Golf International 101

INTERNATIONALMAGAZINE

GOLF

9 771368 402034

01

ISSUE 101 • MaY 2011 • £4.25

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

IN CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD CARING // MEMORABILIA // LEXUS CT 200h // AND MUCH MORE...

How to give your game a power boost, with expert analysis by Denis Pugh

You gotta roll with it...Putt like a tour player, with Rory McIlroy & Dr Paul Hurrion

Perfect chips, every time!Jonathan Yarwood introduces you to the modern method

Peter AllissRobert GreenSarah Stirk

Jeremy ChapmanJohn HopkinsRichard GillisDr Felix ShankThe Major!

Equipment editor Dominic Pedler gives you the inside track on all of the latest kit, including new sticks from Adams, Benross, Callaway, Cleveland and Cobra

Straight talking with sports supremo Barry Hearn

CRUSH ITLIKE QUIROS

WIN A MOTOCADDY

FREE£50 VOUCHER

GEAR & GADGETS

TOP WRITING

THE Gi INTERVIEW

FROM

Your G

olf Tr

avel

CONDITIO

NS appLY SEE pag

E 151

3 MODELS MUST BE WONSEE pagE 88

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

Call our subscription Hotline on (020) 8955 7018

...or click on the SUBSCRIPTIONS button online at:www.golfinternationalmag.com

PLEASE QUOTE SOURCE CODE: GiMAY101 Offer applies only to mailing addresses within the UK only and whilst stocks last

£24.99 8 ISSUESOFGOLF INTERNATIONALdelivered direct to your door

(MAGAZINE ONLY)

Srixon Z-Star premium golf balls RRP £45 per dozen

£39.99 8 ISSUES OFGOLF INTERNATIONALdelivered direct to your doorPLUS YOU WILL RECEIVE A DOZEN SRIXON Z-STAR BALLS

INTRODUCING THE NEW ALLSRIXON Z-STAR GOLF BALL

Editor: Richard Simmons [email protected]

Editor in Chief: Robert green [email protected]

Equipment Editor: Dominic pedler [email protected]

Design: Tony Seagrave [email protected]

professional Teaching panel: Robert Baker, Tim Barter, peter Cowen, Jim Chris-tine, andrew Hall, Simon Holmes, paul Hurrion, Stu-art Morgan, Denis pugh, Stuart Smith, David Whelan& Jonathan Yarwood

Regular Contributors: Clive agran, peter alliss, Colin Callander, Jeremy Chapman, Tom Cox, Richard gillis,anthony ffrench-Constant, Michael Flannery, John Hopkins, Tony Johnstone, kevin Mcgimpsey,David purdie, Ronan Rafferty, Sarah Stirk, JayneStorey, paul Trow & Jake Ulrich

photographers: David Cannon, peter Dazeley, Ross kinnaird, andrew Redington, getty Images,Charles Briscoe-knight, Matthew Harris, Eric Hepworth, Steve Read

Regular Illustrators: peter Clark, Harold Riley, Dave F. Smith, Tony Husband (www.tonyhusband.co.uk)

Overseas correspondents: karl ableidinger austriaJan kees van der Velden HollandSpencer Robinson Hong kongMario Camicia Italyandy Brumer USa

advertising/publishing Director:peter Simmons [email protected]: (020) 7828 3003 • Mobile: 07827 995 080

advertising Director:Nick Edgley [email protected]: 07774 703 491

advertising Consultant:Ian Harkness [email protected]: 01702 558512 • Mobile: 07980 464 378

US Travel Representative:gary Edwards [email protected]: (00) 1 843 849 1308

Special projects:Brosnan Event Management Tel: (020) 8691 6836

printers: St Ives Web Ltd // Tel: 01726 892400

Distribution: Comag // Tel: 01895 433600

aLLIaNCE MEDIa

Tel: (020) 8950 9117 e-mail: [email protected]

Uk: £34.99 • EUROpE: £44.99 • REST OF THE WORLD: £49.99

10, Buckingham place, London SW1E 6HX

Tel: +44 (0)20 7828 3003

SUBSCRIPTIONS

GOLFINTERNATIONALMAGAZINE

ESSENTIAL READING FROM THE BEST IN THE GAME

ISSUE 101 • MAY 2011

CO

VE

R p

HO

TO

gR

ap

HY

BY

Ge

TT

YIM

aG

eS

.Co

M

Don’t you just love it when a plan(!) comes together

[email protected]

RICHARDSIMMONS

Having survived the inevitable hangover following the

publication of our 100th issue, so carried away were we

by the fact we actually achieved the magical ‘ton up’ it

was something of a shock to discover the speed with

which the deadline for this spring edition loomed on the

calendar. As we cleared away the empties here at Gi Tow-

ers, the only question that really mattered was ‘what can

we pull together – and fast – for 101?’.

Through the fog of excess, ideas began to suggest

themselves: and it is at moments like this when I get to

fully appreciate the network of contributors and contacts

that we have established in our quest to deliver the es-

sential read in golf. As Wentworth owner Richard Caring

points out (in a rare interview, page 112), the secret to

success in business lies in surrounding yourself with

high-calibre people – well, that and good timing. Right on

cue, our friends at Callaway Golf asked if we’d be inter-

ested in a fabulous sequence of the 2011 Dubai Desert Classic champion Alvaro Quiros.

A call to leading coach Denis Pugh quickly took care of our cover story – he was en route

to the States and could track down Alvaro at Doral, where a rain delay provided the per-

fect opportunity for the pair of them to sit down and look at the images on a laptop.

You can enjoy watching – and learn from – one of the game’s longest hitters starting on

page 48.

We had enjoyed another piece of good timing when renowned sports biomechanist

and putting expert Paul Hurrion invited us to drop in on a lesson he was giving Rory

McIlroy during the Middle East Swing. Photographer David Cannon captured the two of

them working on the surely the only part of the game Rory needs to nail consistently to

win his first major title (by the time this issue appears he may even have done just that).

Based on his own detailed research into the biomechanics of the putting stroke and

analysis of ball roll, Hurrion’s sound advice can similarly help you to putt like a tour

player (and look out next issue for a report on the latest Quintic Ball Roll Putting Analy-

sis Software that takes putter fitting to a whole new level).

Jonathan Yarwood (above) has been a great supporter of Gi since its launch, and over

the years has continually sought to provide innovative lessons (find out how to trans-

form your chipping skills from page 72) and creative photo-shoots, such is his passion

for teaching and helping golfers understand their golf game. With three successful acad-

emies – two in the UK (at Stoke Park and Donnington Grove) and one at The Concession,

in Sarasota, where he has lived for the past 15 years – JY has reaped the reward for the

sheer professionalism he applies to every aspect of his career. And that dedication has

been recognised by his peers with the announcement that Jonathan is to be made Mas-

ter Professional – the highest accolade from the PGA. At just 41, he joins an elite band of

pro’s across the globe, including his former mentor David Leadbetter, Pete Cowen and

John Jacobs.

Rounding out the instruction package this issue is a valuable ‘first’ lesson on the fun-

damental role of posture and body rotation by Jim Christine (featuring Sky Sports’ Char-

lotte Jackson - page 130) and a terrific essay on the ‘Comfort Trap’ by leading European

Tour mind coach Dr Karl Morris (p136). Elsewhere, equipment editor Dominic Pedler

highlights the latest new products to have caught his eye (p68), including a look at some

fascinating new high-tech gadgets to tempt you (p96).

Add to all this a major interview with sports supremo Barry Hearn – and much more

besides – and we hope you agree it’s a pretty decent sequel to the blockbuster 100th

issue.

Right, what now for 102...

Enjoy the read,

RICHARD

GOLF INTERNA

The guv’nor: sports supremoBarry Hearn tells it the way it is,starting on page 80

PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE READ

6 FIRST Up One of the great things about this industry is the eclectic mix of interesting people you getto meet. For this issue, in the shape of Barry Hearn and Richard Caring, richard Simmons

40 aND aNOTHER THINg...Playing a major game of ‘if only’: rewinding towhat Jack Nicklaus achieved at augusta in1986, robert Green ponders how the courseof golfing history could have been so different

42 ON THE aIRIt’s all changing at the top: it’s not only the golfball that is undergoing revolutions in the gameright now – on the course and off it, all sorts ishappening, writes Peter alliss

44 TOUR TaLkMartin Laird proved to a lot of people that hehas true grit with his stoic victory at Bay Hill.Sarah Stirk was suitably impressed

46 BETTINgas this issue went to press the week theywere teeing up at augusta, gi’s betting expertJeremy Chapman looks beyond the firstmajor of the season for signs of who is likelyto challenge for the honours at the players’and the BMW pga Championship

162 THE LaST SHOTa long-time fan of Spain’s Sergio garcia,John Hopkins hopes that the charismaticplayer can build on some encouraging earlyperformances this season and find his wayback to the top

Essential readingfrom the best in the game

18 LETTERSDo you have an opinion you’d like to share?Why not email us? You could win the latestFootJoy shoes and wind-shirts

23 pLaNET gOLF19th Hole Q&a with Sir Nick Faldo...Top-10sextra – yet more of the Finest Things in golf......Fluid motion – Jayne Story and Chi-powergolf...more advice from Dr Felix Shank...introducing Lynn McCool, and a new instructionseries for the summer...The Major!...Tom Faziois raring to go in portugal...Divots..!

90 THE aMaTEUR SCENELondon is Calling! The unique golf LIVEexperience will this year be staged at theLondon club between May 20-22 and it’s anevent not to be missed as guests are invited toget up close and personal with many of thegame’s leading players; Colin Callendarreports on the worrying plight of a number ofMidlands golf clubs caught in the line of firefollowing the government’s plans for a high-speed London-Birmingham rail link plus around-up of major amateur tournament news

152 WORLD TOURNaMENT NEWSWentworth to crown a glorious spring forEuropean golf – andy farrell reports on thequality events lined up in the weeksimmediately after augusta, including the VolvoWorld Match play at Finca Cortesin, and ofcourse the European Tour’s flagship event, theBMW pga Championship at Wentworth. plusthere’s a round-up of the latest tournamentresults from the world of professional golf

MAY 2011 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM 111

CARING / COWORTH PARK / MEMORABILIA / RESORT SPOTLIGHT / MOTORING & MORE...

ATIONAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

Subscribe TODaY and you will receive a dozen Srixon

golf balls with your order. It’s a no-brainer – for just £39.99

you will have all eight issues of gi magazine delivered to

your door pLUS receive a dozen Srixon Z-Star premium

golf balls (which on their own retail for £45.99 per dozen)

for details, see page 95

Subscribe today...

Regulars Columns

ISSUE 101 // MAY 2011

54 TEEN SpIRIT Italian sensation Matteo Manassero is quickly becoming one of the finest young players in world golf. robert Green caught up with him

66 EQUIpMENT 2011 Following on from his pga Merchandise Show report last issue, Dominic Pedler selects another essential dozen of the latest new products from the leading manufacturers

80 BEINg BaRRY HEaRN There are few bigger characters in the world of sports promotion than Dagenham-born Barry Hearn. richard Simmons talks to the man who nurtured Steve Davis to six world titles and who has added golf, in the shape of the pga Europro Tour to a long list of interests

98 gaDgETS // TECH kNOW Radar, lasers, gpS, radio frequency ID, infra- red sensors, 3D cameras and iphone ‘apps’ are just some of the concepts covered in our special round-up of the very latest golfing gadgets and gizmos out there for all types of golfers. Dominic Pedler is your geeky guide

106 CUp FEVERas the day of reckoning nears, richard Gillislooks at the bidding process in the race tostage the 2018 Ryder Cup – and poses 10questions the senior officers of the EuropeanTour will have to answer

106 DEaLS ON WHEELS Whether you are in the market for a powered version or a humble push/pull trolley there has never been a better selection of models to choose from. Time to lighten the load? Roll on...

124 SURREY'S HIDDEN TREaSURE With such illustrious layouts as Walton Heath, Worplesdon and St george’s Hill all within half an hour of this gloriously leafy west London enclave, it’s perhaps not surprising that one of Surrey’s finest classic courses maintains a relatively low profile. But as Coombe Hill celebrates its centenary year, Peter Dazeley throws the spotlight on a. F. abercrombie’s masterpiece

146 TRaVEL pagES In association with our partner Your golf Travel we reveal the latest stay-and-play deals at home and abroad

Features

112 THE LEaDER IN HIS OWN CLUBHOUSErichard Simmons talked to Wentworth owner Richard Caring

116 BECaUSE YOU’RE ‘WORTH’ ITTwo minutes from Wentworth, Coworth park is setting newstandards of luxury in country hotels, writes Dominic Pedler

118 MEMORaBILIaauction-room expert Kevin McGimpsey answers more of yourletters

120 RESORT SpOTLIgHTgrand Mer is the club phil Mickelson calls home when he findshimself with a week off. Naturally, it’s sublime, as CarlyCummins discovered

138 MOTORINgMotoring correspondent anthony ffrench-Constant takes to thewheel of the Lexus CT 200h

WIN THREEMOTOCADDY’SMUST BE WONSEE PAGE 88

ISSUE #101 // MAY 2011 // MORE GOLF WITH THE EXPERTS...

Probably the best instruction on the Planet!

Get on a roll with Roryand putting doctor PaulHurrion – see page 60

WITHIN pLaNET gOLF30 Chi-power GOLF: Jayne Storey has more practical advice relating to the way in which exercises developed in the martial arts can help you to improve your golf

34 NEW SERIES: Introducing lynn McCool, Director of golf and head professional at the stunning Lough Erne Resort just outside Enniskillen in Northern Ireland (Rory’s favourite hang-out when he’s at home). With the help of gi’s Carly Cummins, and photography by Matthew Harris on location at this fantastic Nick Faldo-designed course, the series promises to be something special – helping you to get yourgame in shape this summer

48 CRUSH IT LIkE QUIROSSpain’s alvaro Quiros, winner of the Dubai DesertClassic, is one of the game’s finest – andlongest – ball strikers. Here, in a sequenceprovided by Callaway golf, top European Tourcoach Denis Pugh takes you through the action,highlighting the key power moves that can helpyou find a few more precious yards

60 ROLL MODELas this issue went to press, the world’s elite wereheading to augusta National for the first major ofthe 2011 season. rory McIlroy was among thosefancied to do well – and for good reason as hecontinues to bring his putting up to the standard ofhis long game. Here, leading biomechanics andputting guru Dr Paul Hurrion provides a glimpseof the way he has been helping Rory to make andrepeat a perfect stroke

72 OUT WITH THE OLD...IN WITH THE NEWIn order to take advantage of a modern techniquethat allows you to enjoy full versatility in the arenaof chipping (and indeed pitching), you need toshed some of the ‘old school’ teaching ideas thatmay be holding you back – Jonathan Yarwoodexplains

130 STaRTINg pOINTS... Bearing in mind this was her first real golf lesson, Sky Sports’ Charlotte Jackson displays real talent and a natural athleticism – to which giteaching professional Jim Christineenhanced with a few vital basicsthat all golfers need to take on board

136 MIND FaCTOR gOLF The Comfort Trap: why is it that we can often burn up the front nine holes, playing well under our handicap, only to then fritter away handfuls of shots on the way in? Dr Karl Morrisexamines the phenomena of the‘comfort zone’, and suggestsways in which you might escape it...

SUBSCRIBE TODAY





(MAGAZINE ONLY)




A dream fourball – who do you invite?

My dream four ball? Definitely Ben

Hogan, Sam Snead and Lee Trevino.

What’s your all-time favourite golf

course?

That’s easy! St Andrews Old Course.

Name a golf course you would most

like to play, but haven't yet?

There are quite a few. Bandon Dunes,

Oregon is one spot.

What’s the greatest shot you ever hit?

Probably my 3-iron to the last green at

Muirfield in 1992.

And one shot you would love to be able

to have over again?

I would love to be able to play the par-

three 16th at Brookline in the final round

of the 1988 US Open. It was a 6-iron and

I pushed it right into the bunker.

Who do you most admire in golf?

Jack, Arnold, Gary.

And outside golf, in life generally?

I admire anyone who has devoted their

life and career researching and develop-

ing something to enhance the lives of

others, particularly those who have made

significant medical breakthroughs.

If you were in charge of the game for a

day, what Rule of Golf would you

change?

I’d say “no tee pegs.” It would be all

about ball-striking. Wow!

What is your all-time favourite Ryder

Cup moment?

In 1995 at Oakhill, my up and down from

93 yards to beat Curtis Strange in my sin-

gles match on Sunday; and of course

being part of the 1987 team which

earned the first win ever in America at

Muirfield Village.

Your worst Ryder Cup memory?

In 1985 at the Belfry, I played so bad that

week that I wasn’t part of that victory.

What’s your favourite meal?

I am a happy eater. Ideally anything

Sir Nick Faldo is a man who likes his cars. In fact, he likes them alot, so the Goodwood Festival of Speed Press Day on an albeit-slightly nippy spring day was definitely his kind of gig. In betweenrapid runs in a vintage Jaguar E-Type racer (speedy), the divineFerrari 458 Italia (warp speed) and the new McLaren MP4-12C(light speed), the six-time major champion took a breather andspoke to Golf International about his first love, golf. He may havehung up his spikes, but Faldo has never had more to say on thegame…including a revolutionary idea banning tee-pegs in orderto bring back the emphasis on pure ball striking!

planet golf 19th hOLE Q&Aplanet golf

19TH HOLE Q&A

SIR NICK FALDO

GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM MAY 20118

Japanese or Italian, but I like anything

with more than 1,000 calories and a dan-

gerous sauce!

Favourite drink?

Depends on the occasion. I like a nice

glass of red wine. Also love a rare

whisky, or chilled Russian Vodka, or sim-

ply a lime and soda.

What do you do to relax?

I’m a fly fisherman. I love to stand in a

river waiting for the rise of the trout or

quietly stalk the flats for bonefish.

How frustrating is it to be sat up in that

booth when surely you’d really like to

be out there playing golf?

If you could wave a magic wand over a

golfer, like any athlete, sure we’d all like

to freeze time and maintain the highest

level of skill on the world stage until we

die. But that is not life. So in actuality, I

am very happy with my role in television

and to still play a part in this game and

to watch the youngsters and the game

evolve and entertain us. I enjoy telling

those stories.

When Tom Watson could’ve/should’ve

won at Turnberry, was there a part of

you that wondered why you ever

packed in playing?

No, not really. There was no room to do

anything but admire Tom Watson on

that week and that day. Unfortunately to

come that close, maintain that level day

after day and come up just short – for

me, honestly, that tremendous effort and

devastating result would have emotion-

ally scarred me from the experience.

For the Hill Climb at Goodwood what

would be your choice of car?

I think I did pretty good in the Ferrari

458 Italia. The Bentley Le Mans car was

something else – unfortunately, there is

only one seat!

Do you think Tiger will surpass Jack

Nicklaus's record of 18 majors?

Short answer, no I don’t.

If you were Tiger's coach, what would

you be telling him?

Wow, I have plenty of drills I did in my

day, which I think would help him. For

starters, right now, I would like to see

him play a week, practice a week. I think

it is important for him to get that tourna-

ment feedback.

Are you satisfied with six majors –

should you have won more?

Should is not the right word. Of course, I

would like to have won more; we all

would like to win more. Looking back it

would have been nice to win the Slam, all

four. Having said that, I am quite proud

of my ‘pair of threes’.

What’s the best piece of property you

have ever been involved with, design-

wise?

Right now, on my books, I am very ex-

cited about La Vassa Hill City project in

India. It has a stunning view with what

must be at least a 1,000-foot drop at the

end of the site.

Your golf courses aside, which course

designer’s work do you admire the

most?

The Golden Era architects have really

stood the test of time and impact on the

game; Alister MacKenzie and George

Thomas are probably my two favourites.

Favourite holiday destination?

My favourite holiday destinations all in-

clude water, the river or the sea. I enjoy

fishing and jet skiing and seascapes; just

the peace of being waterside.

What gadget could you not live without?

I guess it has to be my Blackberry. It

keeps me in contact with family and

business. I’m a tweeter like so many play-

ers on Tour. It is really a great source of

news and entertainment and I can always

snap a picture to share with my kids.


(from left to right):

Goodwood’s Director

of Golf, eddie Bullock,

Sir Nick faldo, lord

March and Savile row

tailor William Hunt – the

Trilby Tour is making

its first visit to Good-

wood this summer

planet golf MORE tOP 10’s


planet golf

Luther BlacklockPGA MASTER PROFESSIONAL & Gi CONTRIBUTING COACH

1. Links golf – the purist form of the game.

2. The Open Championship – the July dates are the first in my diary every year3. public access to great venues – a tennis player may never play Wimbledon, or an amateur soccer

player not make Wembley. Yet, for the most part, the humble golfer can still get to visit and play the likes of St. andrews, Carnoustie, Sunningdale or, my favourite, Woburn.

4. Diversity of skilled people who work in or play golf – the fascination of encountering agronomists, green-keepers, tour players, amateur golfers, teachers, historians et al. golf provides a huge varietyof fields that one can spend a lifetime studying and enjoying.

5. Teaching golf – I have been teaching this game for 37 years and enjoy it as much today as I did way back then. It is fascinating to meet, teach and get to know so many differing types of pupil: each is like the challenge of a new Rubik’s Cube and so many become good friends.

6. The golfer’s code – golf is one of the last bastions of good sportsmanship and integrity. poor or dishonest behaviour is rare: what other sport nurtures such good conduct and courtesy?

7. The handicap system – the ingenius sliding scale that enables golfers of hugely differing abilities to compete on level terms: impossible in other sports such as tennis or squash.

8. golf in the USa – golf across the pond is mainly accessible, affordable and offers great variety compared to many European destinations. It is friendly, hospitable and the answer is always “Yes”!

9. The US Masters – the nervous adrenalin rush of anticipation after a long winter that heralds the firstsigns of Spring. Every Masters seems memorable.

10. Tiger Woods – whatever the future holds, you are pele, ali and Borg in one body. I want to say thank you for an amazing fifteen years as we have watched you re-write history. It’s been a privilegeand a total blast!

Expanding on Tiger: if you had asked me 3 years ago if I thought Tiger would surpass the great JackNicklaus’ record in the majors. I would have said “Yes” in a heartbeat. Sadly, I now think that hischances are less than 50%. Sean Foley is a renowned and respected coach, but, like every othercoach (with the exception of Butch Harmon), he is not needed. Every time Tiger tries to “make a swing”on the course, rather than hit a shot, he is going backwards.

You don’t need to tell a salmon how to swim or a Collie dog to herd sheep – it’s in their nature! BubbaWatson is overwhelming evidence that swing technique is NOT the be-all-and-end-all of winning tourevents. Please, please, please, leave Tiger alone. Just check his set-up, posture and grip and tell himto go and play golf. Tiger’s swing was regarded as being at its best in 2000, a short period compared tothe overall time spent under Harmon. The main reason that Tiger succeeded under Butch is that, firstand foremost, he teaches people how to score and play. Look at his success with so many unorthodoxpupils like Corey Pavin and Natalie Gulbis, not to mention the nurturing of Adam Scott, Darren Clarkand Nick Watney

It is tragic to see Tiger being “cloned” into yet another stylised and unnatural golfer with a methodologythat is so obviously suppressing his ability. Come on Tiger, trust yourself and go kick some butt! I wantto enjoy watching you for the next 15 years, God willing.

The finest things in golf

Our 100th issue at-tracted a great deal ofcorrespondence, with anumber of readers writ-ing to say how muchthey enjoyed the fea-tures on the Top 100Finest Things in golf,and especially the per-sonal Top-10s that ranthroughout the maga-zine. Thanks to all of youwho have emailed yourown Top-10 list – lookout for a collection ofthose in the next issue.In the meantime, hereare a few more from avarious assortment ofwriters and contributorsto gi, plus one or twospecial guests...

Email your top-10 list to

[email protected]

CoNTINueD...

Tiger’s swing is a work in progress with

coach Sean foley (left); at Bay Hill,

playing partner Pat Perez gave his opinion

PLANEt GOLF


1. Staying at the Royal Champagne Hotel, right in the middle of Champagne, surrounded by some of the finest vineyards in the world and enjoying quite possibly the finest Champagne known to man. There’s no golf, but who cares after three bottles of bubbly!

2. Taking wine and food with some of my best friends at Brancaster, Doonbeg, Machrihanish Dunes, Brora, Les Bordes, the New Zealand golf Club, augusta and, of course, Royal County Down (above)

3. Standing on the 1st tee at Royal County Down knowing that I’m about to spend four hours on the finest course in the land

4. Three hours & 50 minutes later, standing on the 18th tee having enjoyed taking on the finest course in the land

5. Spending time over the rest of the season working with the Orange Whip, a golf swing training device which improves yourclubhead speed. No impact, just swishing the orange ball on the end of the shaft

6. playing golf with my son Jonathan

7. Just being a pro golfer

8. playing in the Masters (1990 and '91) and having great golfing memories. The greatest? probably holing the putt to win the Volvo Masters and the Order of Merit in 1989. The exclamation point on a fabulous year

9. playing in the Ryder Cup just as things were changing. Being part of the era that won in 1985 & ’87 and defending in ’89. Being part of the changing of the guard of the Ryder Cup

10. Being able to watch the Ben Hogan videoson YouTube. Having never been around inthat era, never seen a shot, through new technology being able to access and see the great Ben Hogan in action

Ronan RaffertyFORMER EUROPEAN NO. 1

MY PERSONAL TOP 10

1. The Open Championship (say no more!)

2. Seve’s short game!

3. playing the Ocean Course at kiawah Island in South Carolina. Just spectacular

4. Loch Lomond in the summer

5. While in Scotland taking a trip to Machrihanish golf Club to play the best opening hole in golf

6. get fit for and play a set of Japanese forged hand made blades and adding a set of custom-ground Scratch Wedges by Hall of Famer Don White (Oh, and for good measure have a putter designed and made for you by Tom Slighter)

7. Indoor golf at Urban golf in the winter

8. Enjoying a pint of St.Mungo as the sun goes down at Turnberry

9. play New South Wales golf Club in australia – stunning views!

10.Reading the book The Amateurs by John Niven

Zane NavieCUSTOM FITTING EXPERT, URBAN GOLF

MY PERSONAL TOP 10

1. Talking to Jack Nicklaus and gary player about the swing

2. playing the Old Course, St andrews

3. Hitting a very solid long iron

4. Watching the highlights of previous Open Championships

5. Standing next to Seve as he pitches and chips to the fast greens at the short game area of augusta

6. Eating biltong and looking out at holes 9 and 18 from the Leopard Creek clubhouse

7. The touch and feel of a Dunhill mercerised cotton shirt (and evenings in the old Course bar during the dunhill links championship)

8. Listening to Nick price tell jokes (and hanging out with him in his workshop)

9. playing the National golf Links in Southampton

10. Having a serious match on a serious golf course with competitive opponents

Robert BakerINTERNATIONAL GOLF COACH

MY PERSONAL TOP 10

1. as a kid (and I still do!) hours spent looking for golf balls around the tree-lined fairways of Tehidy park (and in those days finding a Slazenger B52 or Dunlop 65 in good nick!)

2. Evening golf at Tehidy park – one of Cornwall’s loveliest parkland courses

3. Sneakily practising all sorts of shots on the course which are out of view of the clubhouse!

4. Holing any length of putt which is crucial in a match – preferably a winning one

5. Walking into augusta for the first time last year – a childhood dream!

6. playing golf with my Dad – he’s even more competitive than I am!

7. anytime I beat my brother (Richard - Editor). With £1 bits & pieces!

8. playing for the Cornwall County golf Team

9. Staying & playing at Turnberry, Trevose and kiawah Island (below)

10. Beating any young kid who hits it 300 yards plus!

Peter SimmonsPUBLISHING/ADVERTISING DIRECTOR GI

MY PERSONAL TOP 10


tree (identified through a pair of binoculars, no doubt taken off a U-

boat commander), a few putts holed and a few putts missed – all

very exciting. Quiros is a talented player has won a handful of tour-

naments and could be in the next Ryder Cup team, but he, like

many others, still needs to learn how to play – when to attack, when

to defend.

He was not alone. There were plenty of others trying to play

shots which would have walked straight into the Guinness Book of

Records if successful, while their caddies looked on, powerless to

stop their man committing golfing hara-kiri.

I watch a lot of televised golf and although the game is now more

sophisticated, players repeatedly make the same elementary mis-

takes and the commentators don’t help much. They’d have us believe

the players are using rifles instead of golf clubs, and they are always

“holding it up”, “fading it in”, “leaving it below the hole”, “leaving it

on the upslope in the greenside bunker”, “controlling the spin” and

so on and on.

I maintain that a ball struck straight into the middle of the green

stands just as much chance of getting close to the hole as one where

the player attempts the shot of the year. No matter what they say,

you never know how much spin the ball is going to take, or whether

it will take spin at all. Will it go left or right, will it stay where it lands,

or will it bounce through? Much of golf is in the lap of the gods, and

in my view it’s all the better for that.

My biggest disappointment lately has been watching Tiger Woods.

I must say that he doesn’t seem to be making much effort to improve

his professional persona. When interviewed, his answers to relatively

sensible questions are met with a stony face, a sharp tongue and a

look of complete boredom.

he year is barely a quarter of the way through but

the world of golf administration has definitely got

off to a shaky start. The first big shock came with

the walk-out by David Fay, the executive director of

the United States Golf Association, a famously good

chap and wearer of bow-ties. It is the USGA, along with the R&A,

which is responsible for most things in the world of golf, both pro-

fessional and amateur.

Then blow me but in March it was announced that David Hill, the

R&A’s Director of Championships, had resigned with immediate ef-

fect. What’s this? – such turmoil in the upper echelons

of the game. If golf is widely regarded as a conservative

sport, then you can make that tenfold when it comes to

the perception of golf’s governing bodies.

I have often said that it only needs two or three new

people on a committee, with different ideas and strong

personalities, to force through changes in legislation,

particularly when money is involved. Sometimes it

works, sometimes it doesn’t, but they seem to operate

on the theory that if it doesn't work out, they can always

go back to the original parties who gave such good serv-

ice before they were jettisoned. But how I would have

loved to have been a fly on the wall at the USGA’s offices

in Far Hills, New Jersey, and/or one similarly located in

that grand R&A clubhouse at St Andrews.

But then nothing is sacrosanct. That has been wit-

nessed by the slow strangulation of BBC Sport, and par-

ticularly its involvement in golf. Looking back, how

often did I hear people say: “The BBC Sports Depart-

ment? That's impregnable.” Oh no it’s not. Gradually it

has been eroded. That’s not to say the present incum-

bents don't wish to display golf to the public in the

most brilliant way, but there are now half-a-dozen dedicated sports

channels running pretty much 24 hours a day against the BBC's out-

put, so it is easy to see how they have been overtaken.

Back to the sport itself. I remember that after he had come to the

end of his great cricket career, Fred Trueman spent many hours, mi-

crophone in his hand, extolling the virtues of that wonderful game.

When anything untoward happened out on the pitch, one of his

favourite expressions was: “I just don't know what’s going off out

there!” As I have watched some recent golf tournaments, I have un-

derstood exactly what he meant.

Please don’t run away with the idea that I’m a dyed-in-the-wool

Luddite who can see nothing good in the world today. I have tried

hard to move with the times but you can’t change every idea drilled

into you when you’re young. So let’s take Alvaro Quiros and his vic-

tory at the Emirates Club in Dubai.

The Spaniard was his usual mercurial self, playing his typical

crash-bang-wallop golf when suddenly, during the last round, ex-

traordinary things began to happen. He had two eagles, a hole-in-

one, a handful of birdies, bogeys in assorted sizes, a ball stuck up a

ON THE AIR

It’s all changing at the top

PETERALLISS

T

It’s not only the golf ball that’s undergoing revolutions in the game right now. Both on the course and off it, all sorts is happening

After providing some extraordinary golfing fireworks in the final round of the Dubai Desert Clas-sic, Alvaro Quiros got to pose for a picture with a few hostesses. He’s the one in blue.

Ge

TT

YIM

aG

eS

.Co

M

SUBSCRIBE TODAY





(MAGAZINE ONLY)




INSTRUCTION ON THE TEE WITH ALVARO QUIROS

GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM MARCH/APRIL 201114

Spain’s latest superstar provides a model to all young players of how tomanage exceptional power with balance and athleticism. He also happensto be one of the game’s finest ambassadors

By Denis PughLEADING EUROPEAN TOUR COACH& SKY SPORTS ANALYST

King Quiros

Driver: Callaway RAZR Hawk (9.5°)

Fairway Wood: Callaway Tour X (15°), Callaway X (17°)

Irons (3-PW): Callaway X Prototype

Wedges: Callaway X-Forged Vintage (52° and 58°)

Putter: Odyssey Black Series i #1

Ball: Callaway Tour iZ

What’sin the Bag?

CALLAWAY PROMOTION


Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I satdown with Alvaro Quiros during the rain delay duringthe WGC at Doral and showed him the driver se-quence you are about to enjoy on my laptop. Over-all he was pretty happy with the look of his swing,and particularly the poise and balance displayedthroughout which, as he was quick to acknowledge,is what enables players of his calibre to recover andhit good shots even when the swing is not techni-cally 100% where they want it.

Quiros works with Jose Rivero, the former Spanish

Ryder Cup player who himself was known for the silkyrhythm and tempo with which he swung the club. I seethis quality in Alvaro’s incredibly powerful swing; fromstart to finish he exhibits exceptional athletic balance,which is the first thing I would hope all the young andambitious golfers out there would seek to copy.

Looking at the sequence face on, particularly, theearly moves in this swing certainly reveal the benefitof being supple and athletic as Quiroswinds his upper body over the sta-bility and resistance of the hips and

legs; he is notably limited with his hip rotation, whilethe shoulders move through a full 90 degrees andthe arms arrive at a compact, almost three-quarterposition. He then explodes through the ball, max-imising his speed with long levers that give himsuch tremendous clubhead speed.

You cannot become a long hitter copying all thatQuiros does, but you can certainly be the longestYOU CAN BE if you pick up on four key positionsthat I have highlighted here and through the copy.Ok, now let’s go and enjoy the sequences in full.

Power Posıtıon #1Studying a sequence faceon always reveals the way inwhich a good player coils hisupper body over the resist-ance of the hips and legs,and Quiros does this beauti-fully. I have identified frame 5in the face-on sequence asone you should give specialattention to, as it not onlyscreams ‘coil!’, but also ex-ceptional width in the arms.

Power Posıtıon #3Moving to frame 9 in theface on sequence, this re-lease of the arms towardsthe target as he continues torotate his body left is fantastic to copy – note thegloved left hand clearly visible beneath the right.This is a position you shouldactively try to replicate, andone that will help you toenjoy a fuller release

Power Posıtıon #4The follow through is al-ways tell-tale sign ofwhether or not a playerhas managed to keep itall together and in controlto the end. There are a lotof golfers who pose thisposition as if it’s an after-thought, but in Alvaro’scase it looks to be theperfect conclusion and isone that results from themomentum of what is avery good golf swing.

Power Posıtıon #2Frame 6 down the line, thisimpact position shows howthe arms fully release withno flicking of the wrists. Thisis the result of fantastic arm-speed that originates in thecoil and recoil of the upperbody.

IT’S A GLORIOUS AND ENIGMATIC COUNTRY, ITALY,

eternally full of surprises and contrasts. As politicians go, it

presently has arguably the oldest known lothario in public

life. As sportsmen go, it has – 57 years younger than Silvio

Berlusconi, so almost old enough to be legitimately invited

to a bunga bunga party – one of the world’s most prodi-

giously talented prospects, golfer Matteo Manassero.

After Manassero, then 16, had received the silver medal

for finishing as low amateur in the Open Championship at

Turnberry in 2009, Stewart Cink stepped up to receive the

claret jug. The luckless Tom Watson, as runner-up, was

standing with his playing partner of the first two rounds.

“One day you’ll be here again,” he told the young Italian.

As we know so far with Andy Murray and the “Oh, he’s

bound to win a Grand Slam some time”, there is no such

thing as a certain future champion in sport. Twenty years

ago, who would have predicted no majors for Colin Mont-

gomerie? Ten years ago, who would have said there’d be

none for Sergio Garcia? There may never be one for Lee

Westwood. So Manassero is no cert. But it would be shocker

if he was seldom a contender.

He was born on April 19, 1993. Until the 2013 Masters

has been and gone, he will have a shot at becoming the first

teenager to win a major championship since Young Tom

Morris did the trick aged 17 in 1868. (Annoyingly for anal-

ogy purposes, Young Tom’s birthday was April 20.) Man-

assero was officially the world’s No.1 amateur golfer for the

last 18 weeks of his career in the unpaid ranks until he

FEATURE MATTEO MANASSERO


Mickelson drives at 18 lastyear en route to his third greenjacket. For fans everywhere,the opportunity to see Augustain 3D will this year turn it into awhole new ball game

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GETTYIMAGES.COM

Italian golf’s young sensation has a precious talent to go with his precocity. Robert Green reports

teenspırıt

INSTRUCTION THE PUTTING DOCTOR


Here’s a question for you: how can you realistically hope to reduce yourhandicap if you don’t seriously practice with the one club you usemost often in every round of golf! It’stime to change. Get yourself a puttingmirror, like the one Rory is using here,and commit yourself this season toworking on the same drills and practiceroutines that I use with one the world’smost exciting young golfers. The returnon your investment will be worth it...

Mirror, mirror... If I had to choose just one train-

ing aid for the players I coach to use regularly in their

practice routines it would have to be a putting align-

ment mirror. I believe it is the simplest and most ef-

fective piece of equipment you can buy when it

comes to working on all aspects of your aim, set-up

and stroke. The graphics on the top of the mirror

have certainly helped Rory to make consistent both

his eye position and the square alignment of the put-

terface behind the ball on every putt. It is easy to use

for a quick practice indoors at home or in the hotel

room as well as on the putting green.

Non negotiable... That the putterface is aimed

square to the initial line on which you want to roll the ball

is one of the ‘non-negotiable’ elements of good putting

technique. Simple, you might think, but you would be

surprised at the number of leading professionals I have

worked with who fail to take care of this most basic of

laws at the set up. It’s that old issue of perception versus

reality – what we think we are doing in golf is often a long

way from what we are actually doing. Which is why it is

vital you check this element regularly. Rory uses the solid

transverse lines directly behind the ball as his reference

point. He is then able to see the line directly in front of the

putter blade, which is at 90 degrees to the target. Rory

RollModelAnalysis by Dr Paul HurrionBIOMECHANICS EXPERT & EUROPEAN TOUR COACHWWW.QUINTIC.COMPHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID CANNON/GETTYIMAGES.COM

Routine practice with an alignmentmirror enablesyou to buildsolid set-up fundamentals...


Precision alignment to the target – that’s Rule No. 1

RollModel

The first steps you see Rory running through here are de-

signed to confirm perfect alignment of both his body, eye-

line and the putter face. We generally like to start off a

practice session with a straight 10-foot putt – Rory will get

down behind the mirror to check that the centre line is

aimed exactly down the target line. By using the alignment

guides on the mirror, Rory can then check his eye position

(for him just inside the middle line), square the putterface to

the target line and confirm that the key body lines (feet,

hips and shoulders) all run parallel.

With the mirror fixed in place, aimed at a straight putt, I

would expect Rory to hole putt after putt from 10 feet. And

one of the vital checks I make as he hits these putts is that

Rory’s eye-line is maintained from the set-up all the way to

impact – this helps to ensure that he ‘stays in the putt’. (You

don’t ever want to peek too early – that throws the whole

stroke off line). I also like to film all of the putts and drills so I

can review them in the Quintic video analysis software; we

have created a substantial library of good putts and this is

always very useful to refer back to.

Once Rory is confident and rattling in the majority of

the putts he hits I then remove the mirror and continue to

film his stroke from the same spot on the green. Doing

this introduces clubface alignment into the equation – i.e.

Rory has to square the face without the benefit of the

lines on the mirror. If the percentage of holed putts drops

below 80% we need to address the failure of being able

to repeat correct alignment.

Once Rory is achieving 90% we repeat the drill with

varying length putts, and finally we find a slope and re-

peat the drill with breaking putts. This drill examines and

improves Rory’s pace control, which has to be correct for

the ball to take the break and find the hole.

Stay focused – fixingyour eyes on the back ofthe ball and keepingyour head still ensuresthat you ‘stay in the putt’and keep the putterfacerunning square to thepath of your stroke

...all designedto help you re-turn the puttersquarely to theback of theball and start itrolling on yourchosen line

Following on from his PGA

Merchandise Show report last

issue, Dominic Pedler selects

another essential dozen of the

latest new products from the

leading manufacturers.

2011EquıpmentBenross Quad driver

The Quad term here refers to the

exaggerated corner weighting in this

contemporary styled, 460cc titanium

head that helps to make this Ben-

ross’ most stable metalwood offer-

ing to date.

The high MOI performance is

further helped by the modern ‘wide

footprint’ that extends the body

back from the face, and also the

choice of aldila High Launch

graphite shaft that complements

the overall head dynamics.

Special mention should also go

to the company’s exclusive Quad-Fit

custom fitting system currently being

rolled out at some 100 retail outlets

across the Uk. Featuring a special

Twist-Fit hosel that allows the fitter and

consumer to be guided quickly to the correct

‘spec’ without resorting to hundreds of indi-

vidual demo clubs, the technology and fitting

process is up there with some big brand ri-

vals – but at a fraction of the price.

Guide: £129.99

www.benrossgolf.com

EQUIPMENT

GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM MAY 201120 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM MAY 201120

EquıpmentCobra S3 and S3 Max irons

Behind the fashionable dusky finish lies

some highly progressive thinking in terms of

sweetspot design.

In particular, the latest evolution of the ‘9-

points’ face concept that aims to match the

shape of the effective hitting area through

the set to the actual strike patterns of most

golfers. according to research, it’s only in

the short irons that the expected circular

sweetspot is relevant, with the ideal ‘high-

COR’ zone morphing to a more horizontal

pattern as we move down through the set,

with an almost elliptical ‘high toe’ shape for

the longest irons.

“Each S3 irons is optimized based on

these results, so golfers know they’ll be get-

ting what they need from every club,” ex-

plains Tom preece, Cobra’s Vice president

of R&D.

Cobra’s first techie-yet-trendy offering

since its high-profile tie-up with puma cer-

tainly lives up to its hype – and includes a

super-forgiving S3 Max version in a choice

of irons or hybrid/iron combo set.

Guide: S3 £499/£599 / S3Max from £399

www.cobragolf.co.uk

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEW SEASON


Tour edge exotics XCG-4 driver

Here’s the follow up to last year’s XCg-3

which pioneered a special fusion process for

multi-material metalwoods that eliminates all

the excess ‘beading’ typically associated

with traditional welding.

This time the titanium face and sole is

combined with a carbon crown and sole in-

serts, as well as two tungsten sole weights.

This driver head construction, together with

a graphite Design Tour shaft and a 26-gram

WinnLite grip, allows for a super-light overall

weight of 276g that follows a new trend in

lightweight drivers also adopted by Cleve-

land, among others, this season. [There is

also a 310g XCg-4 edition with a Fujikura

Motore shaft.]

Distributed in the Uk by Foremost golf,

the XCg-4 also boasts a Boomerang face

(multiple levels of variable thickness that

maximize the rebound effect from more

points on the clubface) in what is one of the

most high-tech metalwood ranges of the

season. Guide: Driver £299 (Fairways

£249, Hybrid £175).

www.exoticsgolf.com

www.foremostgolf.co.uk


At a recent teaching conference with theshort-game guru Stan Utley I was pleasedto recognise a lot of similarity in the way weview chipping. The golden rule for both ofus is that the shaft should be encouraged tospeed up on the way down and through theball so the clubhead can catch up with thehands and the natural loft on the clubfacedelivered freely. That way you can expect tohit a variety of good crisp chip shots as thebottom of the arc is fractionally ahead of theball. But in order to take advantage of thisyou do need to shed some of the old habitsyou may have been taught over the years –so let’s bring your short game up to date.

By Jonathan YarwoodWWW.GOLFJY.COM • PHOTOGRAPHY: KEVIN MURRAYSHOT ON LOCATION AT THE CONCESSION • WWW.THECONCESSION.COM

INSTRUCTION

What I regard as the ‘old school’ of coachingin the chipping arena typically sees this typeof set-up: the ball is back, hands forwardand weight forward. It’s a set-up that leadsto a one-dimensional type of chip shot and,as such, restricts your options around thegreen.

What you need in chipping is creativity andin order to achieve that you need to controlthree key elements: the strike, the spin youput on the ball and and the trajectory of theshot. Fine tune those three and bingo! Youhave control of your landing distance and thebehaviour of the ball on the green.

One other point I must make regardingthe ‘old’ method is that it usually advocateskeeping the angle in the right wrist for aslong as possible. That effectively traps theclubhead behind the hands, making the club‘bottom out’ early. To compensate for thatthe player invariably has to move the ball fur-ther and further back, so producing a lowershot. What you often see is the lower bodyleans forward, the upper body weight leansbackwards; in the modern way, everything isdesigned to be more neutral – just the oppo-site of ‘old school’.

OLD SCHOOL:Excessive angles ashands push forwards

OUT WITH THE OLD...

See how theangle in the rightwrist is main-tained as thehands lead theclubhead

Ball is squeezedforward, and mis-hits are common


JONATHAN YARWOOD

The modern way I recommend you goout and try revolves around a noticeablymore neutral neutral set up, the lowerbody weight actually more on the rightheal, so the upper body weight can getmore forward and more open. You cansee here that the shaft ‘lean’ is muchless, the hands only marginally ahead ofthe ball, and I’m also standing muchcloser to the ball. From here, the actualswing motion requires a little turn of thehips, abs and thighs – they represent theengine room and generate the energy.It’s the smooth turning motion of thatarea back and through, along with asubtle hinge in the wrists to keep theclubhead flowing as it swings andchanges direction that enables the clubto catch up and release. In the modernmethod the club is never trapped behindthe hands; it will bottom out ahead ofthe ball and produce crisp, consistentand neutral chip shots.

MODERN AP-PROACHCreate a neutral set-up that puts the natural loft on the ball

IN WITH THE NEW...

Right hand is re-leased so that thenatural loft is re-turned to the ballat impact

BARRY HEARN


One of life’s charmed entrepreneurs, Barry Hearn is the all-conquering Essex boy done good. Born in Dagenham andeducated at the Buckhurst Hill County High School, he qualified as a chartered accountant in 1974 and quickly put touse a natural flair for taking risks and brokering deals, his first business interest in a chain of snooker halls timed to per-fection as the UK went snooker loopy in the late 1970s. Hearn's reputation was secured with the nurturing of SteveDavis into a six-times major champion and the snooker world’s answer to the pioneering McCormack/Palmer modeltransformed the fortunes of all involved in the game worldwide. Recognising the audience potential for what he de-scribes as the ‘blue collar sports’, Hearn’s Matchroom Sport promotion and TV production company has capitalisedspectacularly on the arrival of pay TV and today he delivers over 2,000 hours of live action to Sky Sports. With boxingone of his life-long passions, a move in that direction was inevitable, his first promotion being the Frank Bruno vs. JoeBugner bout at White Hart Lane in 1987. He has since promoted many of the leading British and Irish boxers, includingChris Eubank, Nigel Benn and Lennox Lewis while the current Prizefighter series on Sky Sports provides the perfect ex-ample of Hearn’s ability to deliver creative entertainment in a way that maximises TV interest. Darts is another niche sportthat has been lifted beyond recognition in recent years, while other Matchroom interests include pool, tenpin bowling,fishing (Fish O’Mania) and – latterly – golf. In 2002, Hearn forged a partnership with the Professional Golfers Associationto create the PGA EuroPro Tour, with the aim to provide a circuit for up-and-coming stars of the game. This year'sschedule will comprise 16 tournaments culminating in a Tour Championship in September. Graduates include GraemeStorm, Richard Finch and Ross Fisher, while Loius Oosthuizen went on to claim the biggest prize in the sport with victoryin last year's Open at St Andrews. But it is in his capacity as chairman of Leyton Orient Football Club that Hearn has re-cently been in the headlines in the much-publicised legal saga with West Ham United over the decision to award hisEast London neighbours tenancy of the £530 million Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games. Just a single tube stopfrom Leyton’s Brisbane Road ground, such a move has the potential, argues Hearn, to threaten the very future of a clubwith a 135-year history. It’s a case likely to run and run; Jonathan Tehoue’s 88th minute equaliser against Arsenal in thefifth round of the FA Cup secured Leyton a £1 million replay at the Emirates – a windfall the chairman is more than willingto spend on legal fees. Richard Simmons caught up with one of sport's most enigmatic characters.

PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE READ

FEATURE

BEINGBARRY HEARN

Gi. How much do you owe Steve Davis and vice versa?.

BH: Well, I probably owe God more because as you get older, and

closer to Heaven, you become more of a fatalist, and you realise

things happen in life for a purpose. My life has been blessed with

some incredible pieces of luck – it’s better to be born lucky than

good-looking! And timing, as we all know, is everything in life. When

Steve Davis walked into that snooker hall in Romford in 1976, well, I

knew straight away he was something special. But you have to go

back a little before that to appreciate that, actually, I created that bit

of good luck with the acquisition of a chain of snooker halls.

Gi: The Lucania Temperance Billiard Halls London Ltd.

BH: Exactly. I was from a working-class background, had no money

at all. After training as a chartered accountant I did a stint with a

good firm but I always knew I wanted to work for myself. I had the

opportunity to take over this chain of snooker halls – no one else

could cope with the aggravation that you got with halls in those days

(when I was younger I could cope with aggravation; in fact, on a good

BEINGBARRY HEARN

COMPETITION


Leading trolley supplier Motocaddy is offering Golf International readers the chance to win a fantastic top-of-the-range S3 Digital electric trolley with Lithiumbattery plus a number of its topaccessories including Pro Series cart bag, drinks holder, scorecard holder, umbrella and flight cover.

WIN


The S3 Digital took the electric trolley market by storm last year with its sporty looks and ingenious features. These innovations, which are exclusive to Motocaddy, include:

n A ground-breaking USB port that allows a GPS unit to be charged directly from the trolley’s battery.

n An exclusive "CartLock" security device that enables theowner to set a pin code

to render the trolley useless to a would-be thief.

n A multi-functional display screen and digitalcontrol panel that make the trolley incredibly easy to use.

n A multi-platform battery tray that is capable ofholding the long-lasting and super-lightweightMotocaddy Lithium or Standard and Extendedrange Panasonic batteries.

The winner’s trolley will include a Motocaddy Lithium batteryand a Pro-Series cart bag that features 14 full-length graphite-friendly club dividers, spacious pockets, external wellsfor putter and umbrella and an exclusive anti-twist base thatkeeps the bag firmly in place on the trolley.

A runner-up will receive an S1 Digital trolley complete withLithium battery, while third place sees another lucky individualtake home the S1 model accompanied by an 18-hole battery.

To enter, simply answer the following question:Which system renders the S3 Digital useless to a would-be thief?’Answer A: CartLock B: MotoLock C: CadLockTo enter visit: www.golfinternationalmag.com/competitionsor answer on a Postcard to: Motocaddy Competition, Golf International Magazine, 10 Buckingham Place, London, SW1E 6HX

COMPETITION CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT ON 31ST MAY 2011

1ST PRIZE S3 TROLLEY WITH LITHIUM BATTERY, CART BAG & ACCESSORY KIT

2ND PRIZE S1 TROLLEY WITH LITHIUM BATTERY

3RD PRIZE S1 TROLLEY WITH STANDARD BATTERY PACK

AMATEUR

28 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM MAY 2011

London is calling!A date for your diary: the organisers of the sec-

ond staging of Golf LIVE expect more than 15,000

enthusiasts to flock through the impressive gates

of the exclusive London Golf Club, near Brands

Hatch, in Kent, when the three-day event tees up

for three days of unique golfing entertainment

from Friday May 20.

The unique event offers golfing enthusiasts of

all age and ability the rare opportunity to observe

and learn from a number of the game’s elite stars

at close quarters while at the same time taking ad-

vantage of the opportunity to trial the very latest

equipment and interact with tour players and

leading names from the world of coaching via one

of a number of live staged shows. The organisers,

Brand Events, have again secured the presence of

a galaxy of star names, including Europe’s magnif-

icent Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, Dar-

ren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn and

former US Open champion Michael Campbell. On

hand to help answer questions and provide valu-

able insight into what makes these players tick

will be top European Tour coach and Sky Sports

analyst Denis Pugh, while the World Trick Shot

Champion Jeremy Dale will dazzle audiences with

his repertoire of shots. And to keep the pace of

play running smoothly, the ‘Voice of Golf’ himself,

Peter Alliss, will be present, sharing ceremonial

duties with Andrew Cotter, Iain Carter and John

Hawksworth.

So what makes Golf LIVE different to all the

other golf shows featuring celebrity appearances

and bag-loads of gear to hit? Well, for a start Golf

LIVE takes place on a golf course – and not just

any old golf course, either. With Jack Nicklaus-de-

signed Heritage layout its centrepiece, the London

Club promises a fantastic spectacle. The profes-

sionals will be giving a range of clinics – including

Monty's Masterclass – and every facet of the game

will be covered in a variety of live theatres where

visitors can ask questions and pick the brains of

the professionals.

Billed as ‘The Ultimate Golfers’ Day Out’, Golf

LIVE will also have a Hub Stage LIVE which houses

over 100 exhibitors, retail outlets to lighten your

wallet and the all important refreshment vendors.

But it is the fact that golfers can get up close

and personal to the tour stars – and at a real

championship venue – that really is the selling

point and the key attraction of Golf LIVE accord-

ing to Event Director James Goode.

“There is tremendous excitement in getting

close to players of this calibre,” says Goode. “They

are not just there to hit shots at a distance – the

audience is encouraged to participate and quiz

them. To get into the minds of these world class

players. And if you are hitting shots or rolling

putts, you are doing it on grass, not on a mat. All

of the feedback we had following last year’s inau-

gural event raved about that aspect of the experi-

The magnificent 36-hole facility that is the London Club is gearingup to welcome guests to Golf Live, the one-of-a-kind experiencethat gives club golfers an up close and personal view of the eliteprofessional game. Adam Hathaway sets the stage

ence, while the participation of the professionals

and the coaches was overall the most important

element. The fact is, at Golf LIVE you can watch,

learn and be entertained at the same time.”

Goode also reports that 65 per cent of last

year’s exhibitors have already re-booked space at

the London Club, surely an encouraging sign in

the current economic climate.

Given the quality of the Heritage Course, which

in 2008 staged the European Open, the head-to-

head three-hole matches are guaranteed to be

fascinating. “Listening to the pros talk you

through their thought process as they approach

each shot is fascinating,” says Michael Moore of

Dorset, who attended the event last year. “And

what a revelation to witness a jovial Monty – just

brilliant!”

Details of ticket prices can be found via the

website address at the foot of this page, and it’s

worth noting that children under 16 get in free

with a paying adult. What’s more, there is a dedi-

cated junior area run by the Golf Foundation and

the Lee Westwood Academy, where among the

activities on offer you will find Tri-Golf, a mini-

version of the game specifically for youngsters, a

Grass Roots Challenge where juniors can com-

pare scores against the professionals and the op-

portunity to take advantage of free lessons with a

PGA pro.

One lucky junior golfer will win an exclusive

‘money-can’t-buy’ competition prize to play with

world No.2 Lee Westwood, and there will be

plenty more merchandise and goodies given

away throughout the action-packed weekend.

Two of the world’s top emerging talents, Rhys

Davies of Wales and Spain’s and Pablo Larrazábal,

will also be appearing in the ‘Growing the Game’

area aimed at encouraging participation among

juniors – if you have young children and want to

inspire them there’s no better place to be in May.

After enjoying last year’s inaugural event,

Davies is thrilled to be able to return to Golf LIVE.

Cumbria’s Seb Crookall-Nixon and James atkin-son started their domestic season with a bang bywinning the Sunningdale Foursomes.

The pair survived five rounds against profes-sionals and amateurs with 17-year-old Crookall-Nixon holing a 45-putt to secure a one hole winover 18-year-old Hayley Davies and Scott godfreyin the final.

atkinson and Crookall-Nixon were not hopefulof success and had to re-book their accommoda-tion after two days having expected an early exit.

The pair are the third Cumbrian partnership towin the title following on from gary Lockerbie andpaul Jenkinson in 2005 and Bill Sharpe and SydScott in 1955.

Crookall-Nixon, a two-times winner of the Eng-land Under-16 Championship, is an experiencedcampaigner and aiming for a Walker Cup spotlater this year.

He said: “It was an advantage for me knowingthe ropes of big tournaments so I knew what wasexpected.”

Drayton Park’s eddie Pepperell (above) claimedhis first title of the year by winning the weather-shortened Portuguese amateur Championshipat Montado Hotel and Golf resort.

The england international sank a 40-footbirdie putt on the final green to finish on seven-under-par 209, a stroke ahead of Jean-Pierreverselin of france with three players on 211.

Pepperell, 20, led by two at halfway afterrounds of 68 and 69 from the oxfordshire’sCraig Hinton and andrew Cooley from Chob-ham. The third round was washed out beforePepperell finished the job off after 54 holes.

Hinton finished with a level par 73 for jointsixth place and Tyrrell Hatton from Harleyfordhanded in a 71 for 213 and equal ninth to make itthree players in the top ten for england andBerks, Bucks & oxon.

Leading final scores: 209 e Pepperell (eng) 6869 72; 210 J-P verselin (fra) 70 73 67; 211 DGeminiani (Ita) 71 73 67; 211 D Huizing (Ned) 7270 69; 211 e espana (fra) 74 73 64

Selected English scores: 212 C Hinton 69 7073; 213 T Hatton 74 68 71; 215 J Bell 69 73 73;217 a Cooley 72 68 77; 219 l Canter 71 73 75;221 C Shinkwin 69 82 70; 221 a Christie 72 73 76

Dave Coupland from Boston, Lincolnshire, justmissed out on another big win ‘Down Under’ forEngland squad members when he was runner-upin the australian Men’s amateur Stroke playChampionship at the Victoria Club in Melbourne.

The 25-year-old agonisingly missed out in aplay-off after carding a last round 65 to tie withQueensland’s Cameron Smith on 275, 13-underpar. However, the australian, who had led after

THE AMATEUR SCENE


NEWS IN BRIEF...AMATEUR SCENE...NEWS IN BRIEF....

continued overleaf...

To

M W

ar

D

techknow

EQUIPMENT


Radar, lasers, GPS,radio frequency ID, infra-red sensors, 3D cameras andiPhone ‘apps’ are justsome of the conceptscovered in our specialround-up of the verylatest golfing gadgetsand gizmos out therefor all types of golfers. Dominic Pedleris your geeky guide,starting with a golf ball finder that really works...

know

LATEST GADGETS // TRIED & TESTED


Not counting fore-caddies,

which date back hun-

dreds of years, man’s

eternal quest to keep

tabs on his golf ball goes

back at least to the late-

1970s when New Scien-

tist reported on Japanese

attempts to install a micro

transmitter ‘homing’ de-

vice inside the pesky

sphere.

While those early pro-

totypes suffered from

having little room left for

the innards necessary to

make the thing actually fly,

variations on the theme have

preoccupied the R&D men ever since, with

the RadarGolf transmitter and the camera-

based Scout just two of the more recent of-

ferings.

But the Prazza Golf Ball Finder takes

things a stage further with a hand-held de-

vice that detects a signal from a micro-chip

inside a specially made golf ball and guides

you to it – or at least the immediate vicin-

ity – fairly well within a range of about 100

yards. The visual display on the unit fea-

tures an arrow to point you in the right di-

rection and a graphic of a ball that gets

larger as you get closer, along with a choice

of bleeps or vibrations that steadily increase

in frequency.

Developed by scientists in the Nether-

lands, the Prazza improves dramatically on

the RadarGolf system in terms of both tech-

nology and range, by having a chip that op-

erates though ‘active’ rather than ‘passive’

Radio-Frequency Identification. You simply

calibrate the ball to the handset at the start

of the round and it remains in continuous

contact for 30 minutes after your last strike.

For an instant demo, just checkout the

YouTube clip of master coach and Sky

Sports analyst Simon Holmes (just one of

the big names impressed by the device)

finding his ball in the trees at Mill Ride.

I’ve tried it, too, and the thing does actually

work, helping me to find my ball in some

seemingly hopeless situations as well as

being regularly in use on one test day when

the horizontal winter sunshine made for

challenging visibility.

But potential purchasers should note

that the device rarely guides you ‘as the

crow flies’ as you might expect: you need

to walk slowly, react patiently to the some-

times trigger-happy arrow and be prepared

to retrace your steps. Even when the unit is

registering ‘full ball’, you may still not imme-

diately see your ball lurking in long grass or

under leaves, but at least you will have dra-

matically reduced your area of search to

perhaps a few square feet.

Prazza is a certainly an intriguing break-

through given industry estimates of some

500 million lost balls a year, worldwide,

though it also represents something of a

Pandora’s Box and raises as many ques-

tions as it answers.

For a start, the £299.95 kit comes far too

frugally with just two balls, with replace-

ments currently costing a mighty £39.95 for

a sleeve of three. For while you’re not sup-

posed to lose any balls, you surely will –

whether in a lake (beneath the 8 inches of

water in which the system still works), deep

into a sea of gorse, or (as I did, mortifyingly)

over a barbed wire perimeter fence. You

know it’s in there but just how determined

are you to raze the area to retrieve it in front

of your smirking fourball?

Yes, the Prazza has fantastic potential to

speed up play, but only providing the spe-

cial ball prices plummet sufficiently to dispel

that find-it-at-all-costs mentality. In the

meantime, the concept is probably not so

much about saving money over the long

term but the simple pleasure of finding your

ball far more often than you would normally.

Meanwhile, beyond the fact that it’s not

approved for competition, there’s the issue

FEATURE


he right to host the 2018

Ryder Cup is being con-

tested by five European

countries – France, Ger-

many, Holland, Portugal

and Spain. (Sweden

dropped out of the race early on.) Each has spent

the last year putting their case to the six men of

the European Tour’s Ryder Cup selection commit-

tee who will announce their decision on May 17.

The betting money is evenly spread between the

Germany, France and Spain, with Portugal recently

making a late run.

This is an expensive business, as Sir Terry

Matthews and Michael Smurfit can testify. These

two men both spent in the region of £100 million

to secure the Ryder Cup for Celtic Manor and The

K Club, respectively.

This money helps fund the less popular areas

of the Tour, keeping less popular events afloat

across the European, Seniors and Challenge Tours.

“There is an element that the Ryder Cup is the fi-

nancial locomotive of the Tour,” said Richard

Hills, the Ryder Cup director. “We also want to

make sure that the golfing facilities, either off plan

or existing, are of the highest quality. It will be a

balanced scorecard where we will be judging all

the criteria.”

Sounds straightforward, doesn’t it? Simply se-

lect the best course and away we go. But as every-

one knows, golf doesn’t work like that. And below

we ask ten questions that the Tour would prefer

us to keep to ourselves.

1. Why is there a bidding process for the Cup?

The story goes that the deal to award Celtic Manor

the 2010 Ryder Cup was sealed over cocktails at

Annabel’s nightclub in London, between Ken

Schofield and Sir Terry Matthews. This may be

mere rumour, but certainly the process of award-

ing the Tour’s most valuable prize has always

been shrouded in secrecy.

The 2018 bidding process demonstrates the

ambition of the Tour. The money behind these

bids comes mainly from big business and govern-

ment rather than individual billionaires such as

Matthews, Smurfit and Jamie Ortiz-Patino, owner

Cup feverAs the day of reckoning nears, Richard Gillis looks at the bidding process in the race to stage the 2018 Ryder Cup – and poses 10 questions the senior officers of the European Tour will have to answer

T

WHO WILL GET THE RYDER CUP?

RYDER CUP // 2018


of Valderrama, host in 1997.

Now, say the bidding teams, at least we have a

chance. Hills, one of the Tour’s six-person selec-

tion panel says: “We’ve codenamed this internally

‘Operation Even Playing Field’ and each bid is eval-

uated on an open basis.”

Each of the bids have signed contracts running

to 250 pages, full of details as to what they will

promise the Tour in terms of money and other

guarantees. These contracts are similar to those

insisted upon by Fifa and the IOC for countries

bidding to host the World Cup or Olympics.

2. Why are the Dutch bidding?

Before they can even think about the cost of host-

ing the Ryder Cup, each country has paid from

£500,000 to £3 million (higher in some cases)

merely to be in the race. “There were guidelines as

to budgets,” says Hills, “but the bidders made up

their own mind as to how the process would pan

out. Each of the bid teams has gone in with their

eyes wide open.” This money mainly goes on PR,

marketing and lawyers, who are employed to put

the contracts together.

Given this outlay, the bid from the Netherlands,

the rank outsiders in the race, seems on the face

of it to be a waste of money. But the strategy is

aimed more at building the profile of golf in Hol-

land as well as giving the local federation a reason

to lobby government for more money. In Fifa cir-

cles, this strategy was known until recently as ‘the

Qatar Strategy’ after the small Emirate which for

many years would bid to host football’s World

Cup, using this to generate billions of pounds of

revenue for sporting infrastructure. They were

largely patronised by the bigger nations like Eng-

land, until Sepp Blatter opened the envelope for

the 2022 event.

3. Will George O’Grady’s car ruin Germany’s

chances?

George O’Grady drives a BMW. As does Richard

Hills and David McLaren. In fact, the car park of

European Tour HQ at Wentworth is full of BMWs,

from sleek executive 7 series down to sporty soft

top 325s. Strange as it sounds, this is a major

problem for Bernhard Langer and the German bid.

Langer and his brother Erwin have put together a

business plan that relies very heavily upon fund-

ing from Audi, Germany’s other big car company

and BMW’s arch rival.

Will the Tour dare risk the wrath of one of its

biggest financial supporters by taking the Ryder

Cup, which BMW sponsors, to an Audi-branded

course? It gets stranger still. Golf International has

also learnt that BMW has promised the French

their commercial support if the Paris-based bid

wins, freezing out national car maker Renault,

which has also been in discussions. Is this a first

we wonder? Has BMW ever supported Germany’s

opponents in a major event bidding process?

“Both automotive companies were aware of the

German bid and what was involved, and will all be

part of the evaluation of the German bid,” says

Hills, adding that “both parties have been very

grown up about the issue. We know it’s there and

the bid will be evaluated accordingly”.

4. Does the Tour have a financial stake in any of

the bids?

A feature of at least two of the bids is that the Eu-

ropean Tour will part own either the course

and/or surrounding property. This was confirmed

by the head of the Portugal bid and by Hills, who

responded when questioned about it: “There are

elements of that. It’s one of the areas where we’ve

allowed the bids to be creative in the a la carte de-

tails in terms of what they have put in their bid.”

It’s been a long held ambition of the Tour to

plug the leak in money not just around the Ryder

Cup but other events on the Tour. Why let Celtic

Manor have the long-term benefit of being able to

advertise itself as ‘the course that held the Ryder

Cup’. European Tour Properties already has a

share in the London Club in Kent and licenses its

brand to several courses across Europe. Perhaps

they will add the course that held Portugal’s first

Ryder Cup to the list? (See also Question 7 below).

As we all know, the value of property can go

down as well as up and tying the Tour financially

to a new course may be a high-risk and/or high-re-

turn option.

5. Why did Colin Montgomerie back France?

A feature of the bids has been the wide range of

celebrities being used to endorse them. Jose Mour-

inho is backing Portugal, Seve Ballesteros is natu-

rally supporting Spain and Johan Cruyff and Ruud

Gullitt are fronting the Dutch bid. This strategy

shows the value of a famous face. It gets the bids

more exposure because newspapers and televi-

sion will agree to interview such well-known peo-

ple whereas they don’t tend to want to devote

a comprehensive Economic Impact

Study of The 2010 Ryder Cup at The

Celtic Manor Resort, City of Newport,

Wales, has found that the economic

impact on Wales as Host Nation was

£82.4 million.

Thousands of visitors – the total at-

tendance for the week of the match

was 244,000 – helped focus the sport-

ing spotlight on Wales as the event at-

tracted global television and media

coverage.

The study, which was jointly funded

by the major partners involved in the

match, took into account the money

spent on local travel, on-site spend, off-

site spend, any extension to a visitor’s

stay (excluding the unexpected extra

Monday) and any associated addi-

tional spend.

The total spend, including multipli-

ers, was £82.4 million spent across

Wales during the week of the event

and this included South East Wales

drawing an impact of £74.6 million and

Newport £28.3 million.

First Minister of Wales, Carwyn

Jones (pictured here with Richard

Hills) said: “The Ryder Cup gave a

very substantial boost to the Welsh

economy during the week of the

event and it will continue to deliver

lasting benefits in terms of tourism,

golf development and awareness of

Wales as a place to do business. It’s

particularly pleasing that, as the Host

Nation, we rose to the occasion and

gave the tens of thousands of visitors

a very warm Welsh welcome which

will form part of their memories of

what was a thrilling event.

“The study sits alongside the recent

announcement which shows that the

economic impact of golf tourism in

Wales during 2010 was nearly £42 mil-

lion. This represents an increase of

21% from 2009. 2010 was the seventh

year since we started collating figures

and in that period the total expenditure

generated through golf tourism

amounted to £203 million. The number

of golfing visitors across Wales has in-

creased 82% in the same period. This

emphasises the Ryder Cup effect.”

Richard Hills, the European Ryder

Cup Director, said: “Major sports

events consistently deliver consider-

able direct and indirect benefits to the

Host Nation and venue. This is con-

firmed by the results of this Economic

Impact Study, the increase in revenue

brought into the Welsh economy by

golf tourism and golf events and the

massive coverage the event achieved

globally. all of this highlights why the

Ryder Cup is considered by many ob-

servers to be one of the top ten global

sporting brands.”

The Celtic Manor Resort itself with-

stood all the elements had to throw at it

to provide a wonderful stage for the

dramatic conclusion to the 2010 Ryder

Cup, fulfilling the bold vision of owner

Sir Terry Matthews and enhancing the

resort’s global reputation.

“The Celtic Manor Resort made an

enormous investment to bring the

Ryder Cup to Wales for the first time

but these figures demonstrate that the

event brought considerable returns for

all the partners involved,” added Celtic

Manor’s Russell phillips. “We experi-

enced substantial increases in golf and

leisure revenues in 2009 and 2010,

and we’ve seen a further rise in book-

ings for 2011. as a nation, Wales has

undoubtedly gained huge benefits not

only through the direct revenue in-

jected into the economy but also in

terms of recognition of the Wales

brand globally.”

Celtic Manor 2010: the economic impact

Gi: Gareth Edwards tells me you were a good

enough player to earn a golf scholarship to Millfield

School in Somerset?

RC: A 10 shillings-a-week golf scholarship, to be

precise – and that was the best four or five years

of my life. I had been expelled from another

school, can’t remember why. I was only 11. My fa-

ther saw the Millfield scenario and fixed up an in-

terview for me. We met with Jack ‘Boss’ Meyer, the

founder of the school and headmaster at the time.

He asked to see my golf swing. He then took us to

a short-game area, gave me 30 balls and a 7-iron,

and said that if I holed one chip shot from 20

yards or so I was in. I think it was the 22nd ball I

holed. Gareth and I shared a room for three years.

I remember he came to find me one day and said

we were playing inter-house rugby. He told me I

was playing hooker – I had no idea what he was

talking about. I lost all my front teeth when the

scrum collapsed. He still laughs about it, I didn’t

think it was so funny.

Gi: How big a part of your life was golf at that

time?

RC: I started playing at 5, and when I arrived at

Millfield I was off good single figures, around 12

years old. I grew up playing golf with a gentleman

called Tony Jacklin – you may remember him?! He

was the assistant pro at Potters Bar Golf Club, in

Hertfordshire. I used to play him on Saturday and

Sunday afternoons and pretty much all week in

the school holidays. I must have played with him a

thousand times. And we have remained good

friends. In fact he came and played with me in the

Chairman’s Day at Wentworth last year and we

won! I played county golf for Middlesex, lowest

handicap I achieved was 1. From Middlesex I went

to Coombe Hill, a fantastic courses where I was a

member for many years. After that, when I prop-

erly immersed myself in the family clothing busi-

ness I went to live in the Far East and joined the

Royal Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling. As busi-

ness took over I drifted away from golf and

haven’t really played much since, although I am

starting to get back into it.

Gi: Presumably you took advantage of Millfield’s lo-

cation and played regularly at Burnham?

RC: I could talk you through every single hole on

Burnham & Berrow and I want to go back and play

it again. When the wind blows there, you know

you are on a golf course. They were happy days.

And they used to do a great eggs on toast as well.


The leader in his own clubhouseAfter making his fortune in the clothing business, Richard Caring,did exactly what any self-respecting gazzillionaire would do – hebought a golf club. In his case Wentworth, and it was a decisionthat would lead, one way and another, to the 61 year-old London-born tycoon becoming an accidental restaurateur as the acquisi-tion of a string of London’s finest restaurants (The Ivy, Le Caprice,J Sheekey, Scott’s) and nightclubs (Annabel’s Soho House) fol-lowed. From a vast and quite fantastic office on the 4th floor of anotherwise nondescript Fitzrovia office building, the man with an es-timated wealth put at £600 million has his world on speed-dial.Editor Richard Simmons went to meet him

Gi: Finishing school, what was your career path?

RC: After a spell with a property company I joined

the family clothing business in the late 1960s. This

was as times were changing in the industry and

we needed to innovate. I first went out to Hong

Kong in ’69, and then Shanghai. We developed a

worldwide distribution supplying high street

stores in the United States, Europe and Scandi-

navia. In those days it was a vibrant market – I’m

not quite sure what’s happened to it today. I’m

still involved in the industry [his company Interna-

tional Clothing Design employs 250 people and

still supplies a high percentage of volume to the

high street] although not personally. We have vari-

ous divisions in that area.

Gi: Talking to Barry Hearn recently he mentioned

that everyone needs a lucky break in business –

what was yours?

RC: I totally agree with Barry – you do need that bit

of luck. I cannot pinpoint one specific example or

situation that was a turning point for me but I do

know it was an awful lot of hard work. I think I

was fortunate that I understood clothing from a

young age, it was my father’s business but I had a

real passion for clothes. A good eye. I got very in-

volved in creating product at the time, which is

very much what I like to do. Gary Player said it

about golf: ‘the harder you practice the luckier you

get’. I believe in that in business, too.

Gi: You bought Wentworth in 2005 – had golf been

on your radar up to that point?

RC: I wasn’t going around thinking that I wanted

to buy a golf club, I simply wanted to do some-

thing I enjoy. I’ve always wanted to go back to

playing golf but never have; you know, if you have

played at low single figures and know what it’s

like to hit a ball properly you just get so upset

when you hit it like crap and ask yourself what

you are doing out there? You don’t enjoy it. Any-

way, out of the blue a friend of mine called me up

and asked if I might be interested in buying Went-

worth. I said absolutely – that has to be the icing

on the cake. I can still remember the first time I

ever played golf at Wentworth in the Wentworth

Foursomes when I was about 12 or 13. I played

with the pro from Potters Bar, an Australian called

Bill Shankland, great character. In the first round

Ted Dexter was one of our opponents – he seemed

about 6’ 8” and I was 3’ 4”! I came up to about his

waist. Bill kindly invited me to take the tee-shot at

the first hole....I didn’t carry the heather.

Gi: How difficult has it been to implement your

own vision for the Club onto an established mem-

bership?

RC: The first AGM was difficult. As you say, it’s a

well established club and has a loyal membership,

and then this character most of them have never

heard of just comes in – for all they know I’m

going to add a race track, build a casino and turn

it into a lap-dancing joint. So they were defensive

to begin with, even though I promised them I

would do my best for the Club. Over the years

they have recognised where I am taking it and a

level of trust has developed. Because we under-

stand what Wentworth is about and we are very

honest about it. We haven’t tried to look at it as a

RICHARD CARING

35

The leader in his own clubhouse

MAY 2011 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM

That ‘you’re only as good as the peopleyou work with’ is one of the mantrasRichard Caring lives and works by. For the redesign of Wentworth, Ernie Elswas invited to provide the input from thetour players perspective; (below) Caring nominates the 8th as his favouritehole on the course, danger everywhere onthe second shot to a plateau green

Hatched as a result of Lexus and

Aston Martin sharing a pit lane

garage at the Nurburgring 24 hours

race for two years running, a proto-

type Aston Martin Cygnet glimpsed

recently out and about in my neck of the woods

does at least confirm that the company is pretty

much spot on with the name. After all, save for

that ballerina neck, a junior swan absolutely does

not possess one iota of the grace inherent in its

parents…

I might, however, have to take issue with the

adjudication of a caustic chum who stomped

once around the Cygnet before opining: ‘Well, you

can’t polish a turd… But you can roll it in glitter.’

Not because, all stubby and, erm, David Brown,

the poor thing could in any way be described as

good looking, but because not even the shoehorning

of every single key Aston styling cue onto that

diminutive bodywork can disguise the impending

gleam of Toyota iQ as pantomime dame. Oh yes it is.

Thing is, far from faecal, the iQ’s really quite a

clever car. Indeed, were it not for some hilariously

blatant tactical voting in the manner of the Balkan

states in a Eurovision Song Contest, it, and not

VW’s Polo, would have been crowned European

Car of the Year for 2010. And if you don’t believe

me, check out the Austria, Germany and Portugal

judges: www.caroftheyear.org/voting-

grid/2010_1/coty. Odd; I was always led to be-

lieve the Portuguese hated the Germans… The

words ‘rat’ and ‘smell’ spring to mind.

With stand-alone Aston Martin having no affili-

ates offering small car-salvation to help lower

overall emissions (as VW’s Polo does for a Porsche

911), the Cygnet must, surely, be first and fore-

most an exercise in assuaging the company’s

whole fleet CO2 legislation issues. However, I still

don’t get it.

If Aston had stuck to the Buy One Get One

Free, his ‘n’ hers garage principle which, I’m led to

believe, presaged the whole affair, it might make

some sense; having spent upwards of £150,000

on a new Virage, you’d hardly say no if they

bunged a freebie biffabout into the equation. But

are we seriously expected to believe that there are

enough people out there rich and stupid enough

in equal measure to pay 31 grand for a face-lifted

Toyota city car to make the whole deal worth-

while for the company?

Let’s face it, even if, say, Ray Charles can be

persuaded that a Cygnet really does look like an

Ascot-worthy member of the Aston Martin stable,

it’ll never in a million years sound like one, go like

one, or, with iQ underpinnings unfettled, handle

like one.

And I mention all of this because, albeit keep-

ing the whole affair in-house, this is pretty much

exactly what Lexus has done with sister company

Toyota’s Prius in launching the CT 200h. How-

ever, though the Cygnet is instantly identifiable as

an iQ from almost any angle except, perhaps,

dead ahead, in the case of the new Lexus, you’ll be

hard pushed spot the donor car.

Never more striking than with newly appointed

UK brand ambassador Kylie Minogue draped all

over it, the CT 200h is perfectly good looking

enough to take the fight to premium compact

segment rivals such as Audi’s A3 and the BMW 1

Series, with not so much as a whiff of Prius on

offer from any angle. With more layers than a

Black Forest gateau, the rump is, perhaps, less

successful than the bows, and the whole is sur-

prisingly colour sensitive; looking classiest in

svelte silver rather than brash blue or red finishes.

And on board, it’s all Lexus too, which means


LEXUS CT 200H

In the shape of the CT200h, capable of operating in full electric orpetrol engine modes alone, Lexus has produced a worthy eco-friendlyalternative to the leading players in the hard-fought ‘compact’ market.Anthony Ffrench-Constant reports

The luxury of Lexus (batteries included)

that, with the company’s fanatical attention to

detail, fit, finish, build quality and even

switchgear tactility, the CT 200h is an instant

contender for the finest-interior-in-segment

gong. Have a care though; frill-free and fabric up-

holstered, you can buy the new Lexus for as little

as £23,485, but you’ll really need to afford the

£30,635 top-of-the-range model to cosset your-

self in the full leather, rampant high-technology

and blistering Mark Levinson 13-speaker high fi-

delity surroundings we’ve come to associate with

Toyota’s luxury wing.

Predictably, the driving position is superb, and

my only real criticism of the interior is – as dis-

cussed with the RX 450h – the replacement of

Lexus’ outstanding, stab ‘n’ go touch-screen multi-

media control system with a gently fiddly, com-

puter mouse-style offering called Remote Touch,

sited where you’d normally expect to find a gear

lever.

With the driver’s forearm not quite comfort-

able due to the unwelcome presence below of

twin, un-lidded cupholders (a rare detailing

glitch), the system does work well enough. But the

alleged benefit of putting the multi-information

screen more readily within the driver’s line of

sight does seem to be neatly negated by the need

to take one’s eyes off the road for far longer as

you chase the cursor round the screen.

The Japanese engineering penchant for gratu-

itously replacing fundamentally sound, wholly in-

tuitive technology with something that doesn’t

necessarily constitute an improvement aside,

however, Lexus’ full hybrid technology remains a

technological tour de force.

Nonetheless, having established that you’ll be

hard pushed to spot the donor car on first ac-

quaintance, it must be said that it does surface,

more than somewhat, when you take to the road

in a CT 200h. Because, despite engineering efforts

to fettle it senseless in an attempt to elevate it

above mere Toyota status, the powertrain re-

mains blatantly Prius.

For those still unfamiliar with hybrid technol-

ogy, the CT 200h is a full series/parallel hybrid,

capable of operating in both petrol engine and

electric motor modes alone, as well as a combina-

tion of both.

As with the Prius, the 134bhp drive unit fea-

tures a 98bhp 1.8 litre petrol engine, an 82bhp

electric motor, a generator, a high performance

battery, a power control unit, and a power split

device which employs a planetary gear set to

combine and re-allocate power from the engine

and electric motor according to operational re-

quirements.

Lest we forget, this really is a masterpiece of

packaging, with all the CT 200h’s highest tech’

housed in a transmission casing no larger than a

conventional automatic gearbox and the raft of

system batteries snugged under the luggage com-

partment. Though rear seat accommodation is

unaffected, you do lose a degree of boot space.

Switch on and the instruments wake up, but

absolutely nothing else happens. Silence. Press

the throttle gently and the Lexus moves off under

electric motor power alone. At speeds below

25mph, the petrol engine only cuts in if you

stomp the throttle with sufficient vigour or, after

a couple of miles, battery charge becomes low

enough to require that it runs, merely to power

the system generator.

Under normal driving conditions, allocation of

power is automatically adjusted between engine

and electric motor; the petrol engine holding sway

at cruising speeds, with the electric motor joining

in to boost acceleration as required.

This is the first Lexus to come to the launch

pad armed with full hybrid drive, previous mod-

els only acquiring the technology later in life. And

this, accidentally on purpose, does get the com-

pany out of something of a hole: Every previous

hybrid Lexus has been the high performance

model of its range, wantonly outpacing even the

lustiest conventionally aspirated powerplant on

offer. In this case, then, the absence of a standard

engined alternative is a relief because, with the

best will in the world, it doesn’t take much poke

to outpace a Prius.

Predictably, the CT 200h’s performance figures

of 0-62mph in 10.3 seconds and a top speed of

112mph can hardly be catalogued as startling.

Conversely, highly tax-efficient and London con-

gestion charge-exempt CO2 emissions of just

94g/km most certainly are, as would be an aver-

age fuel consumption of just under 70mpg, were

it not for the instant readout on the specimen I

drove consistently registering something more

akin to 42.

Arguments as to just how fuel efficient full hy-

brid drive systems actually are under real world

MOTORING


...this really is a masterpiece of packaging,with all of the CT200h’shighest tech housed in atransmission casing nolarger than a conventionalgearbox and the raft of system batteries snuggedunder the luggage compartment...

COOMBE HILL • 1911-2011


With such illustrious layouts as Walton Heath, Worplesdon and St George’sHill all within half an hour of this gloriously leafy west London enclave, it’sperhaps not surprising that one of Surrey’s finest classic courses maintains a relatively low profile. Most of the time, that’s the way the members atCoombe Hill like it – but as the club celebrates its centenary year, Peter Dazeley throws the spotlight on this A. F. Abercrombie’s masterpiece PHOTOGRAPHY: DAZELEY

FEATURE

Surrey’s hidden


Pretty as a picture...but dangereverywhere! The approach toCoombe Hill’s 9th hole

Surrey’s hidden

INSTRUCTION

40

As you can see in the mini-sequence above – and bearing in mind this would be her first proper golf lesson – Sky Sports’ Charlotte Jackson is a natural sportswoman with a great deal of potential.All she needs to experience an improvement in her basic swing shape – and to significantly rev-up the dynamics of her motion – is a better understanding of the set up position and the way it is designed to help the body create the rotary action we look for in a sound, repeating golf swing

A tendency to ‘sit down’ at address, with too muchweight on the heels, is a fairly common problem – and inCharlotte’s case it’s one reason why she fails to utiliseher lower body correctly in driving her downswing

Though she was unaware of the problem, Charlotte’s ball position is toofar back in the stance, a fault symptomatic of a player who feels theyhave to help the ball up into the air. As we work on improving her bodymotion, so she will be more comfortable playing it forward of centre

STARTING POINTS

STARTING POINTS

By Jim ChristinePGA PROFESSIONALPHOTOGRAPHY ANDREW REDINGTON GETTYIMAGES.COM


JAN/FEB 2011 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM 41

Engage with the ball tofind your natural balancepoint in a ‘ready’ posture as a coach the first thing I’m looking for in a newstudent is evidence of hand-eye coordination – thepotential to swing a golf club – and, as confirmed bythe mini-sequence opposite, there’s no doubt at allthat Charlotte has that ability. What she lacks is abasic understanding of the way the body works inorder to both support and empower the action of agood swing – and focusing on that area will be themain subject of this lesson.

at first glance, Charlotte’s backswing position(opposite) doesn’t look too bad – she’s clearly sup-ple and makes a pretty good job of turning her body.But from the top of her swing the arms and handstake over as she tries to help the ball up into theair – there is no rotation of the body in the down-swing to generate speed, no real dynamics at workhere to accelerate the clubhead. She is noticeablyflat-footed through the ball as her body comes to avirtual standstill; it would actually be just as easy forher to stop her swing immediately after impact – themove she makes into the follow-through is for show.It’s what she thinks she should do.

There is no way around the fact that if you wantto build a solid swing you have to start with the foun-dations – i.e. the structure of the set-up position.and so the first thing I brought to Charlotte’s atten-tion was posture. as you can see on the page oppo-site, her tendency is to want to ‘sit down’ at address,with her weight back on her heels. and that explainswhy she is unable to create the athletic lower bodyaction that you need to unwind a good golf swing; atthe set up, it is vital that you balance your weight onthe middle of your feet, which Charlotte achieveswith a little less flex in her knees and a more distinctforward tilt from the hips (inset above). Once shefound her balance point, all she then has to do is lether arms hang comfortably from the shoulders toget into this ‘ready’ posture position (main image).

Compare the body position here to the set up atthe start of the sequence opposite and I think you’llagree there’s a big improvement in Charlotte’s pos-ture, notably in the way she angles her upper bodyforward from the hips and enjoys athletic balance inher lower body. To complete the picture we simplyneed to gel the arms and hands with the golf club –details on how we do that over the page.

Find your balancepoint as you tiltyour upper bodyforward to engagewith the ball

WITH JIM CHRISTINE

EQUIPMENT


With this shot in AbuDhabi (below) TaylorMadestaff player Martin Kaymerlaunched his assault onthe Race to Dubai

Whether you are in the market for a powered version or a humble push/pull trolley there has never been a better selection of models tochoose from. With ingenious folding mechanisms and lightweight yet robust construction these machines are designed to make the game moreenjoyable – so here we provide a selection of the best, highlighting the keys specs and suggested retail price. Time to lighten the load? Roll on...

DEALSWHEELS

PowaKaddy SPorT

Guide: £429 (lead acid battery) £649 (lithium) £729 (lithium brake)

From the original pioneers in pow-ered trolleys the very latest modelfrom powakaddy packs years ofknow-how and expertise into thissleek and lightweight package. Thecompact 3-way folding aluminiumframe collapses to fit in even thesmallest boot space and is easilyassembled in just a matter of sec-onds, while universal bag stays andsoft-grop straps fix your luggage inplace. The 200W motor is controlledvia a soft-touch grip handle housingthe high-contrast LCD screen, withfeatures including a speed settingdisplay, battery level indicator, digitalclock and a digital distance functionthat enables the user to send thetrolley 15, 30 or 45 yards ahead onautomatic. Lightweight sport wheelsadd the finishing touch to a smartpackage. Lithium battery modelavailable in graphite (pictured) orwhite. Lead acid battery available inblack or white.

www.powakaddy.com

ON

POWERED TROLLEYS


WHEELS

PowaKaddy TouCH

Guide: £399

With an intuitive and responsive handle featuring TOUCH ‘n’go Technology, the revolutionary and lightweight powakaddyTOUCH automatically adjusts its pace to reflect yours. Ease ofstowage comes courtesy of a single action folding front wheeland lower bag stay, and the unit stands upright when folded.The ambidextrous universal controlling handle can be ad-justed for height, while a powerful 200W motor provides morethan enough oomph to navigate the oversize aluminium frameand ensures this efficient electric trolley can tackle even thehilliest of courses. a versatile grip secures and holds your golfbag firmly in position, while the key-lock front wheel housingprovides a locking mechanism for all powakaddy bags from2006 onwards. available in white or bronze.

www.powakaddy.com

Motocaddy S3

Guide: Standard battery £399.99 extended range £429.99 lithium Battery versions £599.99

The brand’s flagship S3 Digital model incorporates several pio-neering features new to the fast-growing powered trolley market,including: USB port in the handle that allows a gpS unit to becharged directly from the trolley’s battery without impairing per-formance, exclusive CartLock™ security device that enables theowner to set a pin code to render the trolley useless to a would-bethief. The S3 is powered by a 200W motor and either small, light-weight panasonic batteries that can easily cope with 18 or 36holes, or a more powerful, super-lightweight Motocaddy Lithiumbattery. Further features include ergonomic handle grips, sportylow-profile wheels, multi-functional display screen, digital controlpanel and adjustable distance control. available in alpine White,black or titanium colour options.

www.motocaddy.com

Hill Billy TerraIN

Guide: £289

The compact Terrain electric trolley features athree-way folding frame, making it easy to foldand store, while the robust construction makesthis a reliable work horse, powered by a 200Wmotor that makes light work of even the mostdemanding course. a pre-set distance functionallows you to send the trolley ahead, a neatfeature that can often save you time. availablein black and green accents, the Hill Billy Ter-rain comes with a 2-year guarantee (battery –one year) and is backed with Hill Billy’srenowned after-sales service facility.

www.hillbilly.co.uk


Already with a spectacular new home, the

Volvo World Match Play now has a new

date which organisers and players alike

hope will re-establish the title as one of the

most significant on European soil after the

Open. It has taken a while since the much-

loved but ultimately tired tournament

ended its long tenure at Wentworth (seem-

ingly always at its autumnal best) – no

events were played in 2008 and 2010 – but

the hope now is that the May date at Finca

Cortesin on the Costa del Sol will again

prove an exciting combination.

May used to be a relatively quiet month

in the golfing calendar, a lull between the

Masters and the majors of mid-summer. A

first event on British soil at the start of the

month always seemed a bit early, Tiger

Woods once graced the Deutsche Bank in

Germany, but only at the BMW PGA Cham-

pionship at Wentworth did it feel like the

gears were being tightened.

Not now. May positively overflows with

top-class golf. First there is the Quail Hol-

low tournament at one of the best new

venues on the PGA Tour, where Rory McIl-

roy is the defending champion. Then

comes the Players Championship, moved

from its previous pre-Masters date to give

the PGA Tour’s most significant tourna-

ment a place of its own on the schedule.

It is in danger now of being crowded out

again for immediately after the Players and

before the BMW PGA is the Volvo WMP.

The decision to move the World Match Play

from the autumn started with weather con-

siderations given the schedule of round-

robin and knockout matches has far less

flexibility than a limited-field strokeplay

event – the old Volvo Masters at nearby

Valderrama regularly suffered weather de-

lays. With other events in Spain at the time

and the big tournaments in Asia on the

horizon, there were other good reasons

why the October date did not work.

But while the superbly-conditioned

Finca Cortesin will be at its best in May, it

is also, as we have seen, a crowded part

of the schedule but Guy Kinnings, of IMG,

who promote the event as well as manag-

ing many of the leading players, believes

it will work well. Other agencies such as

ISM and Horizon have also embraced ef-

forts to ensure a strong field, while Volvo

has stepped up to transport players di-

rectly from Ponte Vedra Beach to the

Costa del Sol.

“Tournaments work well in bunches

and instead of just coming back from the

States for the PGA, players can now play in

two of the best European Tour events

back-to-back,” Kinnings said. “But, more

than that, the players have embraced the

concept of what we are trying to do with

the event. They liked the format in 2009

and they especially liked the course and

the magnificent facilities at Finca Cortesin.

They have been selling the event to other

Wentworth set to crown aglorious spring for European golf

The fine-tuning of theremodelled 18th holeon Wentworth’s WestCourse has been thesubject of much de-bate – owner RichardCaring is convinced hehas struck the perfectbalance for a dramaticfinale (see page 112)

continued overleaf...

WORLD NEWS


EDITED BY ANDY FARRELL

Golf International 101

Documents

Transcript of Golf International 101