Table of contents for Jul 2025 - Issue 434 in Golf Australia

Will there be a more seismic sporting moment this year than Grand-Slammer Rory McIlroy touching down, ahem, Down Under for the Australian Open in December? After months of anticipation surrounding golf’s first split-gender Australian Open in four years, the news of McIlroy’s commitment has instantly transformed our national tournament from the overlooked kid in the playground to the cool mate revving up his new scooter (or swinging the latest set of sticks, to keep things on par). McIlroy’s arrival is sure to blow past every previous benchmark – ticket sales will soar through the roof, television ratings will climb to unprecedented heights and sponsorship partnerships will multiply almost overnight. Yet, the real thrill transcends the big business: it’s the ripple effect on the next generation. Already riding a wave of…

Australian golf has a new name to watch on the world stage. Twenty-four-year-old Jennifer Elliott (née Herbst) carried her Western Australian grit all the way to Erin Hills, where she made her major championship debut at the 80th U.S Women’s Open. After shooting an eye-catching 8-under in her Texas sectional qualifier in late May, Elliott not only punched her ticket among 41 U.S Women’s Open first timers, but also proved a proud ambassador for Australian women’s golf. Elliott’s journey to one of golf’s grandest stages has been a gradual ascent. Born in South Africa, she moved with her family to Perth at the age of seven. It was at Lake Karrinyup Country Club – where she joined as a 12-year-old – where her passion for the game truly took root.…

Greetings from sunny Scotland. Which is my way of justifying – or at least explaining what follows – a shameless descent into what might be termed “parochialism”. I reckon I can be forgiven, though. In the wake of his momentous victory at the 2025 Masters, it is a question golfers all over the world are surely asking: is Rory McIlroy now the best European golfer of all-time? As ever, the answer probably depends on who you ask, or at least on what criteria you base your decision. Let’s start with the other candidates. The Old World golfer with the most (modern) major wins is, get a grip folks, none other than Harry Vardon with seven. Specifically, that’s six Open Championships and one U.S Open. But the Channel Islander’s eventual tally…

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Imagine stepping up to a golf shot knowing the outcome is completely judgment-free; that your worth is not riding on the result. Your only job is to express yourself; to swing freely, play creatively and enjoy the process. That’s how Scottie Scheffler plays. And that’s something any golfer can learn from. With his runaway win in the U.S PGA Championship and an extraordinary stretch of dominance over the past few years, Scheffler has firmly established himself as the best golfer on the planet. His calm presence and consistent excellence have drawn comparisons to Tiger Woods in his prime. But beneath the composed exterior lies a deeper story – one that reveals the true source of Scheffler’s strength. On the Sunday morning before his first Masters victory, Scheffler was curled up…

When he’s not travelling the world presenting Sky Sports’ golf coverage, Nick Dougherty is busy fronting ad campaigns for TaylorMade and lobbying British Parliament to get golf into schools in his role as President of the Golf Foundation. There are other causes which are close to his heart, but what he’s really passionate about is helping amateurs fix their swing and lower their handicap. Since launching his Tee Time Tips series in 2018, his short-form videos have proven so popular, that thousands of club golfers seek him out for help and advice every month. And now we’re giving you the chance to put his favourite drills into practice. Today’s Golfer spent a day with the former DP World Tour star at TaylorMade’s new Performance Lab at The Belfry and came away…

Would you like to play five rounds of world-class golf in glorious Vietnam and stay in 4.5-star accommodation? Would you like to be mentored before each round by a PGA professional who offers group clinics, personalised lessons, course-management tips, individualised game assessments and ongoing video coaching post-tour? Would you thus enjoy a tour which was equal parts golf improvement, golf adventure and golf holiday in paradise? One assumes, if you are still reading, that the answer is a resounding yes to all above. Well, you can. In conjunction with renowned Asian golf tour specialists, Golf Asian, Golf Australia magazine’s Senior Writer, Matt Cleary, and PGA professional, Andrew Welsford, will host a tour from October 16-23 in Da Nang on Vietnam’s “Golf Coast”. Golfers will enjoy rounds at courses designed by…

I’m only 61, yet every morning, as I rise from bed and creak, I feel like I’ve aged a hundred years. Still, I make it up … eventually. That, at least, is encouraging. The muscle aches are even more pronounced after a round of golf. Really, it should be called “Squat” given how often you have to hold that awkward position. Those first movements? Pure John Wayne – bowlegged, stiff, but proud. A positive sign, I tell myself. I’ve lived long enough to know time takes its toll, so why delude myself into feeling 20 again? Having dipped a toe into the River Styx – and not wanting to catch the ferry – I realised I needed to work on my core. Those fine muscles: the steel-reinforcing of human motion.…

A HOLLOW FEELING … The 18th at Quail Hollow is where scorecards – and spirits – go to die. At 494 yards, this par-4 has humbled legends and heckled hopefuls. On the Saturday at the PGA Championship, American Eric Cole did what any self-respecting golfer would do when their ball finds the creek on the Green Mile. No bridge, no hesitation; just pure, determined ball retrieval. If this were a nature doco, Sir David Attenborough would be narrating his leap as a rare ritual in the wild game of golf. But this wasn’t a nature doco; it was a golf horror flick. Cole, channelling equal parts Tarzan and weekend hacker, gave us a moment of relatable brilliance. Whether he saved par is beside the point. At Quail Hollow’s punishing finale,…

In a storied AFL career which ended in 2019 when he was chaired off Kardinia Park, Dale “Daisy” Thomas played 157 games for Collingwood Magpies and 101 games for Carlton Blues. And you needn’t be the ghost of Lou Richards to know the implications of that duality. Ask him today (as everyone seems to) whom he follows, and Thomas will tell you the 2010 premiership with the ‘Pies sees him tilt 51 percent black-and-white, 49 percent navy blue. But he is, Golf Australia magazine can confirm, one-hundred-percent golf nut. We’re on the par-5 17th fairway at Manly Golf Club, the primo parcel of land on Sydney’s northern beaches, and Thomas is eyeing off his third shot. And there is a lot going on. Rain is threatening, the fairway is soggy…

I have been fortunate throughout my career to see both sides of professional golf; first as a club pro and then as a pro golfer. What’s the difference? A golf pro works at a club, teaches and runs a pro shop, as I did for several years in my early 20s at two public golf courses, Marangaroo and Carramar, in Perth. A pro golfer, meanwhile, plays the game for a living. For me, it began here on the Australasian Tour, then in Europe (DP World Tour) and eventually in the U.S on the PGA Tour. All told, I played with and against the best players in the world for over 20 years. Uniquely, I’ve come full circle; these days I’m back to helping golfers again, but this time with a…

It has forever been the most controversial of the four major championships. Especially when the topic of conversation is course set-up. Outside of the Australian Open, in fact, the U.S Open is the only Grand Slam event I can think of where the way in which the course is presented to the players is even an issue. By way of example, no one ever talks about how Augusta National is set up for the Masters, much as the course is so much part of the occasion. Because the members tend to get just about everything right. AtThe Open – other than the infamous 1999 championship at Carnoustie, when the rough was allowed to get out of control – the same is true, as it is at the PGA Championship. But…

This can be a difficult shot for a few reasons, with a small margin of error at the bottom of our arc. When we don’t hit down on the ball, it won’t go high. If we hit up on it too early, we can hit it fat or thin. So, work out where the bottom of your swing arc is and position the ball thus. The other thing is to pick out two targets. One where you’re aiming the ball to start; where your swing plane will be heading towards at impact. The other target is where you want the ball to finish. So, aiming towards the first target, position the club face just slightly left of that target, but still right of the finishing point. The club swings to…

As every new golfing season dawns, we can be forgiven for our putting being a bit rusty. The sight of our ball running like a sprinter with a twanged hamstring across stodgy winter greens is generally enough for us to find something better to do with our practice time. But of course, with the spring comes firmer, smoother, faster surfaces … and a short window to regain our flatstick feel before competition season kicks off in earnest. The six simple drills detailed here will help you quickly rediscover the basics we all need to putt well. We start with the most fundamental putting skill of them all: finding the centre of the face … PEG DRILL #1 CENTRED STRIKE Regular striking from the sweetspot improves distance control through delivering a…

Cost: $1,099. Tested by: Callum Hill, Golf Australia magazine Digital Editor. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: For a long time, I have trusted TaylorMade’s drivers at the top of my bag. The M4 and M5 were personal favourites of mine. Reading and watching the reviews of the new Qi35, its consistency impressed me the most; a department I believeTaylorMade has developed out of sight over the last decade. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one, put it into action and see if all the raving reviews were genuine. It isn’t a necessity, but a golf club which looks good is always nice. The sleek black Qi35 was a classy-looking stick, one of the better-looking clubs currently on the market. It’s built for players chasing distance but not willing to give up…