Golf News

We never thought we'd be interested in a highlight video showing every shot from the winner of the Race to Dubai. Edited down to 10 minutes long? That's watchable. If you didn't watch Rory McIlroy's winning 66 from last Sunday, we'll forgive you. And even if you did, maybe you just feel like appreciating a great round of golf. Eight birdies, along with two bogeys, gave Rory an encouraging way to end his 2015 season. Either way, the European Tour has you covered with this video.

When my friends and I play golf, we spend most of our time discussing stuff like continuous non-vanishing tangent vector fields and the sorites paradox, but most other guys, most of the time, talk about sports. That’s easy for the ones who skim money from their children’s college funds to finance killer teams on FanDuel, but it can be challenging for others. Now, though, there’s an equalizer: TipOff Sports , a weekly email cheat sheet “for people who want a quick and easy way to know what’s going on in the world of sports.” TipOff’s editor is David Epstein, the author of The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance , which spent many weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The book explains how a regular dad, using items found in almost any kitchen or garage, can turn his children into athletic superstars by making simple modifications to just one or two of their chromosomes. Well, that’s not exactly right, but it’s a terrific book, a...

Despite the emergence of young, marketable players like Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth, Woods remains much better known than the game's new stars. Repucom, a company that analyzes and provides market data, found that 97% of Americans are aware of who Woods is, compared to just 20% for Fowler and 37% for world No. 1 Spieth. However, one area in which the 39-year-old now lags majorly behind -- aside from recent trophies -- is "trendsetting," where Fowler is now the world's leading golfer with an 81% rating, according to the research. The world No. 5 caused quite a stir in May after sharing a passionate kiss with model girlfriend Alexis Randock on the 18th green following his victory at The Players Championship. Being part of celebrity couple, combined with his Puma sponsorship -- a fashionable clothing brand new to golf -- boosts Fowler's brand just as much as his playing success, says Repucom managing director Jon Stainer. "In the case of the most influential...

Last week's season-ending European Tour event at the Jumeirah Golf Estates was designed to crown a yearly champion -- and it did, Rory McIlroy. It was also designed to showcase Dubai as a plce to buy property and spend money. Aiming for expatriate Brits with some disposable income to spend, the United Arab Emirates loosened restrictions on foreign land ownership a decade ago, so now anybody can buy a luxury villa alongside one of the jarringly green golf courses built in the desert. Jumeirah Golf Estates is popular for its gated safety and two Greg Norman courses, but you won't get in there with coins you found under the couch cushions. This $2.3 million five-bedroom, six-bath villa is considered a "starter home" in a development where you'll also find $30 million palaces. The 4,790-sqft home has direct golf course frontage and easy access to the 130,000-sqft clubhouse. A central courtyard redefines the concept of an open floor plan, and the formal dining room ov...

If you make a hole-in-one on the day before Thanksgiving, do you have to buy everybody a turkey dinner? University of Texas junior Beau Hossler will have to let us know. Upon returning from campus in Austin to his home in Mission Viejo, Calif., the 20-year-old U.S. Walker Cupper posted this celebratory picture on Instagram. Naturally a few of his buddies had some fun with him in the comments section. Apparently, too, Hossler might have been somewhere else to be on Wednesday, judging from his "glad I skipped class today" reference. Ask us, and making an ace sufficiently counts as an excused absence. WATCH: GOLF DIGEST VIDEOS

Remember the Twitter, ahem, "war" between Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald earlier this fall ? After a period of ceasefire, Donald appears to have relit the flames of battle. Donald posted a conversation with Bradley regarding an upcoming trip to Sun City, South Africa for the Nedbank Golf Challenge, in which Donald instills fear in the 2011 PGA Championship winner. Warning: Adult language follows: Funny, although Donald shouldn't be the one to throw stones regarding Sun City, given his less-than-manly reaction to a baboon he encountered at the Nedbank last year. WATCH: GOLF DIGEST VIDEOS

We all play golf courses that feature various memorials to people and events: benches, flagpoles, that sort of thing. At my home club, for instance, there's a stone marker honoring the memory of a longtime starter at the club from decades earlier. Call me naive, but I've always operated under the assumption that this was at one point an actual person. It's worth reconsidering only because of a New York Times report from Tuesday that says Donald Trump's Northern Virginia Trump National Golf Club features a plaque between the 14th and 15th holes honoring a Civil War battle at that precise spot. The inscription, signed by Trump, reads: “Many great American soldiers, both of the North and South, died at this spot. The casualties were so great that the water would turn red and thus became known as ‘The River of Blood.’ It is my great honor to have preserved this important section of the Potomac River!” Nice sentiment, small problem: there apparently was no such battl...

Denny Kovacs was 24 when he played his first round of golf, on July 4, 1971. He’s 68 now and in those 44-plus years he has played 41,967 holes on 709 different courses, has taken 201,241 strokes, made 17 eagles, 1,586 birdies, 15,254 pars, 17,310 bogeys and 1,570 triple bogeys. Yes, he’s a golf nut. Kovacs, a former air traffic controller who now is a shop assistant at Indian Springs Golf Club in Indio, Calif., has charted every hole of every round he has ever played. Here is his latest spreadsheet entry: He’s never made an ace or an albatross. but he has hit 19 shots inside 12 inches. He made his first birdie in 1972, his first eagle in 1985 and his 1,000th birdie in 2009 on the par-5 sixth hole at Indian Springs (driver, 3-wood off a house roof, wedge, 15-foot putt). Anal-retentive is a phrase that comes to mind.
 “They all think that way,” he said laughing. “I have the same kind of record for bowling since 1968. I was an amateur body builder for awhile and had all kind...

According to the Los Angeles Times , reigning NBA MVP and current Golf Digest cover boy Stephen Curry has purchased a new house in Walnut Creek, Calif. The 8,000-square foot, Mediterranean estate is as nice as one would expect an 8,000-square foot, Mediterranean estate to be for a $3.2 million price tag. However, there's just one problem if you're a golf nut like the Golden State Warriors guard: There doesn't seem to be any part of the property devoted to golf. No backyard golf course like the one soccer star Gareth Bale is building . No backyard golf hole. No backyard range. Not even a backyard practice green. Shocking. Take a look at some of the photos: If you notice, those last three photos all have TVs set to basketball. It's almost as if the previous owners new they'd be selling their home to an NBA star. Of course, if they had set the TVs to golf, Curry would have bitten just as easily. And if they'd made it a little more golf friendly, he probably would ...

When Jordan Spieth checked off what he called “bucket list” rounds at Kingston Heath and Royal Melbourne, he experienced those masterpieces in all of their Australian glory: he took a trolly. Or, as they’re known in some parts of the world, a buggy. Translation Americans: he took a pull cart! Call them whatever you want, but in Australia all of those macho Mad Max’s have little issue pulling a cart around when they play. Many superintendents even attribute the widespread use of trollies to contributing to the health of their greens by allowing those large wheels to run right over the putting surfaces. As I wrote three years ago in Golf Digest, this is one of the many fine attributes of Australian golf. So many thanks to Peter Boland and Phil Duffy for sharing this shot of Spieth playing Royal Melbourne last weekend dragging his tour bag around one of the world’s most storied layouts. Spieth arrived a few days before his bid to repeat as Australian Open champion by playing tw...

SYDNEY, Australia -- One year, two major wins, a Fed-Ex Cup victory and $22m in on-course earnings removed from his previous visit to The Australian Club here, Jordan Spieth still feels able to call the closing 63 with which he claimed the 2014 Australian Open, “one of the best rounds I’ve ever played in my life.” Which is no surprise to any of those who witnessed the then 21-year old Texan’s dismantling of the Jack Nicklaus-design in blustery conditions that provoked defending champion Rory McIlroy to claim his successor’s final-round performance was nothing short of “awesome.” But a lot has happened to Spieth since that special round, most recently visits to two of Australia’s finest courses, Kingston Heath and Royal Melbourne. Unlike Tiger Woods, who professed “admiration” for Melbourne’s famous Sandbelt courses without ever taking a look at any of them other than the one he was playing that week, the Masters and U.S. Open champion is a golfer, not just a profe...

The 18-year-old retained the Race to the CME Globe title -- given to the golfer who wins the most points during the LPGA Tour season -- to pick up her bumper prize. Ko finished joint seventh at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Italy. "It's been a long season of ups and downs as well, mainly ups, but I think every emotion went through me today," said Ko, who was reduced to tears during an emotional final round. "What triggered the tears more is what a tough day it was. "I tried to stay patient all day and even up to the last minute I had a putt lip out, so it was tough, but it's been a long season. I think the hole was smaller than the ball today. "I'm happy that the season is over and I can relax now." South Korean Inbee Park and American Lexi Thompson could have both finished above Ko, but missed birdie putts on the penultimate hole to hand the New Zealander top spot. Thompson's compatriot Cristie Kerr won the tournament by...

Jason Bohn stared time and talent in the face in May at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, warming up for a possible playoff in the Crowne Plaza Invitational. Joining him was Jordan Spieth, the still 21-year-old Masters champion just six weeks removed from slipping on the green jacket. “He came up and said, ‘Nice playing, old man.’ ’’ Bohn told me last week from his home in the northern Atlanta suburbs. “I told him, ‘You know what? I’m twice your age, and you still couldn’t beat me this week.’ ” Bohn, 42, had reason to chirp. Playing as well as Spieth at least for that weekâ€"they ended up finishing tied for second, a stroke behind Chris Kirkâ€"was a good mark for the veteran to measure himself against. Jason Bohn's overhaul of his swing in 2012 has paid dividends for the journeyman PGA Tour. “Moments like that hit me,” Bohn said. “In golf, 42 doesn’t seem very old, but when you’re competing against guys 22 to 28 years old, it kind of is ...

On Monday, the USGA announced that beginning Jan. 1, 2016 scores shot while playing by yourself are no longer acceptable for handicap purposes. This is a dark day for people everywhere with vanity golf handicaps. Here's an explanation of the new policy: Playing alone and necessary peer review: To further support the key [USGA Handicap] System premise of peer review, scores made while playing alone will no longer be acceptable for handicap purposes. This change underscores the importance of providing full and accurate information regarding a player’s potential scoring ability, and the ability of other players to form a reasonable basis for supporting or disputing a posted score. (Section 5-1: Acceptability of Scores) Sure, we all have friends who just happen to always play their best when no one else was there, but this new rule produces a lot of questions. First off, doesn't this fly in the face of the notion that golf is a game of honor? Aren't golfers supposed to be tr...

There is an odd dispute brewing in Bristol, Tenn., and neighboring Bristol, Va., between two golf courses over one word. And a trite word at that. The owner of the Olde Farm golf course on the Virginia side of Bristol has sued the owner of the Olde Tennessean Golf Club on the Tennessee side of Bristol. The dispute is over the word “Olde.” The Olde Farm golf course The Olde Farm owner is contending “trademark infringement, unfair competition, dilution and false designation of origin arising under Section 43 of the Trademark Act of 1946,” the Bristol Herald Courier reported last week . Now, the Olde Farm course is not old at all. It opened in 1999, though it was built on the site of an 18th-century farm. The course at the Olde Tennessean is old, built in 1894, but it was called Bristol Farms until new owners changed the name in July. However the dispute is resolved, let’s just stipulate that the use of “olde” in a golf course name has gotten old. There is Olde Oaks, not to ...

Lydia Ko didn't win the LPGA Tour's finale, but her T-7 was enough to come away with the season-long Race to the CME Globe title. Again. Meaning she walked away with the $1 Million bonus. Again. That's a lot of green for a teen. And this time, the 18-year-old phenom -- who also won her first Rolex Player of the Year Award -- celebrated by imitating Dr. Evil from Austin Powers : Not bad, especially considering Ko was only born a week before that movie came out. WATCH: GOLF DIGEST VIDEOS

Graeme McDowell got a lucky break when his errant tee shot on No. 7 during the final round of the RSM Classic hit off a fan's ankle and bounced back into the fairway. It wasn't as lucky for the Kisner family. For one, it didn't help Kevin Kisner, who G-Mac -- and the rest of the field -- is chasing. And it also hurt Mrs. Kisner. Literally. Christy Kisner, who is at Sea Island hoping to see her son win his first PGA Tour title, was the unlucky fan who got hit. Fortunately, Christy was OK, and G-Mac made light of the situation when he got to his ball: Of course, any pain will be lessened for Christy if Kevin comes away with the win. If G-Mac makes it back-to-back-victories, though, she should be prepared for a sarcastic, "Thanks a lot, mom." WATCH: GOLF DIGEST VIDEOS

If you've ever watched the Open Championship, you've probably tried imitating Ivor Robson. Now you can hear some of the European Tour's biggest names announcing their own names in the cheery, high-pitched manner of the longtime starter. Robson is retiring after 41 years as the tour's official voice of the first tee and the European Tour made a fantastic tribute video for the popular man that includes appearances by Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, and Henrik Stenson. You'll laugh -- and you might even cry. Check it out: WATCH: GOLF DIGEST VIDEOS

It was a day to remember in a year to forget for Rory McIlroy, who in 2015 made more news kicking a ball than hitting one. McIlroy won twice on Sunday, his victory in the European Tour’s DP World Tour Championship also giving him a victory in the tour’s Race to Dubai. Now he won’t have to limp off toward a new year, and instead can prance toward it, having replenished his storehouse of confidence in what now is officially a quest to reclaim from Jordan Spieth the No. 1 spot in the World Ranking. McIlroy, 26, went out and shot a 66 at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai on Sunday to beat Andy Sullivan by a shot for his fourth victory of a season from which he demanded more. The burden of expectation that allows a year with four wins to be regarded as disappointing is a testament to his skill and his standing in the world of golf. He under-delivered. He was aiming for the Masters, the missing link to a career Grand Slam, and finished fourth. He was not a factor in the U.S. Open, then de...

Since making a brave return at the U.S. PGA Championship, won by Jason Day , McIlroy has been slowly working his way back to form, confirmed by his superb performance in Dubai. A final round six-under-par 66 on the Earth Course at Jumeriah Golf Estates left him one shot clear of overnight leader Andy Sullivan of England on 21-under 267. McIlroy trailed rising young star Sullivan around the turn, but a run of four birdies in five holes from the 11th secured him victory, despite a bogey on the 17th after finding the water with his tee shot. It was enough to clinch the Race to Dubai title for McIlroy for the third time in four years, his nearest challenger England's Danny Willett finishing in a tie for fourth in the European Tour finale on 13-under. South African Branden Grace, who also had a mathematical chance of winning the Race to Dubai, finished third on 267. "To be European number one for the third time in four years, that was a goal of mine at the start of the year. It wa...

In the 1990s, Jerry Seinfeld's television parents had Del Boca Vista. For the right price, you can have The Villages. And close in 30 days. Stretching over an unremarkable chunk of swampland an hour northwest of Orlando, The Villages are a large (100,000 population) collection of age-restricted senior "neighborhoods" oriented around the same goal: packing in as much daily entertainment, golf and buffet dining as possible before that senior-appropriate bedtime. The community has become one of the fastest growing of any type in the U.S. because of its virtually unique buying proposition: a reasonably-priced home in a place filled with like-minded seniors, built to a scale that lets everybody enjoy the plentiful amenities for cheap dollars. For example, this three-bedroom, two-bath home sits adjacent to the Palmer Legends course, and offers easy golf cart access to a half dozen of the Villages' 11 other championship courses. Greens fees for residents run about $30 on th...

The McNealys of Portola Valley in Northern California surely have become the first family of golf. So, how to begin a family Thanksgiving vacation? “6:15am wake up, first ones at the range. Welcome to the McNealy family vacations,” Maverick McNealy posted on Twitter. He included the photo below, taken on the range at the Madison Club in La Quinta. The patriarch is Scott McNealy, founder of Sun Microsystems, and an exceedingly wealthy man. Scott has memberships at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club, the Madison Club, the Quarry at La Quinta and possibly a few we don’t know about. His handicap index is 5.7. Maverick, 20, a junior at Stanford, is the second-ranked amateur in the world and last year was the best player in college, winning the Nicklaus and Haskins awards. His other three sons â€" Dakota, Colt and Scout â€" have indexes of 1.0, 2.6 and 1.2, respectively. Even their mother, Susan, is a good player, an 11.5. Future family reun...

The spikeless golf shoe has officially been around long enough to have subcategories. Ever since Fred Couples showcased non-traditional kicks with spikeless shoes in 2010, there have been innovations in every direction. Ecco’s new Speed Hybrid can best be identified as a more vintage-looking sneaker rather than a golf shoe, all the way down to the muted colors. But just because it looks like a vintage shoe doesn’t mean it has old technology. Related: 2015 Golf Digest Shoe Guide. The outsole has traction elements made out of polyurethane. As your foot moves throughout the swing, these traction elements help stability. The inside of the shoe features a leather sole for better comfort. And the top half contains more room to allow your toes to move freely. The upper is water-repellent. The shoe ($180) is available in three colors for men and women. Related: Our weekly e-magazine that features the latest in equipment and style: Golf Digest Stix. For more info, click here .

Asking for 30 minutes of a tour player’s time is asking a lot. These guys are busy. And when they’re not busy, the last thing they want to do is spend time with the media.  Luckily for us, Rickie Fowler is not most guys. We asked him to spend four hours with us at Medalist Golf Club on Friday morning, and he happily obliged. (That might be because he’s a Golf Digest Playing Editor and shares his instruction tips exclusively with us, but we like to think it has more to do with the fact that we’re incredibly cool.) We Snappchatted snippets from our morning with Rickie, and you can watch all two minutes and 20 seconds of that Snapchat Story by following us on the platform (our handle is golfdigestmag). Rickie even Snapchatted a few behind-the-scenes tidbits from his personal Snapchat account (RickieFowler15). But if you're sitting there thinking, "What's a Snapchat?" we've shared some highlights from our morning via Instagram and Twitter, too. We'll con...

Stories of interest you might have missed… Instructor David Leadbetter “had a long heart-to-heart” with Michelle Wie on Thursday night, Bill Fields writes at ESPN.com on Wie's lost season . Leadbetter asked her about her desire. “I quizzed her on that: ‘Do you still want this?’” he said. “She said, ‘Definitely.’ And I believe her. If people knew how hard she’s working behind the scenes, they wouldn’t doubt her. Some people say she's overrated. They rake her over the coals for golf. But life is not golf. She's beautiful. She's got a degree from Stanford. She’s artistic. She doesn't have to work a day in her life. She loves what she does. There is more to Michelle than golf.” “Zach Johnson turns 40 next February, an age where it can be tempting to look back at how far he has come without taking his eyes off the road that could lead places he never imagined. He has a green jacket from Augusta National and a claret jug from St. Andrews. Tho...

The Atlantic published this really cool piece about precision skills and why some people seem to be better at them than others. They used the example of free-throw shooters, and how we usually look at someone who makes a ton of free throws and chalk it up to that person being really coordinated or really athletic. But new research shows it's more complex than that. The research discusses a theory called "quiet eye", and it explains success at precision skills through what’s going on mentally, not athletically. Scientists used eye-tracking technology (I have no idea how you get your hands on that, but it sounds awesome) to see what people are looking at right before, during, and after they performed their task â€" like shooting a free throw, or stroking a putt. The simplified version boils down to: If you’re looking at the right part of the cup, for the right amount of time, you’re going to be a better putter â€" because you’re giving your brain the corr...

Using technology to explain technology? This is the approach TaylorMade is taking to promote its new PSi irons, using 360-degree virtual-reality videos starring two of its marquee staff players, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia. The company has distributed 1,500 Google Cardboard virtual-reality viewers to golf shops nationwide, including Dick’s Sporting Goods stores. The VR videos show Rose and Garcia testing the irons and discussing with TaylorMade fitters what they are looking for, such as distances, trajectories and spin characteristics. “We’re always looking for innovative and engaging ways to bring the golfers close to the game and our tour pros,” said Mark Buntz, TaylorMade’s senior global brand director. TaylorMade distributed Google Cardboards to make virtual-reality fittings possible. “With 360 virtual-reality camera technology, we were able to capture and present content for a truly unique experience.” Related: Our weekly e-magazine that features the latest in equi...

I love Thanksgiving, but some of the holiday's traditions can be too much. Cranberry sauce and green bean casserole taking up valuable table space. Your black sheep uncle trying to sell a "can't miss" business opportunity. The staged Salvation Army-Jerry Jones photo-op that makes you lose faith in humanity. (Because when caring, sensitive souls come to mind, I think Jerry Jones.) Luckily, Jordan Spieth and Jon Hamm are here to give you an entertainment respite. Following the Detroit Lions vs. Philadelphia Eagles game, FOX will run a one-hour special on the 2015 U.S. Open. Titled "Spieth’s Northwest Conquest," the show will capture never-before-seen footage, coupled with the tournament's broadcast, to paint a picture of the Texan's triumph at Chambers Bay. Hamm, best known for his Dom Draper role in Mad Men, will narrate the piece. So just in case you didn't get your fill of masochism watching the Lions, you can relive Dustin Johnson's three...

Tendons connect muscles to bones, and when you do things like put a death grip on a golf club and hit an entire pyramid of range balls, the muscles around your elbows often become bruised or torn. The acute pain you feel on the inside (golfer’s elbow) or outside (tennis elbow) of the joint “is a very common problem for golfers,” says Golf Digest fitness advisor Dr. Ara Suppiah. The following are his recommendations for treatment and rehabilitation. TREATMENTS Reduce the pain by icing the area for 20 minutes every so often during the first few days while taking doctor-approved, anti-inflammatory drugs like naproxen sodium (Aleve), Suppiah says. Wearing a compression sleeve or brace can increase blood flow and healing agents to the area. Some braces are even designed for sleeping. “Go easy on that arm for a few weeks,” Suppiah says. “Avoid lifting heavy objects, playing golf, etc. The pain is a reminder to take a break.” If the pain doesn’t subside after a few weeks, cons...

Golf Digest senior writer Ron Sirak is being honored with the LPGA Media Excellence Award at the LPGA Tour's season-ending Rolex Awards Celebration in Naples, Fla., Thursday evening. The award, first given in 2010, recognizes members of the media who have dedicated themselves throughout their careers to promote and advance the women's game through their work. It's understandable, then, that Sirak is this year's recipient given the integral role he has played in reporting and covering women's golf for two decades. Some of the highlights include a piece on the humanitarian efforts of six LPGA players towards the orphans of Rwanda , becoming the first person to cover four men's and four women's majors in a single season (2005) and working eight Solheim Cups. "This year's recipient is one of the most trusted voices in the game of golf," noted the LPGA while honoring Sirak. "Known for his contagious enthusiasm to shine a brighter light on the w...

Quite a few members of my golf club think our course is closed for the season. That's good, because it keeps most of the complainers at home, but even without them golf is becoming problematic. By the time the frost has melted, there's not a lot of daylight left. On Sunday, we moved our starting time from 7:30 to 9:00, but when we arrived the frost still looked almost like snow, and we couldn't tee off until 10:00. Here's the ninth green at 9:30: Tim D. took that photo, with his phone. Luckily, the other Tim, Tim C., had brought Bloody Marys and cinnamon rolls: There was a plastic knife on one of the plates -- not for cutting the rolls into smaller pieces, but for scraping up icing that had fallen or dripped off. The Bloody Marys were on the porch, where someone had stacked all the furniture from our patio, to protect it either from the elements or from us: Our clubhouse isn't heated, so every November the plumber has to drain the pipes and fill the toilets with ant...

"Some people just can't handle life on the road," Jim Carrey says in Dumb and Dumber . Alejandra Llaneza is not one of those people. Llaneza, 27, wrote about her experiences of playing on mini-tours for The Players Tribune , exposing the less glamorous side of pro golf than the one fans see through Ian Poulter's Instagram feed. You should read the entire piece, but here are some of her main points in case you're thinking of pursuing a tour pro life: -- Playing pro golf is expensive: Llaneza said entry fees on the Symetra Tour are $500 per tournament. A caddie costs an additional $500-800. And if you're lucky enough to make a cut, there's no guarantee you'll even break even for the week. "The old joke on the tour is, 'My caddie made more than me this week. They’re buying dinner,'" Llaneza said. Llaneza's piece is titled "Let the Rattlesnake deal with me," a reference to the former Arizona Wildcat risking her health to ...

Golfers often drop the Lord's name on the course. But now this wail will be in delight instead of damnation. The Holy Land Experience, an Orlando religious theme park, is opening up a nine hole putt-putt course . The mini-golf adventure, dubbed -- and we swear on the Bible this is true -- "Trin-I-Tee" will depict scenes from the Good Book, like Noah shepherding animals into the Ark, the parting of the Red Sea, the battle between David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale and the resurrection of Jesus. Scripture verses will also be displayed on the course, which will open for business on Christmas Day. We can think of no better way to celebrate the holiday. WATCH: GOLF DIGEST VIDEOS

You can say what you want about Donald Trump's integrity regarding his golf score -- many people already have weighed in on the subject. But one other recurring theme from the Donald's game: The man can play . Count Tom Brady as a believer in the presidential candidate's golf performance. In an interview with GQ , the New England quarterback was asked about his relationship with Trump -- Brady has been seen with Trump's campaign hat in his locker -- and the reigning Super Bowl MVP sang Trump's praises: Before I asked Brady about Deflategate, I asked him about playing golf with Donald Trump. He explained how this is an amazing experience, and how you never really know what the actual score is, and that there’s always some sort of side bet, and that Trump always goes home with the money. I ask him if this means Trump cheats, as it’s hard to imagine how someone could always win, particularly since Golf Digest estimates Brady’s handicap as an 8. “Nah,” says ...

Is this the biggest win of your life? Zach Johnson barely paused before answering, "It's the only win. . . . This is Everest for me." Such was the scene on Tuesday night as a collection of PGA Tour pros at the RSM Classic defeated their wives and girlfriends. What event caused such a feeling of accomplishment? The Fourth Annual Wiffle Ball Classic, of course. Thankfully, the PGA Tour documented the big game -- and the emotional post-game interviews, which included Lisa Cink pushing the mike out of her face and storming off the field. It appears like Kevin Kisner's ("Coach Kiz") squad scored the winning run on a bad throw to the plate (Sound familiar, Mets fans?), and we learned that despite the win, third-base coach Harris English was fired. Enjoy: RELATED: Meet the WAGs of the PGA Tour WATCH: GOLF DIGEST VIDEOS

From bagging groceries to stops at four different colleges to toiling in the minor leagues, John Starks' perseverance and toughness made him a crowd favorite at Madison Square Garden for nearly a decade. And although it took him awhile to find his place in the NBA, he became a key cog for some great New York Knicks teams, including becoming the first undrafted player to make an All-Star team in league history. Now 50, all of Starks' athletic energy goes into his golf game, which has excelled of late as well. A three-time defending champion at Oronoque Country Club in Stratford, Conn., Starks holds a 3.6 handicap index and plays as much as six times a week when he's not working as the Knicks' Director of Alumni Relations. He took the time to sit down with us at Stamford Cigar Lounge, of which he's a co-owner, to discuss his love of the game, playing golf with the likes of Donald Trump and Michael Jordan, whether golf was a factor in him being traded from New York, an...

For the first time in six events, a non-first-time winner won on the PGA Tour as Graeme McDowell proved he's still more than a successful restauranteur. And now we have one more (official) course on the fall menu. Who do we expect to feast in Sea Island? Here's who I'm taking on my PGA Tour Fantasy Golf squad for the RSM Classic: Related: Sign up for PGA Tour Fantasy Golf Driven By Avis Kevin Kisner: On one hand, it's tough to trust a guy who is so open about the fact he'd rather be home hunting, watching football and drinking beer this time of year. On the other, he's playing in his home state after a week off and he'll have plenty of time to do all that before the next time he tees it up. Plus, he's coming off a runner-up (of course) in China and a T-4 at Sea Island last year. Patrick Rodgers: The young gun is the only player we've used three times during the fall -- and for good reason. In four starts, he has three top 10s and his worst finis...

Welcome to "Today in questionable golf attire," where we take a look at questionable golf attire and deliver a verdict. Today's conundrum: spandex leggings. Golf Digest verdict: OK, so what's the problem? Kidding. Sort of. Part of us wants to say go for it, but these are a bit too tight to wear on the golf course unless you're driving a beverage cart and looking for tips. They are workout clothes, not golf clothes. Here, we did some detective work. Take a look at the photo from the website of the apparel company, Hard Ninety , that makes them: See? That settles it. They're workout clothes. Good for the gym or the box (CrossFit lingo!), but not the course. To be fair to the young lady in the first photo, though, it appears she's wearing this outfit to the driving range. We'll allow that. WATCH: GOLF DIGEST VIDEOS

Have extraterrestrials suddenly taken an interest in golf? In May, the Mutual UFO Network reported that a viewer watching the Players Championship on television “noticed a weird object in the sky,” a UFO sighting . A month later, UFOs reportedly were spotted above the Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz., UFO Sightings Daily reported on Tuesday . The course was the site of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship from 2009 through 2014. UFO Sightings Daily said it was made aware of the UFO via this video, which was posted on Youtube on Monday: UFO Sightings Daily also had this eyewitness account: “On vacation (Tucson AZ) playing golf, watched and heard F18's flying around courses a lot that day, took picture of friend and saw craft in photo it made no sound unlike F18's, it was so far off I didn't think it was a craft, (maybe a bird) plus made no sound so I went back to playing golf. Later that evening was looking at image with friend and we decided it had to ...

The DP World Tour Championship is the culminating event in the European Tour's Race to Dubai postseason. In case the season-ending tournament wasn't theater in itself, Danny Willett may have provided further excitement. Willett is second in the Race to Dubai rankings behind Rory McIlroy. That McIlroy finds himself in this position has been controversial. Although the European Tour mandates its players compete in 13 sanctioned events, McIlroy was given a reprieve due to his injury absence this summer. That meant McIlroy was able to miss last week's BMW Masters in China for a week of relaxation while the rest of the Race to Dubai field competed halfway across the globe. It was a matter that didn't sit too well with Willett. "I appreciate that him playing makes a massive difference for the Tour and you have to kind of let him off with the events, but certainly he has more of an advantage over the guys who have played all three [previous Final Series events] and this w...

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we can now really sympathize with Tom Watson and other losing team captains. For the first time, I had the honor of leading a squad at Golf Digest's Seitz Cup, and for the first time, the annual matches were turned into a battle of the ages. To be fair, I only had two days to make the pairings and try to rally my young troops unlike the two years of team-building and trophy photo shoots that Ryder Cup captains get. It wasn't quite enough as Team Millennials fell to Team Old Guys, 11-10, in an epic, "War by the Shore"-esque battle. Look at how surprised Old Guys co-captain Mike Stachura looked when it was over: Congrats to Golf Digest's wily vets for teaching us youngsters an important lesson. To quote Jim Carrey from the movie "Dumb and Dumber,": "Senior citizens, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose." Just watch out, geezers. Next time, I'm implementing the p...