Golf Monthly February 2026

neil.tappin@futurenet.com On a recent Golf Monthly staff day out, I paired up with a member of the team who was receiving 45 shots (my handicap is 5.0 and I received six). Competing in a better-ball format at the London Club, we came in with 38 points, both contributing to the overall score and finishing in the middle of the pack. The levelling of the playing field through the handicap system means that every golfer from professional to beginner can compete with and against each other on any course around the world. It’s what makes golf so brilliantly unique. It sounds perfect, yet to my mind, the handicap system has never felt as under fire as it does right now. If my inbox is anything to go by, the two main…

Remembering Barry Ward I am writing to you about Barry Ward, a distinguished journalist who wrote for your magazine for many years and made significant contributions to golf journalism. His career was nothing short of remarkable. After serving as a gunner in the RAF and working as a police officer, he pursued journalism with extraordinary dedication. His career took him from the Nottingham Evening Post to Australia, where he worked for the Sydney Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald. In Australia, he became involved in one of the country’s most significant investigative journalism cases – the murder of campaigning editor Juanita Nielsen in 1975. Returning to England, Barry turned his lifelong passion for golf into a distinguished second career. He covered major golf tournaments, became a travel writer and eventually…

The quest for fresh formats, as golf looks to change with the times, take advantage of modern technology and attract new audience bases, is gathering pace. Among the new offerings has been TGL from TMRW Sports (a company whose co-founders include Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy), which sees teams of top-name golfers compete against each other in an indoor arena using high-tech simulator technology. TGL launched in January 2025 and has been well received, prompting many to ask if a women’s version will arrive. We now have the answer, with the LPGA Tour and TMRW Sports confirming that WTGL is set to launch later this year following the success of the men’s competition. WTGL will tee off in late 2026 at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Exactly…

“TRAVELLING BACK AND FORTH TO AMERICA 30 WEEKS OF THE YEAR ISN’T SUSTAINABLE”Laurie Canter explains his decision to turn down a place on the PGA Tour for a LIV Golf return “ALLOWING A FRICTIONLESS RETURN PRIVILEGES THOSE WHO LEFT OVER THOSE WHO STAYED”Brandel Chamblee thinks Brooks Koepka must face a punishment if he returns to the PGA Tour “2025 WAS THE YEAR I MADE MY DREAMS COME TRUE, FROM AUGUSTA TO THE RYDER CUP AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN BETWEEN”Rory McIlroy after winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year “I DON’T PLAY GOLF, BUT IT LOOKS EASY, I HAVE TO SAY. JUST GET IT IN THE HOLE”Roy Keane offers a typically blunt view of the game on The Overlap podcast…

Masashi ‘Jumbo’ Ozaki died of colon cancer in December at the age of 78. The legendary golfer won a record 94 titles on the Japan Golf Tour, 43 more than any other player. Ozaki’s total of 12 Order of Merit titles is also a record. He spent nearly 200 weeks inside the world’s top ten and reached a career high of 5th in 1997. A former baseball player, Ozaki transitioned into golf in his early 20s and received the nickname ‘Jumbo’ due to his impressive length off the tee. He finished inside the top ten at The Masters, The Open and the US Open in 49 Major appearances, with his best result T6th at Oak Hill in the 1989 US Open. 175 Scottie Scheffler has now spent 175 weeks as…

Yes Says Fergus Bisset Through my life, I’ve played as much golf as it’s been reasonable to… and quite a bit more when it’s been unreasonable to. When I think back on my best golfing experiences over the last four decades, what springs to mind first are the beautifully presented courses I’ve been fortunate to play. I think of the greens at Sunningdale, the vistas at Castle Stuart, the sprawling, rolling fairways of Royal Melbourne and everything at Royal Dornoch. A beautiful course in beautiful condition is what I really want. Give me the chance to play one and I’d walk across hot coals to get to the 1st tee. In an ideal world, I’d like a bacon roll beforehand, but that would just be a nice bonus. I wouldn’t…