Rory and Rickie may grab more headlines, but of the surge of young players who have shaken up the game, Jason Day might be the hungriest. In the wake of his best season yet, the 24-year-old Aussie reflects on his humble upbringing, his rocky start on Tour, and why he doesn’t regret challenging Tiger Woods.
Jason Day is still young. You are reminded of this not by the age on his driver’s license (24), or by his fuzzy goatee, but by his disarming humility. He is giving a series of interviews on a cold, windy day at Muirfield Village in Ohio, Jack’s club, and after a session with CNN, Day nibbles at the remains of his lunch as the cameraman packs up. That’s when Day says something that is as memorable as anything he revealed to his interviewer: “Can I give you a hand, mate?” Day, who grew up Salvation Army-poor in Queensland, whose dad died when he was 12, whose mother sold the family home so he could go to a golf academy, is not so far removed from his hardscrabble roots that he’s above folding tripods and wrapping lenses. He’s still just an earnest kid trying to do the right thing—that is, when he’s not laughing at the big-ticket toys he can buy with the wages of success. “I didn’t have a dollar to my name in 2006,” he says. Now the Ohio resident owns three cars and two houses, and is a member at three clubs, including Jack’s place. After a year in which he notched two runner-up finishes in the majors, Day discusses the sacrifices he has made on his rapid ascent, his teammates’ tiff after the Presidents Cup, and the day his wife became Superman.
Forget ben HOGAN’s ‘single plane’ you have three Paths to Consistent Contact
You don’t choose your swing. It chooses you. Now, with a simple and easy test, you can discover for the first time your most dynamic, consistent and efficient motion.
Anyone who has ever taught or played the game has had a preconceived idea—right or wrong—of how a club should be swung. This multitude of theories has produced enormous confusion over the years about the proper way to move the club back and through to achieve solid results. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that 99 percent of the instruction you read in books and magazines, see on TV, or receive from your coach is correct. It’s just that most of it doesn’t apply to you because it’s far too general to match your specific needs. The secret to success is finding and listening to the small percentage of advice that does.
You can’t play for your favourite football team or trade shots with Roger Federer. But for a price, you can tee it up with golfing superstars. With the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am turning 75 this month, here’s everything you need to know about playing with the pros—from how to handle your nerves to how to have as much fun as this guy.
Secrets in the dirt
Teaching pro Ron del Barrio has worked with some of Hollywood’s biggest names. Here’s the scoop on three golf-mad celebs who could land in your pro-am foursome
JOE PESCI
“Joe’s a sweetheart, but he’s competitive. Get cocky with him and he’ll up the bet by saying, ‘Let’s add a decimal point.’ And don’t get on his bad side. A big star owed me money for lessons. Joe walked up to him and said, ‘You motherf---er! You think you can f---ing stiff my friend del Barrio? You don’t pay your f---ing debts?’ It was right out of Goodfellas!”
TOMMY LEE
“Back when he was drinking and living the Mötley Crüe lifestyle, Tommy and I were playing an L.A. event. He whips out $5,000 in cash and says to the cart girl, ‘Do not leave our foursome.’ She never did. Tommy invented his own drinking game that day: Three-putt, do a shot. Two-putt, do a shot. One-putt, do a shot. I’ve never had so much Jägermeister.”
WILL SMITH
“Will could be a Tour player if he wasn’t busy making movies. His talent and commitment are amazing. When he took up the game, he asked me, ‘What’s it take to be scratch?’ I said, ‘To get the core swing fundamentals, hit an L-wedge every day for three or four months.’ He said, ‘You just watch—I’ll do six months!’ He put a par 3 in his backyard and hit his wedge two hours a day every day. Six months later, I watched him hit a 5-iron from 198 yards to a foot. Learn from Will: Golf is about fundamentals.”
