Golf Digest

she always got it right

Editor-in-Chief “Gently nudging us toward our better selves.” A frenchman once observed that a happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short. It applies to so many cherished things in life, including a round of golf. But the heart of Golf Digest is especially heavy this month because it applies to our long/short friendship with Kathy Kelly Stachura, the magazine’s chief fact-checker and the person most responsible for the trust you put in practically everything you’ve read in Golf Digest. She walked out of Fairfield University and into our lives almost 35 years ago as my first executive assistant and turned in her last assignment—vetting the honorees for The Arnie Awards in this issue—a day before a heart attack at age 56 took her from us and her adoring husband,…

golf digest

“I’m a golfer, I’ll try anything to get better. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, get rid of it. The trick is deciding fast.”—Butch Harmon GOLF DIGEST EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jerry Tarde GENERAL MANAGER Chris Reynolds CREATIVE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Max Adler EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, DIGITAL Sam Weinman EXECUTIVE EDITORS Peter Morrice, Michael O’Malley DESIGN DIRECTOR Ken DeLago EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Christian Iooss MANAGING EDITORS Alan P. Pittman, Ryan Herrington (News) SENIOR EDITORS Ron Kaspriske (Instruction), Mike Stachura (Equipment), Ron Whitten (Architecture) EQUIPMENT EDITOR E. Michael Johnson SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER/VIDEOGRAPHER Dom Furore SENIOR WRITERS Alex Myers, Matthew Rudy, Guy Yocom STAFF WRITER Joel Beall ART DIRECTOR Chloe Galkin VISUALS EDITOR Ben Walton SUPERVISING PRODUCER Michael Sneeden PRODUCERS Gregory Gottfried (Web), Mason Leverington, Greg Snedeker ASSOCIATE EDITORS Stephen Hennessey, Keely Levins, Coleman Bentley (The Loop) CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR-AT-LARGE Nick Seitz PHOTOGRAPHER-AT-LARGE Walter Iooss Jr. COLUMNIST Jim Nantz CHIEF DIGITAL INSTRUCTOR Michael Breed CONTRIBUTING EDITORS John Barton, Tom Callahan, Bob Carney, David Fay, Peter…

it’s happening in asia

Why the region needs a strong local leader. The busiest domestic flight path in the world is over South Korea, between mainland Seoul and the volcanic island of Jeju. Sort of like Hawaii, what you imagine as remote and exotic on a map is more familiar when you land. The tarmac is abuzz with 20 commercial jets. Hotels, gas stations and construction projects lead seemingly everywhere. And judging by the number of popped collars and flat brims waiting on clubs in baggage claim, this is a golf destination on the rise. While my colleagues were in Japan, where Jason Day would take the skins and Tiger Woods made history, I was in Jeju for the CJ Cup won by Justin Thomas. With Korean golfers winning Rookie of the Year honors on the…

fairway living

I’LL BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT that on the PGA Tour, I’m pretty average, distance-wise. That said, driving still is a strength of my game. I rarely leave my tee ball in a position where my next shot has to be a recovery shot. I’ve played in enough pro-ams to see that the chance of my amateur partners making net par or better doubles when they drive it in the fairway, even if they don’t hit it very far down the fairway. The ability to routinely put the tee ball in play starts by setting up in a way that allows you to make a healthy swing while remaining in balance. Flaring your feet at address helps. If you can’t control your body, you’re going to struggle to find the…

cameron smith

IT’S ONE THING to be representing your country in a Presidents Cup, says Australian tour player Cameron Smith, but it’s far more special when that competition is in your home country. When the matches between the United States and a roster of international players begin, Dec. 12-15 at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Smith knows he’ll be feeling extra pressure to perform well for the home crowd. “But I love pressure,” he says. One thing that will aid in his goal to function under duress is the simplicity of his swing, says coach Grant Field. The two began working together when Smith was 10. “He’s very much an on-plane swinger,” Field says. “There’s not much that can go wrong. It’s a simple, connected, repeatable golf swing.” That word connected is a key…

hardpan and a lot of sand

CAMERON SMITH says he has played at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, site of the 2019 Presidents Cup (Dec. 12-15), at least 10 times. But when he’s asked to describe how its two courses play (they’ll be using 12 holes from the West Course and six from the East for the Cup), he goes silent for a bit. “That’s hard to say. Every time I’ve been down there, it wants something different from your game,” he says. “One thing is for sure about Royal Melbourne: You have to make adjustments to how you play.” Smith, a rookie on the international team and native of Brisbane about 1,000 miles to the north, says most of the courses in the Melbourne area have similar features including fairways that are firm and fast, which…