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The post ‘Say yes to golf’: This USGA program helps women level the playing field appeared first on Golf.

In 1946, Patty Berg won the inaugural U.S. Women’s Open at Spokane Country Club, beating a field of 39 players for a first-place prize of $5,600, paid entirely in war bonds.

She might not recognize the event today.

Eight decades on, the 81st U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally arrives this June at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, where 156 of the best female players in the world — whittled from a pool of 1,897 entries — will compete on one of the game’s most storied stages for a total purse of $12 million.

Do the math. The numbers alone tell a striking story about the evolution of women’s golf. But as with most good stories, statistics only go so far.

Golf is booming as never before, and female players have helped power that surge. Nearly 8 million now play the game in the United States, according to the National Golf Foundation, a 46-percent increase since 2019. They account for a record 28 percent of all golfers and contribute significantly to the billions spent in the game each year.

And yet, for many women from all walks of life, golf still often seems like someone else’s pursuit: governed by unfamiliar rules, elusive codes of conduct and a culture that falls shy of feeling fully inclusive. For all the strides that golf has made since Patty Berg was in her prime, a divide remains, limiting women’s access not only to the camaraderie and competition of the game but also to the relationships and opportunities so often forged around it.

That was the gap a recent gathering at Riviera set out to close.

Presented by the USGA and Ally, the presenting partner of the U.S. Women’s Open, an event called “Golf with Us” brought together 40 female business professionals, many of them newcomers to the game, for an immersive day of instruction and conversation. On the range, participants worked with eight teaching professionals across three stations covering full swing, short game and putting. They flushed some shots and bladed others. No one was keeping track. The goal was not to produce scratch golfers. It was something more impactful: to help women gain confidence and comfort with a game that carries profound benefits both on and off the course.

“I’m someone who has been in (golf) my entire life,” said Tisha Alyn, a former professional golfer, media host, trick-shot artist and entrepreneur, who moderated a panel discussion that followed. “Every opportunity, the majority of friendships, the majority of connections and employees I’ve made in my life have been through this game.”

Alyn knew that made her an outlier in the room. A quick show of hands confirmed it.

“How many of you had played golf before today?” she asked.

Most hands went up.

“And how many of you have made a business deal on the course?”

Most hands stayed down.

Alyn’s three panelists had plenty to say about that gulf, which they’d each confronted in one form or another in their own winding paths into the game. Lauren Campbell, director of sports and entertainment marketing at Ally, was introduced to golf as a child through father-daughter outings to a PGA Tour event in Michigan and has spent much of her career since trying to make the game more accessible and inviting for women. Kat Harwood, U.S. sports practice leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP, got her start as a passenger in a cart, riding alongside her husband, taking in the fresh air and scenery, until curiosity finally got the better of her. When play ground to a halt, she began taking swings. She realized that she liked it. What’s more, she discovered, “I wasn’t terrible at it,” she said. Katie Conway, the USGA’s senior director of partnerships, grew up as a fan’s daughter, her childhood weekends structured around Jack Nicklaus’s tee times. She even worked at golf courses along the way, yet somehow never thought to pick up a club. Eleven years into her career at the USGA, she’s still early in the learning curve. She has yet to break 100.

Which, as the panel made clear, is beside the point.

As Alyn teed them up, the speakers took turns sharing experiences and counsel. Conway talked about treating every round as a chance to learn something: a swing tip, a point of etiquette, a better feel for the rhythm of the game. She recalled playing Pebble Beach in a USGA outing, posting a score that was not the course record, but walking off focused on the positive: a single hole she’d played particularly well. She recommended adopting that mindset. “Women are less exposed to golf,” she said, “and we’re probably harder on ourselves than we should be.” Find the one good shot. Carry that with you.

Harwood offered a companion thought: Don’t make a production of the bad ones. No anguished post-shot commentary, no apology to your playing partners. “I realized I was drawing attention to my bad shots,” she said. Most of the judgment golfers fear on the course exists only in their imagination. Fact is, no one cares how you play as long as you’re not slowing down the pace. “Just pick up the ball and move on,” Harwood said.

Another pearl of hard-won wisdom: Don’t hesitate to go all in. For a while, Harwood said, she’d never taken a lesson, which she used as a built-in excuse, until she realized how absurd that was. “I wouldn’t do that in any other aspect of my life,” she said. If she wanted to learn to cook, she’d take a cooking class. Golf deserved the same respect and attention.

Instruction

Insiders Only 5 lessons from the U.S. Women's Open champ to shoot lower scores

By: Joe Hallett, with Zephyr Melton

The women in the audience weren’t beginners off the course. They were accomplished professionals, mothers, wives. But Alyn was candid about how long it can take to feel truly at home in the game, and how to reframe the moments that feel most daunting. Being the only woman in a golf outing, she said, isn’t so different from being the only woman in a boardroom. Both can be intimidating. Both can be flipped with some mental gymnastics. “You might think, ‘Holy crap, there are only two or three women in this room,'” she said. “I’m like, ‘Heck yeah, I’m here.'” Confidence on the course, she added, can also be a matter of faking it until you make it. “You all are badasses in this room. You have so much conviction in whatever you try.” Apply that same mentality to golf, and eventually the feeling becomes real.

And whatever you’re feeling on the course, remember: It’s a game. It’s supposed to be fun.

Trouble is, it can seem so serious, walled off by barriers — some real, some imagined — that the industry is bent on bringing down. As evidence, take the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally itself, the oldest championship in women’s golf, and a tournament whose growth over eight decades is a shining reflection of the game’s changing face.

As Conway made plain, you don’t have to be a pro to be part of the picture. She has no illusions about her game. She still has her sights on breaking 100. But her broader ambition can’t be measured in strokes. When work outings have come up in the past, she’s found herself asking hesitant questions. Would she be the only woman in the group? Were others aware of her skill level? She’d like to let go of that self-doubt.

“I’d love to get to a place where I just say yes,” she said. “I’d be happy to play with those clients without any caveats.”

She encouraged the women in the room to do the same, whether the invitation is to a driving range, a mini-golf outing or a company scramble.

“Just say yes to golf somewhere in your life,” she said. “It will change your life personally and professionally.”

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The post How to practice like a member of the U.S. National Junior Team appeared first on Golf.

The post How to practice like a member of the U.S. National Junior Team appeared first on Golf.

For the second straight year, the U.S. National Junior Team — part of the broader U.S. National Development Program, which launched in 2023 with a mission to identify, train, develop, fund and support the nation’s most promising young players — descended upon Scottsdale’s Desert Mountain in early March for the group’s spring practice session. Last year, I attended one of the sessions to get a feel for how the team operated. I came away impressed by the highly-organized and specific drills they practiced, and jumped at the chance to observe the team in action again this year.

Twenty members of the team’s 24-player roster were present for the multi-day practice session, and head coach Chris Zambri had the team undergo the same combine-style practice drills as before, which involves rotating between three separate practice areas and completing four different drills designed to sharpen putting skills, bunker shots and ball-striking.

How did Zambri land on this particular plan of attack for practice? Years of experience — and data collection.

Prior to his appointment as head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team, Zambri, a former pro himself, coached the men’s golf teams at both the University of Southern California and Pepperdine. While at USC, Zambri worked with a research scientist to identify the average length of putts that players were leaving themselves during a round. Using that data, Zambri created an “18-hole” exercise to simulate a round’s putts on the practice greens.

Putting: Simulate a round

At Desert Mountain, the players’ simulated putting rounds included practicing putts from two feet to 52 feet, putting out any misses and recording their scores. Zambri’s data is patented, but available on the Decade Golf app to the general public with a paid subscription. Every member of the U.S. Junior National Team has access to Decade Golf as well.

With these stats, not only can the juniors compare their scores among themselves, they can also compare them to the PGA Tour average. On this particular drill, a score of 29 equates to 0 strokes gained on the PGA Tour. Players can also analyze their speed by measuring how many inches long or short their putts end up.

Want to try this drill for yourself? If you’re a stat tracker, you can incorporate data from your own recent rounds for a truly personalized practice round. Or, there’s apps like Decade Golf.

“The advice that I would give to the general public is to take a tape measure and actually calculate how far 12 inches is, 6 inches, 24 inches,” USNDP regional coach Mo Martin advised. “Because 20 inches is a lot smaller than a lot of people think.”

Bunkers: Target proximity

For sand practice, the players hit 15 shots from the bunker to a “pin,” which was embodied by USNDP assistant coach Tiffany Joh, who changed locations for each shot. Every shot’s proximity to the target is measured in inches (with a maximum of 200 inches) and the three highest numbers are thrown out at the end. The remaining numbers are then added together for a total number. The lower the number, the better your bunker play.

Driving range: Line test

In this test, players use a launch monitor set to a specific target to measure how far offline each shot is. The players hit 20 shots with the number of yards missed left or right added together for a total score.

Driving range: Random yardages

Once again, the players are tasked with hitting 20 shots, but this time, the random yardage test is meant to challenge players to hit a specific yardage with their scoring clubs — wedges to short irons — in an attempt to simulate an on-course experience.

The point of these drills, of course, is not only to help players improve but also to provide a baseline for that improvement. The tests are repeated in the fall, so players can compare results, as well as test themselves at home in between the team’s formal gatherings.

“It’s an awesome practice tool,” said USNDP assistant manager Christopher Tanabe of the combine drills. “It’s one thing to just go to the range, work on your swing and hit balls, but like doing a test like this, especially when you’re so focused on getting on-line, it’s so intentional, you’re tired after. But it’s a good way to finish up a day on the range.”

Ultimately, Zambri said he hopes the players can use the combine drills not only as a means of game improvement, but also as a measurement of true excellence.

“We did this test for about 11 years, twice a week, with a bunch of really good players,” Zambri said of the combine’s development. “So, consequently, we figured out what really, really good is. And so it’s almost like a ladder of just trying to find your way towards that number eventually.

“We’re pretty much saying, close to the human level of excellence is a score of maybe X on one of these tests. And what are you getting? And that tells us right there, where’s the room for growth? How much room? Are we there? If we’re there, we can say, hey, no matter what happens, get over it quickly because you’re doing something really, really well.

“On the other hand, we can say to other people, hey, you might want to try a few things. We’ve got to get this score down from 80 to 60, or 160 down to 120. A measuring stick is what I’m hoping for, to pass that along to them so that they go home and get better at it.”

For the best young players in the world — and the rest of us recreational players — here’s hoping these drills can help make this upcoming season of golf the best yet.

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The post Inside the last-minute dash to get this Masters competitor’s driver… from a museum appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside the last-minute dash to get this Masters competitor’s driver… from a museum appeared first on Golf.

Update: Holtz did not use the old driver in his opening round of 81 at Augusta National.

Usually, when a player at a PGA Tour event, let alone a major, needs a golf club, there’s a plethora of equipment trucks from every OEM to build them one.

But on Tuesday afternoon at the Masters, U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Brandon Holtz needed one specific driver that no Tour Truck could build him. It was already built.

In fact, it was a driver Holtz knew quite well; he wouldn’t need much time to get familiar with it. He used it just seven months ago at the Mid-Am at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The issue was that Holtz had last used that driver seven months ago. At the Mid-Am. At Troon Country Club. In Scottsdale, Arizona.

The driver in question, a Callaway Paradym Ai-Smoke Triple Diamond with a Fujikura Ventus 7-X shaft, wasn’t currently in Augusta or Scottsdale. It was 640 miles from the Masters at the USGA Museum in Liberty Corner, N.J., after Holtz donated it to the USGA as a memento from his win.

But this is the Masters, and he needed it back.

Holtz will tee off Thursday in the first round at Augusta National with that same driver he won with at Troon CC. How he got it back took a mad dash and several USGA officials, from Mike Whan, to Scott Langley, to the USGA’s office manager just to get it to Augusta National in time for Holtz to use this week.

“Pretty special for sure,” Holtz said as he awaited the delivery on Wednesday at Augusta National. “Shows you what the USGA does and will do for you.”

A USGA tradition

Holtz is a former college basketball player at Illinois State University who turned professional (in golf) just a year after his final college basketball game. He became one of the most unlikely Masters competitors in history by winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur last fall, the 39-year-old’s first-ever USGA event.

He did so largely on the strength of his driving. On the 34th hole of the final match, he hit a driver on the 308-yard par-4 to just eight feet and made the putt for eagle to win the match 3 and 2.

As is tradition, every USGA champion donates a piece of their equipment to the governing body to either be displayed in the USGA museum or placed in the archives there. Sometimes it’s a club, other times it’s a shirt, a pair of shoes or a golf ball.

Given the significance of his driving that week and the tee shot on the decisive hole, Holtz donated his driver to the USGA.

A unique service

USGA CEO Mike Whan probably isn’t used to being asked to deliver a golf club to the Masters on Tuesday afternoon of tournament week, but that’s exactly what happened.

Holtz was feeling so bad about his driving this week at Augusta that he had a member of his team reach out to Whan to ask if he could get the driver out of the USGA Museum and down to the tournament.

Just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, Whan got a text and the USGA team “circled the wagons,” Director of Player Relations Scott Langley said to see what they could do.

“I would venture a guess that neither Brandon nor us as the USGA had that on our bingo cards,” Langley told GOLF as he chuckled during a Wednesday night phone call.

The first obstacle was that the director of the USGA Museum was on vacation in Paris, but she was able to get in touch with someone at the museum who quickly found the driver and got it to Office Services Manager Wayne McGowan, who rushed it to UPS just in time for the overnight shipping deadline.

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The driver made it to Augusta National on Wednesday and the USGA took it straight to conformance testing just to make sure Holtz could still use it. Wouldn’t that have been something to find it, get it all the way down to Georgia, only for it to fail a CT test?

Luckily, the driver passed the conformance test and was reunited with Holtz sometime before 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

Was Holtz nervously watching the tracking number to see when his driver would get there? The club that could potentially make or break his game for his Masters debut. No, not all.

“They basically said, ‘hey, just enjoy your day, and we’ll get it to you at some point,'” Holtz said. “So no, I’m not tracking it, but I have faith that they’ll be here.”

Lo and behold, that faith was rewarded, and something Langley was proud the team could accomplish.

“As the USGA, we’re grateful that they’re willing to share their artifacts with us and allow us to display them within our museum and archives,” Langley said. “And in these rare cases where something pops up, and the player might want to put it [back] into play, we want to do everything we can possibly to accommodate that and we’re grateful that physically we were still able to with the timeline.

What happens next?

With Holtz reunited with his driver, that does leave the museum with a hole in its collection.

There’s now nothing from the 2025 Mid-Amateur champion. So will the USGA ask for the driver back when Holtz’s Masters comes to an end?

Langley laughed at the thought.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say we’ll check in with him. We’d love to have it there, and in these cases, these players really appreciate the chance to have one of their artifacts in our museum as well. It’s not just saying it because it’s ours, but it’s just an amazing collection of golf history.

“I’m sure we’ll have a conversation about it … I’m sure we’ll have a laugh over it at the end of the week, and we’ll agree on where the best place for it to live is.”

But for the rest of this week, that driver is living the dream along with Holtz in Augusta, Ga.

Want to find the best driver for your game in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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The post ‘Failure’s not an option’: Augusta National chairman reaffirms club’s rollback stance appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Failure’s not an option’: Augusta National chairman reaffirms club’s rollback stance appeared first on Golf.

Augusta National seems ready to end the uncertainty surrounding golf’s rollback.

At his annual pre-Masters press conference, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley reaffirmed the club’s position supporting the USGA and R&A’s proposed golf ball rollback, currently slated for 2028 at the professional level, and suggested that the plans need to be finalized.

In January, the USGA issued a notice to manufacturers announcing that it was taking feedback on delaying the implementation of new Overall Distance Standard (ODS) tests until 2030, but that such a rollback would be adopted simultaneously across all levels, not in phases. The new test would require conforming golf balls to fly no farther than the current 317-yard limit, but at an increased clubhead speed of 125 mph from 120 mph.

Most estimates suggest the game’s longest players will lose 10-15 yards on their tee shots, while most recreational players will see negligible impacts.

“There’s always been quite a lot of agreement. My feeling on this subject is failure’s not an option. I think we need to continue to work together to come to some agreement,” Ridley said Wednesday morning. “What we’re trying to do is to protect the integrity of what makes golf so great. I think I tried to articulate it in my comments, and that’s that it’s more than about just hitting prodigious drives.”

Ridley said the club’s interest and position aren’t solely about protecting its own course, which has been lengthened significantly over the past 25 years to its current scorecard yardage of 7,565 yards.

The most recent notable change was the lengthening of the par-5 13th hole, arguably the most famous non-par-3 in the sport. In 2023, a new Masters tee was constructed, adding 35 yards to the hole for a new scorecard yardage of 545 yards.

To build the new tee, the club famously purchased land from the adjacent Augusta Country Club in 2017 and had a portion Chapman Court rerouted to accommodate the new tee.

Ridley said the change didn’t significantly alter the scoring on the hole, but that wasn’t the point. The goal was to restore Bobby Jones and Dr. Alister MacKenzie’s intent when they designed it over 100 years ago.

“What has changed is the way the hole is played today and, I think, the excitement of the hole. For example, before we added the yardage to 13, only about 60 percent of the field hit drivers. Now it’s 90 percent,” Ridley said. “The first year we added the distance, those same drives [that previously went through the fairway] stayed back in the fairway and allowed the player the decision — Bobby Jones called it a momentous decision — as to whether or not they wanted to go for the green. So we had players hitting 240-, 250-yard shots into the green, which I think is pretty exciting.

“So I think the hole is now playing more like it was designed to play. Sure, there are going to be some middle to even — probably not short irons, but there will be some middle irons played to that hole. But that’s not an easy shot in and of itself. But there are going to be more longer irons and even some fairway metals that are played. I think that’s the way we want the hole to play.”

News

'The change will happen': Outgoing USGA president reflects on golf-ball rollback

By: Art Stricklin

But Ridley realizes not every golf course, including many iconic venues, has the resources to make the changes Augusta National can and even Augusta can’t keep lengthening every hole. Ridley heard that firsthand this week.

“I talked to Jackson Herrington, one of our young amateurs, and he told me that yesterday he hit it over the bunker on 1 and 5, which is about a 325-yard carry, and one was into the wind,” Ridley said. “I’ve said that we can make changes, but there’s not much we can do to make changes, number one, unless we tear down the Eisenhower Cabin, and we’re not going to do that.”

Two years ago, Ridley claimed the Masters should never be played at an Augusta National course at 8,000 yards. At some point, even the seemingly endless resources of Augusta National will be limited to how long they can make the golf course.

Ridley wants the rest of the game’s stakeholders to take action before it’s too late. Talk of a rollback has been discussed for years without any concrete action taken until December 2023, when the USGA and R&A announced the proposed rollback, which is currently supposed to begin implementation in two years.

Even in the years since, as the proposed date has drawn closer, there has been growing doubt whether the proposal will actually be implemented.

“We’ll make changes when we can, but I think it’s time to really address this issue,” Ridley said. “It’s been talked about for a long time.”

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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This content was first published in Golf Journal, a quarterly print publication exclusively for USGA Members. To be among the first to receive Golf Journal and to learn how you can ensure a strong future for the game, become a USGA Member today!

It was the break of a lifetime. I’m still not sure how that ball on No. 12 didn’t end up in Rae’s Creek, but I guess some things are just meant to be.

I look forward to the Masters every year — still do, even now in my 60s — and in 1992, I was playing really well in the lead-up. I had won twice in March and reached No. 1 in the world ranking.

A storm blew through Augusta National on Saturday that year, so I had to finish my third round early Sunday morning. After I finished — in second place, a stroke behind Craig Parry — I went back to my house and slept for a few hours.

Driving

Insiders Only How Fred Couples swings fast while looking so smooth

By: Zephyr Melton

I got off to a sluggish start in the final round and fell three behind, then laid the sod over my 2-iron tee shot on the short par-4 third. The next swing is the one that got me back on track — an 8-iron to within 6 inches for a tap-in birdie. Little did I know it would be far from the most consequential 8-iron shot I’d hit that day.

I’ve always been a scoreboard watcher, and they’re hard to miss at the Masters. So I knew I was ahead by three strokes as I stepped to the 12th tee, right in the heart of Amen Corner. It’s the shortest hole at Augusta, but so dangerous given its shallow green, the swirling wind and all that pressure.

It was 166 yards to the hole, a perfect 8-iron. I’m an aggressive player, so I won’t lie and say I was aiming for the middle of the green, but I did push it to the right. The ball hit the bank, started trickling back… and somehow came to rest on the steep slope above Rae’s Creek.

After I chipped within a foot to save par, I noticed a ball in the water. It was a Maxfli, the same brand I played, belonging to defending champion Ian Woosnam. My ball should have been right next to his, but divine intervention kept it dry.

When I holed out on 18, Ray Floyd, who finished runner-up, gave me a hug as I exited the green — a classy gesture from a good friend.

Adding to the emotion of the day was the Green Jacket presentation in Butler Cabin, where my college roommate at the University of Houston, Jim Nantz, presided over the ceremony. Thirteen years before, we sat in our dorm as Jim interviewed me after I had “won the Masters.” Now, it was happening for real.

It’s nearly 35 years later, and that’s still sinking in.

The post Fred Couples revisits the ‘divine intervention’ that won him the 1992 Masters appeared first on Golf.

The post He was Augusta National’s superintendent, an innovator and mentor appeared first on Golf.

The post He was Augusta National’s superintendent, an innovator and mentor appeared first on Golf.

Over the years, as Masters coverage has expanded to capture every shot from every corner of Augusta National Golf Club, many fans have come to feel as if they know the course to its last blade of grass.

Paul R. Latshaw actually did.

From 1986 to 1989, Latshaw served as Augusta National’s superintendent, presiding over four Masters on a property renowned for its meticulous conditioning. It was a luminous stretch within a 40-year career that carried him across some of the game’s most exacting stages — from Oakmont to Congressional to Winged Foot, and beyond — and made him the only superintendent to oversee host courses for all three U.S.-based men’s major championships.

His influence, though, extended far beyond the grounds he tended. To peers and protégés, Latshaw was a tireless innovator and generous mentor who helped shape the careers of scores of industry professionals. By some estimates, more than 100 of his former employees and pupils went on to become superintendents, turfgrass scientists or leaders in the game, including his son, Paul B. Latshaw., who is now director of grounds at Merion near Philadelphia.

In recognition of those contributions, Latshaw was honored earlier this year with the USGA’s 2026 Green Section Award, presented annually for distinguished service to the game through turfgrass management. Latshaw, 85, whose health has been declining, was unable to attend the ceremony at the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America’s trade show in Orlando. His son accepted on his behalf.

“He was the Michael Jordan of superintendents,” the younger Latshaw told GOLF.com

The man recognized as one of the most influential figures in his field was not himself an avid golfer, nor did he grow up in the game. Raised in Red Cross, Pa., he served in the U.S. Navy after high school and planned to study poultry production at Penn State before answering a newspaper ad for a golf course maintenance job. He took it and was hooked.

He pivoted to Penn State’s two-year turfgrass program, graduating in 1964. But as his son put it, his education never stopped.

“He was constantly seeking information, attending seminars, eager to learn,” he said. “He always wanted to be on the cutting edge.”

Latshaw’s first superintendent job was at The Country Club of Jackson in Michigan, followed by Shaker Heights Country Club in Ohio. In 1976, he arrived at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, where he oversaw the 1978 PGA Championship and the 1983 U.S. Open. That proving ground — on a course with storied greens of its own — helped propel Latshaw to Augusta, where he arrived in time for Jack Nicklaus’ historic 1986 victory, 40 years ago this spring.

The move from Oakmont to Augusta plunged Latshaw into a different agronomic world, away from push-up greens and Poa annua and into warm-season turf and fall overseeding. He embraced the changes with curiosity and conviction, experimenting constantly, even when it meant unsettling convention.

One afternoon, his assistant, Matt Shaffer, came across Latshaw behind the 5th green, pumping air across the putting surface with a leaf blower.

“I said, you’re pushing 90-degree air across the green at 70 miles an hour and you think something good is going to happen,” Shaffer recalled. “What are you even doing?”

“Experimenting,” Latshaw replied.

With air movement, to be exact, in a tree-shaded setting that stifled it. The results were promising enough that Latshaw soon began jury-rigging fans in the maintenance shop and putting them to work on the course, an unconventional practice that became standard at Augusta and, eventually, elsewhere. He also tweaked the club’s green aerification schedule, shifting it into the fall (before Latshaw’s arrival, Shaffer said, the club punched only in summer, when the course was closed). It was a bold move, with professional (if not agronomic) risks, and it briefly disrupted play and ruffled feathers. But it improved turf health.

Tournaments

A detailed look at Augusta National's history from the son of its first superintendent

“That was his thing,” Shaffer said. “His first priority was always: what’s best for the grass.”

Working under Latshaw, Shaffer said, felt at times like a daily chemistry lesson. Where Shaffer and many of his peers focused largely on major nutrients — nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium — Latshaw worked deeper on the periodic chart, fine-tuning elements like boron, magnesium and calcium.

“He could push grass to points I never thought possible,” Shaffer said. “Right to the edge, where you’d swear it couldn’t come back. And then he’d bring it back.”

When the two first met, Latshaw was at Oakmont and Shaffer was working at a little-known Pennyslvania club, feeling stalled. 

“I had a chip on my shoulder,” Shaffer said. “Like I wasn’t getting what I deserved.”

When Latshaw offered him a job as an assistant at Augusta National, just after the 1986 Masters, the pay wasn’t life-changing, the title (assistant) was a downgrade and the pressure exponentially higher. Shaffer accepted anyway, recognizing a rare chance to learn from a master.

“I thought I was a pretty good grass grower,” he said. “Then I stood next to him and realized how little I knew.”

If Latshaw’s expectations were exacting, so was his work ethic.

“He didn’t just delegate,” Shaffer said. “If we worked 150 days straight, he worked 160. He was smart, he was driven, and he was endlessly curious. He changed my life.”

After Augusta, Latshaw’s résumé continued to swell with the names of marquee clubs: Wilmington Country Club, Congressional Country Club — where he hosted his second U.S. Open, in 1997 — and a simultaneous consulting role at Riviera. He closed his on-course career at Winged Foot before retiring in 2001 to work as a consulting agronomist.

In total, he ran the agronomic show for four Masters, two U.S. Opens, a PGA Championship and two U.S. Senior Opens. His broader legacy was bolstered through the people he trained, and in the practices he helped normalize.

“Maintenance techniques he introduced that once seemed radical are now standard,” said Darin Bevard, the USGA’s senior director of championship agronomy. “He was always curious, always willing to learn from anyone, and that’s what kept him at the top for so long.”

Years after leaving Augusta, Latshaw was still mentoring Shaffer, who by then was superintendent at Merion, preparing for the 2005 U.S. Amateur under challenging weather conditions that had left the course in less-than-ideal condition. Latshaw arrived with underground soil sensors he believed could help. Shaffer resisted.

“It told him I didn’t have time to mess around with sensors,” Shaffer said. “I’ve got a course I need to get in shape.”

Latshaw persisted. The sensors went in. And worked.

In addition to this year’s Green Section honor, Latshaw also received the GCSAA’s Old Tom Morris Award in 2017. The following year, Penn State, established a turfgrass graduate fellowship in his name.

Over the years, Paul B. said, he and his father haven’t always watched the Masters together.

This Sunday, they will.

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The post How the World Handicap System stays steady even when conditions aren’t appeared first on Golf.

The post How the World Handicap System stays steady even when conditions aren’t appeared first on Golf.

April has been called the cruelest month. For golfers, though, it’s the coolest month. It means the active season for handicap posting is fully underway. On April 1, a cluster of states kicks goes live. By April 15, the whole country is posting.

Of course, “underway” doesn’t always mean “ideal.” In early April, some courses are still rounding into shape after winter, and plenty of regions are still at the mercy of unpredictable spring weather. Which makes it a perfect time to brush up on one of the quietly important features of the World Handicap System: the Playing Conditions Calculation, or PCC — a mechanism designed specifically for days when conditions are anything but normal.

Introduced when the WHS launched in 2020 and refined in 2024, the PCC is a tool implemented by the USGA to adjust score differentials if a course played significantly harder or easier than normal — whether due to weather, wind, firm or soft conditions, or an unusually tough setup. The goal is to keep your Handicap Index accurate no matter what Mother Nature or the superintendent throws at the field. And the effort required on your end is pretty much zilch. The adjustment happens automatically. All you have to do is post your score.

How to use Playing Conditions Calculation

Here’s how it works. Each night at midnight, if at least eight scores have been posted by players with a Handicap Index of 36.0 or below on that specific course and date, the PCC kicks in. It compares actual scores against what those players would be expected to shoot based on their ability. If scoring was abnormally high or low, the system adjusts.

That adjustment can range from -1.0 (conditions played easier than normal) to +3.0 (significantly harder), with 0.0 being the most common outcome by design — the WHS built the PCC to be conservative. If a PCC adjustment is applied to your round, you’ll typically see a “^” symbol next to that score in your record.

The result is a kind of consistency in a game when conditions can be anything but. It means that a brutal day into a 30-mph wind doesn’t disproportionately affect your index, and that a perfect morning on a spongy, receptive course doesn’t, either.

If you don’t already have a Handicap Index, you can get one here.

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This content was first published in Golf Journal, a quarterly print publication exclusively for USGA Members. To be among the first to receive Golf Journal and to learn how you can ensure a strong future for the game, become a USGA Member today!

Golf carts play an important role at many courses. They help players get around — some layouts would be impractical or impossible to traverse without them — and are a source of revenue for operators, too.

On the other hand, golf carts can negatively affect course conditions — especially if used incorrectly. Course superintendents have various ways to manage the impact of cart traffic, but there are some important things golfers can do to help.

Instruction

9 ways to play faster cart golf

By: Jessica Marksbury

When getting ready for your round, check the day’s cart policies and stick to them. Be aware of holes that are cart path only, follow the 90-degree rule when it’s in effect, and respect any traffic-control signs, stakes or ropes that you encounter. These measures are designed to spread wear and protect sensitive areas, and may also be in place for your safety.

As you drive around the course, avoid steep slopes and obviously wet or extremely dry areas, stop and start slowly and always park with all four tires on the path where possible to avoid damaging nearby turf. Steer clear of high-traffic areas when you can — one cart driving down a fairway won’t do much damage, but concentrated traffic can quickly lead to worn-out grass and bare spots that are no fun to play from. This type of damage can often be found where carts enter and exit the hole, so be especially mindful in those areas.

The total amount of cart traffic is also a key factor. More carts mean more stress on the grass, so if you’re able to walk when playing or can share a cart rather than riding solo, it makes a real difference. The next time you do take a cart, keep these simple tips in mind. With a little care and common sense, you’ll do your part to help keep the courses you play in great shape for everyone.

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The post How does a course assign each hole’s stroke index? appeared first on Golf.

The post How does a course assign each hole’s stroke index? appeared first on Golf.

This content was first published in Golf Journal, a quarterly print publication exclusively for USGA Members. To be among the first to receive Golf Journal and to learn how you can ensure a strong future for the game, become a USGA Member today!

After you both convert your Handicap Index to a Course Handicap, you receive two strokes a side from your match-play opponent. Now it’s time to plot some strategy, based on a glance at the scorecard to remind yourself where those strokes are assigned.

Few aspects of organized golf are as misunderstood as the process of assigning holes their individual stroke index values for handicap purposes. For something so crucial to the competitive elements of the game, there are plenty of misconceptions surrounding how each hole on a particular course is given a value from hardest to easiest.

Some of the confusion stems from the relationship between stroke index and the Course Rating System™. In short, there is none — at least not officially. The purpose of the system is to produce two numbers: the Course Rating™, which identifies the expected overall score from a specific set of tees for a scratch golfer on a good day, and the Slope Rating®, which measures the relative difficulty of the course for all players other than scratch. Both figures are independent from the stroke index.

They do work in concert, though, as a player’s Course Handicap determines which holes they receive strokes on, plus the maximum number of strokes they can take on any hole for World Handicap System (WHS) score-posting purposes. As the Rules of Handicapping state, “The maximum score for each hole played is limited to a net double bogey, equal to double bogey plus any handicap strokes you are entitled to receive based on your Course Handicap.”

Course Rating is handled across the country by the network of 55 Allied Golf Associations (AGAs), whose raters are well versed in the Course Rating procedure. However, those rating teams are not ultimately responsible for determining stroke indexes.

Lifestyle

The difference between course rating and slope rating, explained

By: Josh Sens

The final decision to assign stroke-index rankings from 1 to 18 is done independently by a course’s designated staff or committee members. As technology continues to influence the Course Rating System, though, the somewhat artistic nature of hole handicapping has become more rooted in data. Some of the guesswork has been removed from the assignment process.

“We now use Course Rating data to provide a recommended stroke index table or stroke index values for each hole, because that is pretty objective data,” says Scott Hovde, the USGA’s director of Course Rating and Handicap Research.

While stats, weather conditions, and other factors have helped give context to how a course is rated, a number of universal factors can be applied to every course across the globe. Says Hovde, “We’re looking at the length of the hole, obstacles that impact scoring, how close penalty areas are, size of the green, depth and prevalence of bunkers, and rough height, among other aspects.”

This consistency, according to Hunter Koch, director of Course Rating for the Golf Association of Michigan, allows for a universality of ratings that streamlines how courses are viewed from a difficulty perspective. “Whether you’re in Michigan or New Zealand, everyone is using the same guide,” said Koch. “Hypothetically, there will be replicability of every rating.”

There is, of course, still room for interpretation.

The evolution of the Course Rating System and the recommendations for golf officials regarding hole handicapping have come a long way, thanks in large part to the data Hovde mentioned. While data helps provide courses with an objective evaluation of the rating process, there remains a human element.

“We walk the course to do field work, measuring and rating from tee to green,” says Koch. “Then, we’ll play the course to see and feel it from the perspective of a player.

“At a recent course, I hit three greens with excellent shots from the fairway, but the ball just rolled off the back,” Koch recalls as an example. “That’s the definition of a firm adjustment,” he adds, referring to a characteristic that can affect a hole rating.

As stated in the Golf Association of Michigan handbook, “Green surface difficulty is based on the speed and contours of the putting surface. Speed is determined using a Stimpmeter reading under mid-season playing conditions.” This data point, Koch notes, might influence how a rater sees a course. “You then ask yourself, are these normal course conditions, or was this an abnormal course condition that caused this? Is it just that it’s October and extremely dry because the green hasn’t been irrigated recently? Or is it simply a firm green and the ball won’t hold?”

This is a conundrum Hovde encounters often, especially when local AGAs provide recommendations to courses regarding stroke-index allocations. “When we used scoring data, it would vary from month to month and generate totally different results depending on the group of players involved. Using Course Rating data is a lot more objective because it’s something that’s measurable. It’s not impacted by a player’s ability to play a certain hole; we just evaluate the hole for difficulty.”

Though the WHS has worked hard to overhaul the procedure for stroke index assignments for more consistency, each course ultimately makes their own call on stroke-index values.

Says Derek McKenzie, USGA manager of Course Rating Administration and Handicapping Research, “One of the key points of emphasis is that the USGA is supplying recommendations based on the rating data. However, the adoption of the actual stroke allocation assignment is a decision for the course or club. For example, most clubs have a committee, and it’s their right to assign those stroke indexes based on whatever they think is best for their golfers and the club itself.”

This is why Course Rating and hole handicap allocation is more of a science than ever before but still involves some artistry and local knowledge.

“We’re supplying that recommendation,” adds McKenzie. “Oftentimes, the local committee will simply adopt it or maybe make small tweaks. It’s not the USGA or even the AGA that’s assigning stroke-index values. We’re coming up with recommendations for the club’s consideration, then they’re deciding what they want the assignments to be.”

To help rate courses as accurately as possible, Koch leans on the course staff to gain insight on whether the things he notices during his field work and round of golf are aberrations or features of the course. “We try to meet with the superintendent on-site, because they know the golf course better than anyone else. For example, green speed and rough height are two constant things that get baked into the rating process,” he says. Unfortunately, these are two variables that can be quite different depending on when the course is played.

Instruction

6 reasons you should keep a Handicap Index

By: Kellie Stenzel, Top 100 Teacher

“If we try to rate a golf course at the end of April, the greens are not going to be up to speed,” Koch says. “The rough might not have grown in yet. Maybe we have a dry stretch or wet stretch during the summer. The course as you rate it is never going to be the perfect representation of the average condition over 10 years. In that regard, we rely on intuition and local knowledge.”

The difference between the method for arriving at a Course Rating and at individual hole rankings is what causes the most confusion for recreational golfers. Both for the entire course and on each individual hole, several additional factors come into play.

“We look at all sorts of effective playing length factors such as elevation changes, doglegs or layups, altitude if the course is at a higher elevation,” says Hovde. “Those are looked at on every hole, which cumulatively creates the 9- and 18-hole ratings. We look at the obstacles for scratch and bogey golfers on those holes and create what’s called a scratch value and a bogey value.”

Those values are then compared to par for each hole, which is a fixed number. Ultimately, holes that are reflective of the largest gap in expected score versus par would generate the lowest stroke-index assignment recommendations; in other words, identifying the hole(s) where a golfer may most be in need of a handicap stroke.

Other factors go into these recommendations. “We look at things such as odds and evens,” says Hovde, of the decision about which nine will be assigned the 1-3-5 etc. ranking and which gets 2-4-6 and so on, so that stroke holes for a match are evenly distributed.

“It’s typically odds on the front nine and evens on the back nine. We have some guidelines about avoiding back-to-back low stroke holes. You don’t want the No. 1 and No. 3 stroke holes to be right next to each other if possible, and we also recommend avoiding those at the very beginning or end of a nine.”

This creates an interesting challenge for courses that boast tough finishing holes. Despite the drama it is intended to create, it can be a detriment to match-play scenarios, since plenty of matches don’t get to the 18th hole. Says Hovde, “You get to that 16th or 17th hole and you lose, and you didn’t even get a chance to use that stroke that might have helped continue the match.”

Though the world of stroke indexes can be intimidating and has been known to cause an argument or two on the course, it’s helpful to remember that clubs have the option to utilize a reliable formula to index each hole.

“The rating data and the assessment that the rating team is looking at on a hole-by-hole basis are populated into a formula that projects score,” says McKenzie. As such, the Course Rating is simply a projection of a scratch golfer’s expected score when factoring length and other data collected on-site. “Instead of producing those 9- or 18-hole projections, which are Course Ratings, we break that down on a hole-by-hole basis to provide a ranking of holes, based upon difficulty,” he adds. 

The next time you’re at your local course and wonder why a hole that gives you fits is rated as relatively easy, while a hole you have no issue conquering is listed as one of the hardest, remember that stroke index is up to club discretion. When adhering to AGA recommendations, these numbers are informed by data. At other clubs, though, local committees work off their own system and the outcome can be a bit more unpredictable.

In this sense, stroke indexing reflects the game of golf itself.

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The post Tiger Woods just had 2 prizes named in his honor. Here’s why that’s meaningful appeared first on Golf.

The post Tiger Woods just had 2 prizes named in his honor. Here’s why that’s meaningful appeared first on Golf.

Many observers of the life and times of Tiger Woods would know he has won 15 major championships and 82 PGA Tour events. But here are two other numbers at the core of the Tiger Woods Numerology Experience: 9 and 8, and that’s not a reference to a Stephen Ames match-play result. (But, since we’re there: check out this golden oldie, from the Match Play Championship, 20 years ago.) The main reference here is to the eight times Woods won Arnold Palmer’s tournament, and to the nine occasions he won USGA national championships. That is, his three USGA junior titles, his three U.S. Ams, plus his three U.S. Open wins at a holy trinity of public courses: Pebble Beach (2000), Bethpage Black (’02) and Torrey Pines (’09).

You know who has won more USGA titles? Nobody.

Also: Woods eight victories at Bay Hill? They came in a 14-year span, all full-field(ish) events. Astonishing.

If Woods had done nothing else in the game, that monumental run alone would put him in the pantheon.

Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge (its full name), where the fellas are playing this week dreaming about the $4 million winner’s payday, is a living tribute to Arnold Palmer his own self. Maybe someday Tiger will get a bridge at Bay Hill named for him or something. For now, you can see his name eight times on metal plaques underfoot at the club’s Champions Walk. In 2022, the R&A made Woods a member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, which gives him preferred tee times at the Old Course, among other privileges. He has a lifetime honorary membership at Augusta National, care of his first win there, in 1997. (He’s had four more Masters wins since then.) There’s a Tiger Woods Villa at Trump Doral, where Woods has won seven times. But the biggest thing is the most recent thing, straight out of Pinehurst, N.C., and the USGA HQ.

What the USGA did last week, at least when viewed through the prism of eternity, will top the other honors cited here: Golf’s most influential and tradition-minded organizing body (or at least right up there with the R&A), announced that from here on out the winner of the U.S. Amateur will receive the Tiger Woods Medal, and the winner of the USGA junior title for boys will receive the Tiger Woods Trophy. As for the phrase here on out, let’s get it down to one word: forever.

But wait — there’s more.

The subtext here seems obvious but it’s hiding in plain sight. If there was ever any question about whether Tiger Woods was ever going to go LIV, the USGA answered that question with this news of naming rights of the freebie kind. Hang close here: The USGA, by political temperament and mission statement, is not going to align itself with LIV Golf or a LIV player in meaningful way. The two groups are just too . . . different. Along those same lines, nobody with a LIV Golf association is likely to ever receive the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s most celebrated honor. At the annual pro-member event at Seminole Golf Club, a USGA winter hangout if ever there was one, you never see LIV players in the field. Similar logic, really.

Nobody from the inside would say this out loud, but there really is a USGA-LIV Golf divide. That’s because LIV Golf is a for-profit business, and its business model is rooted in selling star-driven golf. The USGA is golf’s equivalent of a great university, with a teaching-research hospital in its backyard. A core value of the USGA, if not the core value, is merit. Shoot the scores (while playing by the rules), get the prizes, no matter your life story. J.J. Spaun’s win at the U.S. Open last year at Oakmont was out of the merit tradition. When Spaun was a walk-on golfer at San Diego State in 2008, nobody was predicting he would win the Open. He got better at golf. That is, he made himself better. It takes your breath away, because the odds are hugely against you. 

News

Tiger Woods drops cryptic message about his Tour return at TGL

By: Kevin Cunningham

The byword of Tiger’s life in golf is merit. The presenting sponsor of the numbers being dropped here (82, 15, 9, 8) is . . . Merit Inc. The PGA Tour on which Tiger was born and raised, the same. Merit, merit, merit. Woods’s origin story — raised by a Black father who grew up in tough circumstances in a segregated America and by an immigrant mother from Thailand — cannot be overstated. What the USGA is saying here, by naming these great pieces of hardware for Tiger Woods, is that the doors of golf are open to all. This naming business is low-cost, but a big deal.

The PGA Tour, in a naked attempt to make sure it does not lose more star players to LIV Golf, has done a number of things that come right out of the LIV Golf playbook. The whole model for the PGA Tour’s Signature events, including this week’s API, is borrowed from LIV Golf. The creation of the PGA Tour’s for-profit division — PGA Tour Enterprises, with its private-equity investors — is another nod to LIV. (Woods is the vice chairman of E.) The field this week at Bay Hill comprises only 72 players — so LIV. (That number would leave Arnold Palmer ill.) There’s a goofy 36-hole cut for the top-50 and ties, or any player within 10 shots of the lead. That bit of bookkeeping is really a nod to Arnold’s belief in the sanctity of the cut as an elemental part of tournament golf, and that’s really all it is.

And let’s not get all high-and-mighty about the role of the USGA in the game. In negotiating TV rights and choosing venues for U.S. Opens, the USGA can take its leads right from the Gordon Gekko (“greed is good”) playbook.

But we’re here today to put a trophy on a pedestal. These new USGA prizes, the Tiger Woods Trophy and the Tiger Woods Medal, they tell a great deal. That every player managed by Mark Steinberg, Tiger’s longtime agent, is not a LIV Golf golfer, the same — it’s telling. And this is what’s being said. In theory and really in practice, anybody can grow up to win a USGA championship. When you get right down to it, that’s everything. Arnold did it. (He was 24 when he won the U.S. Amateur.) Spaun did it. Bob Jones (nine USGA titles) did it. Ben Hogan did it. And so did, most spectacularly, Tiger. The Tiger Woods Trophy. The Tiger Woods Medal. How fitting. 

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

The post Tiger Woods just had 2 prizes named in his honor. Here’s why that’s meaningful appeared first on Golf.