WINPUMA TITANTOUR GOLF SHOES

HOW TO PLAY WHAT TO PLAY
WHERE TO PLAY
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HOW TO PLAY
/
WHAT TO PLAY
/
WHERE TO PLAY
Contents
04/16
24
HOT LIST
55 OUR 13-PAGE EQUIPMENT GUIDE
Golf Digest’s uncensored review of the best
equipment in the game.
56 ADJUSTABLE DRIVERS
How adjustable drivers can fix your swing flaws
and give you more distance.
58 DRIVERS
58
60 FAIRWAY WOODS
62 HYBRIDS
64 GAME-IMPROVEMENT IRONS
66 PLAYERS AND SUPER G-I IRONS
68 WEDGES
70 BLADE AND MALLET PUTTERS
THE MASTERS
42 THE SHARK’S COLLAPSE
What Greg Norman – and all of us – can learn
from his stunning failure at the 1996 Masters,
By Sam Weinman
52 IF AUGUSTA NATIONAL RULED THE WORLD
How things would change. By Dan Jenkins
PLAY YOUR BEST
10 NEED HELP WITH HYBRIDS?
5 straightforward tips for knocking it on the green.
By Rob Akins
14 BUTCH HARMON
Ball position made easy.
16 DAVID LEADBETTER
Use my prayer grip for longer, straighter shots.
18 SEAN FOLEY
How to approach every shot.
19 HANK HANEY
Shake the shanks.
20 TOM WATSON
THE GOLF LIFE
24 THE CORE
Paddle boarding with Natalie Gulbis.
26 BOBBY LOCKE
32 THE POUR
Everything you need to know about draught beer.
33 ASK GOLF DIGEST
My drill for grooving a stroke you can repeat.
Parkview unveil their centenary statue of
the old master.
21 JIM MCLEAN
28 STUFF
76 GALLERY
Tips to end the double cross.
A guide to launch monitors.
78 INSIDE THE ROPES
22 JORDAN SPIETH
29 UNDERCOVER TOUR PRO
80 SUNSHINE TOUR
Try my 5 driver keys.
36 YEAR OF THE DRIVER
Try my keys to launch your
best tee shots. By Rory McIlroy
6 / A P R I L 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A
Living the single life.
With Max Adler
81 SUPERSPORT DIARY
30 THINK YOUNG, PLAY HARD
Rhys West.
72 AMATEUR SCENE
82 DAVID OWEN
How to manage your roster of old clubs.
COVER PHOTO BY DOM FURORE • THIS PAGE BY JD CUBAN/DOM FURORE
The best engine: passion.
Mercedes-Benz is proud to be a Global Sponsor of the 2016 Masters.
www.facebook.com/MercedesBenzGolf
/
4
16
Behind the Scenes
EDITORIAL
EDITOR STUART McLEAN (021) 417 5195
Euro Tour is a happy hunting ground
By Stuart McLean, Editor
T
here are two kinds of golf fans
who follow tournaments on
SuperSport. Those who settle
down on the couch on a Sunday morning or afternoon, and watch
the final round of a European Tour event
from various parts of the globe; and
those insomniacs happy to stay awake
into the small hours keeping track of
what’s happening on the PGA Tour in
America, where the superstars play. If
you have time to watch both tours, then
you’re probably single or retired.
Those who prefer the European Tour
coverage will have had much to celebrate of late. Six victories by South
Africans in the space of 10 tournaments
since December is a notable streak of
success, particularly since they have
come from five different players – Charl
Schwartzel (two), Louis Oosthuizen,
Branden Grace, and our two promising
youngsters, Brandon Stone and Haydn
Porteous. And let’s not overlook two
victories by Shaun Norris on the Asian
Tour.
However, if you’re a PGA Tour fan,
the last five years have seen a surprising
lack of wins by our players in America.
There was Tim Clark in 2014 at the
Canadian Open, and before that it was
the 2011 season, when Charl Schwartzel
won the Masters and Rory Sabbatini the
Honda Classic. Three wins in five years
is a low count.
Winning in America is obviously
tougher for any foreigner, let alone
South Africans, because the courses better suit their players, who are generally
more aggressive by nature on the greens.
There are also an increasing number of
fearless young American bombers who
can win today. Australian Jason Day became a regular winner in America due
to the fact that he embraced the US as
his home country and virtually stopped
travelling outside its borders.
Oosthuizen and Grace have yet to
8 / A P R I L 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A
win in America, but if they can make
that breakthrough in 2016, their natural
confidence should see them get on a roll
and win multiple times. The first one is
always the hardest.
I have been impressed by the continuing ability of our young golfers, and
veterans, to make an impact on a growingly competitive world scene. Christiaan Bezuidenhout is still 21 but a real
talent who in two months has climbed
from 1284 on the World Ranking (end
of 2015) to 329. Dean Burmester, 26,
has got into the top 100 of the ranking purely by playing on the Sunshine
Tour. Together with Stone and Porteous,
at least one of them has the makings of
a future major champion. And then we
have 41-year-old Ulrich van den Berg
regaining his card on the European Tour,
showing us that longevity in golf is important. How about Jaco van Zyl making the top 50 of the ranking for the first
time at age 37.
This is our Hot List Equipment issue,
and rather than devote a big section
to it, as we have always done, we have
condensed it to 13 pages. All the information you require about the best new
clubs is still there, but with less emphasis
on shiny images.
If you bought a new set of clubs following last year’s Hot List, then you have
every reason to be smiling. The dollarrand exchange rate has since driven
up local prices. Most new drivers cost
about R2 000 more than a year ago, but
the biggest jump in price has come in
Players irons, those beautiful blades that
good golfers prefer. A set of Callaway
Apex Pro irons have escalated in price
from R15 000 to R22 000, and they are
not the most expensive on our list.
stuart.mclean@newmediapub.co.za
Deputy Editor Barry Havenga (021) 417 1219
Head of Creative: Consumer Division Mark Serra
Managing Editor Chantel Kleinsmidt
Designer Samantha Presence
Photographers Grant Leversha,
Jamie Thom, Luke Walker
GOLF DIGEST USA
Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde
Ju Kuang Tan, Contributing Editor, International
Julie Samuels, Senior International
Permissions Manager
Angie Byun, Director of Licensing
Playing Editors Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer,
Tom Watson, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson,
Nick Price, Jordan Spieth
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Publications Inc. and New Media Publishing
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Published by New Media Publishing (Pty) Ltd,
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N E W VO K E Y D E S I G N S M 6 W E D G E S .
PROGRESSIVE DESIGN.
PRECISION PERFORMANCE.
HIGH CG: 58°-62°
MID CG: 54° AND 56°
LOW CG: 46°-52°
PROGRESSIVE CG FOR SUPERIOR DISTANCE CONTROL AND FEEL.
Precision in your wedge game requires precise technology in your wedges. New Vokey SM6 wedges feature an
innovative, progressive center of gravity that’s placed in the optimum position for each loft to provide players with
more consistent distance, trajectory control and better feel. Learn more about new SM6 wedges at Vokey.com
46 –
52 –
56 –
60 –
JORDAN SPIETH
8 0 / A P R I L 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A
08 F Grind
08 F Grind
10 S Grind
04 L Grind
52 – 12 F Grind
56 – 14 F Grind
60 – 12 K Grind
JASON DUFNER
48 – 08 F Grind
54 – 08 M Grind
60 – 04 L Grind
JIMMY WALKER
Play Your Best | HYBRID HELP
Hybrid Help
5 simple tips
for knocking it
on the green
BY ROB AKINS
for a lot of players, thanks to the centre of gravity in the clubhead. Because it’s set back
from the face, you can launch the ball high – and square the club – more easily than you can with a long iron, even from
the rough. But just because hybrids are user-friendly doesn’t mean you don’t have to take some care in how you swing
them.Tour players like Ricky Barnes, who’s demonstrating for us here, know how to make subtle adjustments in ball
position and setup to promote the ball flight they want.They also know how to use the whole body to generate speed.
Ricky can carry the ball 210 metres with his hybrid and flight it like a middle iron, which is useful on long par 3s and
approach shots to firm, fast greens.That’s a great weapon to have. – WITH Matthew rudy
HYBRIDS ARE MIRACLE CLUBS
1 0 / M A R C H 2 0 1 6 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O . Z A
P H OTOS B Y N A M E