Tabla de contenidos para March/April 2023 en Golf Digest

Entrepreneurs might have different definitions of a target-rich environment, but The Villages retirement metropolis in central Florida presents some formidable demographics for consideration. The snowbird haven 60 miles northwest of Orlando is teeming with more than 150,000 senior citizens with loads of disposable income and free time, and it offers golf courses and pickleball courts for them to stay active. Those facts were not lost on golf instructor Debbie Doniger—who serves the same clientele as the director of instruction at posh GlenArbor Golf Club in Bedford Hills, N.Y. Doniger has long been interested in fitness and wellness and has investigated for clients the anti-inflammatory and relaxation benefits of CBD, a non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant. A related compound from the same plant, THC, is high-inducing when consumed,…

1942 1. Augusta National was originally a 365-acre nursery called Fruitland. Construction on the course began in 1931, and it opened in 1932. The first Masters was played in 1934.2. The clubhouse was completed in 1857 and served as the home for a plantation owner.3. The original practice facility was between the ninth and 18th holes.4. Magnolia Lane, the 330-yard entrance, was dirt until the late 1940s.5. The Great Depression derailed ambitious expansion plans, and five members bought the club to rescue it from bankruptcy. 2002 1. The Par-3 Course opened in 1958, and the first Masters Par-3 Contest was played in 1960.2. The club constructed a proper practice facility in the 1950s to the east of Magnolia Lane.3. In the 1980s, the club added a patron entrance and parking…

TONY FINAU HAS PLAYED SOME of his best golf on the biggest stages, leaving many to wonder just how the uber-talented 33-year-old had just two PGA Tour wins over his first seven-plus seasons on tour. They’re left wondering no more. Finau now has five PGA Tour wins, including three since last July, the most of any player on tour during that stretch. “I think the misconception that he’s not a closer has been put to rest,” says Boyd Summerhays, Finau’s longtime swing coach. Summerhays credits much of Finau’s recent hot streak to his improved driving accuracy, which plays right into his greatest strength, his iron play. In his most recent win at the Cadence Bank Houston Open last November, Finau achieved a career first, hitting all 13 fairways in the…

We understood the finality. My player had been a professional for some time, and although he and his game had aged well, he knew there wasn’t much time left to compete. He knew he didn’t have much of a track record at Augusta National. Yet that year, on that week, he went low. We didn’t have the lead, but we had a real shot. At this stage of his career, it was likely going to be the only one we would get. It’s no secret that some pros don’t love the game the way fans do. You can get jaded by the business, the travel, the defeats and the reality that you’re not as good as you think. That wasn’t my player. He loved everything about golf, especially the Masters.…

Like a renowned chef being asked for a restaurant recommendation or a professional race-car driver being told to parallel park, certain occupations come with certain expectations of expertise. It’s no different when your day job involves predicting the weather—and your favorite hobby involves being outside. Such is the case for NBC’s Dylan Dreyer, an avid golfer who is, predictably, ago-to source for friends curious about the forecast. However, if you see Dreyer on your golf course, that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. “There’s pressure as a meteorologist who plays golf,” says Dreyer, a weather correspondent on “Today” and an anchor on “3rd Hour of Today.” “I remember we got washed out at Bethpage Black one time, and it was me and another meteorologist friend who came down from Boston.…

When you turn left onto River Ridge Drive off of Washington Road, then make another left onto Brookwood Drive, you’ll find yourself in an Augusta, Ga., neighborhood called National Hills. The neighborhood consists mostly of one-level brick homes until you reach the corner of Brookwood and Smith Creek Road, where past a wall of towering pines sits a beautiful, completely renovated home that looks nothing like the others around it. Kathie Williams bought the property in December 2021 and fixed it up with rentals in mind, a nine-month, $250,000 process that will be well worth the wait come April, and the April after that, and the April after that. “When I tell people where it is, they’re like ‘Oh,’” Williams says, “but then they see it and the location.” Williams’…

To compile the latest edition of this list—which covers the calendar year 2022—we combined information from offcial sources, previously reported information, data from aggregators like Spotrac and estimates from dozens of players, agents and industry insiders. On-course income includes prize money earned on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, LIV Golf, LPGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and other pro tours. Off-course income includes estimates of money earned from sponsors, performance and licensing fees, appearance fees and profits from business ventures. Bonus money includes in-season and sea-son-ending performance money (e.g., FedEx Cup, Aon Risk Reward, Comcast Business Tour Top Ten), Player Impact Program awards for 2022 and sign-on payments for players who joined LIV in 2022. LIV bonuses are estimates pro-rated for the estimated or reported length of a player’s…

CALLAWAY CORONADO V3 $140 Feedback from tour pros on earlier versions led Callaway to reinforce the heel and perimeter. Now the shoe offers ample support when weight shifts to the edges of the feet during the swing. The microfiber leather upper is also waterproof. ECCO CLASSIC HYBRID $220 The first classic shoe Ecco has made in years has an old-school-looking upper and a new outsole. The traction bars are larger than in previous Ecco models and have been rotated at the toe, a high-wear area, to increase traction. FOOTJOY HYPERFLEX $170/$200 The HyperFlex, already popular with walkers for its feathery weight, is now more stable. A plastic section wraps around the mid-foot as you tighten the laces. One version also has a carbon plate for even more structure. WE LOVE…

THE SECOND-SCREENER You have your trigger finger on the minimize button. You’re climbing the corporate ladder while Rory climbs the leader board. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA Your pen and paper updates faster than an app, and you know what color socks Nicklaus was wearing in ’86. THE HATER The course is too long. The greens are too firm. Azaleas give you hives, and you’re rooting on every four-putt like The Big One at Talladega. THE GRAZER You’re here for your annual golf snack. You know Tiger wears red and the jacket is green. You spell “Jon Rahm” with two Hs. THE TRUE BELIEVER Your dogs’ names are Alister and MacKenzie. You could make a pimento-cheese sandwich blindfolded in a hurricane. THE GAMBLER You gave up tickets to stay home with your kids:…

For the past 37 years I’ve navigated the back roads of South Carolina on a sojourn from Augusta to Hilton Head, savoring the highs of the previous two weeks—calling the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, followed by the Masters. It’s an exhilarating, intense run that is so concentrated with excitement that the best of the back-to-back NCAA/Masters thrillers don’t always stand out immediately. I have more time to reflect now. The 2023 NCAA tournament to be played in my college hometown of Houston will be my final call from courtside. The early-year schedule has always been packed with weekly NFL playoff games, including every third year the Super Bowl. We cover the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing, of course, then March Madness and the Masters. This meant…

UNSTABLE-GROUND LIE: DIG IN, STAY QUIET Tiger can make any trouble shot look easy, so his play from the pine straw on the fifth hole probably wasn’t as tough as playing from a similar lie might be for you. The first thing is to note that it’s kind of like playing off of pick-up sticks. If you get too close, the pine straw you move could force more pine straw to move and possibly the ball. Remember to approach with caution. Whenever you’re playing off an unstable surface—not just pine straw—set up with your feet feeling “dug in.” Pine straw is slippery, so get your balance from the start. A wider stance helps, too. When you swing, keep your footwork to a minimum to ensure good contact. This is not…

The eyes of golf will burst when they see the 17th hole at Cabot Saint Lucia. I was stricken as I stared at the Gibraltar-like escarpment of striated rock and trees rising high over a bay of aqua-clear ocean pummeling the stones below. Even in raw form, the would-be par 3 inspired the kind of tantalizing fear golfers feel when standing on elevated edges of land to strike shots over water, in this case 185 yards upward to an unseen green that would somehow be leveled into the opposite cliffside seven or eight stories above the sea. Pictures of this hole could be splashed on magazine covers, calendars, mousepads and dental-office posters embossed with scripted pearls of New Age affrmation. In was March 2020. I had joined architects Bill Coore,…