Golf Digest August 2016

In a year when brash talk is getting so much coverage in the media, it’s ironic that the brashest talker of them all slipped away without a word. Muhammad Ali died at 74 from the ravaging effects of Parkinson’s disease, and even golf paused for a moment of silence. The heavyweight champion was never known to be a golfer except for one afternoon in March 1973. He was training for a fight against Ken Norton in San Diego. One day Ali showed up at the Stardust Country Club (now the Riverwalk Golf Club) near his training camp. The associate pro, Brad Wilson, would later write an article for Golf Digest on his encounter. Wilson was watching San Diego Chargers defensive end Deacon Jones hit balls on the range when Ali’s trainer, Angelo…

My technique in greenside bunkers comes courtesy of Butch Harmon. With his advice over the years, I’ve boiled this shot down to a few easy steps that make getting out of the sand routine for me. I’ll share them with you here—and show you my favorite bunker drill. I posed for these photos at Corona del Mar State Beach in Southern California because I wanted to emphasize that bunker play shouldn’t be scary. OK, maybe it’s no day at the beach, but you shouldn’t feel like getting in the sand sentences you to a double or triple. Here’s how I get out. STARTING LINES First, let’s look at my favorite drill because it helps to understand the geometry of bunker play. The line between my feet represents ball position: just ahead of…

“If you miss a shot here, you can’t make it up.” Baltusrol Golf Club, which this summer hosts the PGA Championship for the second time, has a bunch of great holes. But I’d say the par-5 17th on the Lower Course (illustrated) is the most strategically interesting. Right away, the yardage lets you know this is a true three-shotter. It’s 647 yards from the championship tees with an uphill finish to the green, so only gorillas have any chance of knocking it on in two. (John Daly was the first to do it, during the 1993 U.S. Open.) Most par 5s allow you to make up for a weak shot with a strong one, but that luxury doesn’t exist here. Miss the tee shot, and the hole effectively becomes a par 6.…

Whether it’s first-tee jitters, the deciding shot on 18 or a round with the new boss, you might be destined for failure before you even take the club back. Anxiety can prevent you from making a full and fluid swing and can corrupt good mechanics. The key is to recognize when it’s happening so you can deal with it. Here are four steps you should try. David Leadbetter is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional. 1. HOVER IT When you sole the club on the ground, you’ll tend to push down on it. That increases the tension in your hand and arm muscles. Instead, hover the clubhead an inch or so above the turf. 2. SOFTEN UP Stop worrying about your grip pressure. Focus on how relaxed your arms feel at address. The arms are the…

Zach Johnson was a successful tour player long before he won the Open Championship at St. Andrews last July at age 39, surviving a playoff with Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen. Johnson already had won 11 PGA Tour events, including the 2007 Masters. But on the Old Course, his great driving, solid approach play and sheer determination lifted him to a new level. When Johnson holed a sliding 30-footer for birdie in front of the R&A clubhouse to get into the four-hole playoff, it showed his grit. It wasn’t always that good. Johnson was not the best player on his high school team in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And he didn’t play No. 1 at Drake. After college, he bounced around the mini-tours with his super-strong grip and short swing. When he…

Falling in love with the line is a dangerous thing. Facing a long putt with a lot of break, you know that getting down in two is usually just fine. But you’re really seeing the line on this one, so you step in thinking you could make it. As soon as you hit the putt, you realize it’s way short. There’s a term for what you just did: “falling in love with the line.” You concentrated so hard on the break, you neglected the speed. When I was a kid, my brother and I would practice putting for hours while we waited to get on a packed golf course. We learned by trial and error that distance control is more important than direction on long putts. Even the ones with a lot…