Graeme McDowell
Northern Ireland
2017 highlights: Just outside top 10 in Dubai Desert Classic, Dunhill Links,
Valspar Championship and Honda Classic.
His clubs: Driver: TaylorMade M1 440 (10.5°); Fairway: Srixon Z F45 17°;
Hybrid: Adams Idea A7 19°; Irons: Srixon Z 745;
Wedges: Cleveland 588 RTX; Putter: Odyssey White Hot #7
Scoring average is the result of a lot
of different things – playing well, and
hanging in there when you’re not
playing well. It’s really important to
keep big numbers off the card and
being able to dig in when the round
gets away from you.
It’s been a good putting year for meand I feel like my putting is close to my
best again which is exciting as that’s
taken a bit of a dip over the past three
or four years. I think I’m fourth in strokes
gained putting in the PGA Tour stats
and ninth in driving accuracy, so two
of my big keys are back where I need
them to be. Now I’m working on the
physical stuff to get a bit of ball speed
back though I’ve resigned myself to
never being able to match Dustin
Johnson or Rory McIlroy. But ideally I
can find an extra 3-4mph.
I’ve gone back to doing things I
used to do – we’re not very good at
continuing to do the things that made
us good! I went back to an old mirror
I used to use and set up my own little
putting gate with some tees on the
mirror and that’s the drill I go to. If you’re
great inside ten feet and your speed is
good, you can be a great putter. It’s just
down to reading after that...How you can go lower: Firstly, you
should look at your putting, especiallyinside 10 feet – you can analyse your
putting simply by looking at your speed,
how many putts you’re holing and you
look at your short putt percentages.
After that, distance control is one of
the big keys – if you can be pin high
more often than not, that’s a good sign
your distance control is where it’s at.
Then it’s about driving accuracy,
though I’m not sure whether the old
‘drive for show, putt for dough adage’
holds up anymore.
Depending on the course set-up
there may be an opportunity to use your
stroke and if you’re playing a tree-lined
parkland course, we all know you’ve got
to keep it in play.STROKE AVERAGE
4th
68.08%STATS LIFE...GOLF ASIA 69