Table of contents for Feb 2026 - Issue 441 in Golf Australia

Forget The Cup - when a Northern Irishman called Rory McIlroy stood over his putts at this year’s Australian Open, it was as if the whole of Melbourne had collectively decided to hold its breath. This was the pure theatre of the event; golf at its best: world-class player, world-class course, and a crowd that knew exactly who it was watching. Whatever happens next in our naional Open’s glorious story, Royal Melbourne once again provided the stage, and Rory the class everyone came to see.…

Emerging golf superstar Grace Kim is already plotting to eclipse her dream 2025 season with even greater spoils. After claiming a maiden major in the most extraordinary circumstances imaginable, and helping Australia win the prestigious International Crown teams’ title, Kim is understandably still buzzing. “Crazy is probably the best word I can use because I still don’t know how to describe how I felt at the time and how it all panned out,” Kim said after being the first marquee player to commit to next year’s Australian Open in Adelaide. Kim produced one of the most astonishing fightbacks in golf history to capture the Evian Championship in France in July. The 25-year-old Sydneysider finished eagle-birdie-eagle to rally from four shots behind late in the final round to deny world No.2…

It was the reaction that made me laugh. On the eve of the recent Australian Open, Rory McIlroy was asked for his impression of the world-famous and almost universally admired Royal Melbourne composite course. You know, the layout the five-time major champion had flown thousands of miles to see and play. Most people expected to hear some sort of heartfelt tribute along the lines of “this might be the greatest golf course in the world”. However, Rory chose an alternative route, revealing his preference for nearby Kingston Heath and calling RM “the second-best course in Melbourne”. Cue a range of gasps reflecting a range of emotions. Shock. Horror. Indignation. They were all on display. Now, to be clear, this column disagrees with Rory, who is well-versed in the friendly arguments…

Like Adelaide, Canberra and Armidale, say, Hobart once had a reputation for being, what’s that word … meh. Like, what was there? An old casino? A few old pubs? Boonie’s ghost at Bellerive? Hobart smacked of reserve grade; a little burgh at Antarctic basecamp where the yachts from that race ended up. Today, though, like the capital of a mini-New Zealand, Hobart – and 30 years ago this would have been laughable even to Hobart – is cool. The city is cool. Michelin-hat restaurants offer locally-harvested truffles, wallaby and black lipped abalone. Wine lists overflow with local cool climate pinot. The whisky is, true story, the finest in the world. The hotels are boutique and have back stories. One evening, hunting about for a night-cap, a pal and I found…

In late 2025, Cameron Smith returned to compete in two of Australia’s major championships, the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland and the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne. Public anticipation was enormous. Media scrutiny was intense. Fans yearned for a home-town victory and a return to form of the 2022 British Open champion. Naturally, internal expectation grows when you want something deeply, especially when you haven’t lifted a trophy on home soil in a while. Smith missed the cut at Royal Queensland. Yet what happened next revealed the mindset of a champion. He didn’t react emotionally. He didn’t pile more expectation onto himself. He didn’t try to “force” his game. He recalibrated. He refined his processes. He made subtle technical changes to his putting setup. And, most importantly, he returned…

If you ever wondered why getting better at golf can seem such a struggle, I have an uncomfortable truth for you; you’re quite possibly going at it the wrong way round. Traditionally, we golfers have looked to improve our performance by making technical, swing changes. We make these changes in the hope they will get us to impact – golf’s Moment of Truth – in better shape. Yes, it can work – but more often, the effort and focus it takes to train the new move sees us lose sight of that ultimate goal, and the process becomes laborious and frustrating. So what if we reversed this approach? What if we worked directly on our impact? Is it possible that by improving impact factors, those stubborn and awkward swing changes…

STEP 1: HONE YOUR GRIP Our starting point here has to be a sound hold of the club. Because our hands are the only part of us in contact with the club, our ability to control the aim of its face is reliant on the quality of our grip. Grip is an area where we can easily get complacent or slip into bad habits, so double-check your hold to make sure it is near or very close to these seven neutral markers: 1. You can see two-to-three knuckles on the back of your gloved hand as you look down. 2. The Vs formed by your thumbs and forefingers point between your right ear and shoulder (right handers). 3. The thumb of your gloved hand sits just to the right of…

For golfers looking to maximise speed and forgiveness, the G440 K introduces a new 32-gram adjustable back weight, helping deliver PING’s straightest and highest-MOI adjustable driver to date. Golfers benefit from maximum forgiveness and ball-speed retention across the face, with the ability to shift the centre of gravity by positioning the weight in Neutral, Draw or Fade to fine tune shot shape. The G440 K’s back weight is 4 grams heavier than the G430 MAX 10K fixed back weight (PING’s previous highest-MOI driver). This places more mass around the perimeter of the head to increase MOI, while also moving the CG deeper and lower. The result is increased ball speed generated by the fasterT9S+ face. A Dual Carbonfly Wrap and Free-Hosel Technology save weight from the G440 K’s sole (3.5g),…

Australian golf rides into 2026 with a spring in its step. The afterglow of Rory McIlroy’s sojourn down this way still lingers, as does the buzz created by the growing list of Australian and international stars who anchored our two marquee tournaments late last year. It felt like a moment - not just a visit or a good field - but a reminder of how compelling the Australian summer of golf can be when the world is watching and the crowds respond. Which brings us to this issue. Yes, it’s technically our second for the year, but it’s the first you’ll see shining back at you from the shelves in the NewYear, and it sets the tone for what we hope will be another memorable 12 months. We begin with…

What happened was this: Kerri-Anne Kennerley was invited by a friend to play in a charity golf tournament at the Ocean Club in the Bahamas, part of the Duke of Edinburgh Cup, a global series of events that raise millions of dollars for children and which has, as its major prize, golf at Wentworth and Windsor Castle, and a dinner with the Duke himself. And, being a pretty tidy 18-marker and golf addict who had honed her game atThe Australian with Gary Barter among others, our Ms Kennerley up and won it. You beauty. And there was a post-round celebration that would have made Australia proud. The prize was a motza: airfares, accommodation, three rounds of golf including one at the fabulous Wentworth, and a black-tie dinner with our man,…

QUICK TIPS CROSS PURPOSE Club golfers typically fail to engage their core enough on pitch shots, leaving their hands, arms and wrists to do most of the work. This creates quick changes in the club’s loft and attack angle, and causes inconsistency. To get on top of this, take two wedges and hold them across each other as shown. Allow your upper arms to hold the shafts in place against your sides, and grip just under the handle of each before criss-crossing your wrists. This ties your arms to your body. Form your address position before making a backswing rotation, your chest turning away from the target. Note how the crossed clubs lock your hands and arms in front of your body as it turns; this is the feel you…

STEP 1: CHECK ALIGNMENT Path control begins at set-up because it is strongly influenced by the aim of your body. The key to working on alignment is parallel lines. Start by framing the ball-to-hole line with two clubs, on the ground. Then address the ball, pinning a clubshaft against your shoulders and ideally threading an alignment stick through your belt loops. These lines should all be parallel to each other. At this point, focus on getting as neutral as possible; the slight leftward or rightward path we spoke about will come more from the way you move than the way you address the ball. STEP 2: CHECK BALL POSITION After alignment, ball placement is the second biggest path affecter. As these images show, moving the ball back in your stance…

From dawn starts to final putts, PGA of Australia volunteers are the unseen engine of tournament week, and behind them all is Volunteer Manager for the PGA of Australia’s major tournaments, Veronica Tornow, coordinating every moving part. Golf Australia magazine sat down with Veronica to discuss the importance of volunteers during tournament weeks, and why they are the true heartbeat of the golf tournament. From your perspective, how central are volunteers to the successful delivery of PGA of Australia events over the summer? Volunteers are an integral part of an event as they bring passion for the sport, excitement for being involved, and a genuine love of the action. For the Volunteers, it’s not just about helping out—it’s about being part of something they truly enjoy. Their enthusiasm creates a…

What a week. Just as everyone hoped it would be, the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne, the first there since 1991, was a huge success in just about every way possible. The presence of Rory McIlroy helped bring in the crowds. The composite course lived up to its reputation and played tough on all four very different days. And we were treated to an exciting climax on Sunday evening; one involving one of Australia’s best players. It would be tough to ask for more, really. Rory first. Right from day one, even he couldn’t believe how many people turned up to watch him play. It was crazy. Even before that first round on Thursday, the whole thing felt like we had returned to the halcyon days of the event, back…

I am often asked where to place the ball in position to your feet when chipping. The answer depends on how high would you like to hit it. With this drill, you use the same length backswing and follow-through, which elicits six different loft-heights for the ball. Your feet position thus dictate how soon the ball stops and how far it runs out. Place six balls at an angle, heading away from you. (You could also do it the other way.) And then address each one with the same setup – that being straight, or perpendicular to, the direction you want the ball to go. That actual target, the hole, in this instance is not important. This is about feel and seeing the reaction of club on ball and turf…

Golf lessons were once less about feel and more about fixtures. In June of 1972 at Greenford Golf Club in west London, coach Kenneth Wilson attempted to refine Gladys Ellis’ swing using The Swingbuilder; a contraption part scaffolding, part medieval posture corrector. As you can see, Ellis’ swing path is locked in, while Wilson calmly adjusts … we don’t know what. Clearly one’s swing plane was simply bolted into place, and off you’d pop to win the medal.…

THE IDEAL STRIKE: GET INTO THE (5TH) GROOVE The ideal strike point for an iron is, of course, central and about four to five grooves up. This contact gives maximum energy transfer – helping distance – and maximum face stability – improving accuracy. The more we move away from this impact point, the more problems we’ll encounter with: ■ Toe strikes: Poor energy transfer, loss of distance, potential for pushes as the face twists open, or hooks if ‘gear effect’ takes over. ■ Heel strikes: Again, loss of distance through inefficient energy transfer, pulls or slices with gear effect, potential for the ‘sh’ word. ■ High-face strikes: Loss of distance through poor energy transfer and poor trajectory, as lower spin can see the ball fall out of the air. Risk…

HOW BODY POSITION AFFECTS LOW POINT In our quest to gain control of low point, the first thing we need to grasp is that our torso positioning is by far its biggest influencer. The club wants to bottom out under the lead side of our chest, as illustrated here by the hanging club. This is the point at which our lead arm and clubshaft are at maximum extension. Right on the club’s low point, the ball position here would in theory encourage a clean and level strike. We tend to describe ball position in relation to the feet, but truly we would do better to think of it in relation to that lead chest low point marker. LOW POINT CONTROL ENEMY: SWAY Of course, our torso position is not fixed:…

Callaway continues to push the boundaries of driver performance with the launch of its new Quantum range, a line-up designed to deliver measurable gains in ball speed ed and distance through advanced materials als and engineering. Headlining the release is a face construction that represents a significant step forward in how speed is generated and retained at impact. Callaway’s new Quantum Driver line is led by the introduction of its groundbreaking Tri-Force Face, engineered to deliver a quantum leap in distance. The innovative ve design integrates three materials — titanium, Poly Mesh and carbon fibre — into a fully unified speed ed system. An ultra-thin, high-strength titanium face is designed for pure ball speed, while Poly Mesh, a military-grade polymer, binds the layers together. Carbon fibre reinforces the face structure,…