Indice dei contenuti per December 2016 in Golf Monthly

Two years ago, I was lucky enough to visit Titleist HQ in Fairhaven, just outside Boston on the east coast of America, to see its golf ball operation. It was a totally mind-boggling few days learning what goes in to making the number one ball in golf. From the R&D department through manufacturing and on to testing, Titleist's relentless desire to produce the very best golf ball was seriously impressive. While Titleist is first and foremost a golf ball company, its clubs operation is going from strength to strength. In the build-up to its latest launch, the 917 driver and metalwood range, myself, GM's digital editor Neil Tappin and photographer Kevin Murray (both veterans of the Fairhaven trip) went over to Carlsbad in California to find out how the company…

LETTERS The Editor Golf Monthly Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough Business Park, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7BF EMAIL golfmonthly@timeinc.com TWITTER @GolfMonthly FACEBOOK facebook.com/ golfmonthlymagazine GOLF MONTHLY FORUM golf-monthly.co.uk/ forums GOOGLE+ +golfmonthly YOUTUBE youtube.com/GolfMonthly VINE vine.co/Golf.Monthly INSTAGRAM instagram.com/ golfmonthly All contributions must be original, not copies or duplicated to other publications. The editor reserves the right to edit letters. Time Inc. (UK) or its associated companies reserve the right to reuse any submission sent to these pages of Golf Monthly, in any format or medium.…

1 ABERDOVEY – 16TH Late in the round on this classic Welsh links course comes a wonderful match play hole that is the very essence of risk and reward. Less than 300 yards from the tips, the hole eases from right to left hugging the railway line that serves this beautiful part of the coastline. No bunkers are needed to protect the small green, which is fronted by all manner of humps and hollows and has a run-off area all the way along the left-hand side, leaving the trickiest of pitches to contend with. Stats: 289 yards W: aberdoveygolf.co.uk 2 BELFRY (BRABAZON) – 10TH Probably the most famous drivable par 4 in British golf, this hole is a guaranteed show-stopper that has seen more than its fair share of drama.…

Photography Kevin Murray, shot on location at Al Zorah Golf Club, Ajman, UAE  Here's how to find the perfect ball position with every club. It's very much about sternum position and how that relates to swing arc. “PERFECT BALL POSITION IS ALL ABOUT STERNUM POSITION AND HOW THAT RELATES TO SWING ARC" First, the 9-iron. Start your set-up with your feet together so your sternum is directly over the ball. Take a little step with your left foot and the same-length step right with your right. Ball position remains below your sternum, and with a successful swing the club will bottom out just after the ball and you'll take a little divot. The mid-iron is longer and will therefore bottom out differently, so you need to change very slightly. Starting…

Photography Paul Severn “I was very fortunate in that when I was starting out Lee Westwood was doing very well, so he was someone I aspired to emulate” I started playing golf around my tenth birthday with my dad. He was always looking to play, so I said I would take it up with him and we both started at Oxton Golf Club, which is now called Oakmere Park. We had lessons with the pro up there, Matt Stonley, who was really good with juniors. I got a bit of basic tuition with Matt and just fell in love with the game. A large part of the reason for my success, and the success Notts had as a county at that time, was a guy called Ian Elrick, who is…

TOP 25 COACH Director of Golf, Littlestone GC, Kent Sneaking out for a game during the winter can make for some of the most enjoyable and rewarding golf you'll play all year. With the rough a little thinner, the ball stopping on the greens and the bonus of preferred lies, there is often a score to be had. But playing well when the weather turns requires a shift in thinking and some different techniques. Being adaptable enough to hit an array of different shots will certainly help you achieve your winter goals. In this one-off special, I've included a series of tips to help explain those technical adaptions. It's about getting your ball round in as few shots as possible, using different methods to produce the results you want. Good…

TOP 25 COACH Senior PGA Teaching Professional, Trafford Golf Centre, Manchester 1 Square alignment The pitch I'm eyeing up here is about 50 yards over a stream off a slight downslope. Other than a bare or really tight lie this would rank among the trickiest, but putting a few key things in place will give you the best chance of success, starting with alignment. I see some golfers aiming right, then trying to pull the club back on target, and others who open it all up at address to get the left hip out of the way, but then drag the shot away left. Many golfers subscribe to opening out the left hip a little, but I would rather you square everything up to the target – feet, knees, hips…

KEY TECH Compact forged irons in both conventional and single-length shafts AIMED AT Better players seeking feel and workability upgrades HOW MUCH £749 Forged Tour, £849 Forged One (4-PW) If you liked the look of the new one-length irons on the last page, you'll be pleased to know there's more choice for players who want to try the technology in a more slimline option. The new King Forged One Length is the iron set currently used by Bryson DeChambeau, and it offers soft feel in a compact head with reduced offset for shot-shaping and trajectory control. Like the King F7 One Length irons, all the models in the set are the length of a 7-iron to help eliminate variables in your set-up and swing and also make your distance gaps…

Words Jake O'Reilly KEY TECH On-screen yardages plus distances you can hear AIMED AT Golfers seeking value and simplicity from their GPS HOW MUCH £114.95 In 2012, GolfBuddy introduced the Voice, a revolutionary talking GPS device. Four years on, the brand has unveiled the Voice2, which comes with a raft of versatile accessories to match its improvements. These include a bespoke wrist strap that turns it into a GPS watch, a leather belt clip that lets you lift the unit to see the screen while wearing it and a hard clip-on case you can use to attach it to your cap or bag. The Voice2 is also small enough to fit discreetly in your pocket, and, as with the original Voice, you can either view the yardages via large numbers…

KEY TECHNOLOGY King wedges feature progressive grooves combined with Variable Face Roughness, a face milling technology that brings the roughness and depth up to The R&A limit. They come in three sole grinds christened Versatile, Classic and Narrow to match your game and turf conditions. GM REVIEW Looks The King is a traditional wedge offering thanks to its muscleback shape and tour satin finish. It has an appealing profile to the eye, which becomes more rounded in the higher-lofted models. The hitting areas also look big as the heads are long from heel to toe, which is especially encouraging on full shots. Performance Thanks to the three different grinds, you will be able to find something that works for your technique and typical turf conditions. The only way to find…

UMBRELLAS BASE LAYERS…

The Golf  Arden: par 72, 6,707 yards Aylesford: par 69, 5,801 yards The Arden course, laid out over an extensive deer park, is a 1992 Donald Steel creation that has played host to several European Tour events. Water comes into play often, most memorably down a fine closing stretch which boasts two strong par 3s, including the 18th, and the excellent par-5 17th, where those attacking in two must factor in sand on the left and water short right. The shorter Aylesford course is also Steel's handiwork, with the testing opening trio making up nearly a quarter of the overall yardage. The standout hole visually is the pretty par-3 10th that plays 151 yards over a T-shaped pond. Also play… the lovely parkland course at Coventry Hearsall (hearsallgolfclub.co.uk) lies…

 Arnold Palmer won seven Major Championships, changed the course of professional golf and endeared himself to everyone with his swashbuckling style, warmth and sense of humour. The golf world is still reeling from his loss, but The King left a final gift in the form of A Life Well Played: My Stories. “IN THE BOOK, PALMER TAKES READERS THROUGH MANY OF THE EXPERIENCES THAT HELPED SHAPE HIS LIFE” In the book – also available in an audio version and as an ebook – Palmer takes the reader through many of the experiences that helped shape his life. He expands on familiar stories, shares new tales and gives advice about how to conduct yourself both on and off the course. It's a veritable treasure trove of anecdotes and wisdom that has…

Photography Paul Severn “I now have a new appreciation for the work that has to be done by those, like me, who are there to make things as easy as possible for the players” My week at the 41st Ryder Cup matches was full of ups and downs, both on and off the course. After not feeling too great on the plane over to Hazeltine, on the Tuesday I made the mistake of not putting on sunscreen. Heading back to the hotel later my head was pounding. I woke up the next morning, went to the course and was immediately sent back to bed. Which is where I stayed for two days, with what the doctor said was a virus. It was late on Thursday before I felt up to…

Until a certain sibling went and put his foot – or at least keyboard – in it big time just before the Ryder Cup, it had without any shadow of a doubt been an annus mirabilis for Daniel John Willett. Over a glorious 12-month spell, the 29-year-old vicar’s son from Sheffield finally, and emphatically, delivered on the youthful promise of his rise to No.1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings in 2008 at just 20 years of age. But the road from the pinnacle of the amateur game to the pinnacle of the paid ranks has not always been a smooth one, despite Willett exuding an air of self-assured confidence on the golf course to a greater degree than any British player since Ian Poulter. Following his stellar amateur career,…

“THE ARRAY OF TOUR DEMANDS SHAPED THE RANGE WE SEE TODAY” Bob Vokey The main Titleist clubs headquarters in Carlsbad is home to one of the most recognisable club makers in the game. Bob Vokey has an office in the main Titleist building and on our first day we spotted the man himself, busy at work. But to see him in this environment is misleading. Vokey, like Scotty Cameron, is a hands-on craftsman. Vokey made his first steps in the golf industry in 1976 when he opened 'Bob's Custom Golf Shop' in San Diego. His reputation for repairs and modifications quickly grew, and many of the game's top players came directly to him for help. At that stage, there was no thought about specialising in one area of the game.…

1954 US Amateur champion at the Country Club of Detroit 7 Majors won: Four Masters (1958, ’60, ’62, ’64); one US Open (1960); two Open Championships (1961, ’62) 38 Top-ten finishes in Major championships between 1955 and 1977, including ten runner-up finishes 62 PGA Tour victories over 18 years from 1955 to 1973 95 Victories as a pro, the last in 1993 71 His incredible win percentage in 32 Ryder Cup matches 1960 PGA Player of the Year and again in 1962 900 Million dollars: Palmer’s estimated earnings on and off the golf course during his illustrious career 1974 Elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame 2011 ‘Most Influential Figure’ in the last 100 years of golf as nominated by Golf Monthly during its centenary year…

TOP 25 COACH Golfsmart International & Director of Instruction, Faldo Golf Centres 1 Over the top Fat strikes, in which you either take a divot before the ball or come in too steeply and take a very deep divot, are something every golfers has suffered from. Before we look at ways to resolve the problem, let's address three common causes. The first is the classic ‘over the top' move, where the shoulder works in the wrong direction and moves forward in relation to your target line as you swing down, sending the club outside the line. From here, you will not only come in too steep but also cut across the ball, leading to a poor strike. Perhaps this is you? TOO STEEP If the shoulder moves forward, the club…

Photography Tom Miles TOP 25 COACH Paul Foston Golf Academy, Smarden, Kent The takeaway is a vitally important move in the golf swing. Get it right and you will set the club working on the right path; get it wrong and you will need to make compensations later in your swing to hit good shots. This, of course, will make you less consistent. The good news is that the takeaway is something we can all get right with a little practice. A ‘one-piece takeaway' refers to the triangle between the clubhead and your shoulders. Until your wrists hinge to set the angle in the backswing (creating important power), you should try to keep this triangle in one piece. If you snatch the club away on the inside, for instance, with…

KEY TECHNOLOGY ‘FF' stands for ‘fold flat'. The trolley does this in one simple move, folding down to just 12.5cm deep. It also features a height-adjustable handle, a footbrake, a storage compartment in the main console and an adjustable base to cater for different-sized bags. GM REVIEW Performance The precision engineering on offer from the Big Max Autofold FF is all about making it as easy as possible to store. The fold flat mechanism is truly impressive and means it will fit into even the smallest of car boots. Likewise, if you don't have much space at home to house a golf trolley, this is a fantastic option. The way in which it unfolds in one sweeping move – it certainly doesn't require excess force – reduces the faffing that…

Photography Tom Miles “Courage on the Somme was just staying in the place! Among those who did just that was a posse of golf pros doing their bit for king and country” Courage is a word much bandied about in sports writing. Most of the time it shouldn't be. In our old game, for example, it doesn't really take courage to hole an important 6ft putt. It takes a bit of determination, a slice of technique, a decent eye and, more often than not, a helpful dollop of luck. This is true whether it's you in the monthly medal or someone a bit better known in the Ryder Cup or The Open, or any of those other big weeks when courage is too often sewn into the narrative. Well, there…

Photography Getty Images “I’VE ONLY WON SIX TOURNAMENTS WORLDWIDE AND I FEEL I SHOULD BE ADDING TO THAT TOTAL” How are you feeling about your golf at the moment? It's been a bit of a rubbish year with the first real high coming with a good finish at The Open. My season didn't start too badly, although I was already struggling then with a foot injury that forced me to take two or three months off. It was a decent performance at Troon and I played really nicely on the Sunday. It was just a little reminder that on my day I can still compete with the best players in the world. What did you make of the final round? It was something I hadn't seen before, even when you…

Photography Kevin Murray “Patrick Reed has established himself as the USA’s answer to Ian Poulter. He’s a cult hero and a pantomime villain at the same time” As I write this I'm enjoying three weeks off in Australia, before the start of a busy stretch that concludes with the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne. There are some great events in that run – the Turkish Airlines Open, Sun City and Dubai – but they would do incredibly well to match the drama and excitement we witnessed at The Ryder Cup. The Americans were 100 per cent deserving of winning The Ryder Cup. I said in my preview column that I thought the pendulum was swinging slightly in their direction, and when I arrived on the ground I thought they…

2007 Wins the English Amateur and plays in the Walker Cup at Royal County Down 2008 Reaches No.1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings in March. Turns pro in May and makes it through European Tour Q-School 2009 Finishes 58th on the Race to Dubai (R2D) with eight top tens from 28 starts 2010 Climbs to 23rd on the R2D, finishing 2nd at the Dunhill Links. Hits world Top 100 for the first time in July 2011 Slips back to 91st on the R2D as form takes a dip 2012 Bounces back to 23rd on the R2D thanks in no small measure to a maiden tour win in June’s BMW International Open 2013 Slips to 62nd on the R2D as back injury hampers schedule. Saves year with 3rd place in…

 While Acushnet (the parent company of the Titleist brand) started making golf balls as early as 1932, the golf club business began 30 years later after the acquisition of the Bullseye putter franchise in 1962 and then Golfcraft in 1969 (a successful club manufacturer established in the 1940s). Titleist built its own R&D and testing facilities and, in the early days, made a succession of sleek irons and persimmon-headed woods. One standout release was a very early perimeter-weighted iron called the AC-108. The first Titleist metalwood arrived in 1984 and was a simple, relatively small silver design that came in two lofts – 9° and 12°. During this period, golf clubs accounted for a very small portion of the overall Titleist business. But, as other golf equipment manufacturers began leveraging…

Even a cursory look at the new technologies within the 917 woods range reveals just how important custom fitting is to the Titleist business. This is how the company sees players unlocking the true potential of its clubs and, as you would expect from a brand whose heritage is built on consistency, there is an incredible attention to detail within the assembly process, too. Within the main Titleist office in Carlsbad, next to where the engineers of the R&D department work, is the assembly floor. This building services orders made in the US, while a similar operation exists in St Ives near Cambridge to fulfil European orders. It all starts with the components that are received, audited and then stored. A portion of these are sent to a lab, where…

“UIHLEIN UNDERSTOOD THAT SCOTTY NEEDED FREEDOM TO THRIVE” Scotty Cameron When Scotty Cameron agreed to join the Titleist clubs family in 1994, one of his biggest fears was that he would be consumed by the corporate world. What was once artistry and craftsmanship would become something far bigger and less personal and make more 'financial' sense, he feared. However, Wally Uihlein and Cameron shared the same vision for creating the best putters for the best players, and Uilhein understood that Scotty needed creative freedom to thrive. It was an extraordinary show of trust from both men. The Scotty Cameron Putter Studio is a ten-minute drive from the main Titleist clubs HQ, and from the moment you walk in and see the various art installations adorning the corridors, you realise this…

The Royal British Legion’s ‘Fly the Flag’ initiative is part of a nationwide campaign, ‘Sport Remembers the Somme 1916-2016’, which is calling on sporting organisations, associations, clubs, teams and individuals to commemorate the role played by sportsmen on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme, which ran from July 1–November 18, 1916, was one of the most difficult and costly battles of the First World War. To aid the war effort, virtually all professional sport had been suspended by the time the Battle began. Athletes and players from sports at all levels had volunteered to enlist – sometimes en masse as an entire team and its supporters. Hundreds of golfers, professional and amateur, served in Pals Battalions recruited from towns, villages, schools, workplaces…

TOP 25 COACH Head Professional, Royal Cinque Ports GC, Kent 1 Club selection The left-to-right wind is the one most right-handed golfers dread. Few golfers fancy it much if the wind is severely off their backs, especially if there's trouble down the right. Some of it is confidence; some of it is because far more club golfers slice the ball than hook it; but some of it is down to strategy and, in particular, club selection. Instead of automatically reaching for your driver in the belief that it will help you keep the ball down, I would recommend switching to the higher-lofted 3-wood and turning the clubface to the left a little bit at address. CLUB CHOICE Choose a 3-wood instead of a driver and turn the clubface to the…

KEY TECH Game-improver irons get a facelift and single-length shaft option AIMED AT Golfers who want to hit greens more consistently HOW MUCH £549 steel, £649 graphite (4-PW) If you haven't been hiding under a rock in 2016, you’ve probably come across quirky US Amateur Champion Bryson DeChambeau, who has been the talk of the clubhouse thanks to his unusual irons that all have the same-length shafts. Never afraid to try something new, Cobra was keen to make a set for him and then bring that technology to the masses. In the King F7 One Length irons it has done just that. The whole set is engineered at 7-iron length, with the lofts and head weights changing to achieve more even gapping. It’s a design that DeChambeau claims simplifies your…

KEY TECH Forged irons designed for shot-shaping and feedback AIMED AT Better players who favour workability over forgiveness HOW MUCH £699 (4-PW) Wilson Staff's FG Tour irons have proved very popular since their first iteration back in 2009, and looking at the latest evolution about to hit the shelves, there's nothing to suggest that's about to change. Wilson Staff says the new FG Tour V6 set will suit golfers who "value ultimate feel, precision shot-shaping and feedback." Made from 8620 carbon steel, the forged irons feature tungsten weighting through the set, while an improved sole camber and bounce design adds distance and versatility. The 3- to 5-irons have 12g of tungsten in the toe and 8g in the heel to improve the forgiveness without increasing the spin, which would reduce…

“IT LEFT ME WONDERING WHY ALL IRON SETS AREN’T LIKE THIS” Joel Tadman Bryson DeChambeau's single-length iron concept is one of the most drastic and intriguing golf equipment innovation stories since the oversized driver – not only because it is unique, but because the idea has proved successful and has the potential to improve the consistency of golfers of all abilities. Put simply, DeChambeau's irons are all 37.5in in length – similar to most golfers' 7-irons – and they have the same lie angle. The only thing that changes is the loft. This concept enables the golfer to swing each iron in exactly the same way. Presently, irons within a set become progressively longer as the loft reduces, requiring golfers to make subtle changes to their set-up in order to…

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