Why the back nine blows harder: playing into Australian afternoon wind
A headwind adds no spin, it adds airspeed, and the spin you already put on the ball turns into height. Book around the sea…
Section
Practice
Practice that transfers to the course. Course management, the short game, putting on couch and bent greens, and the habits that take strokes off a card.
Read the ground before the flag: sloping lies on firm Australian fairways
Soft winter turf hides a poor contact from a tilted lie. Firm spring couch does not. Ask two questions in order, loft first and…
Stuck in kikuyu? Read the lie, pick the loft and use the unplayable rule before the second hack
Matted kikuyu and spring couch close the clubface on a slow swing. Sort the lie into three boxes, let it choose the club, swing…
The metre-and-a-half putt in a Saturday medal: a four-beat routine and drills with real stakes
The short putt feels hardest when the card is on the line. A four-beat routine used on every green, a mark 30 centimetres ahead…
Fuel and fluids for a hot Australian round, and the heat signs that end it
On a 30-degree Australian summer day, the last six holes are where too little water and food show up on the card, first as…
Out of the sand and back in play: fairway bunkers on Sandbelt-style courses
On Melbourne's Sandbelt, bunkers were placed wherever the designers wanted and are often cut right to the edge of the greens. A fairway bunker…
Your 40-to-100-metre card: nine wedge numbers for firm Australian fairways and sea breezes
Most club golfers take one full swing inside 100 metres and hope. Three backswing lengths with three well-gapped wedges give nine carry numbers, and…
Hitting more fairways on firm Australian ground
On a hard summer fairway the tee shot that lands in the middle can still finish in the sand. Find your real miss, use…
Beyond the Stableford total: five marks that show where points leak
A points total cannot tell a wayward driver from a shaky putter. Five quick marks per hole, kept on the card or in the…