Table of contents for February 2026 in Golf Digest

PUTTING TOGETHER AN issue of Golf Digest typically involves hanging out with cool people in nice places, but February 2026 stands out. Cover star Ben Griffn and feature interviewee Jim Murphy are both great guys coming off banger seasons. Griffn won three times on the PGA Tour, made the U.S. Ryder Cup team and got married. After an NFL star was caught reading Murphy’s book on the sidelines during a playoff game, Murphy sold so many books and delivered so many talks across the world, he had to take a hiatus from one-on-one mental coaching. Griffn and Murphy don’t work together, but one connection is that not long ago, each faced a stressful amount of financial debt. Apogee, the very new and very grand three-course club in Hobe Sound, Fla.,…

SEBASTIAN MUNOZ IS the only player to shoot 60 twice in one PGA Tour season, and his playoff victory over Jon Rahm at the LIV Golf Indianapolis event in August bolstered his reputation as a clutch player. Still, if you’re trying to identify what has been the key aspect of Munoz’ success since turning professional in 2015, his swing coach says it’s his ability to drive the ball anywhere he wants. Munoz, 33, a native of Colombia, has risen from the mini tours to the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA Tour and now, since 2023, LIV Golf, thanks in a big part to his tee game, says one of his instructors, Troy Denton. “He’s the straightest hitter I’ve ever worked with. He has great hands and freakish face control,”…

FOR MORE THAN TWO decades, beginning in 1992, Phil Mickelson was a Playing Editor for Golf Digest and shared detailed accounts of how he hit every shot in golf. That said, there’s one that stands out more than any other, even to this day—his infamous flop shot. Back in the September 1999 issue, we captured his signature shot with a high-speed camera and then got Phil to explain how to execute it. Here are the images and his take from 27 years ago: “You might have the impression that the flop is a high-risk shot. In fact, it can be more forgiving than many conventional shots, provided you follow three simple rules: 1) Select the right type of sand wedge. “You need a great deal of loft to produce height on…

Producing the Hot List is an all-hands project for our editorial team, but it’s the contributions of two groups that aren’t doing it as their day jobs that set it apart. Our scientific advisors guide us on technological advancements, and our 32 player-testers try out every club—over and over—and tell us what they experience. Together, these dedicated folks help us formulate our three selection criteria: Performance, Innovation, Look/Sound/Feel. PERFORMANCE 50% Based on interviews with our testers, we assess the utility of each club. In other words, this is a grade for what happens to the ball when a player hits it. Rapsodo MLM2Pro launch monitors were used at every hitting station, and during testing over two weeks, we recorded more than 20,000 shots and thousands more wedge shots and putts.…

THIS 7 IS A LITTLE PIECE OF HEAVEN Vilips says his TaylorMade Qi10 7-wood is his favorite club. He praises it for its versatility, noting that he can use it to hit anything from high cuts off the turf to low fades from the tee. As for distance, he typically flies it in the 255-yard range. LEFT A MARK Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, Vilips spent much of his youth in Australia, taking on the nickname “Koala Karl.” PUTTER TEST Vilips gave the zero-torque trend a try with this TaylorMade Spider ZT but was back with his Spider Tour by late 2025. PURE PROTEIN Many tour players gnaw on beef jerky during their rounds, but Vilips favors this air-dried, grass-fed beef snack. ALL DRESSED UP Sun Day Red founder Tiger Woods…

WINNER SCARECROW AT GAMBLE SANDS David McLay Kidd Brewster, Wash. 6,921 yards, par 71 The first course at Gamble Sands opened in 2014 and marked David Kidd’s return to “happy” architecture after a detour into the dark corners of extreme design at places like Tetherow and St. Andrews’ Castle Course. With its broad fairways, half-par holes and feeding contours, the Sands was swashbuckling fun tailored to the joys of resort golfers rather than the vanities of elite players, and each course Kidd has built since possesses elements of this formula. For Scarecrow, Gamble Sands’ second course, the question was how to incorporate the trademarks of the first—width, versatility, the ground game, wall-to-wall fescue turf—without replicating it. Both courses showcase panoramas of central Washington’s wide Columbia River valley, but whereas Sands…

Age: 39 Proper Golf: Founded 2014 Base: New Providence, N.J. Golf Digest is talking to the next generation of architects, whose names might be new to you but are popping up more and more with great projects. This interview has been edited for concision. The full Q&A is available on the “Feed the Ball” podcast with architecture editor Derek Duncan. What work are you best known for at this point in time? Maybe I’m best known for the work I did for Gil Hanse at The Cradle (in Pinehurst), Aronimink and Streamsong Black, and before that probably as the kid who taught himself Mandarin so that he could go work in China for Tom Doak for two years. On my own the jury is still out, but I think soon…

A Debate of Inches We asked our panel of golf obsessives, “Would you ever call a penalty on someone for teeing off in front of the markers?” Christopher Powers, senior writer: The only time I’d even consider such traffc-cop behavior is if I genuinely hated the person. And I rarely, if ever, find myself playing with people I genuinely hate. Now, if it’s in a competition, I could maybe see myself mentioning to them that they should back up a step, just to protect the field. Casual round with a few bucks on the line? So long as they aren’t deliberately teeing it up five to 10 yards closer to the hole, who the hell cares? E. Michael Johnson, equipment editor: Well, I have two answers. In match play, there is no…

I’M ON THE RANGE AT DOZENS OF TOUR EVENTS PER YEAR working with my clients. I’m also the anonymous tour coach in the experts picks column on GolfDigest.com. For that gambling column, we make two outright picks per week, and I cashed seven winners last year. I predicted McIlroy winning the Players at 12-to-1 odds (meaning if you put $100 on it, you won $1,200) and the Masters (+650 odds). I also hit three of Scheffer’s wins. Scheffer was usually a heavy favorite, so that wasn’t going on a limb, but I also hit Ben Griffn and Aldrich Potgieter raising trophies. In 2025, Scheffler and McIlroy had stretches of golf that were as good as we’ve seen since Tiger Woods. Also, their competition was lacking. I was more confident picking…

Drive Time Serious golfers now wait almost five years to buy a new driver, according to research firm Golf Datatech. That’s nearly 18 months longer than they did back in 2012. This makes sense. With average prices topping $600, investing in a driver requires careful consideration. Part of your search should include studying our annual Hot List, now in its 23rd year as golf’s leading equipment guide. Let these eight Hot List drivers get the wheels turning, and see our full rundown online and in our upcoming special issue. The right driver might just make this your year.…

HALFWAY THROUGH a decade of post-Covid golf prosperity, the verdict is in: Golf design in the U.S. is strong and getting even stronger. Judging by the courses that opened this year, developers and architects continue to seek out pieces of land with strong aura, knowing that the innate character of the site is more important than convenience of location. Salvaging also remains a viable path as under-performing and defunct properties are being repurposed with fresh designs set atop the old bones. There’s also an uptick in residential developments, a segment of the industry that all but died in 2008. More investment is being made in affordable and municipal public golf, and on the other end of the spectrum, elite, historic private clubs keep spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade…

WINNER HIGH POINTE G.C. Tom Doak Williamsburg, Mich. 6,960 yards, par 71 High Pointe qualifies as golf’s feel-good story of the year. This was the first course Tom Doak built beginning in 1987 as a 26-year-old getting his big break. Located outside of Traverse City, Mich., it was and remains the only course at which he personally shaped all 18 greens. In 2008, the daily-fee course closed and a large section of the property, primarily the first nine holes, was sold to become a hops farm with the remaining parts left to nature. Though sitting fallow and inert, there was enough remaining of High Pointe’s ghostly form to continually tantalize Doak, who lives in Traverse City. Then, several years ago, Florida-based businessman and entrepreneur Rod Trump became interested in reviving…

While it might be a bummer to stare out the window at leafless trees and frozen fairways, if you want to get better at golf, there is a positive side to being stuck inside for months at a time. This is when you can work on improving your swing without being distracted by what the ball is doing. Your purpose is boiled down to how efficiently can I move? Over time, as those movements become subconscious habit, you can take them back out to the course and simply let the ball get in the way of your newfound skills. I’m going to give you a handful of indoor drills to work on this winter. If you do each of them for only a few minutes per day—you can even tack…

A FAMILIAR SCENE usually plays out when Albert “Chaz” Bowker steps to the first tee. Those paired with the man who only stands a few inches taller than a standard-length driver assume he’s in the wrong place—until they see him swing his own club. “When I go to the same tee boxes as them, they look at me like, ‘What is this guy doing?’” the 4-foot-4 Bowker says. “I let them hit, and I go, ‘Alright, I’ll probably be past your ball or next to it. Watch this.’ I just hit it, and they look at me like a madman. I’ll go, ‘Yep, sorry. It’s gonna be a long day for you.’ They’re just rattled completely.” That scene of surprise is happening less often these days for the YouTube golf star—especially after…

Hit Down on It “The average tour player’s swing bottoms out four inches in front of the ball’s position. That means the clubhead is still moving downward through impact. If you want to hit crisp irons from the fairway, your focus should be well forward of the ball. Think of how martial-arts experts split a board with a punch or kick. They don’t focus on the front side of the board; they concentrate their energy on the far side. They punch through the board, not at it. Your swing should be the same.” –BOBBY CLAMPETT, INSTRUCTOR AND AUTHOR OF THE IMPACT ZONE…

WINNER THE FALL LINE (EAST) Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking & Ashley Mead (OCM) Mauk, Ga. 6,610 yards/par 70 The Fall Line is the geological term for the transition zone in Georgia between Columbus and Augusta that separates the hard clay soils of the upper Piedmont and the lower southern elevations that millions of years ago were ocean. It is one of the country’s most significant sandbelts and has only recently been discovered for golf, highlighted by The Fall Line, a 36-hole private destination with an international membership of just 100. The founders, a group of Los Angeles-based friends and business partners, initially approached Gil Hanse to design the course, though he declined due to its proximity to his Ohoopee Match Club that opened in 2019, 140 miles to the east.…

WINNER CHEVY CHASE CLUB Andrew Green Chevy Chase, Md. 7,205 yards, par 71 The mission of Andrew Green’s work at Chevy Chase Club north of Washington, D.C. was to return the course design to its historical roots. The question was, which ones? The original nine holes laid out by Willie Davis in 1896 were expanded to 18 two years later, most likely by club professional Willie Tucker. Donald Ross, quite early in his career, remodeled those holes in 1910. This course existed until 1921 when British architect C.H. Alison, longtime partner of Harry Colt, redesigned the course once again, with the construction overseen by another esteemed architect, William Flynn, and his partner, Howard Toomey. Robert Trent Jones made alterations in 1947, and Arthur Hills executed another full renovation in 1997.…

1. SEMINOLE G.C., JUNO BEACH, FLA. “It is quiet, pleasant and elegant—one of the better places in Florida to change your shoes,” Dan Jenkins wrote in 1965. Not much has changed in 60 years. With 30-foot-high wood ceilings, taxidermy on the walls and gold lettering on boards listing winners of the club’s prestigious tournaments (pictured above), it’s a step back in time. 2. CASTLE PINES G.C., CASTLE ROCK, COLO. A recent renovation has made Castle Pines the best “modern” locker room. You can easily fill an afternoon in this upscale mountain lodge with a spa filled with high-pressure showers, a whirlpool, sauna and steam room. 3. MILWAUKEE C.C., RIVER HILLS, WIS. The bratwurst and sausage highlight the daily spread. Rumor has it Brett Favre was asked to leave after knocking…