Written by Rob McGarr on Wednesday 2 March 2016
That might seem like a silly question, but it’s exactly the question being asked by the Laureus World Sports Awards, for which the nominations have just been announced. The annual awards ceremony honours remarkable individuals and teams from the world of sport, along with celebrating the greatest sporting achievements of the last year. This year’s shortlist for the Laureus World Sportsman of...
Written by Denis Pugh, PGA Master professional and coach to Francesco Molinari and Ross Fisher on Wednesday 2 March 2016
Views on how the golf swing works are like stories about near holes-in-one – everyone has one, and no-one really wants to listen to anyone else’s. When the PGA manual was being reviewed in 2001, I was invited to sit on the coaching committee. We all did our best to come up with a ‘common acceptance’, but the differing personal beliefs...
Written by Today's Golfer on Wednesday 2 March 2016
They entertain millions on the TV and radio. They have won Champions League and Premier League titles. They have sold out worldwide tours. They have millions of followers on Twitter. But when they get on the golf course, some of Britain’s most famous celebrities still have a lot to learn. We asked TG Top 50 coach Adrian Bishop to cast his...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 1 March 2016
If there’s one thing we’d all like to do, it’s improve our handicap. Golf is the only sport where a single number tells the world how good – or bad – you are. It’s a question of pride. It doesn’t matter what car you’ve got waiting in the club car park, how expensive your clothes are, or how new your...
Written by James Henderson on Tuesday 1 March 2016
Leading England to victory in the 2005 Ashes, their first victory for 18 years, earned Michael Vaughan not only an OBE, but a place in the heart of every English cricket fan. It was the highlight of a decade-long international career that saw Vaughan notch 7,701 runs, including 18 Test centuries. Injuries and a drop in form forced Vaughan to hang...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 1 March 2016
Ever found yourself praying that the halfway hut is open, despite only being on the third hole? How many times have you struggled up the 18th with legs that feel like you’ve run a marathon? The reason is simple: a round of golf can burn as many as 2,000 calories. If you’re not eating the right things, at the right...
Written by Joe Downes on Monday 29 February 2016
“Every year I’m determined this is going to be the year when I get much better,” says actor James Nesbitt. The 51-year-old actor from County Antrim is golf-mad, but his busy working schedule doesn’t allow him as much chance as he’d like to hit the links. Do you play golf with many other actors? There weren’t that many keen golfers on the...
Written by Stuart Hood on Monday 29 February 2016
Darren Clarke was horrified when he saw a picture of himself playing in the 2013 Dunhill Links Championship. “I thought, ‘Christ, I’m fat,’” he recalls. The following week, he started working with Dublin-based fitness guru Jamie Myerscough. Within a couple of months, Clarke had lost two stone and within nine months he declared himself “four stone lighter, twice as strong and mentally...
Written by Hans Seeberg & Joe Downes on Friday 26 February 2016
Earlier this week, we brought you an interview with Ian Poulter’s caddie, Terry Mundy, lifting the lid on exactly what life is like as a caddie on tour. During that interview, Mundy also offered some tips that he insisted would help amateurs save several shots per round. Now, we’ve decided to take things one step further and put him to...
Written by Joe Downes on Friday 26 February 2016
Former Formula One world champion Damon Hill talks about playing golf with Seve Ballesteros, managing his overswing, and how golf, like racing, runs in the family… When did you take up golf? I started playing golf when I was about 10 or 11. It runs in the family. I’ve got a photograph of my granddad playing golf in the 1920s when he...
Written by Rob McGarr on Thursday 25 February 2016
You probably know that Rory McIlroy hits it further than you, but do you know how many fairways the average PGA Tour pro hits – and how that compares to golfers of your standard? Stat-tracking device GameGolf analysed 170,000 rounds from golfers of all abilities, so now you can see how your scores and stats compare to the pros, and to...
Written by Rob McGarr on Wednesday 24 February 2016
Should golfers lift weights? It’s a debate that’s been around for years, brought back into the spotlight recently when Brandel Chamblee voiced concerns about the type of physical training Rory McIlroy has been doing. “I think more than anything of what Tiger Woods did early in his career with his game was just an example of how good a human being can...
Written by Denis Pugh, PGA Master professional and coach to Francesco Molinari and Ross Fisher on Friday 19 February 2016
Golf stats have evolved from the early days of fairways hit, greens in regulation and number of putts. The sophisticated and comprehensive stats on offer these days play a huge role in influencing the way Tour pros practise, strategise, and play. The PGA Tour uses ShotLink to track every shot hit during their events. Players use this data to analyse how...
Written by Chris Jones on Thursday 18 February 2016
Has there ever been a better time to be a golfer? The game is buzzing right now. With the new ‘Big Four’ doing battle on tour, golf’s imminent return to the Olympics and a Ryder Cup on the horizon, there’s lots to get excited about. Whether you’re a golfer like me who’s constantly battling to improve his (now 11) handicap,...
Written by Rob McGarr on Thursday 18 February 2016
According to the AimPoint website, 45,000 amateur golfers, 5,000 juniors, 200 tour pros and 250 instructors are using the unique green-reading system to, as AimPoint put it, “make everything!” Some – including some of the world’s best golfers – swear by it. Others dismiss it as a gimmick. Zimbabwean pro Tony Johnstone, who won six times on the European Tour,...
Written by Denis Pugh, PGA Master professional and coach to Francesco Molinari and Ross Fisher on Wednesday 27 January 2016
The PGA Tour trailers on TV often finish with the slogan “these guys are good”. Actually, these guys aren’t just good – they are far, far better than you think. Every amateur golfer has dreamed of what it would be like to be a tour professional. Some of you may be scratch golfers, or play with scratch golfers, and wonder if...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 26 January 2016
Golfers spend £214 a month on the game One in ten hide their expenditure from their partner Biggest expense is golf club membership Golf is as expensive as you choose to make it. Decide to splash £100,000 or however much they’re charging these days for a membership at Wentworth, get diamond-encrusted balls and clubs forged from gold, and the bill will quickly add...
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 25 January 2016
Being in the Guinness Book of World Records used to be something to be really proud of, before entries like ‘most pieces of sweetcorn eaten using only your toes in 60 seconds’ and ‘most T-shirts worn at once’* detracted from the prestige somewhat. (*The record is 270, which, to be fair, is actually quite impressive.) Holding a golf world record would still...
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 25 January 2016
Golf’s participation statistics are a real cause for concern. Golf has lost 13% of its regular players in the last four years. That’s worrying enough, but another stat troubles us even more: participation amongst 16 to 25-year-olds has dropped 45% in the same period. There are currently only around 50,000 regular golfers in that age range. That means, as older...
Written by Stuart Hood on Monday 25 January 2016
90% of amateur golfers hit the ball with a left-to-right shot shape. And almost 100% of them would swap it for a crowd-pleasing draw, given half the chance. But is a draw all it’s cracked up to be? Plenty of the world’s best golfers favour a fade, and Martin Kaymer’s game fell apart when he tried to swap his for...