Members of our Golf Digest community are the most committed to learning about how to play, what to play and where to play. We’re dedicated to giving you access to the best in golf, and that’s why we’ve launched the Golf Digest Happy Hour, exclusive for Golf Digest+ members.
At each Golf Digest Happy Hour, we host a webinar with a golf insider, whether it be a top coach, pro, course architect, fitness trainer, equipment fitter or any other industry expert. We dive into the topics you care about and provide you the opportunity to take part in the discussion.
Not a Golf Digest+ member yet? Be sure to sign up here so you can join future Happy Hours and access the recordings of all previous webinars. Scroll on for information on all previous editions of the Golf Digest Happy Hour, and be sure to click through to find the full recording and our key takeaways.
September 12: The science behind swinging faster and holing more putts, according to Dr. Sasho MacKenzie
More Golf Digest Happy Hour
You step up to a wide-open par 5, tee it high, swing as hard as you can and what happens? The ball spins off to the right and flies 30 yards shorter than normal. That’s because when many of us try to increase distance, we don’t understand the moves necessary to crank up clubhead speed.
A similar misunderstanding occurs on the greens, when we hit a 5-footer off the toe or the heel and miss the putt. We might obsess over fixing our stroke path and finding the center of the face, but science says another thing is causing our misses.
That’s what we discussed with Dr. Sasho MacKenzie during our Golf Digest Happy Hour. MacKenzie has a Ph.D in sport biomechanics and has long studied the disparity in movement patterns between the best golfers and the rest of us. He is the co-founder of The Stack, a popular speed training product and system that is especially popular on tour, including with 2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick.
July 17: How to use your ball flight to fix your golf swing, with Michael Breed
Golf Digest Happy Hour
One of the most difficult aspects of golf is that the solutions to many of our misses are counterintuitive. Once we understand what causes our worst shots and how to fix them, we realize that the key to fixing our golf swings is in our ball flight.
To learn how to properly diagnose our faults, Michael Breed led a one-hour webinar with Golf Digest+ members. Breed led the Happy Hour live from his custom teaching studio, which is equipped with a simulator, GCQuad launch monitor, 14-camera functionality and 12 HD video monitors. With all this technology, Breed demonstrated and explained how we can use ball flight to diagnose and fix our most common swing faults.
June 6: The art and science of green reading—what you're doing wrong and how to fix it
Golf Digest Happy Hour
Without understanding why we’re missing putts, we often misdiagnose our putting struggles as technical ones. We work on our strokes, but we might not get any better. Why? That was never the issue—we simply don’t read the greens well enough.
Ralph Bauer, a Canada-based putting coach who works with multiple PGA Tour players, has long studied the art and science of green reading because he sees it as an often-overlooked variable that when improved can quickly lower our scores.
We chatted with Bauer on all things green reading during our Happy Hour. Throughout the hour-long webinar, Bauer explained the fundamentals of green reading, beginning with the various factors that affect break. He explained how to properly read a putt, why you shouldn’t ever read a putt from the high side of the hole and other common green-reading misconceptions.
April 25: The most overlooked part of your game: Unlocking the mystery of clubfitting
Golf Digest Happy Hour
Golf clubs are keys. Get the right ones for your game, and you’ll unlock your potential. Have clubs that aren’t right for you, and you’ll be leaving strokes on the course every round.
To help you find the right clubs for your game, we hosted a Happy Hour with Chris Marchini, Golf Galaxy’s director of golf experience and the lead clubfitter at the Golf Digest Hot List. Marchini spoke to Golf Digest+ members for an hour on all things equipment, including the biggest golf club misconceptions, why you might not need 14 clubs in your bag, how often you should change your wedges, why a hybrid might not be right for you and much more.
Why is clubfitting so important? How can average players benefit from a fitting? What are the biggest mistakes golfers make with their equipment? What are some common golf-club setups that average players often overlook? We covered all of those topics and much more throughout the Q&A.
April 4: The true story of Augusta National's near demise, according to the club's leading expert
Golf Digest Happy Hour
The fascinating history of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters is also a story of what could have been given the ambitious initial plans for the club.
That Augusta National and the Masters survived early financial troubles and grew into what they are today is “mainly a credit to the stubborn single-mindedness of Clifford Roberts,” writes David Owen, a longtime New Yorker and Golf Digest writer and preeminent historian on the Masters. While writing a comprehensive history of the club and Masters in his book, “The Making of the Masters,” Owen was granted exclusive access to the Augusta National Golf Club archives. He lived on the club grounds on and off, playing the course often, during this time
Owen gave his unique insight to Golf Digest+ members during our hour-long Q&A. Using early photography of the club, Owen discussed Augusta National’s formative years, including Bobby Jones’ and Clifford Roberts’ ambitious plans for two 18-hole courses (one for women), a sprawling neoclassical clubhouse and a golf Hall of Fame.
March 26: How to avoid the mental 'landmines' of golf, with Dr. Bhrett McCabe
Golf Digest Happy Hour
Most of us are not blessed with the physical capabilities of the modern tour pro, but those limits don’t exist as much on the mental side. There is nothing preventing us from thinking like the best players in the world.
That’s why we’re excited about this Golf Digest Happy Hour. on the mental landmines of golf Dr. McCabe is a licensed clinical and sports psychologist who works with a number of golfers on tour, including Jon Rahm, Nick Dunlap, Sam Burns, Billy Horschel and others.
Dr. McCabe spoke to Golf Digest+ members for an hour about a variety of topics on the mental game, including the five most common "landmines," and how we can avoid them. We also discussed how to take your range game to the course, how to learn to play with what you have, why par putts are seemingly easier than birdie putts, how to build confidence and much more.
March 12: An insider's guide to helping your kid play college golf
Golf Digest Happy Hour
Is your son or daughter hooked on the game and aspiring to play golf in college? Great! An exciting journey awaits, but the road to securing a spot on a college golf team can be overwhelming.
To help junior golfers and parents navigate the complicated process, we held a Happy Hour with Dr. Katie Brophy Miles, the former Georgetown women’s golf coach and founder of Golf Globally, a consulting company dedicated to helping juniors play college golf.
Speaking for an hour to Golf Digest+ members, Dr. Miles, a two-time Big East Conference Coach of the Year, covered a wide array of topics surrounding the recruiting process, including common recruiting myths, what scores you need to shoot to play at different levels, what tournaments you should play in, how you can find a school that is the right fit and tips for being a supportive junior golf parent. Dr. Miles also answered members’ questions throughout the call.
Feb. 27: A tour-proven way to play smarter golf, with Scott Fawcett
Golf Digest Happy Hour
After his mini-tour career, Fawcett created a course-management system called DECADE Golf, which is designed to help players limit "dumb" strategic mistakes. His system is popular with PGA Tour players, college golfers and anyone looking to play smarter golf.
Fawcett joined the Golf Digest Happy Hour to discuss course strategy and how average golfers can use the same system that many tour players adhere to. Speaking for over an hour to Golf Digest+ members, Fawcett used Strokes Gained statistics and shot patterns to dispel common myths about the way tour players play golf and the way you should be playing, too.