood ENG -12 72 68 69 67 276 € 367,500

2 Miguel Angel Jiménez ESP -11 70 67 69 71 277 € 245,000

3 Sang-hyun Park KOR -10 67 72 70 69 278 € 138,033

4 Dustin Johnson USA -9 70 69 71 69 279 € 110,250

5 Soon-sang Hong KOR -8 69 72 70 69 280 € 85,334

5 Alexander Noren SWE -8 70 69 67 74 280 € 85,334

7 Jbe Kruger RSA -7 73 70 69 69 281 € 56,889

7 James Morrison ENG -7 69 69 72 71 281 € 56,889

7 Brett Rumford AUS -7 71 63 73 74 281 € 56,889

10 Dae-hyun Kim KOR -6 71 69 71 71 282 € 40,866

PgA TourShell Houston open

Redstone Golf Club, Humble, Texas / 31 March-3 April

1 Phil Mickelson -20 70 70 63 65 268 $ 1,062,000

2 Chris Kirk -17 66 69 69 67 271 $ 519,200

2 Scott Verplank -17 73 65 65 68 271 $ 519,200

4 Aaron Baddeley -13 73 65 66 71 275 $ 259,600

4 Steve Stricker -13 67 72 67 69 275 $ 259,600

6 Robert Allenby -12 68 72 67 69 276 $ 205,025

6 David Hearn -12 69 70 66 71 276 $ 205,025

8 Greg Chalmers -11 70 73 66 68 277 $ 159,300

8 Padraig Harrington -11 68 69 70 70 277 $ 159,300

8 Brandt Jobe -11 69 72 68 68 277 $ 159,300


EDITED BY ANDY FARRELL

Normally, the world rankings do not generate

warm and fuzzy feelings – more usually vehe-

ment denouncements, currently from the other

side of the Atlantic – but Lee Westwood got the

perfect 38th birthday present when he

regained the world No 1 spot from Martin

Kaymer.

Westwood won the Indonesian Open on the

Asian Tour and then had to wait and see if

Luke Donald won the Heritage in the States.

But Donald was denied by Brandt Snedeker so

Westwood returned to the top of the pile.

Such is the volatility of the rankings since

Tiger Woods’s long reign ended, both Donald

and Kaymer, who was not even playing, could

have overtaken Westwood the very next week

but the Worksop man rose to the challenge to

win again at the Ballantines Championship

after an epic back-nine duel with Miguel-Angel

Jimenez. The pair had dined together the pre-

vious night and Westwood had told the

Spaniard, “See you in the playoff tomorrow.”

Westwood birdied the last but Jimenez could

not match him and fell one stroke shy.

It was the very first time a world No 1 had

played in Korea. “When you’re No 1 it’s always

nice to come to a place and play like the world

No 1 and I think I did do this week,” Westwood

said. “It was very tough out there and to go

around without making a bogey, five birdies

and 13 pars was a special round of golf I think.

Professional golf is all about winning, and it’s

great to do it back-to-back two weeks in a row.”

Westwood had said before the tournament

that he was fed up with answering questions

about being No 1 without a major title to his

name. After it he reiterated his prime objective.

“My next goal is to win a major champi-

onship,” he said. “It’s the dream of all profes-

sional golfers to get to No 1 in the world rank-

ings, and I’ve done that. I haven’t won a major

yet and that’s the missing thing. So that’s what

I gave all my practice towards and my schedul-

ing. That’s the next thing, hopefully.”

With the summer’s big tournaments to

come, including three majors in quick succes-

sion, Westwood may need to become a major

champion to retain his status. Not for years

has the ranking been as intriguing, even if

some clearly miss the reassurance of an undis-

puted figure as the game’s best player.

The Official World Golf Rankings have

always caused debate since their introduction

by Mark McCormack’s IMG – then the not so

official Sony Ranking – in 1986. The formula

has undergone regular tweaking but the princi-

ples on which the ranking is devised remain

the same. Points are offered for tournaments

depending on the strength of its field, with

more points for majors. Now that so many

Europeans are at the top of the ranking, those

European tour events in which they play can

now feature more points than the same week’s

event in America.

Each player’s points total is averaged over

the number of events played. Although the

ranking is calculated over a rolling two year

period, points depreciate every three months

and after a year are worth half of their value.

Attempts have been made over the years to

smooth out the step changes but the basic

premise means a player’s points average can

change even if they are not playing a particu-

lar week.

Recent focus has increased on the weighting

of the majors, with Sir Nick Faldo tweeting:

“Nothing at all against Donald or Westwood as

#1 – that’s the system – but I think system

should give extra points for a major win.”

Already the system sees the majors getting

the highest points awarded and the good news

for Westwood is that every previous No 1 who

had not won a major subsequently went on to

win one.

The prospect of Donald becoming the

world’s best is fascinating because in an era

where power appears to be dominating

unchecked, the Englishman is one of the short-

est drivers on tour and not actually one of the

straightest. He makes up for that, of course,

with a brilliant short game and after missing

the cut in his first event of the year, the World

Match Play champion posted his sixth succes-

sive top-ten finish at the Zurich Championship.

Donald said: “I’ve had to work on every

facet of my game. I can’t rely on just overpow-

ering golf. I’ve got to really do a good job of

playing within myself and playing to my

strengths. I think I’ve done that the last couple

of seasons.”

Even though Kaymer is a major champion,

the USPGA winner admitted making a hash of

his Masters campaign, where he missed the cut

for the fourth straight year. The German had

been developing a draw to go with his natural

fade and recalled: “The first day I was trying to

Martin Kaymer’s reign at the top of the official worldrankings was short lived as England’s Lee Westwoodenjoyed back-to-back wins in the Far East to reclaim the No.1 spot. And now, more than ever, he intends tovalidate his status with a major, writes Andy Farrell

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side of the Atlantic and asked him the following question. “Would I

be any more stupid than usual if I said I thought it was time The

Players became a major championship? After all, it has just about the

best field of the year, a whopping purse, a good golf course, usually

plenty of excitement.”

The tone of his voice brooked no argument. “I don’t see why there

should be another major championship on this side of the Atlantic,”

he said. “Let’s share them around.”

A result of the move from March to May was to put the most

important event on the PGA Tour in the US into the close proximity

of the most important event on the European Tour. The BMW PGA

Championship is the centrepiece of what might be called the week-

long annual general meeting of the European Tour.

Which in turn causes me to suggest that if there is to be a fifth

major championship then it should be the BMW not The Players.

Location? Fine. “We’re within 15 miles of the heart of one of the

world’s great cities,” Darren Clarke said. Transportation links? Fine.

“Heathrow is only minutes away,” Henrik Stenson said.

Accommodation? Fine. “There are many more quality hotels in this

area than in Jacksonville,” added Paul McGinley.

Wentworth is where the US won the 1953 Ryder Cup, where the

World Match Play Championship started in 1964 and brought such

autumnal pleasure. It has served as the headquarters of the European

Tour for years, employees and visitors travelling up the winding,

rhododendron-lined road, past pine, fir and beech trees, to a castellat-

ed clubhouse. All very understated. All very British.

Practice facilities need to be improved. Different makes of ball sup-

hen The Players Championship was rescheduled

from March to May, the change was thought to be

part of an overt attempt for it to become a major

championship. Hold it in May and there would be a

run of five major championships, one a month start-

ing with the Masters in April.

Attempts to make The Players Championship a major continue all

the time. Not long ago the old clubhouse was demolished and a

77,000 square feet new one was built in its place ready to open 364

days later in time for the next year's event. Cost? £20m. “It is amaz-

ing what you can get done when money is no object” one official of

the PGA Tour in the US, said.

Few courses are as well cared for

as the stadium course at The

Tournament Players’ Club at

Sawgrass, which has had an under-

ground system to suck out surface

water known as a Sub-Air system. It

also has a Shot-Link system, an

expensive means of measuring the

length of every shot from drive to

putt of every player in the field. Few

courses have such magnificent prac-

tice facilities, though Augusta

National’s raised the bar a little last

year. Cost of course improvements

at Sawgrass down the years?

£30million.

Major championships do not have

pro-ams. The Players does not have a

pro-am. It has the money to make

sure that the length of television

commercials is reduced from 15

minutes each hour to eight during

The Players. They have the space to

provide parking places for the brand

new courtesy car each player is lent

for the week, no space more than a

wedge from the clubhouse.

This attention to detail for an

event that regularly attracts the

strongest field in golf has resulted in

an annual clamour for The Players to become the fifth major champi-

onship. This cannot happen. It cannot become a major championship

of its own accord. The more it tries to become one, the more it

reminds me of the man who is desperately anxious to join an exclu-

sive club and sets about doing everything he can to be invited when

he would stand a far better chance of not doing anything at all and

waiting for the members to invite him. You can want something too

much.

At a recent Players I ran into a leading official of the game on this

LAST SHOT

Is it right in the modern era that three of golf’s four majors should be staged in the US? Moreover, if theUS PGA counts as a ‘major’ then why is our own PGA Championship not awarded such recognition?

All the requisite major credentials?

JOHNHOPKINS

W

Everything about the PGA atWentworth – from the prepara-tion of the course to the facili-ties provided for the specta-tors – screams ‘major’. And whyshouldn’t the European Tour’sflagship event carry the sameclout at its US equivalent?

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Golf International - Issue 102

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