Golf Digest May 2017

Waves of populism and disruptive change are flowing through our world today, and there’s no better evidence than the radical simplification of The Rules of Golf being proposed by the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (see page 94). The PGA of America will allow pros to wear shorts during practice rounds of the PGA Championship this year, and it sounds like the tour schedule might flip, with the PGA moving from August to May and the Players Championship from May to March (page 62). The Ladies’ Golf Union merged with the R&A in January, and maybe even crusty old Muirfield will take in women members now. The European Tour is experimenting with varied tournament formats, and the PGA Tour is rattling the Golf Channel with…

This is my third year on the LPGA Tour, and I had five top-10 finishes in 2016. There are several parts of my game I can credit for that, but my driving is something I’m really working on. My average distance off the tee is about 260 yards, and I hit the fairway eight out of every 10 drives. If that sounds like a good combination of distance and accuracy, then take my advice and work on your timing like I do. To be in sync, my swing can’t be too long or too fast, or I’ll struggle to square the face at impact. In fact, swing speed is the furthest thing from my mind. I’m thinking about staying smooth. Next time you practice, swing as fast as you can…

better than a double The average score for average golfers (14.5 handicap) at TPC Sawgrass’ island 17th is 4.4 strokes. SOURCE : ARCCOS GOLF In an era in which pros such as Phil Mickelson are using 64-degree wedges to loft the ball around the greens, I’m advocating a lower-trajectory shot for most golfers: the pitch-and-run. Assuming you’ve got a fair amount of green to work with, it’s a lot easier to judge distance when you can get the ball to release and roll toward the hole instead of trying to fly it most of the way there. This is a must-have shot for your game, and here are the steps to execute it. David Leadbetter operates 34 golf academies worldwide. 1.MIND THE GAP A lob wedge like Phil’s, or even a standard 56-degree sand wedge,…

“Sometimes the middle of the green is no good.” TAKE DEAD AIM If the cup is here, thank the superintendent. Here’s a rare opportunity when the play is directly at the flag. But be careful of what’s probably your well-conditioned instinct to cheat your aim a little left of this pin position. A shot that pitches close to the middle of this green is dangerous. If the ball runs or has any draw spin, it’s going to feed over the ridge to the back-left portion of the green. Now you’ve got the toughest two-putt on the hole. In this situation, the best miss is short in the neck of the fairway, where you can still make par with a good chip. FIRM IT IN THE BACK OF THE CUP As a designer, when I…

Rickie Fowler is honing in on greatness. When he linked up with coach Butch Harmon, part of their project was to make his swing less flat for consistency. “Now I’ll sometimes get too steep, and I have to go back to feeling a laid-off position,” Fowler says. “Not that I want to be there, but that’s what I have to feel to get on plane.” Be it style, social media or swing changes, the four-time PGA Tour winner isn’t afraid to try new things. A drawer of the golf ball since childhood, he recently started playing a fade off the tee to find more fairways. To set up his win at the Honda Classic in February, he lopped an inch off his driver shaft and used the 43.5-inch model to finish…

When you hit an iron shot off the turf, you leave clues that indicate a lot about the quality of the shot. Grab your magnifying glass and have a look, inspector. First, before you move, notice the location of where you took a divot. It should be in front of the spot where you made contact with the ball. If it’s behind that point, your swing was slowing down through impact. Next time keep your hands moving. Now check the width. It should be uniform and the same as your clubface. If it’s narrow or inconsistent in width, the face wasn’t square at impact. You have to keep your body rotating. A deep, leftward crater indicates a pulled shot straight left or a slice to the right. Let your legs start the downswing…