Richard Fellner is the Group Editor of Inside Golf Magazine. Winner of multiple Australian Golf Media Awards -- including "Best Column" in 2011-2012--he has played and reviewed courses all over the world, and has interviewed the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. He has been interviewed by Channel7 News, ABC News Radio, Melbourne Talk Radio 1377, 2GB and many other outlets worldwide.
Originally from the US (but now a proud Melburnian) Richard is a true Golf Tragic -- having played the game for over 35 years (but has never gotten any better.)
Follow Richard Fellner on Quora
We’ve heard of “nearest point of relief”, but this is a bit wacky. In the quarterfinals of the Volvo World Match Play event in Bulgaria, Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts hit a wayward tee shot that flew over a toilet block, into a red-staked hazard. In determining the drop location from the hazard, the rules official determined [...]
GOLF AUSTRALIA has announced that the handicap anchor will rise from four strokes to five strokes this month. In a letter to clubs last month, Golf Australia Chairman John Hopkins outlined the reason for the change, noting the ‘seasonality’ of handicaps . “Under our current handicap system, handicaps in Australia are notably seasonal. On average, [...]
The 2013 Masters will go down in Australian golf folklore as probably one of the most exciting, nerve-wracking, fist-pumping , heart-thumping, take-your-breath-away, get-the-monkey-off-our-backs golf tournaments in the history of our sport. For the rest of the world, however, it may be more remembered for a pair of incidents that may have irreparably changed the game. [...]
Celebrate Adam Scott’s historic Masters victory at Augusta! This limited edition (ten pieces) official 2013 Masters Flag collage is matted and framed as shown, with three images, and an informative plaque, to an approximate overall size of 76x86x5 cm. Each piece is custom made and displayed on fabric. Inside Golf is giving away one [...]
One of the most common flaws in any business or organisation (or, according to my wife, a marriage!) is a failure to communicate.
Get it right, and you’ll reap the rewards. Get it wrong, however, and you’ll be in the doghouse.
Inside Golf was the only Australian golf publication at this year’s PGA Merchandise show in Orlando, Florida. Over the coming months, we’ll show some of the coolest products we saw. Here are some of the early standouts. Alignment for putting is critical – being just one degree offline can mean the difference between a [...]
The Board and members of The Eastern Golf Club have cause for celebration, as their planned relocation has overcome the final hurdle, clearing way to begin construction of their proposed 27-hole multi-million-dollar Greg Norman-designed facility in Melbourne’s Yarra Ranges. Following two years of challenges from developers, council and environmental organisations, the club has announced that [...]
The new R1™ continues TaylorMade’s mastery of adjustable drivers by offering the greatest range of adjustability of any driver in the brand’s history. R1 gives the golfer 12 loft-sleeve settings and 7 face-angle positions, as well as two movable shot-shape weights. R1 also allows loft and face angle to be adjusted independently of each [...]
53-year-old Peter Senior proved once again that age is no barrier to success, capturing the Emirates Australian Open amidst fading light and extreme conditions. With an even-par 72 in the windy and wild final round at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney, Senior became the oldest golfer to lift the Stonehaven Cup, surpassing the legendary Peter Thomson who won at the age of 43 in 1972.
The ongoing controversy surrounding the use of broomstick and belly putters via an ‘Anchored’ stroke took a dramatic turn recently, as golf’s governing bodies announced changes to the Rules of Golf that would prohibit anchoring the club against the body.
Driving down the main street of the tiny Victorian town of Marysville is a slightly surreal experience these days, not for what you see (for the view is truly beautiful), but rather for what you DON’T see. For a town that lost nearly all of its buildings to the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, one would expect to see charred trees, blackened bushes or frames of burned-down buildings. But you’d be hard-pressed to see any of that now.
It’s a question I’ve been pondering for years: how far does a golfer walk during a standard round of 18 holes? Sure, you could simply take the yardage on the scorecard, and then add “a little extra”, but when you think about it, there is much, much more walking done by the average golfer. So how does it all add up?
SGA Tour Ambassador Andy Lee from Hamish & Andy will tee it up alongside a group of celebrity golfers and amateur players in the first SGA Tour Charity Golf Day to support Movember. Played at the Old Course at The National Golf Club on the Mornington Peninsula, the “Drive For Show, Putt For Mo” event [...]
I received a phone call the other day from a very frustrated junior golfer. “Why do members hate us juniors so much?” he asked. I was taken aback for a moment, as I pondered this rather unexpected question. It turns out that the club where he recently took up a junior membership had begun restricting [...]
What is it with the media these days? Following Adam Scott’s unfortunate performance at The Open Championship, words like “Choke” and “Collapse” rushed to the fore throughout the media, with overdramatic journalists dredging up stories about Greg Norman’s 1996 Masters, or Jean Van de Veld’s 1999 Open Championship, or the other “greatest chokes in history” [...]
A world away from the hustle and bustle of Australia, a visit to Norfolk Island is like stepping back in time. A journey to the quintessential ‘Small Town Australia’ and the simple, honest and organic way of life. Plus, there is some fantastic island golf!
Inside Golf recently invited some Melbourne golfers to take part in the TaylorMade R11s Driver Challenge. Held at the impressive TaylorMade Performance Lab at the Melbourne Golf Academy, the golfers were put through a complete fitting and testing experience to determine their ideal driver specs, and see how their current drivers matched up to the [...]
The TaylorMade Golf ATV (All-Terrain Versatility) wedge has quickly made its way into the bags of many Tour professionals this year. Every curve, angle and edge of the ATV Wedge serves a purpose in elevating the club’s versatility. Relief at the toe, heel and trailing edge reduces resistance and significantly changes how the sole reacts [...]
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. The Sonocaddie V500 handheld GPS Unit comes jam-packed with 1250 pre-loaded Australian courses in 3D, showing course hazards, targets and their relative position on the hole. Courses are hand-mapped on the ground — not by Google maps– and are extremely accurate. It is ready-to-use straight out of the box, and [...]
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. Inside Golf and On-Pin are giving way three WR62 GPS Golf Watches to selected readers. Featuring exact shot distances, over 25,000 preloaded global golf courses and even a built-in odometer app, this watch is sure to be the hottest gift this Fathers Day.
Golf All Seasons 2012 offers details and discounts on 72 select golf courses in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. There’s a short write-up on each golf course along with discount vouchers entitling the reader to more than $7000 in savings.
SunProtection Australia recently announced its community partnership with Melanoma Institute Australia, a world leader on melanoma research, treatment and education. The partnership will focus on SunProtection’s new label Coolamon Sport—a range of maximum UPF 50+ stylish and colourful ladies shirts for golf, tennis and more. After the recent loss of her husband and former SunProtection [...]
A recent media release by Roy Morgan Research shows that Australia’s Newsstand/Subscription golf magazines are seeing significant drops in readership. Contrary to this trend, Inside Golf, which is monitored by Circulations Audit Board (CAB), saw a 4.5 per cent increase in circulation over the same period.
SOUTH African Ernie Els fired a final-round two-under 68 to capture his second Claret Jug and fourth Major championship, following a final round collapse by Adam Scott.
With a four-shot cushion and four holes to play, it was Scott’s tournament to lose. But a few critical mistakes – including a costly missed green on the 17th – saw him bogey the last four holes and hand the championship to Els via a five-over-par 75.
Adam Scott pounced back on top of the Open Championship leaderboard, following a brilliant third round 68, which now sees him four shots ahead of the pack, with Graeme McDowell and Brandt Snedeker in second, and a steady (but quiet) Tiger Woods in third. Highlights below:
Adam Scott had a chance to record the lowest score in Major Championship history when he stood on the 18th tee at Royal Lytham St Annes, needing a birdie for a 62 at The Open Championship. Instead he pulled his tee shot into the rough and bogeyed, but his 64 was still a fine effort. [...]
Australian Ashley Hall embarks on the biggest mission of his professional career when he tees it up in the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes next week. After trying at least half-a-dozen times in the past, Hall finally made it to the world’s oldest Major with fellow OneAsia members Aaron Townsend and [...]
Boards are the sole responsibility for the viability of clubs. Plain and simple. And getting the right people onto the Board is critical to success. In a perfect world, a Board would be composed of a diverse group of individuals who (among other things) share a strategic vision for the club, and who have the necessary skills, background, time and passion to perform their duties.
Unfortunately, that is not always possible.
In one of the bigger weekends for Australian golf, a trio of our home-grown heroes have made headlines on three different tours around the world. Sydney’s Brad Kennedy was the first Aussie off the rank, carding a a final-round six-under 66 at the Gateway to the Open Mizuno Open to claim his maiden Japan Golf Tour [...]
Here are some interesting facts and figures from the 112th U.S. Open at the Olympic Club: The Players Among the 156 golfers in the 2012 U.S. Open there are 10 former champions who between them have won the Major 14 times. They are: Angel Cabrera (2007), Michael Campbell (2005), Ernie Els (1994, ’97), Jim Furyk [...]
A recent independent survey by Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS) has revealed that Inside Golf has retained its spot as the most regularly read golf magazine in Australia, beating the popular newsstand and subscription magazines for the third straight year. SMS’ February/March 2012 Golf Consumer Survey asked 2000 random golfers at courses across Australia to name [...]
For golfers travelling to New Zealand’s rugged North Island, the beautiful and ultra-playable Kauri Cliffs should be top of the list. This month, we review this magnificent course — including a hole-by-hole photo gallery.
Western Australia’s Whitney Hillier lived up to her top billing as she usurped defending champion and hot favourite Kelly Tan to clinch the 29th Malaysian Ladies Amateur Open in dramatic fashion.
GOLF AUSTRALIA has released a list of the major components comprising the national golf handicapping system. In a letter to Club captains on June 1, Golf Australia Chairman John Hopkins summarised the work done to date on the new GA Handicap System, and outlined the components of what is yet to be implemented. No firm [...]
The new Handicapping system for Australian golfers has a variety of changes and aspects from previous systems. Here is the breakdown of the major components. (Note: as per the recent letter from Golf Australia, not all of the components have been implemented. These have been labelled with TBI. Full implementation is expected in the latter part of [...]
THIS COMPETITION IS CLOSED. TaylorMade and Inside Golf are giving three lucky Melbourne readers the chance to tee it up in the new TaylorMade Performance Lab (TMPL), and compare their own drivers to the new and exciting TaylorMade R11s.
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. Inside Golf and PING are giving away a limited edition pink PING G20 driver to one lucky reader – just like the one used by the big-hitting Bubba Watson.
GOLF social clubs and social golfers who get their handicaps via the Golf Access Australia program will be facing an important decision in the following months, as the GAA Handicapping program is undergoing a major transition, starting in Victoria.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The 2013 Masters will go down in Australian golf folklore as probably one of the most exciting, nerve-wracking, fist-pumping , heart-thumping, take-your-breath-away, get-the-monkey-off-our-backs golf tournaments in the history of our sport. For the rest of the world, however, it may be more remembered for a pair of incidents that may have irreparably changed the game. [...]
One of the most common flaws in any business or organisation (or, according to my wife, a marriage!) is a failure to communicate.
Get it right, and you’ll reap the rewards. Get it wrong, however, and you’ll be in the doghouse.
Inside Golf named Australia’s Most Read Golf Magazine for 3rd straight year
A recent independent survey by Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS) has revealed that Inside Golf has retained its spot as the most regularly read golf magazine in Australia, beating the popular newsstand and subscription magazines for the third straight year. SMS’ February/March 2012 Golf Consumer Survey asked 2000 random golfers at courses across Australia to name [...]
