Table of contents for Oct 2025 - Issue 437 in Golf Australia

A ustralian star Min Woo Lee has confirmed he will be returning home to compete in the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland in November. The world No. 47 will headline a strong field for the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Summer of Golf opening flagship event. At the time of writing, Lee has not officially confirmed his entry for the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne, but it is all but guaranteed we’ll see him there the following week. The Western Australian has become one of Australia’s most recognisable golfers through his PGA Tour results and growing social media presence. He said the opportunity to come home, balance family time and prepare for the back end of the year and season ahead is essential. “I think just having that week or…

When Tammy Wong talks about Birdie Links, her voice lifts with energy. It isn’t just a coaching business or merely a social club. And it’s certainly not just about golf. For Wong, a PGA professional based at The Ridge in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, Birdie Links represents something bigger: a community where women feel supported, confident and connected, both on and off the course. “I wanted to put out the message that golf can be for everyone,” she says. “It’s a game you can play with your kids, your partner, your parents … It is such a generational sport. For women especially though, it can be intimidating. I wanted to create a space where they’d feel welcome from the very start.” That space is Birdie Links – a business Wong built…

Despite accusations to the contrary, I have never been one for vainglorious boasting (well, maybe a bit). But I can safely declare with all sincerity that I have never watched a single second of the television phenomenon known as MAFS. Indeed, I would sooner watch old politicians pash. But, as in all affairs of the heart, who are we to judge? The light is on and burning for consumers, and cosmetics giants and hardware retailers are fighting to the death to commercially partner with the broadcaster. For contestants, it means $150 a day (true) and the alluring if dubious, commercially appealing condition known as “fame”. Clint Rice, our latest “19 Holes With” contestant, let’s call him, was barely famous in the streets of Launceston when he signed up as an…

Some call it “The Zone”, others call it a peak state. Whatever the name, every golfer dreams of that magical space where everything flows. Shots feel effortless, decisions are clear, the game becomes almost blissful. Peak-state play is one of the most powerful experiences in golf. The good news? It isn’t mystical or unachievable. Peak state golf is not reserved for the lucky few. With the right approach, you can consciously give yourself access to it more often. Over the years, I’ve found that six key aspects shape the conditions for flow and bring you towards that optimal state. 1. Intention: This is the guiding energy behind everything you do on the course. It isn’t just about wanting to play well, but aligning your intention with your true identity; with…

Bunker shots are one part of the game where handicap takes a bit of a back seat; there are advanced players who struggle in sand, and relatively poor players who are more comfortable. So while these tips are still aimed at different skill levels, you need to make an honest assessment of your bunker competence and select the area that is most relevant to you. That said, all three exercises here will help every club golfer in what is, for me, the most needed area: contact. For the vast majority of amateurs, the typical experience is to take too much or too little sand, problems that relate to the angle of attack and the way they release the club. I’ll address this issue at each skill level, with a tee…

We tend to associate the yips with putting, but most golfers have also experienced an unpleasant twitchiness on chipping and pitching at some stage. If the feeling of this is tough to describe – mental confusion and a loss of clubface awareness are certainly in there – the results are certainly not: expect duffs, thins, even double hits. As and when this affliction shows up in your game, try this fix on the practice area; I’ve seen it work wonders with golfers at their wits’ end. THE FAULT: HANDS DRIVE DOWNWARD INTO IMPACT Twitchy chips often crop up when we continue to swing the hands downward into impact. As the gap between the club’s handle and the ground narrows, we are forced to delay the release of the club to…

Every so often, something happens which gives the whole game of golf in this country a lift. Recent news that the winner of this year’s Australian Open will earn a spot in the 2026 Masters at Augusta National is one of those moments. For the young players coming through, this is huge. For kids grinding it out at junior tournaments from Perth to Penrith, suddenly there’s a tangible pathway from local fairways to one of the most hallowed stages in golf. It is the kind of carrot which inspires belief, that with enough work and patience, their dream is realistically within reach. The concept of an unlikely journey to success fascinates many. Again, just think about it; there is now a direct line from Royal Melbourne to Magnolia Lane in…

When the world slowed down during the pandemic, Wanasa Zhou faced an unexpected crossroads. An injury had forced her to step away from life on the pro tour, a path she had pursued since her junior days, through college at the University of Arizona, and onto the LPGA, WPGA, and CLPGA circuits. In that pause, however, came an opportunity she never saw coming; one which would reshape her future in golf. “During recovery, I started coaching my younger sister, who was just picking up the game,” Wanasa recalls. “I discovered this passion for coaching I didn’t even know I had.” What began as helping a novice golfer learn the basics, soon became the spark for a bigger career change. As her sister’s skills developed, transforming from a complete beginner into…

Smacking a huge drive is of course one of golf’s true pleasures… but strong hitting goes a lot further than the buzz it gives us. Golf stats are festooned with examples of how extra distance leads to lower scores, leaving us all free to pursue power without the nagging concern that we’re just fanning our egos. I’m a perfect example. I’ve always been a long hitter, but once performance tracking showed me the relationship between distance and score, I resolved to get longer. The work I’ve put in means that today, I can swing the club at 128mph with a ball speed of 185 – figures that would stand up on any professional tour. And while you might not reach those levels, the secrets I’m about to share with you…

Just thinking out loud here … Without taking a stance – moral or otherwise – in favour of either side in the apparently endless negotiations between the interloping LIV Golf and the inward-looking PGA Tour, it is clear that an opportunity exists. Yes, it is one which begins with the abandonment of the clearly stalled discussions regarding the future of elite professional golf. And yes, it involves the acceptance of much Saudi cash into the game’s mainstream, but pragmatism is the name of this particular game. Anything to end the current impasse. So hear me out. There is a better way ahead. Potentially. We will start with the PGA Tour. Let’s leave behind those who play virtually all of their competitive golf inside the confines of the United States. Let’s…

This is not news, but ever since about 1979, when the Great Britain and Ireland Ryder Cup side morphed into a more powerful European squad, things have gone rather well for the citizens of the Old World in the biennial encounter with Uncle Sam’s nephews. There have been occasional defeats for sure, but the wins outweigh the losses; 12 to nine overall and, as momentum has inexorably built, eight to three in this century. So could there really be a problem amidst this stunning level of success against previously overwhelming opponents? What could be nagging at the back of the more astute observer’s mind? Could there really be something even slightly rotten at the European core? Well, as ever, it depends on your point of view. There will be those…

If you didn’t catch LIV Golf on the television this year – and, as ratings would indicate, that did not make you Robinson Crusoe, nor his mate Man Friday – you’ll have missed out on some fine golf, team and individual, in a league that’s the closest to a “world” tour behind the DP World Tour, with both taking place across five continents. And while LIV Golf ’s tournaments feel inconsequential compared to the major championships – though, one could argue, are as much “exhibitions” as any generic PGA Tour event, such as your Rocket Mortgage, your Charles Schwab, your John Deere Classic - LIV Golf, certainly on the ground, and to a lesser extent in terms of TV ratings, is on the up. Nine countries, including first-timers Hong Kong,…

When Tiger Woods holed a 15-footer, downhill, curving right-to-left, on the 18th green at Torrey Pines to tie Rocco Mediate for the 2008 U.S Open, the commentators, when they finally had a chance to talk to him, asked Tiger to explain what went through his mind before he hit that putt. And Tiger described, in very simple terms, a very simple concept about line and speed. He said that after he worked out where he wanted to aim, he used the line on the ball to aim at that spot. Once he’d done that, he totally committed to that line. And that focus did not change. That was where he was going to putt the ball towards. And from there, all he had to do was work out how hard…

More often than you might think, golfers are held back by a sketchy concept of what they are trying to achieve. One of the biggest culprits here is swing path. It seems only logical that to hit the ball straight, we need to apply force straight down the target line. In fact that is exactly what we do… but only for the briefest moment as the clubhead touches the ball-target line for a flash on its circular journey around us. If we try to extend its stay on the ball-target line – either side of the ball – we risk pulling the club away from its natural, arcing path and will tend to hit across the ball, creating curvature in the shot. To reinforce your concept of a neutral, arcing…

For years, the Masters has been golf’s most exclusive club; a golden ticket for a select few – entrants mostly drawn from the PGA Tour, with a dash of international flavour and avenues for the best amateurs. Augusta National and the R&A recently announced that winners of six national Opens – including the Australian Open – will qualify directly for the 2026 Masters; a tip of the cap to the importance of those countries’ flagship events and long-awaited acknowledgement that big tournaments actually do exist outside of America. Bending tradition isn’t something necessarily synonymous with Augusta National, but kudos to Fred Ridley and the team down Magnolia Lane, with tradition bending just enough to make room for change. The message is clear: win your national championship, and you have earned…