Golf Digest

our new team

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief “Bigger and better than ever.” AS I SAT DOWN to write your letter this morning, my phone pinged with an email from Nick Cutler, the managing director of Australian Golf Digest. “I have fielded calls from all the governing bodies down here. All very positive,” he wrote. Ten o’clock last night, our international editor, Ju Kuang Tan, texted from Singapore: “The synergies are mind-boggling!” At 4:59 a.m. ET, Golf Digest Ireland editor Linton Walsh sent: “Outstanding partnership!” Back home in New York yesterday, Graydon Carter emailed: “You lucked out in a big way, Jerry.” Our columnist Jim Nantz said it best in an email: “Thrilled to see the future of GD in the hands of some folks with the financial wherewithal and distribution to make it bigger and better…

golf digest

JERRY TARDE CHAIRMAN & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Max Adler EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mike O’Malley EXECUTIVE EDITOR Peter Morrice EXECUTIVE EDITOR Chris Reynolds GENERAL MANAGER Alan P. Pittman MANAGING EDITOR Ken DeLago DESIGN DIRECTOR CONTENT EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, VIDEO Christian Iooss DIGITAL EDITOR Sam Weinman DEPUTY DIGITAL EDITOR Ryan Herrington SENIOR EDITORS Ron Kaspriske (Instruction), Mike Stachura (Equipment), Ron Whitten (Architecture) SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER / VIDEOGRAPHER Dom Furore SENIOR WRITERS Alex Myers, Matthew Rudy, Guy Yocom PRODUCTION MANAGER Byrute Johnson EQUIPMENT EDITOR E. Michael Johnson DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Jennifer Aborn ART DIRECTOR Chloe Galkin ASSOCIATE EDITORS Stephen Hennessey, Keely Levins, Brittany Romano STAFF WRITER Joel Beall ASSISTANT EDITOR Christopher Powers SUPERVISING PRODUCER Michael Sneeden VIDEO PRODUCERS Mason Leverington, Greg Snedeker SENIOR MANAGER, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Meredith Bausback ASSOCIATE BRAND EDITOR Hally Leadbetter SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Nicole Rae EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Jeanmarie Ferullo CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR-AT-LARGE Nick Seitz PHOTOGRAPHER-AT-LARGE Walter Iooss Jr. COLUMNIST Jim Nantz CHIEF DIGITAL INSTRUCTOR Michael Breed CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Peter Andrews, John Barton, Craig Bestrom, Tom Callahan, Bob Carney,…

vice golf hungry for success

WHAT IS THE VICE WAY? NO MIDDLE MAN SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGY UNIQUE DESIGN HALF THE PRICE Vice Golf stands for a young, modern lifestyle on the golf course that is paving the way of the future for the whole industry. With the highest ratings in performance and innovation, the German team is bursting with confidence. In an interview, the founders of the company, Ingo Duellmann and Rainer Stoeckl, appear more enthusiastic and determined than ever before. Rainer, Ingo, you´ve kicked off the season with three gold badges in the Hotlist, how does that make you feel? Ingo: I could not be happier. With several iterations of testing prototypes, adjustments, readjustments and on-course testing last year, the hard work of the whole team has paid off. Rainer: We´ve improved the cover durability of all models, increased the Vice PRO PLUS´s…

undercover tour pro

At about $3,000 per week, I’m walking onto the range feeling like Superman. MOST OF THE PHYSICAL TRAINERS out here are easy to spot: jacked dudes with no necks walking the range in shorts with calves like cantaloupes. You take one look and think, What could this guy possibly know about golf? But those guys can make a big difference. The most successful season I ever had on the PGA Tour, I paid a physio $60,000 to work with me at every event. At just about $3,000 per week, what sort of service did I get? This guy worked on me twice a day, so with a couple of practice rounds, that could total 10 to 12 massages at one tournament. It’s almost too much, as these sessions are not exactly…

solid through the bag

I’M GOING TO ASSUME you don’t need my advice to hit a putt solidly. That’s pretty easy to do. But what about the rest of your game? If you’re honestly assessing it, are you making great contact most of the time on your drives, irons, pitches, chips and bunker shots? Yep, you can hit bunker shots solidly—you’re just hitting the sand, not the ball. And the same logic applies: Better contact means better results. So instead of worrying about whether your left arm is straight during the backswing or some other swing thought, let’s get your focus back to where it should be during a swing—hitting the ball with the center of the clubface. Here I’ll give you advice on how to do that, and how to play better from…

what pure feels like

“Stop scooping! Extend your right arm.” THERE’S so much talk about impact and the positions of your body and the club. But with the club-head moving 90 miles an hour, it’s impossible to control exact positions. Instead, think bigger: Think motions. You’ll improve your impact without getting fixated on the actual strike. Let’s start with lower-body action. You can see in the photo above how my right knee is kicking in—that’s a big one. It proves my weight is moving to my front side, which should happen throughout the forward swing. Weight shift is critical because when you’re moving forward, you have a good chance to hit the ball first, then the ground. If your weight is stuck on your back foot or, even worse, moving away from the target, you’ll bottom…