Hideki Matsuyama's win in the Masters was not only his first major championship. It was the first major won by any Japanese man, providing what could be a shot of energy to a once-thriving Japanese golf economy. As Matsuyama takes center stage in this week's Olympic golf competition outside Tokyo, Alex Myers examines the many reverberations of Matsuyama's historic win, from the lucrative opportunities for the player, to the next Japanese golf boom it might inspire.

Golf Digest Podcast

The billion dollar win

It wasn’t so long ago a sign hung at Royal St. George’s, host of this week’s Open Championship, banning “women or dogs” from the clubhouse. Only this month did Pine Valley, the No. 1 golf course in the U.S., invite its first women to be members. In this episode, Dan Rapaport looks at all-male golf clubs—the series of events that led some of golf’s most elite clubs to reverse their policies and allow women, and the reasons certain clubs are still holding firm in keeping women out.

The last of the all-male golf clubs

Every golfer breathes, of course. But experts in and out of golf say how you breathe can play a vital role in how you perform on the course—from the tempo of your swing to your ability to sink an important putt. In this episode, Sam Weinman examines the underrated difference proper breathing can make for golfers; how breath training has aided elite players like Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, and what average players can do to feel an immediate difference.

You're breathing all wrong—and it's killing your golf

There are 50 tournaments on the 2021-22 PGA Tour schedule, and truth is, top-level players have compelling reasons to skip most of them. So what do tournaments do to maintain relevance on a busy schedule? In this week’s episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers examines the growing pressure on regular tour stops to recruit players, as well the creative steps they take to ensure their event stands out.

The new battle among golf tournaments

Scott Fawcett isn’t a golf pro, and he doesn’t make golf clubs, yet in recent years he’s become a major influence in changing the way people play golf. By using data and satellite imagery, Fawcett has championed a strategic formula that is either a golf cheat code, or in the eyes of his critics, an oversimplification of a complex game. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Dan Rapaport examines Fawcett’s revolutionary approach to golf, how it might help players of all levels, and why it doesn’t sit well with golf purists.

The new golf cheat code

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the rarest of superstars who excelled in everything she did. When she eventually settled on golf, she became one of the game’s all-time great champions and helped to pioneer the modern LPGA. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers tells the story of Zaharias’ incredible career, including the circumstances behind her win in the 1954 U.S. Women’s Open that nearly defies belief.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias and golf’s most incredible win

How does one sleep the night before he has a chance to win a major championship? What happens in the minutes and hours that follow such a landmark event? In this episode of Local Knowledge, Golf Digest Playing Editor Collin Morikawa sits down with Dan Rapaport to reflect on the whirlwind nine months since he captured his major title; how he knew he belonged the PGA Tour; and the parts of being a professional golfer he’s still getting used to.

Collin Morikawa and the week that changed everything

In 1962, Mapmaker C.S. Hammond & Co. asked Golf Digest for a list of the country’s best courses for its cartographers to chart, but editors thought such a list was too subjective. Instead, the magazine embarked on a four-year project using USGA course ratings along with its own research to determine the country’s most difficult tracks. The first such list, America’s 200 Toughest Courses, was published in 1966. In 1975, the list became America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses, and it's been the definitive ranking of golf courses since. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers explores the process and criteria that go into constructing the list, how it's evolved over the last half-century, and why criticism from pundits and everyday golfers is still unavoidable.

The golf course ranking no one agrees with

No golf slump is exactly the same, but they all tend to have similar ingredients. Whether it’s Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, or even you, most slumps arise from a crisis of confidence. But as Dan Rapaport reports, a slump doesn’t need to be a death sentence. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Rapaport talks to PGA Tour players and the sports psychologists who work with them to examine the root causes of these downward spirals, and how it’s possible to come out the other side even stronger.

The ‘Oh sh!t’ moment: The mystery of the golf slump

On the list of great golf courses around the world, Augusta National often ranks near the top. But when it comes to the course most golfers want to play, there is no question. Owing to its exclusivity, its manicured perfection, and the familiarity from watching the Masters every year on TV, a chance to play Augusta National is considered the ultimate get for most golfers. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers explores how certain players found their way into golf nirvana, and finds out whether it lived up to the hype.

'Lucky bastards': What it's like as a guest at Augusta National

Golf gambling has taken off in recent years, and it figures to grow even bigger. How did we get here? In this episode, we examine the game’s rapid embrace of what was once considered a seedy pastime, and why golf seems particularly well suited to benefit from legalized gambling. We’ll look at how golf’s massive amount of data has allowed gamblers to wager on seemingly every aspect of the game, and why some players are apprehensive about its influence on the sport.

Golf and the gambling revolution

Ken Duke’s 65 at the 2016 Players Championship isn’t close to one of the lowest rounds in PGA Tour history. It’s not even the best round ever at the Players. So why does it qualify as the greatest round in Players history, as well as one of the greatest rounds in the history of golf? In this episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers tells the story of a journeyman pro’s improbable round on a difficult scoring day at the Players, along with the backstory of how our measurement of golf performance has grown more sophisticated in recent years. In talking to Columbia University professor Mark Broadie, the creator of golf’s strokes-gained statistic, Myers explores how advanced metrics have altered our understanding of golf, and has helped everyone from tour pros to average players understand where they excel and where they most need improvement.

The greatest round in Players history—and why we know it is

There is no draft in pro golf. When most young players try to make a go of it on tour, they’re on their own, which means the expenses of tournament fees, travel, and caddies can add up in a hurry. In the absence of the type of endorsement contracts given to top prospects, some players have to get creative, and that means relying on wealthy backers who help front the costs in exchange for a potential return on their investment and the entertainment of having skin in the game. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Daniel Rapaport looks at how certain golfers have come to rely on “sugar daddies" in their early years on tour, and how those relationships vary from one to the next.

The Sugar Daddies of the PGA Tour

Jan Stephenson won 16 times on the LPGA, including three majors, but in the 1970s, the tour sought to market the Australian as more than just a talented player. From her photoshoots in a nightgown or in a bathtub full of golf balls, Stephenson faced backlash from fellow competitors who thought marketing players’ appearance diminished their abilities as athletes. Yet the controversies around Stephenson didn’t end there. She dated a series of famous men, was once removed from a golf course and brought to a psychiatric hospital, and lost her game when a mugging left her with broken fingers. In this episode, Keely Levins looks at Stephenson’s journey on tour, the criticism she faced, and the underrated career she carved out as a result.   

When the LPGA bet big on sex appeal: The wild career of Jan Stephenson

A golf rules official’s responsibilities cover a broad spectrum. They set up the course, oversee playoffs, and determine when a golf course is playable in a rainstorm and when it isn’t. Perhaps most important, they help golfers decipher the game’s complicated rules at pivotal moments throughout a tournament. In this episode, Alex Myers talks to retiring rules officials Slugger White and Mark Russell of the PGA Tour, and John Paramor of the European Tour about the highs and lows of their long careers, and which parts of the job made them sweat most.

hubhopper

Golf Digest Podcast

hubhopper