Golf World January Preview Issue

JAN

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JUSTIN

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OGILVY: HOW TO MAKE PRO GOLF MORE EXCITING

HOW BELLY PUTTING CAN TURN YOUR 92 INTO AN 85 (OR 85 INTO 79)

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s t a r t e rt h e

What would your supernatural power be?I’d love to see in the future and be able to anticipate what is going to happen in five or 10 years time. Then I would be able to enjoy the deal a bit more, make big decisions, decide where I’m going to live, things like that.

What is the closest you’ve come to death?I think any time you fly and you have a little bit of turbulence and they say that there’s a problem, you always feel like you’re counting your blessings.

Ever said ‘I love you’ and not meant it?No. That’s not fair to the other person.

What is your oldest memory?I used to love to go to the park growing up. I was very high energy as a kid. I remember being two or three years old and begging my dad to take me to the park.

What has been your greatest kiss?I think it’s your first kiss. There is so much anticipation with your first kiss. You’re so nervous. It’s such a disaster. It’s so messy. You hope it’s everything. Actually, I think I just hoped that I wouldn’t screw it up.

What is your worst trait?Probably trying to fit too many things into a day. I maybe don’t get enough down time. I don’t get enough time for my family and friends. I’m too busy.

What trait do you most dislike in others?I can’t do lying. I can take pretty much the truth in almost everything, but lying is inexcusable as far as I’m concerned.

What would you go as to a fancy dress party?I love costume parties. I love to dress up. When I went to a superbowl party my friends and I dressed up as cheerleaders for our favourite players.

Do you have any unappealing habits?I chew too much gum. I don’t blow bubbles, but I chew gum when I play.

Any pet hates?I hate snakes. I’m afraid of them. Actually, I went on a hike with Stacy Lewis at the US Open in Colorado and we saw a snake. I begged her to walk first. If I see one on the golf course I scream and run. I don’t think you guys have snakes. That’s one of the great things about playing in your country.

What’s the worst thing anyone has ever said to you?When I first turned professional I was 18 years old and I got a lot of flak for turning professional and not finishing school. I remember I got a lot of bad publicity. There were articles saying I was making a mistake, that I was chasing money and that my parents were depriving me of my childhood.

Who would you say sorry to and why?I had a friend, my room-mate in college, who tried to commit suicide, and we had a player on tour that died. You just always want to say sorry that you didn’t give them more time, that you weren’t around enough to help them.

When did you last cry?Yesterday. I was watching Forrest Gump on TV. I cry at movies, TV shows, anything with a sad moment.

You’re in contention playing the last in a Major and your drive is going to hit a fan. Do you hope it hits them and bounces back or misses them and goes into the bushes?I always tell my friends and family when they are in the gallery: if the ball is coming towards you and you move, I’ll be pissed. You have to take one for the team. If my friends and family are really fans that care about me, they’ll take one. I’ll make sure that they’re OK later. I don’t want to see them scatter. Ever.

Who do you most admire?As a golfer, it was Nancy Lopez. I loved the way she handled herself as both a player and as a person. I’m very close to my mom. She’s lost three people in the last year, and I admire the way she has dealt with hard times and

how she has always kept the family together.

When were you happiest?I’m pretty happy now. Life is good. I’m doing exactly what I love. In your first year, you’re just trying to figure it out, but now, I’m at the point in my career where I get to enjoy all the moments. And I’m healthy. I haven’t been as healthy in the last couple of years.

What frightens you?Getting hurt, getting sick, not being able to do what you love to do. Losing somebody.

When was the last time you lied? When I said I’d love to do this interview. I said I didn’t mind being asked personal questions. It’s like being on a first date!

Would you rather be clever and ugly or thick and attractive?Dumb and attractive, because you can always get smarter.

What do you dislike about your appearance?I wouldn’t mind being taller. I could hit it another 20 or 30 yards if I was six feet tall. And I could wear really cute flats instead of having to wear heels when I go out.

What makes you depressed?Seeing loved ones hurt. It’s hard to see people going through pain. I have a friend right now, who is going through brain cancer. My mum has lost both her parents. Not knowing what I can do to help them.

Most treasured possession?My LPGA card. It was my dream to play on tour and I don’t think that can be replaced.

A quote you’ve never forgotten?I used to have it in my bedroom growing up. My dad wrote it. “You can never direct the wind, but you can adjust your sails”. Any time something happens in life, you can’t always direct what happens, but you can make adjustments. n

Who’d play you in a movie of your life?

Heidi Klum. She has a lot of personality,

she’s beautiful, she’s tall, perfect looking.

Guiltiest pleasures?Chocolate chip

cookies. I mean real chocolate chip

cookies. I love them. My nickname on tour

used to be Cookie.

First car, current car?My first car was an 83 Ford Bronco. The car I

have now... I like SUVs. I have a Lexus LX, it’s big and black.

What word do you overuse?

“Great”. I actually tried to put “great”

into a thesaurus to try to use other words

like fabulous or incredible or fantastic.

Favourite smell? Chocolate. That or my grandma’s Christmas bread on Christmas

morning.

Dog or cat?I love dogs. They are

unconditionally loving and nice. Cats have an evil streak.

If you had to give up golf or sex, which

would it be?Do I have to answer

that? No. I’m not.

Short & Sweet

‘YOU CaN NeVer DIreCt the WIND BUt YOU CaN aDJUst YOUr saILs’THE lpga sTar Talks abouT lovE, HEr gamE and THE imporTancE of family.Words BY alistair forsYth photographY BY gettY

naTaliE gulbis

JANUARY 2012 // www.golf-world.co.uk

nEwsbarE my soul

‘I wouldn’t mInd beIng taller. I could hIt It

another 20 or 30 yards If I was sIx feet tall’

www.golf-world.co.uk // JANUARY 2012


‘ i f pa d r a i g c a n do it, so c a n i ’

Lu k e D ona L D

luke donald went from nearly man to the man to beat in 2011. he now knows he needs to win majors to finally silence his critics.

WorDs by PauL Mahoney PhoToGraPhy by GeTTy

r esults, respect, and recognition. Luke Donald has spent his entire career swinging against the tide in

pursuit of the Three Rs. Even now, after a stellar, history-making 2011, he is often the forgotten man, a victim, perhaps, of his laid-back demeanour.

A major American golf magazine continued this trend by overlooking him as Player of the Year in favour of the more headline-grabbing Rory McIlroy – and this in a year when the 33-year-old from High Wycombe won four tournaments, racked up more top 10s than Lady Gaga, and thrust ahead at world No.1 to open up the biggest lead on his rivals since Tiger Woods in his pomp. To cap it all, Donald became the first European to ever finish top of the PGA Tour’s money list.

To have a chance of victory in the States, Donald decided, at the last minute, to enter the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic held in October at the Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. He did so because nearest rival, Webb Simpson, overtook him on the Money List the previous week. Donald knew he needed to win to take the honours. And he did so in a style which lived up to his billing as the world No.1.

The two rivals played all four rounds in each other’s company. The money pot and bragging rights looked to be going to Simpson with just nine holes to play. Then Donald switched to overdrive. He rattled off

six straight birdies in a back nine of just 30 strokes to destroy Simpson and the rest of the field. It was a stunning, Tiger-like performance.

“Creating history is important to me – that’s why I added Disney to give myself that chance of making history,” Donald says.

It was Donald’s fourth victory of the season adding to the WGC-Accenture Match Play, the Barclays Scottish Open and BMW PGA Championship. It was his ninth win since turning pro in 2001.

“This is one of the most satisfying wins of my career just because I was able to pull off the shots when I

needed to,” Donald added. Challenging for the money title on

both sides of the Atlantic became a driving force for Donald as 2011 progressed. But he put family before ambition and withdrew from the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai due to the impending arrival of his second daughter.

While at home with his wife, he then had to deal with the emotional trauma of his father’s death in November. “With death there is pain and loss,” he tweeted, “but out of that comes light and appreciation. Appreciate what you have. I miss you dad x.”


‘Creating history is important to me – that’s why i added disney to my sChedule’

Donald shows the sort of poise which makes him such an elegant player.

STEP ASIDE TIGER. MOVE OVER ERNIE. THE FUTURE OF THE GAME LIES IN THE HANDS OF THE NEW BREED, THE FEARLESS 20-SOMETHINGS WHO HAVE ALREADY WON MAJORS AND PLAYED IN RYDER CUPS. SUPERSTARS LIKE

THE SIX MEN HERE. BUT WHY ARE THEY SO GOOD? AND WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM THEIR APPROACH TO GOLF?

GOLF ’S NEW SUPERSTARSWORDS BY JOHN HUGGAN

GOLF ’S NEW SUPERSTARS

STEP ASIDE TIGER. MOVE OVER ERNIE. THE FUTURE OF THE GAME LIES IN THE HANDS OF THE NEW BREED, THE FEARLESS 20-SOMETHINGS WHO HAVE ALREADY WON MAJORS AND PLAYED IN RYDER CUPS. SUPERSTARS LIKE

THE SIX MEN HERE. BUT WHY ARE THEY SO GOOD? AND WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM THEIR APPROACH TO GOLF?

GOLF ’S NEW SUPERSTARSPHOTOGRAPHY BY HOWARD BOYLAN, GETTY

T H EP U T T E R S P E C I A L

R I S E O F T H E B E L L Y

P U T T E R

F or more than two decades, it has seemed like tour pros using bellies and broomsticks have had a secret deal with the pooh-bahs of St Andrews and

Far Hills. After all, for years R&A and USGA types – many of whom regretted their 1989 decision affirming the instruments as conforming – made little fuss after a wielder of a long or belly putter won the odd tournament. It would be difficult to prove, but I suspect that in exchange for assurances that the ruling would never be revisited, the grateful practitioners agreed to the following:

1. Have it on the Champions Tour, but don’t get greedy on the regular tours. 2. Keep those things away from the kids. 3. Whatever you do, don’t win a Major.

All went well for a long time: the geezers made a haul as seniors, juniors dutifully believing that long putters were for shaky old men, Vijay Singh going conventional to win his three Majors, and Stewart Cink

Is the long putter clutch or crutch? here’s how It became a sensatIon, how It can help you make more putts and

how equIpment makes It work.

specIal report

Words BY jaime diaz illustration BY david plunkert

t h e b e l ly b e c o m e s a B e a s t

➨

SAM LITTLE WON THREE TIMES IN FOUR WEEKS ON THE CHALLENGE TOUR IN 2011. WE WENT TO SEE ONE OF THE WORLd’S MOST IN-FORM

pLAyERS AS HE pREpAREd FOR HIS RETURN TO THE MAIN CIRCUIT.

Words BY Jock HoWard PHoToGraPHY BY HoWard BoYlan, GeTTY

T o misquote Oscar Wilde, to win once may be regarded as good fortune; to win twice looks like carefulness. Quite what the Irish playwright

would have said about Sam Little’s third win in four weeks (at the end of the 2011 Challenge Tour) is open to conjecture.

In four astonishing weeks in the autumn, Sam Little found the game of golf suddenly became extraordinarily easy. He found such a rich vein of form that everything he touched turned to gold. And as yet, the magic hasn’t left him.

First, in Russia in September, he won the M2M Russian Challenge Cup by a shot from compatriot Andrew Johnston. “It was actually a lot easier than that,” he says. “Andrew birdied the last, but I didn’t realise that. I thought I was two ahead on the 18th tee; then I got to the green and realised I had to two-putt from 30 feet for victory.”

A week later it was France, and the

Allianz Open Grand Toulouse. Again, Little won by a stroke; this time from Irishman Simon Thornton. “I was two ahead playing the 17th, and then made a pathetic bogey, just to keep it interesting!”

A couple of weeks later, he was off to Italy, for the Roma Open. When he holed his third shot at the par-5 15th from 104 yards in the final round, he went into a tie for the lead. He then holed a chip shot on the 16th, and soon found himself in a sudden-death play-off, alongside his good friend Pelle Edberg.

On the 1st tee of extra holes, he showed Edberg his TaylorMade Penta, on which were the letters ‘S’, ‘M’, ‘Z’, ‘N’ and ‘E’.

“What’s that?” asked the Swede. “My family,” said Sam, who has a Finnish wife called Maria, a six-year-old son called Zach, and four-year-old twins, Nathalie and Emilia. “Don’t let them down, Pelle!”

Much laughter ensued, which you can’t really imagine at the start of a play-off on

the main Tour! On that first hole, Little holed a 15-footer, just to stay alive. At the 4th, when Edberg flew the green, Little’s amazing hat-trick of wins was complete.

We all know that golf is a fickle game; and that form can come and go like the wind. But, how in the name of The-Ecco-Tour-Championship-hosted-by-Thomas-Bjorn-and-Mercedes-Benz can a journeyman pro go from two wins in 14 years (2001 Formby Hall Challenge and 2004 Texbond Open, both on the Challenge Tour) to three wins in four weeks? New coach? New swing-thoughts? Something in his Lucozade?

“It was September 15th,” says Little. “I was standing on the practice range in Russia after shooting a mediocre first round which included four bogeys in the first four holes! I asked Chris Gane (a friend who also plays on the Challenge Tour) if he would video my swing. When I looked at it, I could see immediately I wasn’t getting on

BACK WITH THELITTLE

BIGBOYS

➨

THESE OFFERS ARE SO GOOD, THEY MAKE CHILLY MORNINGS SEEM LIKE THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR TO PLAY THE GAME.

5 0 B R I L L I A N T W I N T E R G R E E N

F E E D E A L S

T hese fi ve pages have two functions. Firstly, they provide the not inconsiderable service of identifying the best places to play during the winter months.

The obvious tactic, of course, is to head for the coast and needless to say we have selected plenty of links among our half century.

However, course maintenance and drainage has improved so markedly in recent decades that inland courses can now also be incredibly well groomed even in a harsh period of weather. So, we highlight a good number of sand-based heathlands as well as some stand-out parklands.

Secondly, these pages highlight the most attractive deals at the venues which stand up to the winter better than most.

Sometimes, it is nothing more than an amazing green fee reduction; some are verging on three-fi gure savings, all are signifi cant percentage discounts on their summer rates.

We also have special sections on Open venues, clubs offering attractive golf and food packages, a quartet of quirky ideas as well as superb play-and-stay deals. They all have one thing in common; they will enable you to play a world-class course for a fee which is often scarcely believable.

WORDS BY CHRIS BERTRAM PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID CANNON, GETTY IMAGES

The superb short 14th is justone of the holes availableon a brilliant play-and-stay deal at Doonbeg – see No.32.

1 THE NEW, ST ANDREWS

Many locals consider the New as the best course in St Andrews and it is available for just £50 – with no mats – in March. It will be £70 from April 16 all summer.Contact: 01334 466 666, www.standrews.org.uk

2 ROYAL ABERDEEN, ABERDEENSHIRE

This year’s Walker Cup venue is into its winter season and, being one of Britain’s most northerly championship links, it is sensibly extended longer than most – until April 17 to be exact. Its magnifi cent Balgownie course is on o� er for £60 weekdays, exactly half the cost of playing here in the summer.Contact: 01224 702 571, www.royalaberdeengolf.com

3 CRUDEN BAY,ABERDEENSHIRE

Nearby Cruden also has an attractive o� er, making a trip up to Aberdeen very worthwhile. It is usually £70 to play here, good value in itself, but during the winter this fabulously quirky links is a snip at £30.Contact: 01779 812 285, www.crudenbaygolfclub.co.uk

4 GULLANE, EAST LOTHIAN

The No.1 course in this golf-mad town is one of the powerhouse links of Scotland and it is just short of three fi gures to play here in the summer. However, until the end of March it is priced at £44 if you play between 10.30 and noon on a weekday.Contact: 01620 842 255, www.gullanegolfclub.com

5 SOUTHERNESS, DUMFRIESSHIRE

The south of Scotland’s golfi ng jewel is very reasonably priced all year – just £50 in summer – but when the clocks are in GMT mode, you need only part with £33; staggeringly good value for this quality.Contact: 01387 880 677, www.southernessgolfclub.com

6 SILLOTH, CUMBRIAOn the other side of the Solway

Firth from Southerness lies another fi rst-class traditional links. Silloth boasts larger dunes than Southerness, but is similarly well-priced all year round; just £45 in the summer. That drops to £28 – almost unbelievably low – until March 18. Get it while you can.Contact: 01697 332 404, www.sillothgolfclub.co.uk

7 MOORTOWN, WEST YORKSHIRE

This former Ryder Cup host is reaching the end of an astute programme to return the course to the one Dr Alister MacKenzie originally created. It is normally £80, but that comes down to £45 until the end of March. Contact: 0113 268 6521, www.moortown-golf-club.co.uk

8 GANTON, NORTH YORKSHIRE

This inland links near Scarborough is rarely frosted over and drains superbly so is an ideal winter venue. A former host of the Ryder, Walker and Curtis Cups, it is normally £85 to play here but just £50 until March 24. Even better value is a midweek fourball for a superb £180.Contact: 01944 710 329, www.gantongolfclub.com

9 LITTLE ASTON, WEST MIDLANDS

This Birmingham parkland is always manicured beautifully and has threatened to break into the top 50 of our GB&I Top 100 listing. It’s £85 to play here between April and October, but until then you can enjoy it, redesigned 17th hole and all, for only £55.Contact: 0121 353 2066, www.littleastongolf.co.uk

10 NOTTS (HOLLINWELL), NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

The pride of the east Midlands is normally £75, but you can save £30 if you play ‘Hollinwell’ between now and the end of March. Its heathland nature helps it deal very nicely with inclement weather;

GW once visited in the midst of a tropical storm and it was still perfectly playable.Contact: 01623 753 225, www.nottsgolfclub.co.uk

11 LUFFENHAM HEATH, LINCOLNSHIRE

Recently benefi ted from the expertise of Martin Hawtree, who tightened up this well-established course just o� the A1 for the trials of facing today’s equipment. It’s normally £50 for 18 holes, but we like the £40 for 36 holes o� er until the end of February. In March that goes up by £10.Contact: 01780 720 205, www.lu� enhamheath.co.uk

12 PENNARD, SOUTH WALES

A course which plays like a links and much of which is perched on cli� tops is always going to be a good choice in winter – and Pennard is certainly that.It’s normally up to £60 to tee it up on this south Wales gem but until the end of March you can do so for £25 midweek.Contact: 01792 233 131, www.pennardgolfclub.com

13 CONWY, NORTH WALES

A terrifi c Welsh links which is often overlooked in favour of the Porthcawls and St David’s, but this is a fabulous test. It’s normally £49 at weekends here but you can get on for £33 until March 18.Contact: 01492 592 423, www.conwygolfclub.com

14 ABERDOVEY, WEST WALES

The last of our trio of Welsh winter links is an historic seaside challenge with all the classic features one would expect. Until the end of March it’s just £35 to play here, whereas it’s usually £52.50 in the summer. Or, get there early in the morning and play twice – for only £45.Contact: 01654 767 493, www.aberdoveygolf.co.uk

15 MANCHESTER, LANCASHIRE

Manchester clubs might be holding sway in football terms these days but it isn’t

blessed with many top-tier tracks, certainly not in comparison with nearby Liverpool and Leeds. This is the best, though, and a very fi ne heathland-style test it is, too. Normally £60, you can enjoy it for a mere £20 over the winter.Contact: 0161 655 3668, www.mangc.co.uk

16 SUNNINGDALE, SURREY

This is arguably the fi nest golf complex in Britain, with two stunning heathland courses of virtually equal quality. It’s usually £195 just to play the Old (plus £165 for the New), but until the end of March you can play both courses for £155, which is the defi nition of a brilliant day out.Contact: 01344 298 003, www.sunningdale-golfclub.co.uk

17 FERNDOWN, DORSET

A fi xture in our GB&I Top 100, it’s £75 to play at this heathland heavyweight in the summer months. However, you can save £20 until March 31 – and the course will be virtually the same as it is in July.Contact: 01202 653 950, www.ferndowngolfclub.co.uk

18 ST ENODOC, CORNWALL

The quirky links of the south west has been tweaked sympathetically by Walker Cup legend Peter McEvoy and is a fi rst-class links test. The green fee is £67 in the summer – super value in anybody’s language – but that becomes an even greater bargain – £42 – in the winter.Contact: 01208 863 216, www.st-enodoc.co.uk

19 LIPHOOK, HAMPSHIRE

We like the all-day rate at this delightful heathland in the south of England. Up until March 31, you can play two rounds here for £58… exactly the same as it costs to play one round from April 1.Contact: 01428 723 271, www.liphookgolfclub.com

AMAZING SAVINGS

RE

CO M M E N DS RECOMMENDS

RE

CO M M E N DS RECOMMENDS

you can get on for £33 until March 18.Contact: 01492 592 423, www.conwygolfclub.com

The last of our trio of Welsh winter links is an historic seaside challenge with all the classic features one would expect. Until the end of March it’s just £35 to play here, whereas it’s usually £52.50 in the summer. Or, get there early in the morning and play twice – for only £45.Contact: 01654 767 493, www.aberdoveygolf.co.uk

Manchester clubs might be holding sway in football terms these days but it isn’t

Walker Cup venue Royal Aberdeen – see No.2.

Cumbrian classic Silloth – see No.6.


The draw As I mentioned, all the work for shaping shots is done at address. I am careful to follow a process that allows me to set up the right relationships with my lines:1 I line up the clubface accurately. With the draw, that means aiming it a little right of target. The tee pegs either side of the ball illustrate the face’s aim. The bigger the draw, the more open to the target the face will be. 2 Now I set the aim of my feet, hips and shoulders, to program the swing path. I don’t get super-specific with my feet; I simply know that if the clubface aims right, the feet must be further right. This is where feel comes in. You can’t go ‘face five yards right, feet 15 yards right’. That’s not how we play golf. The shaft by my feet represents the body’s aim. As you can see, it is further right than where the tee pegs are pointing.

So I have now set up a situation where the face is open to the target but closed to the path – perfect for a draw.

S e T - u p

Here’s how the MAT-T system registers my draw set-up. Look at the figures in the top left corner. A figure of 0° (zero) would show squareness. The minus figures of hips, knees and toes indicate my being closed to the target. The anomaly of my shoulders being slightly open is explained by a slight forward press I use.

many amateurs crave that right-to-left ball flight... i’ll show you how to achieve it.


IN ASSOCIATION WITH

I said earlier that you do not have to manipulate the swing itself to hit a draw or a fade – and here’s the proof. I’ve simply made my regular backswing, trusting in the relationships I set at address to do all the work. The “across-the-line” look of the shaft at the top is simply a consequence of aiming right – and it’s good to see the shaft pretty parallel to the one on the floor, representing my toe line.

The common perception of the draw is of releasing the hands and arms through the ball, rotating the forearms to close the face and so create the draw spin. But with the face being so influential on the ball’s initial path, this is why so many people that try this start the ball too straight, and end up left. Don’t forget, you need the face open to the target at impact to send the ball right.

I am actually very passive through the ball. I’m not trying to manufacture anything with my hands; I’m just trusting the fact that I’ve set everything at address. If I swing in the direction of my feet, I know I’m going to create a right-to-left ball flight. If I do have a swing thought, it is simply to keep my hands ahead of the club through impact. Hands ahead means the face is open.

a T T h e T o p▲

T h r o u g h T h e b a l l

Here’s how this particular shot worked out. The two figures I want you to focus on are the Face Heading and the Swing-Path stats, under the yellow Club Impact list. MAT-T records that, at impact, my face was 5.5° open to the target, while the club was swinging 9.2° from inside to out. At impact the club is open to the target but closed to the path. These figures are going to give you a shape that starts right before bending softly back – and that’s a draw.

I advocate the same swing for draws and

fades, and simply changing set up lines to create

the shape. But one other thing I will change is ball

position. The swing is a circle. Move the ball forwards

in the stance and you strike the ball later, more on the

out-to-in path, useful for the fade. Move it back and

impact takes place earlier on the circle’s arc and

more from the inside, ideal for the draw. But

don’t forget that shaping the ball is also about

getting it in the air. You don’t ever want

the ball further back than centre

as a rule.

b a l l p o S i T i o n

▲


all the help you needWe all need game improvement in our irons. But Just HoW mucH?

S ix-iron shots are supposed to look a certain way. A simple majesty of flight, a quiet certitude of direction. Provided, of course, the technology is

giving your game the necessary support.Even Tour players want irons with

stability on mis-hits, what club engineers refer to as moment of inertia (MOI). “We believe Tour players would probably use as high an MOI iron as we can manufacture as long as we do not extend blade lengths outside our current sizing,” says Dan Stone, vice president of golf club research and development at Titleist.

The technology of ‘game improvement’ in irons includes ideas like a centre of gravity (CG) that’s low and back, heel-toe weighting (for high MOI), wider soles and lightweight shafts. There are no specific guidelines for determining which degree of game improvement you need in your irons, but the right equipment will change ball flight, says John Rae, vice president of research and development for Cleveland:

“You’re either going to see more distance with a similar trajectory, or similar distance with more height.”

Seeing those differences depends on what you’re willing to accept. “All golfers require more forgiveness in their irons than they might otherwise admit,” says Alan Hocknell, senior vice president of research and development for Callaway.

Iron design and performance are dictated by the player type as much as the technology. Better players who deloft their irons at impact might get sufficient game improvement from irons with compact heads, a slight cavity and more traditional lofts; average golfers who flip their hands at the bottom of the swing might get better performance from a stronger-lofted set with thin-face irons and deep CGs. However, be careful: Overly-strong lofts might not work for all players and could create distance gaps in the wedge game. Furthermore, a wider sole can position the CG back, which helps improve the stability of the head, meaning off-centre hits will lose less ball

speed. Of course, the type of sole on your irons should also fit your typical playing conditions: Hard, baked-out fairways might not be ideal for wide-sole irons.

Michael Vrska, director of product development for Adams, believes those who need help getting the ball airborne should focus on two features any golfer can see: “A wider sole and a lower profile will inherently bring the CG lower and farther back, which should generate some launch and spin for these players,” he says, noting that a little more spin on iron shots, particularly longer irons, will help slow swingers hit the ball higher.

How do you tell if you’re generating enough spin and the right trajectory with your 6-iron? Well, a launch-monitor fitting isn’t just for drivers. It shows differences in distance, spin and trajectory with irons, too. After that, it’s pretty simple. “The 6-iron that goes furthest is probably your best bet,” Vrska says, “as long as the rest of the irons in that set have proper yardage gaps.” In short, see a fitter. n

1 I break 95 less than a

third of the time.

y n

2 If I put an impact sticker on a 6-iron and hit it five

times, just one or two will be in the centre.

y n

3 Uphill approach shots from more than 150 yards

worry me.

y n

4 My clubhead

speed with the driver is less than

85mph.

y n

5 My intended shot

is straight, not an intentional fade or draw.

y n

6 Above all else,

I want more distance with

my irons.

y n

4+ yes Consider irons with shafts less than 90 grams, hybrids or fairway woods for long irons and a 6-iron sole that is wider than your thumb. 1-4 yes Consider irons with a full cavity-back and a 6-iron sole that’s less than the width of your thumb. 0-1 yes Consider irons with a small cavity-back and a 6-iron sole that’s about the width of your index finger.

w h i c h i r o n s t o c h o o s eansWer tHese questions and give one point for eacH ‘yes’.

Q u i Z

e Q u i p m e n tt h e


© G

olf

diG

est

t B c Milled slots in the cavity’s heel and toe lower the CG in this midsize

and more forgiving version of the company’s two 1020

carbon-steel forgings. bridgestonegolf.com

B r i d G e s t o n eJ 4 0

£ 1 , 1 4 9 This iron-hybrid set has lightweight irons with a Carpenter 455

steel-face insert and a forged 1025 carbon-steel frame

designed to boost MOI. callawaygolf.com

c a l l awayr a Z r X F

ForGiVeness and power

Despite their stronger lofts, super game-improvement irons launch the ball just as high as traditional

players irons, and the ball goes further, too. Using a TrackMan

launch monitor, our test compared shots struck with a super game-

improvement 8-iron and a players’ 8-iron. Though the super game-

improvement iron was 2˚ stronger (less loft), its shots reached a peak

height that was two yards higher than the players’ 8-iron and carried

nearly seven yards further. Worth noting: The landing angles (the

trajectory of the ball coming into the ground) of both irons were

practically the same, though the players’ 8-iron produced shots

with more spin.

£ 5 9 9 The set has hybrids with slots in the soles to improve springlike

eff ect. The thin-face middle irons have a web-like cavity to improve

perimeter weighting. adamsgolf.com

a d a m sa1 2 o s

£ 6 5 9 The two-piece design has a titanium face insert that’s large, light

and thin to promote ball speed. A heavier steel frame off ers

perimeter weighting. clevelandgolf.com

c l e V e l a n dc G B l a c K

£ 8 0 p e r c l u b A variable-thickness face, a pocket cavity, and

weighting low in the heel and high on the toe are designed to produce

stability, horizontally and vertically. mizuno

europe.com

m i Z u n oJ p X 8 0 0 h d

£ 9 3 p e r c l u b A streamlined topline and a dense tungsten sole

weight are intended to improve off -centre hits; the short irons are

more compact than the previous model.

titleist.co.uk

t i t l e i s ta p 1

£ 4 2 9 A thinner face design allows for a larger cavity and weight to be distributed around the rear

perimeter, particularly low in the heel and toe.

wilson.com

w i l s o ns ta F F c i 1 1

tecHnical


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