Golf Australia

“i really missed the open last year … more than i could have imagined.”

I love this time of year. When the couch fairways start losing their colour and any tee time before 10am ensures you will have a dewy oncourse experience, you just know The Open Championship is just around the corner. The Open is my favourite sporting event … forget favourite major … but favourite sporting event of all and has been since I was a teen. This is one thing I share in common with columnist-at-large, John Huggan, who has been watching The Open – from inside the ropes and from afar – for 50 years. He even tried qualifying for the oldest of majors a few times, the result of which you can read in his feature (starting on page 42) as he shares his fondest memories of the championship. My love affair doesn’t…

mt compass golf course

FLEURIEU PENINSULA • SOUTH AUSTRALIA Dr Alister MacKenzie is arguably the most revered golf course architect in the history of the game, with his finest creations regarded amongst the best in the world nearly 90 years after his passing. Legendary layouts like Royal Melbourne West, Augusta National, Crystal Downs, Pasatiempo and, of course, Cypress Point are the greatest examples of his determination to create strategic and fun designs no matter what the land offered him. While his brilliant courses remain a living legacy for all golfers to enjoy, it could be argued that his greatest legacy to the game has been inspiring generations of devotee course architects. Architects like Neil Crafter. Crafter is not only a course designer but a renowned course architecture historian, specialising in the lives and works of MacKenzie and…

“like arnold palmer and seve ballesteros before him, he has never been afraid to ‘go for it’.”

For better or worse, Phil Mickelson has always been true to himself. Through the inevitable ups and downs, good bits and the bad that are parts of a career in a game so inherently random, the man who is simultaneously the last amateur to win a PGA Tour event and, now, the oldest-ever to win a major championship, has never changed. He’s not to everyone’s taste, of course. For many, Mickelson’s self-styled brand of “golly gee, mom” patriotism, all cheesy grins and copious thumbs-up, screams phoniness. As does his long-held post-round propensity for signing autographs – every autograph. “All image, no substance,” is the oft-held verdict of others when golf’s greatest-ever left-hander expounds on his love of family, apple pie and everything else on which the American way of life is supposedly…

how spieth got his groove back

Tall poppy syndrome is an interesting phenomenon in the sporting world. Very few athletes reach the peak of their powers and continue to receive the unwavering support of the general public. Perhaps that’s because we’ve become accustomed to sporting narratives that are filled with obstacles and hurdles. We’re more inclined to support athletes during their climb to the top or through their falls from grace, rather than their reign at the top. To put it simply, we seem to prefer watching sports stars overcome adversity than seeing them cruise effortlessly from victory to victory. It’s also why just about everyone is a sucker for a comeback story. We tend to enjoy watching an elite athlete stumble, fall and then pick themselves up again. It’s more romantic that way. Watching Roger Federer win…

should pros be allowed to wear shorts in tournamments?

yes JIMMY EMANUEL Golf Australia Deputy Editor That this topic even remains an issue is somewhat bizarre to me and one of the simplest things golf could do to show it isn’t the stuffy sport your grandfather played. And importantly this change would highlight one key word in my previous sentence, that golf is a SPORT. Tradition is an important part of the game no question, but somethings are best left in the past. And clothing – not to mention dress codes – is one area where what has come before need not be what remains. Personally, I have no desire to wear a shirt, tie and waistcoat when playing golf, we have moved on from that. If others wish to, be my guest. And shorts seem like the next frontier of advancing what could loosely…

inclusivity driving pga membership changes

The PGA of Australia’s membership structure has undergone significant changes to welcome more professionals into the mix and expand the skill set of its members. The Membership Pathway Program for new members came into effect January 1 this year. No longer are those undergoing the three-year program to become a qualified professional referred to as Trainees, with the qualified members also emerging with more specialised skill sets. And a distinct focus on inclusivity aimed at driving up the number of members. Now referred to as PGA Associates within the organisation, the aim is that each individual will be given a title by their employing golf facility. “We are encouraging them to be referred to as their title in each individual job, be that retail assistant, golf operations assistant, whatever their role is at…