10 Reasons to buy the latest Issue of TG
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10 Reasons To Buy The Latest Issue Of TG: Out 10/05/18
Putting golf in to perspective: A note from the editor…
As Aaron Moon was being airlifted to Camp Bastion – the victim of an Improvised Explosive Device in Helmand – golf wasn’t really on his mind. “I was in intensive care for six weeks in total, and I was in hospital for five months. I spent a few months in a ody brace where I literally couldn’t do anything. But… I’m still here.”
He’s making the most of it, too. “At the minute, I work four to five days a week at Bolton Golf Club while studying for my PGA degree,” he explains. “I’m in the gym at six in the morning, and then I’ll stay late hitting balls on the range. I try to practise every day if I can because my passion is playing.”
Moon has signed up to compete on the Manchester-based 1836 Pro Tour and is hoping to secure a sponsor’s invite to play a Challenge Tour event in Switzerland next month, before heading to the European Tour’s Q School later in the year. He also has a unique take on how he approaches the game.
“I see people throwing clubs on the golf course, but I always look at them and think ‘what’s the point?’ When you hit a golf ball, no one is hitting a golf ball back at you. There are worse places than being on the golf course, trust me. You could be getting shot at!”
Those words were ringing in my ears reecently in our club’s April Medal. Stood on the 11th tee three over, of 12 (with my partner saying: It’s in the bag Chris, all you need to do is play bogey golf home:) I walked off the 18th green 21-over, having finished triple, triple, quintuple bogey…
It was a collapse of epic proportions, but Aaron helped me put it into context. Yes, I was annoyed, but I’d been playing golf – well, on the front nine – on a gorgeous spring afternoon. There certainly were worse places to be. Aaron Moon can tell you that from personal experience…
32 Ways To Play Great All Summer
We asked our team of Top 50 coaches to reveal the quickest and most effective ways to sharpen your approach for 2018. They have obliged with 32 welcome doses of advice covering equipment, technique, technology and course management. We hope this formidable package of information and enlightenment will help you take your game to the next level in 2018.
Who’ll win the US Open? Thefacts, figures and stories behind Shinnecock’s return
Find out what you need to know, where the tournament will be won and lost, what the history books say and what’s changed to the course since it last hosted the 2004 US Open. Plus, who is in the best position to win this year?
TG Columnists
Nick Dougherty talks about leaderboard watching in this month’s TG after Jordan Spieth admitted he wasn’t leaderboard watching on the final day of the Masters, and didn’t even know he was tied for the lead at one point. Dougherty, who has won three European Tour titles, said: ‘I will never understand pros who don’t pay attention to leaderboards’. Meanwhile, Andrew Cotter discusses the moment that your sporting heroes become regular people: “Why my view has changed with age about the men and women I once idolised.”
Can a set of irons be worth £2,400?
PXG has launched four new iron sets, coming in at £400 a club: After three years of development in PXG’s Phoenix R&D labs, the covers have just been pulled off the brand new 0311 Gen 2 irons, and we were among the first golfers in Europe to put them through their paces. We got fitted to see what the fuss is about…
Is it time to drop your 5-iron?
If this is the least-used club in your bag, there are now plenty of easier-to-hit, more versatile replacements. Iron lofts are getting stronger, the modern golf ball spins less and the average age of golfers is on the increase, so it’s easy to see why many club golfers struggle to launch a 5-iron from the turf nowadays.
As if to prove our point Callaway’s latest Rogue X iron has a 5-iron loft (21°) the same as a 3-iron only a few years ago. TG gear editor Simon Daddow had a reality check recently when a session on a GC Quad launch monitor helped him realise he only carries a 5-iron (from the turf) six yards further than his 6-iron, so consequently only hits a 5-iron when he can tee it up on a par 3. It’s a story we hear a lot from club golfers and custom fitters, so we thought it was high time to investigate how you know if you need to get rid of your 5-iron? And if you do, what are your best options?
Big Interview: Pat Perez
Four of his favourite things are eating, drinking, smoking and swearing. He loves his mullet and hates the gym, so it’s fair to say Pat Perez isn’t your average PGA Tour pro. He’s called himself “sort of a punk” and a “late maturer,” but what he lacks in airs and graces, the 42-year-old makes up for with a gritty determination that has seen him bag three PGA Tour titles – including two in the last year that have come after a potentially career-ending shoulder injury.
Now a fixture in the world’s top 25 – after jumping from 333rd at the end of 2016 – he’s playing all the Majors and World Golf Championship events in consecutive years for the first time in his career.
Swing Commanders
You need skill, dedication and co-ordination to be a Red Arrows pilot… no wonder the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team is made up of mad-keen golfers.
During the winter, they practise in the air three times a day, five days a week, to fine-tune the forthcoming year’s display. You need to learn from your mistakes, however small, and analyse every turn, every loop, every pass to see whether it can be done better, tighter, faster. Perhaps that’s why eight of the nine members of the 2018 team are mad-keen golfers.
“There are similarities,” admits Flight Lieutenant Mike Bowden, known as Red 9 to his team-mates. “Golf is a fond pastime for many of the guys. Actually, it’s more than that; it’s a great way to bond as a team.”
The Ex Royal Marine gunning for the European Tour
Ex-Royal Marine Aaron Moon lost his leg after being blown up in Afghanistan. But he won’t let that stop him achieving his dream of playing on the European Tour. This is his story: “I know people will say I won’t make it. But that will only fuel me to believe I can.”
Modest Ambitions
Why two young Brits have joined a pop star’s fledgling golf agency as they embark to their professional careers.
Modest! Golf started up a couple of years ago and they have high hopes for the six players – all under 23 – currently on their books. We met two of them – Brits Connor Syme and Jack Singh Brar – to find out why they went with this agency, and what they think it can do for their game.
Project 300
How close can three regular golfers get to 300 yards by using the best in technology and tuition? We’re going to find out.
