Justin Rose hosts the British Masters this week at Walton Heath, continuing a tradition of top British stars hosting the event at different venues over the past four years.

It is a policy that has worked well for the European tour with the event now attracting stellar fields in the face of the juggernaut that is the PGA Tour. But the real story here is that of Rose himself, the smiling affable,  Englishman, who has gone from boyish grin, baggy tops and a swing with a lot of swagger in it to one of the worlds best players.

Scratch further beneath the surface and it is indeed a remarkable road that Rose has traveled, from starting out on his professional career with twenty-one consecutive missed cuts to world number one and a US Open Championship en route. Oh, and that shiny medal around his neck? An Olympic gold! If you arrived in Universal studios with that script you would be escorted post-haste from the lot!

Rose was born in Johannesburg, SA and came to England at the age of five, broke 70 for the first time at age eleven, had achieved a plus one handicap by age fourteen and at seventeen became the youngest player to make a Walker Cup team. I mention this, because, pedigree is crucial when deciding whether to turn pro.

If you are not beating up the opposition at an amateur level, don’t waste the €1800 fee to go to Tour school. Having been there three times with three different players, the one that made it through (Padraig Harrington) had total belief and a well-disguised swagger, the other two, though both fine players, were hoping.

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Roses date with destiny came in 1998 when playing at Royal Birkdale in his debut Open Championship. A final round of 69 saw him finish in a tie for 4^th just a shot behind the all-conquering Tiger Woods and two behind the winner, Mark O’Meara.

But it was his deft chip on the last, which he holed, when badly out of position that had him scurrying to join the paid ranks the next day. That, or the sight of his cheque for €107,333 winging its way into someone else’s bank account!

What followed, from the outside looking in, was eleven months of hell, those twenty one missed cuts in a row, the sniggers, the press clippings, “he was never good enough” but if you have

1. The resources behind you
2. The team to help you and
3. The belief system that can only be etched from your environmental circumstances,

then, as the esteemed learning expert, Dr. Carol Dweck, would say, it’s the perfect storm, if you can ride it out!

He did, making his first cut at the Compaq European Grand Prix in 1999 and eventually winning in 2002 at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, in the city of his birth, Johannesburg. The three trips to tour school were now a distant memory, he won four times in the next six months and as the song goes, the winning became easy.

There is an old Chinese proverb, “The rose has thorns only for those who would gather it.” Justin Rose grabbed those thorns with both hands, and has proved to be the epitome of true grit in the Ronald McDonald world we live in today, of, “I want it yesterday.” But the final word on Justin goes to KGB Teddy from the cult movie, Rounders, “the kids got alligator blood.”

An apt description indeed, for the consummate, pro’s pro.

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I got a question during the week about bunker play from a reader,

 

“Hi Tadhg, I admire that your brother Padraig is a fantastic bunker player, I’m very inconsistent at getting out of bunkers, I can hit shots that are both fat and leave it in the bunker or thin and skin it across the green! any advice?”

 

 

The number one mistake that I see when teaching bunker play to amateurs is their inability to be able to hit the spot they are aiming at behind the ball! So, say they are trying to hit an inch behind the ball, this can end up being anything from an inch up to a foot! Bunker play requires plenty of angle in the backswing to consistently hit the correct spot.

Here is a drill to help you that is as old as the pyramids but still holds good today and you don’t even need a ball! Draw a line in the bunker with the rake and practice trying to hit that line, as you get better at this drill your bunker play will improve dramatically.

 

Don’t forget my top four tips for setting up in a bunker,

1. Slightly wider stance, get a good footing and some flex in the knees
2. Lean slightly forward to your lead side (this will help to create the steep backswing angle you require)
3. Imagine a picture frame in front of your hips, break your wrists before your hands travel outside this picture frame, (again, the early set of the wrists in this area will encourage a steep backswing.)
4. Turn your upper body through the shot, don’t try to help the ball out with your hands, remember, you have already created plenty of angle going back!!

Finally, two nice images I use with my students for more difficult lies in bunkers,

 

1. Facing an uphill lie, leave the club in the ground at impact, practice this and trust it, the ball will pop up and out!
2. Downhill lies, imagine the ball skimming out of the bunker, follow down the slope with the club on the follow through, resist the temptation to lift up, the ball will fly out lower and spin more.

 

But make sure you can hit that line before attempting these more difficult shots! Your questions are always welcome!

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QUOTES OF THE WEEK!

 

“If he wants it this time around, it’s difficult to get around that he is very much the favorite to get the job.” Lee Westwood

“Three-time major winner Harrington was the “perfect candidate” and “better equipped” to lead Europe’s attempt to retain the trophy won in convincing style at Le Golf National”

 

“I would say as a three-time major champion and clearly a European legend, Padraig is the front-runner and then you have got Westwood.” Justin Rose

 

 

I will leave the last word this week to that famous English literalist, P.G.Wodehouse,

“Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove”

Hopefully, young Padraig can deliver the knockout blow this Christmas and book his ticket to Whistling Straits for 2020.

 

Talk to you all next week,

Tadhg.