Tabla de contenidos para March/April 2025 en Golf Digest

Editor’s notE: In celebration of Golf Digest’s 75th Anniversary, each month Writer-At-Large Jaime Diaz will interview key figures in the game to explore what happened when they were at the height of their powers. In June of 1985, instructor David Leadbetter teamed with Nick Faldo. Faldo willingly suffered through a difficult transition period that threatened to derail his career. But under Leadbetter’s steady guidance, the fiercely determined Faldo won the 1987 Open Championship and then five more majors. The success of the pair’s intensive synergy and willingness to risk dramatic changes revolutionized the player/coach relationship. To date, Leadbetter students have won 25 majors in the men’s and women’s game. The master instructor considers his contribution to the first as the most siginificant moment of his career. AS A YOUNG MAN,…

IF YOU’RE A GOLFER, HE NEEDS no introduction. Butch Harmon is the greatest golf teacher of all time, the most outrageously under-appreciated figure yet to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and Tiger Woods’ coach in his formative and peak years from 1993 to 2004–ages 17 to 28. “The way I put it,” Butch was telling me the other day in his office outside of Las Vegas, “is Jack Nicklaus was the greatest champion of all time, but Tiger was the greatest player.” If Tiger didn’t fire Butch, and Butch had been his lifelong coach, like Jack Grout was to Nicklaus, Tiger may very well have held both titles. That’s not a knock on Hank Haney or Sean Foley or any of the coaches that came after…

APGA TOUR COURSE IS like a riddle: It has an optimal way for a given player to make his way around—and it ends with diagnosing the challenges of each green complex. Meticulous tour caddies will keep a record of where pins have been during previous events, which gives practice rounds a more focused approach. Given the hole location, where is the easiest place to get up and down? Pros look at everything from the amount of landing area and available run-out to grass thickness and green contours. At Augusta National, there are banks and bowls that can send a shot toward the pin or reject it. Understanding the topography can give a player a much smarter target. When a course has tight run-off areas and short rough, the ball will…

IF YOU PARK YOUR DRIVE in a fairway bunker, what’s your mind-set for the next shot? Just advance it up the fairway? Just get it out? Hello, double bogey? I get it. Fairway-bunker shots are among the least practiced, mostly because it’s hard to find a spot to work on them. I’m also guessing your expectation of getting on the green is fairly low (the PGA Tour average was just over 50 percent last year). Let’s see if you can help yourself boost your confidence—and odds—of success. Start by getting in a more stable stance. Widen your feet and lean your ankles inward. You can even dig in if the sand is soft—all of this helps keep you from swaying or slipping as you swing. Also helping you make better…

OF ALL THE GOLF COURSES most known for their beauty, Augusta National is the most ephemeral. Merely to evoke the name is to conjure images of flawless green bursting through hues of bright pinks, reds, yellows, greens and whites, each fairway escorted by courtly arrangements of towering southern bloom. It’s tempting to think this is the natural state of Augusta National, but the playing of the Masters—the only time 99.9 percent of us see the course—is timed to coincide with the seasonal outburst of its immense flora. The orchestration is overwhelming, but it comes and goes quickly, an early April Brigadoon that soon disappears from everything but the mind’s eye. No other great course’s aesthetics are so fleetingly attached to reality as Augusta’s. If you play the course in November…

Considering all the time Tiger Woods and Steve Williams spent together during a dominant dozen years, it’s stunning how little they’ve communicated in the 14 years since their highly publicized breakup. That’s one of the lasting impressions one gets when reading Williams’ new book, Together We Roared, which is written in the third person with coauthor Evin Priest. At long last, Williams opens up about one of the most successful partnerships in sports history. The New Zealander caddied for Woods from 1999 to 2011, playing an important role in 13 of Tiger’s 15 career major championship titles. Williams was Woods’ literal shoulder to cry on at one of those majors, the 2006 Open Championship, when Woods won for the first time since his father, Earl, died. They shared a strong…

International Affair With a field size typically around 90 players, the Masters is the smallest of the four men’s major championships, yet few tournaments promote an international field as thoroughly as the Masters, which awards exemptions to the winners of the Asia-Pacific Amateur and the Latin America Amateur. On the grounds at Augusta National, flags representing each player’s nationality fly above the scoreboard near the main entrance.…

THESE DAYS I’M GLUED TO golf coverage more than ever, and I know a lot of players who would say the same. It’s not because we’re suddenly more interested in watching ourselves on TV. We’re doing it because the media has literally become our best shot at figuring out what’s going on with our own tour. It’s infuriating. Mostly, it’s all this business with the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. When reporters ask us what we know about these ongoing talks and we don’t have any answers, it’s not that we’re not playing dumb—most of us genuinely have no idea. The real conversations are happening among a select few, and they’re keeping everything close to the vest. It makes me laugh when people call us a “player-run…

AS THE STORY GOES, A TEEN age Peter Parker acquires his superpowers after being bitten by a radioactive spider, but the current Spider-Man’s origin tale might be even more unlikely. Tom Holland was 10 when his hip-hop class performed at a dance festival, and he caught the eye of someone connected to the Royal Ballet School. That led to the British-born actor playing the title role in the West End production of “Billy Elliot” and, eventually, movie parts—including the role for which he’s most famous—followed. “It’s so funny; I don’t know who that person is who spotted me that day,” Holland says. “I’ve never met them, and I owe my entire career to them.” Now he’s one of the biggest stars in Hollywood with three Spider-Man movies bringing in a…

NO MOVE ACTIVATES THE multitude of armchair golf instructors on Instagram like Joaquin Niemann’s swing. It’s always the same thing that gets called out: In the milliseconds around impact, the 26-year-old Chilean drops his right shoulder and torso dramatically as he turns through (above, seventh photo). It gives his swing an extraordinary amount of side bend, which many pundits speculate is not a move that will hold up in the long term. “I don’t really care what they say about it, to be honest,” says Niemann, who at 322.5 yards, ranked behind only Bryson DeChambeau in average driving distance on the LIV Golf tour in 2024. “It always has felt natural to me. That’s just how my body works.” You might think that the way Niemann’s spine is torqued in…

TIMING IS EVERYTHING, they say, so credit goes to Golf Digest for having great timing in speaking with Jack Nicklaus on the topic of, well, timing. Shortly before his legendary one-shot victory over Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf in the 1975 Masters, Nicklaus was asked about getting his golf swing tuned-up for spring. Before you read what he had to say in the April 1975 issue of Golf Digest, it’s worth noting that the ’75 tournament is generally regarded as one of the very best in Masters history. At the time, Nicklaus, Miller, Weiskopf and Tom Watson were probably the top four golfers in the world, and they were playing in back-to-back groups on Sunday with Watson and Nicklaus going off before the final pairing of Weiskopf and Miller. While…

BOBBY JONES WAS ONCE credited with saying, “You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank” after he was lauded for calling a penalty on himself. The Masters founder had a point, but with all the cameras focused on Augusta National each April, players in that tournament really don’t have to worry about confessing anymore—the world is seemingly watching their every move. Here are some of the most memorable Masters rules incidents. TIGER WOODS, 15TH HOLE, SECOND ROUND, 2013 Woods hit a near-perfect wedge shot, but the ball struck the flagstick and ricocheted into the pond fronting the green. After taking the stroke penalty, Woods considered his options for dropping and settled on a spot two yards back from where he last hit (to avoid another rebound…

Zero Torque L.A.B. Golf, the fastest-growing putter company, stands at the forefront of “low-torque” or “zero-torque” putters, and many are following its lead, including putter giant Odyssey with its new Square 2 Square models. Even L.A.B. Golf has gone a little mainstream with its new Oz.1i model (above) and its classic clamshell shape. L.A.B.’s low-torque idea, designed to reduce the role of the hands during the stroke, got its start in 2016 when teaching pro Bill Presse produced the Directed Force putter (left), a model that Hot List testers at the time said “almost swings itself.” The branding iron look may not have been an instant hit, but the message behind it has become a force all its own.…

It’s amazing how much the speed of the greens can change a golfer’s perception of a course. Golfers can play a rather boring course architecturally speaking, but if the greens are rolling fast and true, that might be all they talk about. That presents a challenge to our golf course superintendents, as there are factors beyond their control when it comes to the speed of greens. Don’t even get us started on how Augusta-like greens would affect pace of play. To understand why green speeds fluctuate and why superintendents can’t simply mow the greens as short as possible to achieve lightning-fast speeds, like at top-tier clubs like Augusta National, we caught up with Jason Meersman, the Director of Grounds at The Patterson Club in Fairfield, Conn. Golf Digest: Jason, why…

1. Cypress Point C., Nos. 15-17 Pebble Beach, Calif. Some say that the 135-yard 15th, which plays over a rocky cove to a boomerang-shaped green, is the most scenic hole in the world—that is, if the next one didn’t exist. No hole has a better combination of challenge and beauty than the all-carry 233-yard 16th, ranked No. 1 on America’s 100 Greatest Holes. After crossing the Pacific to a small peninsula on the 16th, the par-4 17th hugs the coastline as the approach plays over a grove of cypress trees. Succinctly put by one of our panelists, “It’s the prettiest stretch of holes anyone will ever play.” 2. Augusta (Ga.) National G.C., Nos. 11-13 Quite safely the most famous three-hole stretch, Amen Corner distinguishes between a great shot and merely…

The Club That Almost Never Was Long before the Masters became what it is today, Augusta National overcame serious financial woes The fascinating history of Augusta National Golf Club is also a story of what could have been given the club’s ambitious initial plans. David Owen, a longtime New Yorker and Golf Digest writer, is the preeminent historian on the club and author of “The Making of the Masters.” In a Q&A with Golf Digest+ members, Owen explained how the club’s co-founders Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones created one of golf’s greatest institutions despite tremendous adversity. Roberts and Jones had extensive plans for their new club, many of which never panned out. Why? They started in 1931, which was the worst possible time to start anything, certainly to build a…

WHEN THE PLAYERS I ADvise ask me what’s the key to winning at Augusta National, I always turn to three key statistics: approach play from 150 to 200 yards, chipping from the fairway and midrange putting between 15 and 30 feet. After studying the trends over recent years at the Masters and with the help of Arccos Pro Insights, here’s why these three areas are essential to success. Approach play: At Augusta National, good approach play, especially from 150 to 200 yards, is rewarded the most. Almost 20 percent of shots gained overall by players that finish inside the top 20 are gained in this area, which is much higher than other courses. This is because the result between a good shot and a bad shot at Augusta is more…

JAKE KNAPP MIGHT HAVE the latest wrist set in a back-swing in pro golf, says his coach John Ortega. His wrists don’t fully hinge until the club nears the top—evidence of a wide swing arc that helped Knapp finish top 25 in driving distance (309.5 yards) in his rookie season on the PGA Tour last year. Knapp, 30, who won the Mexico Open at Vidanta in 2024, stretches his arms well away from his body going back. That allows his driver to travel on a longer path, giving it a lot of time to gather momentum back down into the ball. Knapp was top 10 in clubhead speed (123.35 miles per hour) last year. “[My coach] says, ‘Feel like you’re making a long putting stroke at the very beginning,’ ”…

NOT EVERY GAMBLING game has to require a wire transfer from the Caymans to cover losses. Some involve relatively low stakes and yet are still a lot of fun to play. “Rabbit” falls into this category. Here’s what you need to know. NUMBER OF PLAYERS REQUIRED: 2 to 4 BEST FOR: Either the casual or serious gambler. Folks who want to add a fun little side game, though it can also be the main game. HOW TO PLAY: Rabbit gets its name because you have to chase the golfer who is the first to have the lowest score on a hole outright—he or she is the Rabbit. If handicaps are involved, that would be the low net score of the group. After that person wins a hole, if the low score…

Q: IT SEEMS LIKE HYBRID USE ON TOUR IS DOWN. SHOULD I BE RETHINKING THE ONES I HAVE? If you’re inspired to do something because you see it happening on tour, we would highly encourage you to dig a little deeper because what is or isn’t working for the pros is at best a data point, not a call to action. Assuming you are not shooting in the 60s, the best answer for you should have a lot more to do with your game than with what you’re seeing on tour. First things first, let’s get to the start of your question. Yes, hybrid use on the PGA Tour has tailed off from its heady days 15 years ago. When our Hot List started back in 2004, the hybrid was in…

While remodeling the original course at McLemore in northwest Georgia, architects Bill Bergin and Rees Jones located an unused strip of heavily wooded land on the precipice of a cliff that drops several hundred feet. They then crafted it into a new hole that Golf Digest would list as the best 18th hole built in the U.S. since 2000. The revelation of that jaw-dropping exposure encouraged the ownership group to explore the rest of their holdings for more golf, which led to the development of The Keep, a new Bergin-Jones course one-and-a-half miles south. Instead of one hole that walks along the clouds, The Keep has five. The rest play through undisturbed inland sections with 50-mile views into north Georgia. Tee times for The Keep are available to guests of…