tg_338_preview.pdf

TODAY’S GOLFER SEPTEMBER 2015 (AUGUST 6-SEPTEMBER 2) 338TOUR SECRETS WITH ROSE, KUCHAR & FURYKSEPTEMBER 2015 ISSUE 338 AUG 6-SEPT 2 £4.50SPEED SPECIAL: 19 EASY WAYS TO BOOST...n Buy it! The fastestnew drivers testedn Build it! Increaseyour club speedn Bomb it! Gainan extra 40 yardsWWW.TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UKPOWER!HOTNEWGEARLeadbetter3 tips from theworld’s top coachPLUSSpin your wedgesImprove your balanceOne-minute putting fixn Great Big Bertha drivern Ping i and GMAX ironsn Motocaddy C-TECH trolleyn TaylorMade DLL+ putter

DAVID LEADBETTER‘Another majorfor Tiger wouldbe his greatestachievement’David Leadbetter has given advice to some of the greatest playersin history. Here, he has some for you, for golf’s future... and TigerWORDS KEVIN BROWN PICTURES FRANK ISHMAN, GETTY IMAGESavid Leadbetter is the Godfather ofDmodern golf instruction. Now 63and still going strong, it seems he’sbeen improving golfers’ skills and games –from hackers to superstars – for a lifetime.Between them his students havecelebrated 20 major titles, 100-plusindividual worldwide tournament victoriesand there are now 23 full-time Leadbettergolf academies in 12 countries.“I was one of the pioneers in teachingTour players back in the day, the mid 80s.John Jacobs did a little bit but otherwisethere was nobody else out there. I made anindustry out of it!” he told us as we talkedon the range at the US Women’s Open –where he’d just been working with one of hisbrightest pupils, Lydia Ko.Born in England, ‘Lead’ has come a longway since moving to Rhodesia (whichdeveloped into Zimbabwe) at the age ofseven and his days as a talented younggolfer who turned pro. But he didn’t quitemake it and, virtually by accident, stumbledon to the teaching path.He clearly has no regrets, though: “Myhope is that when you look at golfinstruction through the ages, not a whole lothas changed with the way we analyse thegame. I started with just my eyes andinstinct, but with all the gadgets and gizmos,video, Trackman and launch monitors andso on, I’ve now got the tools to prove howbad the swings really are!”By his own admission, Leadbetter “wasslowing down and under the radar a littlebit”. But today he has a whole raft of Tourplayers – including Ko and BMW PGAChampionship winner Byeong-hun An – inhis stable. And following the publication ofa new instruction book, The A Swing,Leadbetter is back in the spotlight andhappy to share his opinions on a range ofsubjects – from the state of the gameworldwide to the state of Tiger’s swing…How did it all start for you?I turned pro when I was 18 and became anassistant – I did it the old-fashioned way.I played pretty well in tournaments in SouthAfrica and the European Tour. But I alwaysloved coaching and because of myperfectionist attitude I found that playingwas more difficult than it should have been.So you were a failed Tour player then?It was very difficult for me to obtainconsistency and I got frustrated, but ➔

Ramp upthe speedLong Drive coach Lee Cox gives you the drills to go fasterSPEED SPECIALWORDS LEE COX, WITH JOE DOWNES PICTURES ANGUS MURRAYTG TOP 50LEE COXTHE SHIRE LONDONBased at The ShireLondon in Barnet,Lee is a PGA FellowProfessional and coachto World Long DriveChampion Joe Miller.ut simply, increased swing speed meansP increased ball speeds... which meansmore distance. When I work with longdrive sensation Joe Miller we constantly strive toboost swing speed. So many amateurs ask me‘am I swinging too fast?’ My response is alwaysthe same: ‘No, you can never swing it too fast!’Increasing your speed starts by understandingthe role each part of your body plays in generatingit, and then finding how to make it move moreefficiently. Here, as we work through the body,I’ll take you through the drills Joe and I work onevery day. Some were invented by us; others wereinspired by some of the biggest names and hittersin the long drive game. All will give you morespeed... and more distance.● Turn to page 76 for our testing of four of thelatest and fastest driver models. ➔

THE TESTFast andfuriousWe pitch four of the fastest drivers on the market in a headto-headpace race. Which will prove the speediest model?SPEED SPECIALWORDS SIMON DADDOW PICTURES TOM CRITCHELL, BOB ATKINS76 ISSUE 338 TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK

A fittingconclusionThe final piece of the speed jigsaw is finding the right driverand shaft for your swing. We invited three TG readers to doexactly that at Ping’s HQ – the results were fascinatingSPEED SPECIALWORDS SIMON DADDOW PHOTOGRAPHY HOWARD BOYLANur fast driver test highlights howOaerodynamic fins, turbulators, ultralightweight components and speedpockets can drastically increase your cluband ball speeds. However, our questionsweren’t entirely answered; we wanted to seeif getting fitted for a new driver on a launchmonitor would make further improvements.So we arranged for four TG readers totravel to Ping’s fitting HQ in Gainsborough,where they got fitted for a G30 driver. Ourintention was to max out their club andball speeds and add yards to their games.Here’s what happened.Fitting subjectHow would customfit work with Ping’sG30 technology tocreate distance?88 ISSUE 338 TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK

READER FITTINGScreen testLaunch monitorshelped optimise fit.Fast forwardTurbulators makethe Ping G30 faster.Speed boostFitting gainedPaul five yards.Richard Hardy Handicap: 12Current driver: Nike Covert, 10.5 deg regular shaftFitted driver: Ping G30 10 deg TFC 419D regular shaft● The fit: After four shaft changes and two loft combinations,Ping’s technician reduced Richard’s spin by 600rpm, which meantan increase in ball speed and more run. Overall Richard gained2.6mph of ball speed and 10 yards in total distance, an impressiveresult for the G30 and custom fitting.Current driver:Club Speed: 93.8mphBall Speed: 139.5mphLaunch Angle: 11.3 degShot Height: 19 yardsBackspin: 2733 rpmCarry Distance: 216 yardsTotal Distance: 241 yardsFitted driver:Club Speed: 94.6mphBall Speed: 142.1mphLaunch Angle: 10.7 degShot Height: 16 yardsBackspin: 2136 rpmCarry Distance: 213 yardsTotal Distance: 251 yardsBall speed gain: 2.6mph Total distance gain: 10 yardsPaul Cross Handicap: 5Current driver: Ping G25, 10.5 deg regular shaftFitted driver: Ping G30 10.5 deg Tour 65 stiff shaft● The fit: Working his way through Ping’s G30 and G30 SF-Tec(Straight Flight) heads in a bid to counteract his fade, Paul was leftwith a real choice. Did he want absolute accuracy and consistencyor additional power? He plumped for raw power and gained asignificant 3.6mph of ball speed and five yards in overall distance.Current driver:Club Speed: 93.6mphBall Speed: 139.2mphLaunch Angle: 12.5 degShot Height: 25 yardsBackspin: 3244 rpmCarry Distance: 213 yardsTotal Distance: 223 yardsFitted driver:Club Speed: 98mphBall Speed: 142.8mphLaunch Angle: 11.5 degShot Height: 24 yardsBackspin: 3293 rpmCarry Distance: 219 yardsTotal Distance: 228 yardsBall speed gain: 3.6mph Total distance gain: 5 yardsGeoff Godsmark Handicap: 7 Ian McGregor Handicap: 13Current driver: Callaway RAZR Fit, 10.5 deg regular shaftFitted driver: Ping G30 SF Tec 11 deg, TFC 419D stiff shaft● The fit: While Ping could match or beat club and ball speed itwas at the expense of consistency and accuracy. Geoff’s smashfactor (an indicator of how well you’ve struck shots) was alwayshigher with his own driver. Geoff attended a Callaway fitting sessionrecently, and none of Ping’s new models could beat the RAZR Fit.Current driver: Wilson Staff FG Tour M3 10.5 deg stiff shaftFitted driver: Ping G30 LS Tec, Tour 65 stiff shaft● The fit: Once on the launch monitor it was easy to spot Ian’sweakness… too much spin. By switching to Ping’s low-spinningG30 LS-Tec head there was an immediate improvement, with spindropping by half and total distance going up 37 yards! Furthertoying with shafts and lofts tightened dispersion by 10 yards, too.Current driver:Club Speed: 89.7mphBall Speed: 133.8mphLaunch Angle: 12.4 degShot Height: 20 yardsBackspin: 2654rpmCarry Distance: 203 yardsTotal Distance: 216 yardsFitted driver:Club Speed: 91.9mphBall Speed: 131.5mphLaunch Angle: 11.8 degShot Height: 17 yardsBackspin: 2524rpmCarry Distance: 194 yardsTotal Distance: 208 yardsCurrent driver:Club Speed: 105.5mphBall Speed: 148.7mphLaunch Angle: 14.6 degShot Height: 40 yardsBackspin: 4824rpmCarry Distance: 219 yardsTotal Distance: 223 yardsFitted driver:Club Speed: 102mphBall Speed: 148.9mphLaunch Angle: 14.5 degShot Height: 30 yardsBackspin: 2334rpmCarry Distance: 249 yardsTotal Distance: 260 yardsBall speed gain: -2.3mph Total distance gain: -8 yardsBall speed gain: 0.2mph Total distance gain: 37 yardsTHE TG VERDICTDriver fittings are on theincrease, but looking at theresults of this test we shouldall get fitted for our nextdriver. You can’t argue withnumbers on a launch monitorand you immediately get tosee the effects of changing ashaft, loft or shot bias. Sure,one tester made huge gains,others smaller gains and onedidn’t gain at all. But evenGeoff was adamant he’s gladto have been fitted twice justto prove he’s got a greatdriver in his hands already.Given the effort designers putinto aerodynamics andincreasing speed, it seems ashame to miss a crucial stepin the buying process and notget fitted. From this evidenceyou’re putting your maximumdriving distance potential atrisk if you don’t; and what’s tolose if you’ve got at least a75% chance of buyingyourself some extra speed?TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK ISSUE 338 89

Courses& TravelWHERE TO PLAY ATHOME AND ABROADEDITED BY KEVIN BROWNEngagingBrancasteroffers anintriguing linksexperience.

REGIONAL GUIDENorfolk callingThis part of East Anglia boasts some of England’s finest seaside coursesWORDS KEVIN BROWNhis quaint and quiet corner ofTEngland is dominated by the stretchof the North Sea known as The Washand is steeped in tradition. It’s often describedas having Britain’s last unspoilt coastline witha plethora of pretty villages, endless fields,and breathtaking views.It also happens to be the birthplace of oneof the truly Great Britons, Horatio Nelson, aswell as some of the best seaside courses inthe land. Admiral Nelson was born in thevillage of Burnham Thorpe in 1758 in a houseaptly named the ‘Shooting Box’. He famouslydefeated the French and Spanish fleets in theBattle of Trafalgar in 1805.The church where his father was Rector iswell worth a visit – it is full of Nelson familymemorabilia, including a cross and lecternmade from wood from HMS Victory – and thesame applies to the 17th Century Lord Nelsonpub, which ran into disrepair before beinglovingly restored to its original state in 1966.The area’s stunning collection of coursesare well worth visiting too and we arefortunate that our base in Peterboroughmeans they are under an hour away.The two grand giants of this peaceful cornerof East Anglia are the links of Hunstanton andRoyal West Norfolk, relative neighbours justoff the slender A149 coastal road. Bothmajestically overlook The Wash. It’s a toss-upwhich is the No.1, but there can be absolutelyno doubt they’re both classy, captivating links.➔