August 2011: Golf Digest Woman: Golf Digest

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Results for August 2011 Back to Golf Digest Woman Index

Paula Creamer joins the Golf Digest staff

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

It's hard to believe Paula Creamer is just 25 years old. The major champion is playing in her seventh season on the LPGA Tour, after all, and she's won 11 professional events.

(Photo by Getty Images)

But there's more to Paula than a solid record. She's outgoing and likable, and she's now a Golf Digest Playing Editor. Here's our announcement:

NEW YORK, NY -- Golf Digest has signed 2010 U.S. Women's Open champion and LPGA star Paula Creamer as an exclusive playing editor. She will provide bylined instruction and feature content for the magazine on a regular basis. Golf Digest Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde made the announcement Wednesday.

"We are delighted to have Paula join our premier stable of playing editors," said Tarde. "Our goal in every issue is to offer our readers insight from the best and brightest in the industry, and Paula Creamer is one of the LPGA's most popular and influential players."

Creamer, 25, has won 11 professional titles, including nine on the LPGA Tour. She has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings and is undefeated in three years of singles play in the Solheim Cup. During her rookie year in 2005, Creamer, then 18, became the second-youngest winner in LPGA Tour history after capturing the Sybase Classic the week prior to her high school graduation. That victory also made her the youngest-ever winner of a multiple-round event. After also winning the Evian Masters that same year, Creamer easily won Rookie of the Year honors.

"I am thrilled to join the playing editorial staff. I have been an avid reader of Golf Digest ever since I started playing this great game," said Creamer. "It is truly an honor to now be associated with the men and women who bring us exciting and insightful golf content every month. I am looking forward to contributing and sharing my experiences."

As a Golf Digest playing editor, Creamer will provide instruction tips and articles for Golf Digest and GolfDigest.com, including regular "Paula Tips" in the Golf Digest Woman section of the magazine and online.

Catch up on Creamer's previous Golf Digest contributions:

--Ashley Mayo

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Women's Beginner Series: Taking it to the course

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Once you've gone through the steps in Chapter 1 and practiced enough to feel at least somewhat comfortable with swinging a club, putting and chipping, it's time to take off the training wheels and play some real golf. The best place to start your on-course experience is at a par-3 course or an executive course, since they're shorter and more laid-back. If there are no such facilities in your area, sign up for a nine-hole round late in the day at your local muny.

Here's how to prepare for your first round:

1. Learn the basic rules and etiquette guidelines. Don't attempt to play golf on a course until you know the fundamentals of the game's rules and etiquette. You can buy a copy of The Rules of Golf from the USGA's website for $2, or go to Amazon.com and order one of the many easier-to-read, illustrated guides to the same rules. Ask your instructor to give you some ideas of the most important things to know before hitting the course. For instance, when playing a round of golf, you need to stand still and be quiet when someone else is hitting or putting; avoid stepping on another player's line on the putting green; replace or fill the divots you take in the fairway; and keep carts away from tees, greens and bunkers.

Natalie Gulbis' short skirts might work on the LPGA Tour, but they'd violate many American courses' everyday dress codes. (Photo by Andy Lyons, Getty Images)

2. Call and check if the course you're playing has a dress code. You don't need to buy specific golf clothing, but many facilities require that you wear a shirt with either a collar or sleeves, and have length restrictions for shorts and skorts. Jeans are largely a non-no, as are cutoffs and gym clothes. But you can wear sneakers if you like, and, unless you blister easily, a golf glove isn't necessary.

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Caddie famed for guiding Nancy Lopez dies at 82

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Gerald (Dee) Darden, Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez's caddie during her heyday, died Aug. 24 in Mount Pleasant, S.C., after a long illness. Darden was 82.

Darden, who was inducted into the Professional Caddies Association Hall of Fame in 2001, became a caddie in 1976 after a distinguished career as an Air Force pilot, which included flying B-52s and, later, F-4 Phantoms while conducting photo reconnaissance during the Vietnam War.

Darden caddied on the LPGA Tour for 15 years. In addition to Lopez, he also worked for Hall of Famers Beth Daniel and Patty Sheehan.

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Women's Beginner Series: Making the leap

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Golf is finally shedding its "gentleman's game" label -- these days, women of all ages, shapes and races are welcomed with open arms at courses across America. But picking up the game is still a daunting task, especially for women, who might not have as many golf-loving friends inviting them along. Golf isn't exactly like jogging, where you just slip on a pair of sneakers and go. There's equipment to be purchased, lessons to be taken and rules to be learned. So where do you begin? Follow these steps and you'll be off to a great start.

1. Borrow a 7- or 8-iron and head to your local driving range. Most golf courses and driving ranges have decent loaner clubs that you can use, or ask a golfing friend if you can steal one of her short irons for the afternoon. Make sure the club isn't an old blade hand-me-down but preferably a women's club with a graphite shaft. Don't bother with metalwoods or hybrids -- a 7- or 8-iron is perfect. You can bring your hubby or a friend who plays golf, but let them know that you're not looking for instruction; you just want to experience what it feels like to make contact with a golf ball. Wear sneakers and loose, comfortable clothing (golf shoes and glove are by no means necessary, especially this early in the game). Tee up each ball and hit a bucket with no expectations. You're not there to become a great player in 20 minutes, you're just there to get your feet wet. (Keep in mind that most people whiff at least half their shots the first time they're at a driving range.) You'll quickly learn that catching a golf ball just right is one of the most exhilarating experiences in the world.

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Solheim Cup: Who will take the U.S. wild cards?

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

On Sunday night, after a winner is crowned at the Safeway Classic at Pumpkin Ridge GC in North Plains, Ore., captain Rosie Jones will announce the members of the 2011 U.S. Solheim Cup team. Ten players qualify on points and Jones will select two wild cards to round out the 12-person squad. Nine players (Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel, Stacy Lewis, Angela Stanford, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Brittany Lincicome, Brittany Lang and Juli Inkster, who will be the Cup's first-ever playing assistant captain) are already guaranteed entry. And Christina Kim, who's currently in 10th place, can only lose her automatic birth if she has a lousy week in Portland and Katie Futcher, Kristy McPherson or Vicky Hurst do really well (Hurst would have to win to oust Kim). So for argument's sake, let's say Kim is in, even though she's in the middle of arguably the worst season of her career with five missed cuts and only two top-20 finishes in 13 starts.

Christie Kerr and Morgan Pressel top the U.S. Solheim Cup Team points standings. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey, Getty Images)

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Pat Bradley sees a lot of herself in nephew Keegan

Monday, August 15, 2011

When the phone rang shortly before midnight Sunday, just five hours before my alarm would rally me for a busy day closing the PGA Championship issue of Golf World, several scenarios shot through my mind, none of them good. Late-night phone calls are usually not happy stories, but this one was an exception to that rule. Pat Bradley wanted to talk about her nephew Keegan.

"Oh Ronnie, I know it's probably late for you," Bradley said, sounding as if she had just won her seventh LPGA major instead of watching on TV as Keegan Bradley captured his first on the men's tour. Then, in the next breath, Pat picked up on a conversation she and I started seven weeks earlier at the Wegman's LPGA Championship, a few weeks after I had covered Keegan's first tour win at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

"He just got better each week this year," Pat said with the same passionate intensity with which she played for more than 20 years on the LPGA Tour. "He learned from everyone. He was paired with Freddy Couples in Houston and he picked his brain. He played a practice round with Phil Mickelson and he watched him and asked him questions. Keegan has banked it all."

He certainly put that knowledge to good use on Sunday at Atlanta Athletic Club. After falling five strokes behind with a triple-bogey 6 on No. 15 that would have crushed the spirit of anyone, let alone a 25-year-old rookie playing in his first major championship, Keegan found something special. It was a competitive gear with which Aunt Pat is very familiar.

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Inkster: I will play in the Solheim Cup

Thursday, August 11, 2011

After finishing her 2009 Solheim Cup singles match against Gwladys Nocera in Sugar Grove, Ill., Juli Inkster announced that it had been her last such match as a player. "It's been a great ride," said the eight-time Solheim Cup participant, a captain's pick in '09, "but this is it. I'm not doing a Brett Favre. I want to come out and watch from now on."

Cut to today, and Inkster, 51, has changed her tune. Next week's Safeway Classic in North Plains, Ore., is the last event at which American-born players can gather U.S. Solheim Cup Team points for the 2011 Cup at Killeen Castle in Ireland next month, and Inkster is currently in ninth position in the points standings. Mathematically, there is no way she can drop below 10th, which means she's already assured a spot on the team. After some soul searching and encouragement from her team captain, Rosie Jones, Inkster has decided to accept that spot, even though she's also going to be one of Jones' assistant captains in Ireland.

Assistant U.S. team captains Steinhauer (left) and Inkster (right) flank captain Jones (middle). (Photo by Scott Halleran, Getty Images.)

"I'm not sure how being a playing assistant captain is going to work out, but as a mom you're always kind of wearing four or five different hats anyway," Inkster says to Golf Digest Woman. "And Rosie has been right there with me, and Sherri [Steinhauer, the other assistant captain for the U.S. team] too. If I'm out there playing it puts a lot of responsibility on Sherri, but they're up for it and they want me to play, so we'll just see how it goes."

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Pettersen spends time with Norwegian kids

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

When a crazed gunman went on a rampage that took the lives of over 70 people at a Norwegian youth camp outside Oslo on July 22, world No. 3 Suzann Pettersen was in the middle of playing the Evian Masters in France. She finished the event with a "broken heart" and a black band around her arm, and spoke of the devastation and she felt for her hometown and country. This week, Pettersen got to tell the golfing youth of Norway in person.

Seven years ago, Pettersen and the Norwegian Golf Federation launched the Suzann Junior Championship, an annual national tournament for boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 16, with the primary goal of developing junior golf in Norway. The two-day stroke-play finals of this year's event took place Monday and Tuesday at Pettersen's home course, Oslo GC, and the LPGA star was there to meet with the players and hand out trophies. "I really hope I can help inspire the kids to work hard and enjoy golf," she said. "Oslo GC is is probably the leading Norwegian club when it comes to working with juniors, which is great to see."

Pettersen with some of the winners of the 2011 Suzann Junior Challenge (photo by Sven Gj. Gjeruldsen)

Pettersen, fresh off a convincing win at the Ladies European Tour's Ladies Irish Open last Sunday, is often credited with single-handedly making golf popular in her home country, and the Suzann Junior Championship is the cornerstone of her success. She's added some unconventional touches to the event that no doubt keep any talk of golf being a stuffy sport at bay (for instance, a disc jockey plays music on the course during and after play, taking song requests from the participants). Despite the recent national tragedy, all such light-hearted elements were kept in place to lighten the mood at this year's finals, and the galleries were larger than those at the last Norwegian LET event.

Pettersen, who will lead the European team in her sixth Solheim Cup next month at Killeen Castle in Ireland, the same course at which she won Sunday, says she hopes her efforts will ultimately result in more Norwegian girls earning spots on the Solheim team in years to come. "Hopefully I'm helping them see that you really can succeed," she said. The top two female players in the Suzann Junior Challenge received an invite to visit Pettersen at her home in Florida in the off-season and practice with her for a period of time.

--Stina Sternberg
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