Golf Digest June 2015

“I can’t possibly be this awful! I’ve got to see if I can do better.” You’ll find Tim Boyle’s name on the membership rolls at some of the country’s top golf clubs. Among them: Nanea in Hawaii, Sand Hills in Nebraska and Waverley Country Club in his hometown of Portland, Ore. Yet Boyle, the CEO of Columbia Sportswear, plays much of his golf at Gearhart Golf Links, a little public course on the coast about 90 minutes outside of Portland. Boyle is the course’s owner. It happened sort of accidentally. He joined a group of other wealthy Oregonians to take control of the financially struggling course in 2000—and then, as he recalls, “Everybody decided, ‘This is horrible,’ ” so he bought them all out in 2010. He has been working to turn it…

USOP EN15 Chambers Bay has never been the host of a tour-level event, but it won’t be a mystery to everyone in the field at this year’s U.S. Open. A group of young players got to experience the course under tournament conditions at the 2010 U.S. Amateur. What do those guys know that the rest of the field will have to figure out? “The best thing about Chambers Bay was the amount of creativity that we had to use,” says Peter Uihlein, the 2010 champion. “The concept of aiming away from the pins and using slopes to get the ball close to the hole was awesome.” Sure, the guy who wins the tournament usually loves the course. But apart from a general feeling that Chambers Bay played too firm during those two days…

I don’t think I’ve ever played the same iron shot twice, even on the range. Every shot has something new—a slight change in the lie, wind direction or how you feel over the ball. I’m German, but I’m not as technical as you might think. I’m a feel player. I’ll hit a draw or fade, vary the spin, go high or low. I play the shot that “speaks to me” at the time. A good example came during the third round of the U.S. Open last year. On the par-5 fifth hole, I drove it into one of Pinehurst’s sandy areas. I had a downhill lie, 205 yards, with an opening to the green. I could have played the shot any number of ways but chose to hit it low and…

Eras can be defined by the drug. Alcohol in the ’20s, acid in the ’60s, cocaine in the ’80s. Though a legal prescription, Adderall is making its claim as the substance of our time. Adults all the way down to elementary-school kids are given the stimulant to treat the impulsivity and inattentiveness of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Hordes more without prescriptions abuse the pills for partying, or secretively self-medicate to give themselves the edge they feel they need—but often with scary side effects. ▶ If Adderall can help college students cram for final exams, it follows that golfers might seek its benefits. Focus, after all, is the name of our game. To find out if it’s pervasive, I posted the following on Reddit: “Has anyone ever taken Adderall before they’ve played…

An easy way to control the trajectory of a chip shot is to adjust your left hand at address. To play a high shot, I weaken my left-hand position by setting my thumb straight down the handle at address (top left). I also play the ball a little forward of center in my stance, which helps add loft to the shot. To hit a low, running chip, I strengthen my left-hand position by moving my thumb to the right side of the handle so I can see almost three knuckles on that hand when I look down at address (bottom left). I play the ball about center. These changes work to deloft the shot. The best part is that you don’t have to change your swing to get the desired shot. Put in…

One of my roles at Golf Digest is testing new ideas to find out whether adopting them will ruin your life. I’ve gone to golf school, changed equipment, taken putting lessons and tried to learn to swing like Moe Norman, among other things. My most successful project was my “midlife makeover,” a decade ago, because in exchange for a few days of instruction, from Shelby Futch, I received 10 years (and counting!) of dramatically improved golf. Recently, the editors decided that I should put all that at risk by allowing David Leadbetter to help me learn his new A Swing— which you can read about in detail beginning on page 86 and in his book of the same name. Submitting to Leadbetter isn’t actually very risky. I watched him work with…