Golf Digest Search Results

The 10 Biggest Equipment Stories of 2012

Mike Stachura and Mike Johnson — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 05:00:00 GMT

From a miraculous wedge shot to the ban of the anchored style of putting, equipment was very much part of the conversation this year.

Happy Last Year!

Matt Ginella — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:20:00 GMT

Everyone’s looking forward. So positive and so trendy—to openly discuss resolutions. I’ve started yoga, I’m seeing a therapist and I’m determined to hit a draw. Body, soul and swing. But before I moved on, I...

The 10 Biggest Equipment Stories of 2011

Mike Stachura and Mike Johnson — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

From the sale of an iconic company to the debut of white clubs, equipment was very much part of the conversation this year.

"There's a big difference between '00 Tiger and '11 Rory."

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:19:00 GMT

Photo of the Day: Splashing out of a bunker

Fri, 13 May 2011 18:20:00 GMT

Ernie Els plays his second shot from a fairway bunker on the 7th hole during the first round of The Players Championship on the TPC Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL on Thursday, May 12, 2011. Click image to enlarge.

Photograph by J.D. Cuban

-- Christian Iooss, Director of Photography
Twitter: @christianiooss

A surreal golf trip to North Korea revisited

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:22:00 GMT

In the summer of 2004 I flew to Pyongyang, a city the color of damp concrete, for what was laughingly described as the first ever North Korean Open (organized by Beijing-based Koryo Tours). The eight-man field included at least three nongolfers, three North Koreans, the British ambassador, and me. I've been on many trips, but North Korea has to be the strangest, most secretive, repressed and otherworldly destination on earth (read John Barton's May 2005 story from Golf Digest, "Golfing in the Heart of Darkness").

(Photos by John Barton)

As other former and current communist countries have opened up economically, socially and culturally, to a greater or lesser degree, inside North Korea, the heart of darkness, nothing ever seems to change. Kim Jong-un is said to be ready to take over the nation's dictatorship from his ailing father, Kim "dear leader" Jong-Il (whose own father, Kim "great leader" Il Sung, died in 1994 but is still regarded as the head of state). The DMZ -- the demilitarized zone separating North Koreans from their southern brethren -- remains the Cold War's last frontier, where the two sides face off in an eternal, horrifying stalemate. There are the usual periodic provocations, like the deadly shelling by the North of the South's Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010. The dynamic between the US and South Korea to North Korea remains that of despairing parents to recalcitrant child.

As far as golf is concerned, there are currently three main courses in North Korea. There's the lovely Pyongyang, where the "North Korean Open" was played. There's a downtown nine-hole pitch and putt called Yanggakdo. And there's the extraordinary "six-star" Ananti Golf & Spa Resort in the scenic Kumgang tourist area, whose 7,454-yard course boasts a 1,016-yard par-6 hole and a 252-yard hole with a "funnel" green that ushers approach shots toward the hole. The resort opened in May 2008 but closed a couple of months later - indefinitely -- after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by North Korean guards.

There's talk of another North Korean Open in 2011. But don't expect a truly open, legitimate, full-field championship anytime soon.

-- John Barton