Golf Monthly

neil.tappin@futurenet.com Seven months ago, I took over as editor and so far I’ve resisted the temptation to discuss the fracture in men’s professional golf. At the risk of alienating some but in the hope that it sparks a healthy debate, it’s time to

I’ve often wondered how groups for the first two rounds of a tournament are decided. Is it names out of a hat; is it by world ranking; or is it to make them attractive for spectators both on-course and watching on TV? Also, can a player refuse to pla

Scottie, congratulations on winning the Arnold Palmer and Players in back-to-back weeks. How special is that? It’s good to be sitting back here again in the winner’s chair at Sawgrass. It was another battle and a hard-fought week. A lot of guys playe

It seems that anything Scottie Scheffler can do in the men’s game, Nelly Korda can do just as well in the women’s game, after both completed back-to-back victories on their respective tours in March. While Scheffler’s two wins, which came in consecut

If you’re still struggling, you could be lacking a bit of mobility in certain key areas of the body where it is needed to make an effective swing. Your club pro might be able to suggest some mobility exercises, or conduct a screening. 1 Some golfers

Says Jeremy Ellwood I didn’t play proper golf until my late teens but, like many kids, we had a couple of putting greens or pitch-and-putts close to home that we would visit at weekends and during school holidays. Some will accuse me of donning rose-

How did things work in the past? Until 2011, the PGA Tour used statistical categories like ‘Putts per Round’ and ‘Greens in Regulation’. This data is still available, but can sometimes be misleading. Those who hit a lot of greens in regulation, for e

Matteo Manassero used a Titleist TSR3 driver, a Titleist TS3 hybrid, Titleist T100 irons and a Titleist Pro V1x golf ball to win his first event in over 10 years in South Africa. Peter Malnati played a Titleist TSR3 driver, Titleist 818 H2 hybrid, Ti

Congham Hall, Congham, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE32 1AH T: 01485 600250 E: info@conghamhallhotel.co.uk W: conghamhallhotel.co.uk King’s Lynn: par 72, 6,462 yards With Hunstanton and Royal West Norfolk not far away, the closest top-quality course to Con

Motocaddy’s M-Series of compact-folding electric trolleys has been given a comprehensive freshen up for 2024. Seven new trolleys, ranging from feature-packed entry-level options to premium models with GPS and downhill control capabilities make up the

Ping has referred to its latest model as a ‘playable distance’ iron, designed to appeal to the golfer whose primary goal is distance but who also relies on the precision of a players’-style shape. The brand’s aim has been to deliver a hollow-bodied f

Florida, United States GF: preview rounds: $30-$170 Stats: Karoo - par 72, 6,954 yards When World Woods in Florida opened in 1994 at the height of the golf course boom, the vision was for it to be one of the best public-access destinations in the US.

You get the impression Joaquin Niemann doesn’t mind being one of the most talked-about golfers in the game. Not one bit. He is used to it. Niemann has been hogging the headlines for his globe-trotting pursuit of world rankings points, as the poster b

Golf is one of the most popular hobbies for elite sports stars from other disciplines. It’s not uncommon to see international cricketers, rugby players and footballers take to the golf course when they’re on tours or training camps as a way to get aw

My very first visit to Lofoten, situated in the Arctic Circle, was back in 2012 with Troon Golf. The course was still under construction, but even back then there was a sense that we were witnessing the birth of something very special. I’ve since bee

Prior to the pandemic in 2020, many clubs were struggling and the age profile of members was continuing to rise. Post Covid, and flexible working plus a greater appreciation of the benefits of participation have resulted in a significant boom. Many c

Early in the week of the 1990 US Open at Medinah, the bookmakers had Nick Faldo as narrow 9-1 favourite. The Englishman had won a second straight Masters Tournament two months earlier and was thus the only man in the field who had the opportunity to

When spring arrives, it’s usually a signal for a lot of fair-weather golfers to get back out onto the course. It’s a time of the year when we can all experience a bit of rust, and it can take a few rounds to start striking the ball well. For some clu

1 Everybody wants to hit this shot but first we need to understand what increases friction. For maximum friction, we need a good-quality ball, dry conditions, clean grooves and no debris. If we reduce friction by adding moisture or dirt to the face,

We hear a lot about the versatility of hybrids; they’re great from the tee, the fairway and the rough. Where they are underused is around the greens. Some chips really get the heart rate racing and many of us also use too much loft, which makes thing

Hitting golf shots in the wind is all about spin control. The harder you swing, the more the ball spins. The more the ball spins, the more it’s going to take the wind. So when you hear people using that classic phrase ‘when it’s breezy, swing it easy

A beautifully struck and well-flighted golf shot can sometimes embed in its own pitch-mark on landing, particularly after a prolonged spell of very wet weather. But the Rules of Golf can and do help us out in this scenario, as David Wilson, rules man

Adidas’ flagship performance shoe is approaching its 20th anniversary, a show of stunning longevity. This latest version, the Tour360 24, has benefited from a complete redesign from the inside out, introducing new technology into the familiar, well-l

As avid users of Arccos game-tracking, we’ve really reaped the benefits of the insights it can provide. For the last couple of years we’ve been using the Arccos Link device to help track our shots. It clips on to the outside of your lead pocket so th

The flashes of colour through the midsole and outsole certainly borrow from the recent HyperFlex and Fuel releases It’s now been eight years since FootJoy introduced the first Pro/SL. Since then, the brand has sold millions of pairs across the world

Understandably, the first ball models that spring to mind when talking about Titleist are likely to be the Pro V1 and Pro V1x. However, one of the most underrated balls in Titleist’s range, the Tour Soft, has been given an update for 2024, and we thi

All models in the new BB Series of putters are milled from a solid block of 303 stainless steel, with five different head shapes available. The BB-1W is a more stable, wide-blade model featuring an all-new sound slot for superior audible feedback. Th

In last September’s Golf Monthly, I used my column to talk about the sweeping success of the Odyssey Versa Jailbird putter on tour and suggested that perhaps Scottie Scheffler should move to something similar as his putting woes continued. I like to

Striping a fairway wood can be one of the most challenging yet satisfying skills in all of golf. This means that finding a model that suits your game and performs consistently for you will be crucial in helping you to lower your scores. This year, we

Next under our Retro Review microscope is maybe the most iconic blade iron of all time, the Mizuno TP-9, made famous by Sir Nick Faldo. He put these in the bag in the spring of 1987, before going on to capture his first Open Championship just months

As these are the clubs that make up the majority of most people’s sets, it could be argued that any iron purchase is the most important one of all. It’s also one of the most expensive, so it’s crucial that you get it right. If you’ve been clinging on

England’s most northerly and sparsely populated county, Northumberland is both peaceful and very beautiful. Its remote location, for most of us at least, is both a curse and a blessing. Yes, it can take time and effort to get there, but the rewards i

From Isla Canela on the Portuguese border in the west all the way across to Desert Springs in the east, the 300-mile expanse of Andalucia is home to a terrific array of golf. It is now 60 years since the Costa del Sol reinvented itself to become a po

There is something most engaging about playing two parkland courses, back-to-back, with such different characteristics. Close to the heartlands of Ireland, west of Dublin, I teed it up at The Heritage and then Portarlington. The Heritage is the big-t

The attractive parkland course borders the River Deveron, which opens out into the North Sea between the towns of Banff and Macduff GF: 18 holes: £55-£70 Just inland from the north Aberdeenshire coast, Duff House Royal was founded in 1910 and is the

Much is most definitely afoot on the golfing front in the north of Scotland. The second Trump course at Aberdeen is under construction; the prospect of a course at Coul Links just north of Dornoch rumbles on, with the Highland Council voting in favou