10 Reasons to buy the latest issue of TG
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10 Reasons to buy the latest issue of Today’s Golfer
A note from the Editor
Do you take your course for granted? Many of us do. We rock up first thing on a Sunday morning, expecting leaves and dew to have been brushed off greens, flags moved, bunkers and fairways immaculately presented. We don’t want muddy paths, or scruffy traps, or divots, or fluffy greens.
Hell, I’ve even seen golfers waving their arms and muttering exasperatedly that a greenkeeper has dared to mow the green they’re on, forcing them to wait five minutes. And don’t get these golfers started on hollow tining… Yet without this band of dedicated men and women – who are up at the crack of dawn every day, in all weathers bar snow – golf courses just wouldn’t exist.
And the work you see on your course is just a fraction of what actually goes on, as we discovered ourselves when we joined the Gleneagles greenkeeping team preparing the PGA Centenary course for the Solheim Cup (see page 42). It’s part of a celebration of golf courses in this issue, which also includes an exclusive look at Royal Norwich Golf Club – a club that has completely reinvented itself after 125 years – and we meet a man who’s played EVERY course to ever host a Major Championship. All 119 of them!
Greenkeepers played a major role in both achievements, as they do in the enjoyment every golfer gets from the game. So I’m just going to take this opportunity to say thank you.
Chris Jones, Editor
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50 FAST FIXES
Get better in a hurry with our hand-picked selection of simple and effective tips and drills… for your swing, your brain and your golf bag!
Targeting your swing, your gear and your mental approach, each one of these 50 golden nuggets represents a proven and expert- selected segue to speedy and lasting improvement. So, in the spirit of the moment, let’s get straight to them.
GEAR TESTS
Over the last five years Sean Toulon – whose Toulon Design became part of Odyssey and Callaway after he left a 15-year stint at TaylorMade – has become one of golf’s hottest putter designers. So good, in fact, Toulon believes his premium flatsticks are better than Scotty Cameron’s. But with fierce rivals TaylorMade launching a new skim-milled putter family recently, we couldn’t resist pitting one of Toulon’s newest models against the TP Patina Collection, to see which is worthy of your money.
BIG INTERVIEW: ROBERT MACINTYRE
Robert MacIntyre might be the European Tour’s hottest star right now. A front-runner for the Rookie of the Year award, he’s already ‘destroyed’ his goals for this season and produced the best finish by a Scot in an Open for 14 years. The only thing missing now is a victory, and he intends to get it by remaining faithful to the European Tour
KEEPERS OF THE GREEN
With an early-morning wake-up call, we joined Gleneagles’ greenkeepers as they prepared the course for the first day of the 2019 Solheim Cup.
PLAYING THE MAJOR COURSES
Two men, two incredible stories
∙’I’ve spent $125,000 playing every course to ever host a Major Championship’: More than 100 courses have hosted the Masters, US Open, Open and US PGA – and Joey Hines has played every single one of them. He’s got the scorecards to prove it, as well as 38 years of incredible stories covering everywhere from Augusta to Royal Portrush.
∙Luke Willett isn’t your normal run of the mill PGA pro. Away from the course, he has built a reputation for taking on ironman-style golfathons which often involve cycling or running hundreds of miles while carrying a golf bag on his back. Now he’s attempting his most ambitious challenge yet – cycling to all 14 past and present Open Championship venues and playing 18 holes at each.
A Blueprint for the Golf Club of the Future
For many golf clubs, the decision to sell a course to property developers is a death knell. It’s a last resort, brought on by a lack of members, financial instability and the rising costs of running a club. But for Royal Norwich – one of the oldest and most well-respected clubs in the east of England – the decision to sell up offered the chance of resurrection. This is the story of Royal Norwich, an old club that’s thinking about golf in a whole new way.
The Players: Q&A
Eddie Pepperell: Golf’s most outspoken star reveals the angriest players on tour, which pop star left him starstruck, and the one joke he tells every American player to help the ice…
Colin Montgomerie: World Golf Hall of Famer Colin Montgomerie on missing tee times, making aces and getting pranked by Phil Mickelson
Shane Lowry: Three months since his epic Open victory, Shane Lowry talks hangovers, Rory and the Ryder Cup
THE WORLD HANDICAP SYSTEM: HOW IT AFFECTS YOU
From the biggest changes to your biggest questions answered: The World Handicap System is due to arrive next November, so with the year-to-go countdown underway here’s what you need to know…
COMPETITIONS
In this month’s issue of Today’s Golfer, enter for your chance to win a luxury Moroccan break or a year’s supply of Srixon AD333 Golf Balls.
