Premier Golf Resorts 2012: Category Leaders

Overall Golf Leaders 1. The American Club, Kohler, Wis. 2. Bandon Dunes, Bandon, Ore. 3. Pebble Beach Resorts, Pebble Beach, Calif. 4. Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Kiawah Island, S.C. 5. Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, Manele Bay, Lana’i, Hawaii 6. Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, N.C. 7. Sawgrass Marriott/TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. 8. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Big Island, Hawaii 9. Radisson Ft. McDowell/We-Ko-Pa, Ft. McDowell, Ariz. 10. Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic Overall Lodging Leaders 1. Sea Island Resort, Sea Island, Ga. 2. Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Nayarit, Mexico 3. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Big Island, Hawaii 4. One&Only Ocean Club/Atlantis, Paradise Island, The Bahamas 5. Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, Manele Bay, Lana’i, Hawaii 6. The American Club, Kohler, Wis. 7. Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, Lodge at Koele, Lana’i, Hawaii 8. The Breakers, Palm Beach, Fla. 9. The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. 10. Pebble Beach Resorts, Pebble Beach, Calif. Overall Food & Drink Leaders 1. One&Only Ocean Club/Atlantis, Paradise Island, The Bahamas 2. Sea Island Resort, Sea Island, Ga. 3. Wynn Las Vegas Resort, Las Vegas, Nev. 4. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Big Island, Hawaii 5. Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, Lodge at Koele, Lana’i, Hawaii 6. Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Nayarit, Mexico 7. Four Seasons Resort Maui, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii 8. One&Only Palmilla, Los Cabos, Mexico 9. Fairmont Jasper Park, Alberta, Canada 10. Grand del Mar, San Diego, Calif. Overall Service Leaders 1. The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. 2. Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, Manele Bay, Lana’i, Hawaii 3. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Big Island, Hawaii 4. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Ore. 5. One&Only Ocean Club/Atlantis, Paradise Island, The Bahamas 6. Sea Island Resort, Sea Island, Ga. 7. The American Club, Kohler, Wis. 8. The Breakers, Palm Beach, Fla. 9. Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, Lodge at Koele, Lana’i, Hawaii 10. The Homestead, Hot Springs, Va. Here are your top picks for quality of golf and accommodations in each region of North America. CANADA Best Golf 1. Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta 2. Taboo Resort, Ontario 3. Predator Ridge Resort, Vernon Best Lodging 1. Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta 2. Fairmont Banff Springs, Alberta 3. Deerhurst Resort, Ontario CARIBBEAN Best Golf 1. Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic 2. Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay/White Witch, Montego Bay, Jamaica 3. One&Only Ocean Club/Atlantis, Paradise Island, The Bahamas Best Lodging 1. One&Only Ocean Club/Atlantis, Paradise Island, The Bahamas 2. Sandals Emerald Bay, Great Exuma, The Bahamas 3. Half Moon Rose Hall Jamaica, Montego Bay, Jamaica MEXICO Best Golf 1. Cabo del Sol Resort, Los Cabos, Mexico 2. One&Only Palmilla, Los Cabos, Mexico 3. Fairmont Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico Best Lodging 1. Four Seasons Punta Mita, Nayarit, Mexico 2. One&Only Palmilla, Los Cabos, Mexico 3. Banyan Tree Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico CALIFORNIA Best Golf 1. Pebble Beach Resorts, Pebble Beach, Calif. 2. Resort at Pelican Hill, Newport Beach, Calif. 3. CordeValle, San Martin, Calif. 4. Renaissance Esmeralda/Indian Wells Golf Resort, Indian Wells, Calif. 5. Lodge at Torrey Pines, San Diego, Calif. Best Lodging 1. Pebble Beach Resorts, Pebble Beach, Calif. 2. CordeValle, San Martin, Calif. 3. St. Regis Monarch Beach, Dana Point, Calif. 4. Park Hyatt Aviara, Carlsbad, Calif. 5. Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, Half Moon Bay, Calif. ARIZONA Best Golf 1. Radisson Ft. McDowell/We-Ko-Pa, Ft. McDowell, Ariz. 2. Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain, Marana, Ariz. 3. Four Seasons Scottsdale at Troon North, Scottsdale, Ariz. 4. Gold Canyon Resort, Scottsdale, Ariz. 5. The Boulders, Scottsdale, Ariz. Best Lodging 1. Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain, Marana, Ariz. 2. Four Seasons Scottsdale at Troon North, Scottsdale, Ariz. 3. The Phoenician, Scottsdale, Ariz. 4. The Boulders, Scottsdale, Ariz. 5. Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, Ariz. FLORIDA Best Golf 1. Sawgrass Marriott/TPC Sawgrass, Vedra Beach, Fla. 2. Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Fla. 3. Hammock Beach Resort, Palm Coast, Fla. 4. Turnberry Isle Miami, Miami, Fla. 5. Doral, Miami, Fla. Best Lodging 1. The Breakers, Palm Beach, Fla. 2. Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples/Tiburon, Naples, Fla. 3. Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, Orlando, Fla. 4. Waldorf Astoria Orlando, Orlando, Fla. 5. Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. MIDWEST Best Golf 1. The American Club, Kohler, Wis. 2. Giants Ridge, Biwabik, Minn. 3. Inn at Bay Harbor, Bay Harbor, Mich. 4. Grand View Lodge, Nisswa, Minn. 5. Madden’s on Gull Luke, Brainerd, Minn. Best Lodging 1. The American Club, Kohler, Wis. 2. French Lick Resort, French Lick, Ind. 3. Grand View Lodge, Nisswa, Minn. 4. Grand Traverse, Acme, Mich. 5. Giants Ridge, Biwabik, Minn. PACIFIC NORTHWEST/ROCKIES Best Golf 1. Bandon Dunes, Bandon, Ore. 2. Pronghorn, Bend, Ore. 3. Coeur d’Alene Resort & Casino/Circling Raven, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Best Lodging 1. Bandon Dunes, Bandon, Ore. 2. The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colo. 3. Sun Valley Resort, Sun Valley, Idaho NORTHEAST Best Golf 1. Turning Stone, Verona, N.Y. 2. Foxwoods/Lake of Isles, Mashantucket, Conn. 3. The Sagamore, Bolton Landing, N.Y. 4. Crystal Springs Resort, Hamburg, N.J. 5. Otesaga, Cooperstown, N.Y. Best Lodging 1. Turning Stone, Verona, N.Y. 2. Foxwoods/Lake of Isles, Mashantucket, Conn. 3. Woodstock Inn & Resort, Woodstock, Vt. 4. The Sagamore, Bolton Landing, N.Y. 5. The Equinox, Manchester Village, Vt. MID-ATLANTIC Best Golf 1. Bay Creek Resort, Cape Charles, Va. 2. The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. 3. The Homestead, Hot Springs, Va. Best Lodging 1. The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va  2. The Homestead, Hot Springs, Va. 3. Nemacolin Woodlands, Farmington, Pa. SOUTHWEST Best Golf 1. JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country/TPC San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 2. Hyatt Regency Tamaya/Twin Warriors, Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. 3. Hyatt Regency Lost Pines/Wolfdancer, Lost Pines, Texas Best Lodging 1. Wynn Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nev. 2. JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country/TPC San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 3. Four Seasons Resort & Club Dallas, Las Colinas, Irving, Texas SOUTHEAST Best Golf 1. Beau Rivage/Fallen Oak, Biloxi, Miss. 2. Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Kiawah Island, S.C. 3. Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, N.C. 4. Pearl River Resort/Dancing Rabbit, Choctaw, Miss. 5. Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, Ga. 6. Sea Island Resort, Sea Island, Ga. 7. Sea Pines Resort, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 8. Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort, Birmingham, Ala. 9. Pine Needles Lodge/Mid Pines, Southern Pines, N.C. 10. Eseeola Lodge/Linville Golf Club, Linville, N.C. Best Lodging 1. Sea Island Resort, Sea Island, Ga. 2. Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, Ga. 3. Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Kiawah Island, S.C. 4. Barnsley Gardens Resort, Adairsville, Ga. 5. Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Point Clear, Point Clear, Ala. 6. Beau Rivage/Fallen Oak, Biloxi, Miss. 7. Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, N.C. 8. Eseeola Lodge/Linville Golf Club, Linville, N.C. 9. Sea Pines Resort, Hilton Head Island, S.C. HAWAII Best Golf 1. Four Seasons Lana’i at Manele Bay, Lana'i, Hawaii 2. Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, Kapalua, Hawaii 3. Four Seasons Hualalai, Big Island, Hawaii 4. Four Seasons Lana’i, Lodge at Koele, Lana'i, Hawaii 5. St. Regis Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii Best Lodging 1. Four Seasons Hualalai, Big Island, Hawaii 2. Four Seasons Lana’i at Manele Bay, Lana'i, Hawaii 3. Four Seasons Lana’i, Lodge at Koele, Lana'i, Hawaii 4. Fairmont Orchid Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii 5. Four Seasons Resort Maui/Wailea, Maui, Hawaii Premier Resorts Home | Platinum | Gold | Silver | Green | Best Near You
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Insider's Guide to golf in Pebble Beach area

I grew up in Monterey County and spent my college summers working as a cart boy at Pebble Beach Golf Links. I still live in the area. I thought it would be helpful to conduct an interview between two local experts—me and myself. So:   Is there any way to play Pebble without spending five bills? Yes, join the Northern California Golf Association. A couple times a year they have specials where members can play Pebble for around $350, with big discounts at Spyglass and Spanish Bay, too. Other offers include discounted tickets to the Crosby Clambake, dirt cheap greens fees at Poppy Hills and other goodies. Plus you can maintain your handicap and play in regional tournaments.   OK, what if I’m willing to pay full price but don’t want to spring for a room at the Lodge or Spanish Bay– can I still get a tee time in advance? Supposedly those who don't book a room can only reserve a tee time 24 hours in advance, but I've heard plenty of stories that when the occupancy is a bit low or the tee sheet is somewhat open - which has been happening with some regularity since the Great Recession - the resort reservationists will bend the rules. Call 800-654-9300 and commence sweet-talking. You can also just show up the morning you want to play and put your name on the starters’ wait list. You’d be surprised how many folks sneak onto the course this way every day. It works best as a single or twosome, but during my days as an occasional starter we sometimes got a whole foursome out. You can’t tip the starter in advance – that would be bribery! – but a nice thank you is always appreciated.   What’s the best time of year, weather-wise? The area enjoys a blissful Indian summer September-November. This is definitely the high-season. Spring is usually nice, too. June and July tend to be the foggiest months.   Where else should I play while I’m in town? Municipally-owned Pacific Grove Golf Links is one of my favorite little courses, a nice, brisk walk with a great variety of holes and a spectacular back-nine stretch among the dunes. With greens fees around $50 it’s a poor man’s Pebble. Spyglass Hill is awesome, but very pricey. Bayonet is just as good a layout but a quarter the price. The greens at Bayo are a little extreme and there have been some turf issues but it’s definitely worth playing. Alister MacKenzie’s Pasatiempo is a must-play, well worth the 50 minute drive north to Santa Cruz. It’s an artful layout with some really wild terrain. Poppy Hills has gotten a bad rap through the years – it’s a really good track with a peaceful forest setting. If you wanna warm up head into Carmel Valley, where the sun is always shining. Both Quail Lodge Golf Club and Carmel Valley Ranch are fun, sporty, scenic courses.   Where should I eat while I’m in town? Cassanova (romantic vibe), Café Fina (fresh seafood), Fandango (eclectic cuisine), Peppers (nuevo Mexican), Katie’s Place (for breakfast), Bistro Moulin (sophisticated European grub), Gianni’s (for pizza), Pacific’s Edge (fine-dining with an amazing view), Dametra Café (lively atmosphere), Cantinetta Lucca (awesome Italian), 1833 (cool crowd), Red’s Donuts (no explanation needed).   God help me, my wife wants to rub elbows with celebrities during the week of the Clambake. Where do we go? Hang out at the Tap Room, the gloriously atmospheric bar/restaurant adjacent to the front door of the Lodge. Or at Mission Ranch, the rustic retreat in Carmel where a lot of the celebs stay. The guy who owns the joint, Clint Eastwood, has been known to set up shop at the piano.   Watching the tournament telecast I’ve fallen in love with Monterey Peninsula Country Club but don’t know any members – is there any prayer of playing it? Actually, yes. The day after the Clambake ends MPCC hosts a pro-am for the Boys & Girls Club, and anyone can play so long as they plunk down the (tax-deductible) $1,500. Call the club (831-373-1556) for details.   Can you get me on Cypress Point? I dispense advice, not miracles.  
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Clubmakers, instructors and best players on planet will tell you that belly putters are here to stay

They definitely should be banned. Nerves and the skill of putting are part of the game. Take a tablet if you can’t handle it. —Ernie Els, on long putters, 2004 Golf changed forever in 2011. Not because Bill Murray won a PGA Tour event and Tiger Woods didn’t. (Murray had help.) Or because the rule banning box grooves made a difference on the PGA Tour. (It didn’t.) Or because Rickie Fowler’s wardrobe explored parts of the rainbow where no man had gone before (excluding Jimmy Demaret and Doug ­Sanders). No, golf changed forever because of the invasion of long, thin, ­awkward-looking alien objects. Looking back someday, golf historians will identify that watershed moment as occurring at Atlanta Athletic Club on the evening of Aug. 14, when Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship with a belly putter, which he raised in triumph after the final stroke with no small effort, and became the first player to win a major championship with a putter anchored to his stomach. Yes, anchored to his stomach! Traditional putting hasn’t yet gone the way of the mashie niblick, the stymie or persimmon, but prepare yourself for a brave new world, golfing purists. Seven of 30 players who competed in last year’s Tour Championship did so with a belly or long putter, including the victor, Bill Haas. Five of the winners in the last seven regular-season Tour events went long, as did eight of the 24 competitors in the Presidents Cup. Did you know this phenomenon already has its own designation? “We call it alternative putting,” says Scotty Cameron, the game’s best-known putter designer. Alternative putting? That does sound more dignified, like an automobile seems classier if it’s preowned instead of used. “Every pro who has come to my studio in the last three months has asked to try an alternative putter,” Cameron says. “It’s been ­amazing.” So what’s really up with alternative putting? Is this a game-­changing revolution or a fad? I think it’s simply another step away from a game that’s been played for 300 years. —Geoff Ogilvy, on alternative putters, 2011   The Birth of the Belly The first time a golfer used a belly putter at a PGA Tour event he won by seven shots. Yet the flat stick that Paul Azinger used to win the Sony Open in Hawaii in January 2000 went largely unnoticed. Azinger had won his battle with lymphoma cancer, and he turned the Sony triumph, his first since the 1993 PGA, into an emotional tribute to his pal, Payne Stewart, who had died in a plane crash the previous fall. It’s no wonder that Azinger’s putter was ­overlooked. Here’s the backstory: A few months earlier Azinger was fooling around with someone’s shortish long-shafted putter in the Gator Creek golf shop near his home in Bradenton, Fla. “I put it in my belly button, started hitting every target around the shop, took it out on the putting green and made everything,” Azinger says. “It just fit. It was a fluke.” Azinger never completely found his ’93 best-in-America form, but he climbed back into the top 20 in the World Ranking and onto a Presidents Cup and a Ryder Cup team. In 1999, Azinger finished 111th in putting. After he bellied up in 2000, he ranked fourth behind Brad Faxon, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, only the three best putters of modern times. The belly and the broomstick are definitely superior methods. I don’t see any reason why a guy can’t be phenomenal with those putters. —Johnny Miller, 2011   A Better Mousetrap? The belly putter was already golf’s club du jour by the time Bradley won the PGA with it. When Mickelson, Mr. Ultimate Purist Blade Putter, showed up with one at the Deutsche Bank Championship three weeks later, two things happened. One, “I fainted,” jokes Dave Stockton, the putting wizard who had been working with Phil. Two, alternative putting was no longer seen as a last resort for poor putt­ers. In fact, the success of the belly putter led many to wonder, Is this actually a better way to putt? Quite simply, the belly’s not for everyone. Stockton stopped at TaylorMade head­quarters in Carlsbad, Calif., to pick up a belly putter made to his specs late last summer so he could try one before his first belly-­putting session with Mickelson. The two met at a nearby practice green, where Phil stroked a pair of long putts. Then Stockton took a turn, and on his first try he holed a 50-footer. “I was smart enough to quit after one,” Stockton says. “Phil just shook his head.” Stockton, a Mozart on the greens, could probably hole putts with a pitchfork. He’s not a fan of the belly putter and believes anything anchored to the body should be illegal, but he has seen the results. “I still think your routine is much more important,” he says, “but this club is definitely going to help certain people.” A few years ago Dave Pelz, the renowned short-game scientist, tested students at one of his golf schools for a Golf Magazine story. He had them putt five ways, including with a belly putter, a long putter and crosshanded. The belly putter edged out the long putter as the most effective on short putts. “It’s not a panacea,” Pelz says, “but it eliminates two things amateurs do poorly. It helps them not rotate their forearms during the stroke, and it eliminates hinging their wrists.” The only negative with a belly putter, Pelz says, is that the more controlled arm swing used with a long shaft can affect the touch of a player accustomed to a conventional putter. “Mickelson struggled with that,” Pelz says. “He was immediately better on short putts but not as good on long putts.” Jim Suttie, a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, was an advocate of the long putter long before it became fashionable. He was an early believer in the belly putter, too, after Azinger broke his out. “I’ve been telling people to do this for a long time,” says Suttie, who estimates that 40% of his students own some sort of alternative putter. “The ideal way to putt, the purest way, is left-hand-low with a belly. When your right hand is low, your right shoulder is lower, and you push some putts. You want your shoulders level; that creates a real neutral stroke.” Stan Utley, who works with a number of top PGA Tour players, teaches an arc-based stroke. Though Utley, an admitted traditionalist, disagrees with allowing anchored clubs, he sees value in alternatives. “Long putters cause the player to make the exact same stroke that I teach with a conventional putter,” Utley says. “When you anchor the grip end to the body, you can’t manipulate the grip in a way that pulls the top of the handle back during the takeaway or toward the target during the through swing, the biggest mistakes I see.” Steve Flesch, 44, has used a belly putter for nearly a decade. He won three of his four PGA Tour titles with a belly putter. He considers it necessary. “It’s a means to cure the flinches,” Flesch says. “I got the flinches at 21 and have battled them my entire career. I went back to a short putter for a while, but you reach a point over a certain putt that maybe means a lot, and suddenly it’s like having a rattlesnake in your hands.” One convert who jumped off the bandwagon is Jim Furyk. He began experimenting with the belly putter after getting some tips from Bradley at last year’s Canadian Open. Furyk knows unconventional. There’s his swing, for starters, and the crosshanded putting style his dad taught him growing up. Furyk’s putting had always been considered a strength, but last year, at 41, he struggled with his stroke and gave the belly a try, with mixed results. “The part I liked is, it’s anchored,” Furyk says. “It does feel stable and steady. The part I don’t like is, it’s anchored. You have to determine how vertical you hold the club, your posture and your arms, and that affects the putter’s path. If you grip the club so it’s too long, you feel as if you’re going to stub it. Too short, and it feels as if it’s not ­anchored.” Furyk went back to his conventional putter and crosshanded grip for the Presidents Cup, made everything and hasn’t looked back. “People ask me what I learned from using the belly putter,” Furyk says. “My answer is, I learned I had better remember how to putt with the short putter again.” We don’t see this as a big trend. It’s not as if all the junior golfers out there are doing this. No one’s even won a major using one of these things anchored to themselves. So we don’t see this as something that is really detrimental to the game. —Mike Davis, USGA executive director, on Golf Channel in 2011   The Belly Rebellion Alternative putters are coming to a ­retailer—or maybe a golf bag—near you this year. More manufacturers are producing them and in greater numbers, and more stores are stocking them. Look in any golf shop; belly putters are multiplying like rabbits. “We hadn’t gone gung-ho about alternative putters because there ­hadn’t been much of a market before,” says Titleist’s Cameron. “Now there’s a market. I think Adam Scott at the Masters last year [Scott tied for second with a long putter] made this acceptable and cool. Two years ago, when you used one of these putters, you looked defeated.” The forecast for belly putters is decidedly bullish. According to a survey of 750 golfers by the Sports & Leisure Research Group, 17% plan to buy a new putter in 2012, up 8% from a year ago, and the amount each golfer estimates he or she will spend is $158, a 14% increase from 2011. “Clearly, the belly putter has heightened interest, and the higher prices people are willing to spend reflect the innovation in this category,” says Jon Last, Sports & Leisure Research Group’s president. “Everything points to a resurgence in the putter category.” Clubmakers have taken notice. Bettinardi Golf, known for its high-end custom putters, ­didn’t offer a belly model in 2011. Its new putter line does—the BB53, which comes in heel-shafted and ­center-shafted versions. “I was at the PGA when Keegan Bradley won, and that was my eureka moment,” says company founder and designer Bob Bettinardi. “So far, so good. They’re ­selling.” Scotty Cameron Putters is expecting a huge year. Before Scott’s run at the Masters, Cameron says his company would sell 500 to 1,000 alternative putters a year. By the end of ’11 the number was 10,000. Cameron is gearing up to move 15,000 to 20,000 this year. Instead of simply adding length to conventional models, for the first time TaylorMade designed its alternative putters to perform at belly- and long-putter lengths. Last year, according to Michael Fox, a TaylorMade product-marketing manager, the company sold four times as many alternative putters as in 2010, and he expects to double 2011’s sales this year. “We were back-ordered 30 days at one point last year,” says Fox. Ping, riding the crest of Webb Simpson’s success with the Craz-E belly putter, which he has used since college, already had three belly models available and will add a fourth this spring. “We had to readjust our forecasts because our retailers had pretty robust sales during the holidays,” says Ping spokesman Pete Samuels. “I don’t see this as a fad. With so many younger players using it, that suggests it has legs.” The belly putter is like the two-­handed backhand shot in tennis 25 years ago. It was the odd guy who hit a two-handed backhand. Now if you don’t have a two-handed backhand you can barely compete, unless you’re Roger Federer. The belly putter is going to become accepted, and you’ll see more players using it. —Brad Faxon, 2011   Fitting and Proper If you know only one thing about belly putt­ers, let it be this: The fit must be perfect. Todd Sones, a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher and the owner of Contour Golf Custom Putters, has worked with alternative putters for years. He is adamant about the importance of ­putter-fitting. “Belly putting is a Jekyll-and-Hyde thing,” Sones says. “It either works great, or it ­doesn’t work at all. Your chance of buying a belly putter and setting up properly without professional help is like buying prescription eyeglasses from Sunglass Hut.” Sones says a golfer using a belly putter must be tilted at just the right angle so his hands hang directly under his shoulder line. If the putter is too long, the golfer will stand too upright, forcing his hands outside the shoulder line. If the putter is too short, the club is anchored too low in the midsection, inevitably pushing the putter to the outside on the stroke. The challenge for marketing belly putters is the fitting process. “If Dan Forsman and Steve Jones stood next to each other, they’d be the same height,” Sones says. “But Dan’s belt is, like, five inches higher than Steve’s because he’s all legs. Anyone fitting putters only by height is getting it wrong.” For example, Sones says he recently measured a 5' 7" teenager to a 33-inch conventional putter. He needed to add 91⁄2 inches for his belly putter to fit properly. Then, Sones worked with a 6' 4" man who needed a 36-inch conventional putter, but only six more inches to cover the distance to his belly. A 42-inch belly putter fit the big man, a 421⁄2-inch model fit the teen. “Look, the biggest fundamental mistake even the best players make is that they come out of their putt, their upper body moves, usually up and back, or they peek, which makes them open up,” Sones says. “Because the belly putter is connected to the body, it’s easier to stay down on the putt and your chances of keeping your shoulders square at impact go up. Technically, I can see the reasons why belly putting is a better way to putt—if a player is set up correctly. “Belly putters are technically sound. If they’re done right, they will help a lot of people. If they’re done wrong, they may go away.” Guys can have a laugh at me, that’s fine. I’ve done it to them. As long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating like the rest of them. —Ernie Els, on using a belly putter, 2011
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Tour Edge Bazooka HT Max-D Driver

From Golf Magazine ClubTest (March, 2012) Category: Max Game-Improvement Drivers (See complete list) Price: $149 WE TESTED: 9°, 10.5° with Aldila NV 50 graphite shaft KEY TECHNOLOGIES: The aerodynamic, lightweight club has a sloped crown to reduce drag (improve airflow) and boost swing speed. The 9° loft has a square face angle while the 10.5° is 1° closed. Comes standard with 50-gram shaft at 46 inches. OUR TESTERS SAY: Steady yet unspectacular performer provides respectable distance. PROS DISTANCE: Several testers get distance comparable to their own driver; a few guys get up to 10 more yards; off-center hits get out there a good ways. ACCURACY/FORGIVENESS: Steadyeddie driver forgives and forgets most mediocre swings and mis-hits; by and large, slices are held in check. FEEL: Subtle but perceptible feel on well-struck shots and mis-hits; head is fairly stable through impact. PLAYABILITY: Lower ball flight than most; straight, boring trajectory works well in firm conditions. LOOK: Large, deep face inspires confidence; glossy black finish. CONS Several other models deliver more forgiveness; it’s difficult for some testers to decipher center hits from offcenter ones because of dullish impact sensation; nothing sets it apart visually.
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Clubmakers, instructors and best players on planet will tell you that belly putters are here to stay

They definitely should be banned. Nerves and the skill of putting are part of the game. Take a tablet if you can’t handle it. —Ernie Els, on long putters, 2004 Golf changed forever in 2011. Not because Bill Murray won a PGA Tour event and Tiger Woods didn’t. (Murray had help.) Or because the rule banning box grooves made a difference on the PGA Tour. (It didn’t.) Or because Rickie Fowler’s wardrobe explored parts of the rainbow where no man had gone before (excluding Jimmy Demaret and Doug ­Sanders). No, golf changed forever because of the invasion of long, thin, ­awkward-looking alien objects. Looking back someday, golf historians will identify that watershed moment as occurring at Atlanta Athletic Club on the evening of Aug. 14, when Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship with a belly putter, which he raised in triumph after the final stroke with no small effort, and became the first player to win a major championship with a putter anchored to his stomach. Yes, anchored to his stomach! Traditional putting hasn’t yet gone the way of the mashie niblick, the stymie or persimmon, but prepare yourself for a brave new world, golfing purists. Seven of 30 players who competed in last year’s Tour Championship did so with a belly or long putter, including the victor, Bill Haas. Five of the winners in the last seven regular-season Tour events went long, as did eight of the 24 competitors in the Presidents Cup. Did you know this phenomenon already has its own designation? “We call it alternative putting,” says Scotty Cameron, the game’s best-known putter designer. Alternative putting? That does sound more dignified, like an automobile seems classier if it’s preowned instead of used. “Every pro who has come to my studio in the last three months has asked to try an alternative putter,” Cameron says. “It’s been ­amazing.” So what’s really up with alternative putting? Is this a game-­changing revolution or a fad? I think it’s simply another step away from a game that’s been played for 300 years. —Geoff Ogilvy, on alternative putters, 2011   The Birth of the Belly The first time a golfer used a belly putter at a PGA Tour event he won by seven shots. Yet the flat stick that Paul Azinger used to win the Sony Open in Hawaii in January 2000 went largely unnoticed. Azinger had won his battle with lymphoma cancer, and he turned the Sony triumph, his first since the 1993 PGA, into an emotional tribute to his pal, Payne Stewart, who had died in a plane crash the previous fall. It’s no wonder that Azinger’s putter was ­overlooked. Here’s the backstory: A few months earlier Azinger was fooling around with someone’s shortish long-shafted putter in the Gator Creek golf shop near his home in Bradenton, Fla. “I put it in my belly button, started hitting every target around the shop, took it out on the putting green and made everything,” Azinger says. “It just fit. It was a fluke.” Azinger never completely found his ’93 best-in-America form, but he climbed back into the top 20 in the World Ranking and onto a Presidents Cup and a Ryder Cup team. In 1999, Azinger finished 111th in putting. After he bellied up in 2000, he ranked fourth behind Brad Faxon, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, only the three best putters of modern times. The belly and the broomstick are definitely superior methods. I don’t see any reason why a guy can’t be phenomenal with those putters. —Johnny Miller, 2011   A Better Mousetrap? The belly putter was already golf’s club du jour by the time Bradley won the PGA with it. When Mickelson, Mr. Ultimate Purist Blade Putter, showed up with one at the Deutsche Bank Championship three weeks later, two things happened. One, “I fainted,” jokes Dave Stockton, the putting wizard who had been working with Phil. Two, alternative putting was no longer seen as a last resort for poor putt­ers. In fact, the success of the belly putter led many to wonder, Is this actually a better way to putt? Quite simply, the belly’s not for everyone. Stockton stopped at TaylorMade head­quarters in Carlsbad, Calif., to pick up a belly putter made to his specs late last summer so he could try one before his first belly-­putting session with Mickelson. The two met at a nearby practice green, where Phil stroked a pair of long putts. Then Stockton took a turn, and on his first try he holed a 50-footer. “I was smart enough to quit after one,” Stockton says. “Phil just shook his head.” Stockton, a Mozart on the greens, could probably hole putts with a pitchfork. He’s not a fan of the belly putter and believes anything anchored to the body should be illegal, but he has seen the results. “I still think your routine is much more important,” he says, “but this club is definitely going to help certain people.” A few years ago Dave Pelz, the renowned short-game scientist, tested students at one of his golf schools for a Golf Magazine story. He had them putt five ways, including with a belly putter, a long putter and crosshanded. The belly putter edged out the long putter as the most effective on short putts. “It’s not a panacea,” Pelz says, “but it eliminates two things amateurs do poorly. It helps them not rotate their forearms during the stroke, and it eliminates hinging their wrists.” The only negative with a belly putter, Pelz says, is that the more controlled arm swing used with a long shaft can affect the touch of a player accustomed to a conventional putter. “Mickelson struggled with that,” Pelz says. “He was immediately better on short putts but not as good on long putts.” Jim Suttie, a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, was an advocate of the long putter long before it became fashionable. He was an early believer in the belly putter, too, after Azinger broke his out. “I’ve been telling people to do this for a long time,” says Suttie, who estimates that 40% of his students own some sort of alternative putter. “The ideal way to putt, the purest way, is left-hand-low with a belly. When your right hand is low, your right shoulder is lower, and you push some putts. You want your shoulders level; that creates a real neutral stroke.” Stan Utley, who works with a number of top PGA Tour players, teaches an arc-based stroke. Though Utley, an admitted traditionalist, disagrees with allowing anchored clubs, he sees value in alternatives. “Long putters cause the player to make the exact same stroke that I teach with a conventional putter,” Utley says. “When you anchor the grip end to the body, you can’t manipulate the grip in a way that pulls the top of the handle back during the takeaway or toward the target during the through swing, the biggest mistakes I see.” Steve Flesch, 44, has used a belly putter for nearly a decade. He won three of his four PGA Tour titles with a belly putter. He considers it necessary. “It’s a means to cure the flinches,” Flesch says. “I got the flinches at 21 and have battled them my entire career. I went back to a short putter for a while, but you reach a point over a certain putt that maybe means a lot, and suddenly it’s like having a rattlesnake in your hands.” One convert who jumped off the bandwagon is Jim Furyk. He began experimenting with the belly putter after getting some tips from Bradley at last year’s Canadian Open. Furyk knows unconventional. There’s his swing, for starters, and the crosshanded putting style his dad taught him growing up. Furyk’s putting had always been considered a strength, but last year, at 41, he struggled with his stroke and gave the belly a try, with mixed results. “The part I liked is, it’s anchored,” Furyk says. “It does feel stable and steady. The part I don’t like is, it’s anchored. You have to determine how vertical you hold the club, your posture and your arms, and that affects the putter’s path. If you grip the club so it’s too long, you feel as if you’re going to stub it. Too short, and it feels as if it’s not ­anchored.” Furyk went back to his conventional putter and crosshanded grip for the Presidents Cup, made everything and hasn’t looked back. “People ask me what I learned from using the belly putter,” Furyk says. “My answer is, I learned I had better remember how to putt with the short putter again.” We don’t see this as a big trend. It’s not as if all the junior golfers out there are doing this. No one’s even won a major using one of these things anchored to themselves. So we don’t see this as something that is really detrimental to the game. —Mike Davis, USGA executive director, on Golf Channel in 2011   The Belly Rebellion Alternative putters are coming to a ­retailer—or maybe a golf bag—near you this year. More manufacturers are producing them and in greater numbers, and more stores are stocking them. Look in any golf shop; belly putters are multiplying like rabbits. “We hadn’t gone gung-ho about alternative putters because there ­hadn’t been much of a market before,” says Titleist’s Cameron. “Now there’s a market. I think Adam Scott at the Masters last year [Scott tied for second with a long putter] made this acceptable and cool. Two years ago, when you used one of these putters, you looked defeated.” The forecast for belly putters is decidedly bullish. According to a survey of 750 golfers by the Sports & Leisure Research Group, 17% plan to buy a new putter in 2012, up 8% from a year ago, and the amount each golfer estimates he or she will spend is $158, a 14% increase from 2011. “Clearly, the belly putter has heightened interest, and the higher prices people are willing to spend reflect the innovation in this category,” says Jon Last, Sports & Leisure Research Group’s president. “Everything points to a resurgence in the putter category.” Clubmakers have taken notice. Bettinardi Golf, known for its high-end custom putters, ­didn’t offer a belly model in 2011. Its new putter line does—the BB53, which comes in heel-shafted and ­center-shafted versions. “I was at the PGA when Keegan Bradley won, and that was my eureka moment,” says company founder and designer Bob Bettinardi. “So far, so good. They’re ­selling.” Scotty Cameron Putters is expecting a huge year. Before Scott’s run at the Masters, Cameron says his company would sell 500 to 1,000 alternative putters a year. By the end of ’11 the number was 10,000. Cameron is gearing up to move 15,000 to 20,000 this year. Instead of simply adding length to conventional models, for the first time TaylorMade designed its alternative putters to perform at belly- and long-putter lengths. Last year, according to Michael Fox, a TaylorMade product-marketing manager, the company sold four times as many alternative putters as in 2010, and he expects to double 2011’s sales this year. “We were back-ordered 30 days at one point last year,” says Fox. Ping, riding the crest of Webb Simpson’s success with the Craz-E belly putter, which he has used since college, already had three belly models available and will add a fourth this spring. “We had to readjust our forecasts because our retailers had pretty robust sales during the holidays,” says Ping spokesman Pete Samuels. “I don’t see this as a fad. With so many younger players using it, that suggests it has legs.” The belly putter is like the two-­handed backhand shot in tennis 25 years ago. It was the odd guy who hit a two-handed backhand. Now if you don’t have a two-handed backhand you can barely compete, unless you’re Roger Federer. The belly putter is going to become accepted, and you’ll see more players using it. —Brad Faxon, 2011   Fitting and Proper If you know only one thing about belly putt­ers, let it be this: The fit must be perfect. Todd Sones, a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher and the owner of Contour Golf Custom Putters, has worked with alternative putters for years. He is adamant about the importance of ­putter-fitting. “Belly putting is a Jekyll-and-Hyde thing,” Sones says. “It either works great, or it ­doesn’t work at all. Your chance of buying a belly putter and setting up properly without professional help is like buying prescription eyeglasses from Sunglass Hut.” Sones says a golfer using a belly putter must be tilted at just the right angle so his hands hang directly under his shoulder line. If the putter is too long, the golfer will stand too upright, forcing his hands outside the shoulder line. If the putter is too short, the club is anchored too low in the midsection, inevitably pushing the putter to the outside on the stroke. The challenge for marketing belly putters is the fitting process. “If Dan Forsman and Steve Jones stood next to each other, they’d be the same height,” Sones says. “But Dan’s belt is, like, five inches higher than Steve’s because he’s all legs. Anyone fitting putters only by height is getting it wrong.” For example, Sones says he recently measured a 5' 7" teenager to a 33-inch conventional putter. He needed to add 91⁄2 inches for his belly putter to fit properly. Then, Sones worked with a 6' 4" man who needed a 36-inch conventional putter, but only six more inches to cover the distance to his belly. A 42-inch belly putter fit the big man, a 421⁄2-inch model fit the teen. “Look, the biggest fundamental mistake even the best players make is that they come out of their putt, their upper body moves, usually up and back, or they peek, which makes them open up,” Sones says. “Because the belly putter is connected to the body, it’s easier to stay down on the putt and your chances of keeping your shoulders square at impact go up. Technically, I can see the reasons why belly putting is a better way to putt—if a player is set up correctly. “Belly putters are technically sound. If they’re done right, they will help a lot of people. If they’re done wrong, they may go away.” Guys can have a laugh at me, that’s fine. I’ve done it to them. As long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating like the rest of them. —Ernie Els, on using a belly putter, 2011
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Course of Style: Keegan Bradley wears Hilfiger but walks Oakley; Graeme McDowell signs new deal

Keegan Bradley, the 2011 PGA champion and rookie of the year switched apparel sponsorship from Oakley to Tommy Hilfiger early this year. But at the Farmers Insurance Open last weekend, Bradley was still wearing Oakley footwear. What gives? Apparently, Oakley lost a heated bidding war for Bradley to Tommy Hilfiger, a golf line licensed to the Fletcher Group of Canada which also makes Sunice. Oakley wanted to keep Bradley, but the rising star commanded as much as five times what Oakley had been paying him to wear its apparel. Executives familiar with the action estimated Bradley's eventual deal to be in the $500,000 range. However, Tommy Hilfiger does not make golf shoes, so Bradley will continue to wear Oakley's advanced Cipher shoes -- with their sandpaper-like soles and ultralight weight -- under a separate contract. G-Mac's eyes were smiling Ireland's Graeme McDowell, who had two incredible shots last weekend -- a hole-in-one and a ricochet birdie -- also signed a new apparel sponsorshipin January, with Dublin-based Kartel. Alan Swan, the chairman of Kartel, said that when he first met McDowell to propose a deal, the two of them were wearing nearly identical cashmere sweaters. That helps. He then made three sample outfits for the Irish pro, who found that they exactly suited his style. Kartel, which dresses Padraig Harrington, too, specializes in mercerized cottons, classic fitted trousers and soft sweaters. This spring the company introduces a new full collection, G-Mac by Kartel, based on the clothes McDowell will be wearing on tour.  
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