By Rob Willis Where is it all headed? I wake up to Cristbal Del Solar, a relatively unknown US Korn Ferry Tour player shooting 57. They say the course was short. But 57!! And he parred the last three holes and had a 10-footer on the 18th for a 56. At that same event there […]
Normally a reasonably placid bunch, exactly what is it that irritates our panel of Inside Golf writers? Bunker-to-Bunker By Michael Davis Nothing annoys ME on the international golf stage – on course, that is. But I am heartily sick of all the brouhaha surrounding the pretence that all is well off the course between the […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER…. Inside Golf writers have their say! By Peter Owen FOR most of us, the proposed ball rollback doesn’t really matter much. It would mean our drives are perhaps four or five metres shorter, and if the members kicked up any sort of a fuss, well, the tee markers could be moved up a fraction. […]
A YEAR or so ago, after a few post-game beers, a group of us convinced a young friend of ours to throw his hat into the ring and have a go at becoming president of our golf club. He’d been a member since his junior days, had blossomed into a fine golfer and, more relevantly, […]
They watch it, they play it, they live it, what are our group of golf writers wishing for in 2024……? Our Inside Golf scribes have their say! BUNKER-TO-BUNKER By Michael Court I have plenty . . . and top of the pops is to stop backing Rory McIlroy to win every week. He’s favourite or […]
By Rob Willis So NSW Premier Chris Minns has seemingly bowed to pressure from Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore and the interest groups she supports in reviewing the use of the land occupied by the Moore Park Golf Club in Sydney. A flourishing facility, catering to all levels of golfers, those from close by, […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER… Inside Golf writers have their say! By Michael Davis The late Jack Newton always spoke his mind on most matters including his disdain for golf writers. His keynote address at one of the annual writers’ dinners was legendary for its brevity and frankness. We were all the richer for Jack’s brutally honest opinions and […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER… Inside Golf writers have their say! By David Newbery NO, I don’t think that abolishing the role of a greens’ committee/director is the answer although I’m sure there are many superintendents and/or greenkeepers who would answer the question in the affirmative. Most golf clubs, not all, employ skilled individuals who have the knowledge and […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER…. Inside Golf writers have their say! By Michael Court BAD blood? Anti-social behaviour? You bet it does. The only worse scar on golf is probably slow play. And just to show you how bad it can get when you gamble on the course, here’s just one example. My old sports editor at the Daily […]
HOW do we summarise what has happened in the world of professional golf in 2023? And what is coming before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st? It really is a Hollywood blockbuster just waiting to be written, don’t you think? In fact, maybe it’s already being filmed as we speak. Maybe something along the […]
By Michael Davis IT is an absolute conundrum as to why Melbourne golf galleries will miss out on hosting the Australian Open again after the relative success of the mixed and all-abilities event at Kingston Heath and Victoria last year. At last, Melbourne had prised the tournament away from Sydney where it seemed to have […]
By Peter Owen GOLFERS at my club who choose to play in the mornings set their alarms for 5.15am each Wednesday and Saturday, creep through the dark to their phone or laptop, then wait, steely-eyed, for the clock to reach 5.30am. That’s when the time sheet opens for bookings for the following week’s Wednesday and […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER…. Inside Golf writers have their say! By Peter Owen OUT of control? How can it be out of control? There isn’t any control. That’s the problem. A round in a club competition at my club takes about 4 hours and 45 minutes – maybe five hours if it’s a stroke event. That’s far too […]
ALMOST everyone in golf can tell you the joke about God asking his caddie for a seven-iron when faced with a 220m approach shot. A bystander asks the caddie: “Who does he think he is, God?” The caddie replied: “That’s who he is, but when he’s on the golf course he thinks he’s Tiger Woods.” […]
I READ both the opinion from Duncan Andrews (The Dunes) and the reply by James Sutherland in the last issue of Inside Golf, on the role of Golf Australia. I would like to give some perspective as an experienced volunteer administrator of a smaller rural golf club. In my mind there are three issues that […]
Golf club boss takes affiliation fee fight to Golf Australia HIGH profile owner of The Dunes Golf Links, Duncan Andrews, has launched a stinging attack on golf’s national governing body, Golf Australia (GA). “As part of the golf system in Australia, The Dunes pays to Golf Australia a hefty annual fee and a further annual […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER… Inside Golf writers have their say! By Michael Davis I DON’T think you have to be a member of Mensa to overwhelmingly acknowledge that scheduling more nine-hole competitions would prove to be a boon for golfers and golf clubs alike. For a plethora of reasons, everyone seems to have less time on their hands […]
By Peter Owen ASK any 16-year-old with a scratch handicap what they’d like to do with their life and they’ll tell you they want to be touring professionals – preferably on the US PGA Tour, contesting the world’s top tournaments. There are thousands of them throughout Australia, highly talented young men and women, practicing hard, […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER… Inside Golf writers have their say! By Peter Owen IF I’D answered this question a few years ago I’d probably have said the US Masters. Who doesn’t love Augusta National’s impossibly beautiful setting and the exciting competition it always generates? But I’m beginning to think its so-called ‘tradition’ is a bit contrived, and I […]
By Peter Owen THE past couple of years have been great for golf in Australia. Participation levels have never been higher, club membership is strong with long waiting lists at some golf clubs, and there is a genuine, and very welcome, interest in the game from young players. Some say it’s because of Covid, and […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER: Inside Golf writers have their say! By Peter Owen AT my golf club’s last Annual General Meeting – when the makeup of the next board was decided and important initiatives are discussed and voted upon – nearly 120 men and women turned up to have their say. I would be surprised if five of […]
This month, Inside Golf, in conjunction with Champion Sports, are re-naming our Your Voice” page to Get a Grip! The best letter each month will now win a Superstroke Putter Grip, valued at $59.95! WINNER: TEEN VOLUNTEER UP TO THE TASK I’M the first to put my hand up and criticise the younger generation, but […]
By Michael Davis LIKE everybody else, I am growing weary of the LIV debate. You may well ask, so why bring it up here again? Well, it’s just that with court battles looming around the world and name calling among some of the greatest players to grace our fairways, sanity seems to have prevailed. And […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER….Inside Golf writers have their say! By Michael Court IT pains me to say this, but I don’t think the change to the Australian Open worked. And I asked a few members at my club their view and most of them didn’t like it. Granted, I watched the final round right through despite the fact […]
FOR starters, let me state that I love Rory McIlroy! I admire the bounce in his step between shots and the enthusiasm for the game that he continually puts on display. And those tee shots he keeps reeling off – they’re just awesome – and they make me want to go and play. And I […]
SILLY season is upon us and we all know what that means … yes, it’s time to hang the stockings by the chimney. I’ve never been sure why stockings are put in place with or without care because I’ve not ever seen a suited Santa who could even fit down a chimney at a commercial […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER… Inside Golf writers have their say! By Peter Owen THERE’S a good reason people still consider some golf clubs to be the domain of elitist snobs, happy to enforce their morals upon the rest of us. It’s often the truth. Fortunately, though, the number is decreasing, and most contemporary clubs are content to accept […]
TALES about the late media mogul Kerry Packer abound. One of my favourites was the day he ‘allegedly’ turned up to play at his home club in Sydney and found it had been booked out by a group (I think it may have been dentists) and found it was closed to members until their day […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER… Inside Golf writers have their say! By Peter Owen TO my mind the Presidents Cup is in real trouble. Not even those ramped-up American fans can surely take much more of the one-sided results that have plagued this tournament since the Internationals scored their first, and only, win back in 1998. It’s not that […]
By Michael Davis AGAIN we are forced to turn our attention to the insanity of the LIV breakaway tour and the traditional golf governing bodies banging heads with one another instead of calmly reaching a solution where everyone can mutually co-exist. You cannot help but wonder if a lot of big egos are colliding behind […]
By Michael Davis PARDON me if I am getting unnecessarily on my high horse here. But surely brilliant young American golfer Scottie Scheffler has not become the usher of the moral rod in world golf? And I sincerely hope Scheffler simply wasn’t concentrating and inadvertently walked across the putting line of Australian Cameron Smith during […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER…Inside Golf writers have their say! By Michael Davis LEGENDARY comic, Groucho Marx, nailed it when he said: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” The cigar-chomping member of the Marx Brothers was the master of the one-liner and this one is a beautiful clip behind the ears to […]
IT seems world professional golf has been hit by an earthquake and it’s going to take an enormous recovery effort and mature heads to repair the damage. The reaction from the PGA Tour to the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Series headed up by Greg Norman has been swift. The PGA Tour has taken a hard-line […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER….Inside Golf writers have their say! By Michael Davis FOR the sake of this argument, I am putting aside the appalling human rights abuse issue here. So from the outset my argument is hopelessly flawed. But I want to focus on the US PGA Tour’s role in this whole debacle. Let’s face it. We’re talking […]
By Michael Davis WE have no desire to be overly combative here. But in our view the same cannot be said for those who want to shut down the Northcote public golf course and turn it into parkland. Clearly not happy with the compromise reached recently, with the course being reduced from 12 to nine […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER….Inside Golf writers have their say! By Peter Owen MY first inclination was to simply write ‘No’ and be responsible for perhaps the briefest column in the history of golf writing. I’m no fan of Donald Trump. I don’t like his politics or his ethics. I just don’t like him. And he probably wouldn’t like […]
By Michael Davis IT is not the role of Inside Golf to be a cheerleader for any of the game’s governing bodies. However, we are not backward in coming forward when genuine credit is deserved. And this is absolutely the case following the inspired move to combine the men’s and women’s Australian opens. Long before […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER….Inside Golf writers have their say! By Michael Court DON’T do it … please? Don’t deny us a chance to pay tribute to some of the greatest golfers of all time. Americans love their champions, especially the golfing ones. And we aren’t that different. I just spent an hour or so watching a “scramble” format […]
I APPRECIATE what they’re trying to do … seriously I do. A world handicapping system is a great idea, but I am really beginning to think it isn’t really working. When it was introduced a couple of years ago, authorities told us that handicapping in Australia using the WHS (World Handicap System) would involve less […]
BUNKER-TO-BUNKER… Inside Golf writers have their say! By Peter Owen FOR me, the three great legacies of Covid are discovering the benefits of working from home, the disappearance of cash from the marketplace, and being able to choose your own lie in a bunker. I know bunkers are hazards; I know they should be avoided; […]
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