Golf Digest June 2016

2.2 MILLION People who tried golf for the first time in 2015 (the most since 2002). SOURCE: NATIONAL GOLF FOUNDATION A member at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth knows Jordan Spieth’s father, Shawn. At one point in Jordan’s rocketship ride last year, she wrote Shawn an email expressing concern about Jordan’s ability to handle the pressure of success. “You don’t have to worry about Jordan,” the father replied. “His faith and his character will see him through.” So when the pressure of failure came knocking at the 12th hole on Sunday at the Masters, my mind flashed back to that email. There are certain rules of Augusta National, even for people who have never been to the course. Don’t miss it left off the second tee; it’s known as the Delta check-out counter…

LIKE MANY OF YOU, the thought of hitting shots 20 or 30 yards farther led me to make changes to my swing that turned out to be more trouble than they were worth. I gained some distance, yes, but I lost a lot of accuracy, and my scoring suffered. I’ve since gone back to the way I swung the club in 2011, when I was No. 1 in the World Ranking. Now I feel like my ball-striking is pretty close to the way it used to be. The things I’m working on now with my coach, Pat Goss, are fundamentals I’m sure can help you, too. It starts at address. Feel like you’re bending forward from your hip joints but staying tall with your chest (above). Resist the urge to…

3 MILLION Golfers under age 18. Up 20% from 2010. SOURCE: NATIONAL GOLF FOUNDATION Parking your tee shot in the sand on a par 4 or par 5 doesn’t have to sentence you to a bogey or worse. You can execute fairway-bunker shots with consistency if you focus on stability at address and control during the swing. There’s one overriding swing thought you should use: Hit the ball solidly. Follow these four steps to set up success in the sand. David Leadbetter operates 25 golf academies worldwide. 1. STABILIZE Twisting your feet a little into the sand will give you a good, solid foundation over the ball. Also, roll your ankles inward slightly. This will prevent you from swaying during the swing. These adjustments help facilitate solid contact. 2. GRIP DOWN Holding the club about an inch…

“Don’t stare at the green or your putter. Everybody knows you stubbed it.” We’ve all done it. You try to put a little extra pop on that long putt, and the putterhead scuffs the ground behind the ball, sending it halfway to the hole. You look down at the green, you examine the putter, you shake your head. But everyone knows . . . you stubbed it. Usually the stub comes from making a backstroke that’s too short, which forces you to really accelerate the putterhead coming through. This changes your rhythm and grip pressure. Look at Jason Day or Jordan Spieth: They take the putter back with consistent rhythm and sufficient length for the distance of the putt. Post-impact the stroke is firm, not loose. The left wrist is in line…

What do you do when you really need to bomb a drive? ▶ Hit up on the ball ▶ Swing harder ▶ Make a bigger turn ▶ Give it the Happy Gilmore SOURCE: GOLF DIGEST READERS When guys in particular want some extra yards, they usually stand farther from the ball and really stretch out their arms. They feel more powerful in this extended position. But the reality is, they end up producing less swing speed and hitting a weak drive to the right. Let me explain. The problem with extending your arms is, you get more bent over, and your weight moves out to your toes (above, left). When you swing from there, gravity pulls you out even farther, so you react by pulling up to save your balance. That causes the clubhead to swing across…

‘Favor your lead foot to hit a good pitch shot.’ Putting the time in to improve your full swing is important, but for pure return on practice investment, the short game is where you’ll get the quickest deduction from your scores. You hit more of these kinds of shots than any other, and the fixes and adjustments required are things any player can handle physically. Make these changes to your pitching and chipping and spend an hour at the shortgame practice area at your course, and you’ll be hitting it closer to the hole more consistently by this weekend. Best of all, you can do it with the clubs you already have in your bag. —WITH MATTHEW RUDY Alex Fisher, one of Golf Digest’s Best Young Teachers, is the director of instruction…