Q&A: Tommy Fleetwood
England’s Tommy Fleetwood on losing – and then finding – his game
How the Englishman effectively overcame the yips with the driver.
They say never go back. But in Tommy Fleetwood’s case, going back to his old coach last summer has already paid dividends. A swing change was supposed to take him to the next level, but he says it cost him 12 months of his career. Things got so bad he slipped to 188th in the world rankings last autumn and was on the verge of becoming golf’s forgotten man. That was until he reverted back to his old swing. The Merseysider is now back where he feels he belongs – inside the world’s top 50. He even joined the winner’s circle again at the Abu Dhabi Championship in January and made his debut at Augusta last week. Not bad for a 26-year-old who admits he couldn’t hit a tee shot this time last year…
Q. How much of a relief was it to win your second Tour title after a 1,247-day wait? It wasn’t really a relief; it was more of an achievement. Winning again was the ultimate goal at the start of the year because I knew my game had come back. People kept telling me how long it had been since I last won, but I effectively had a year out of the game because I was just playing terrible. I have come a long way from playing awful to winning in the space of six months.
Q. How bad did things get? Is it true you started suffering with the yips off the tee? I had a little bit of that with the driver. My game has always been built around driving it long and straight. And the minute you lose your biggest strength and it becomes one of your biggest weaknesses, you’re in trouble. It got to the point where I was quite happy if I found my ball in the trees. Q. What made you decide to switch coaches in the first place? I played a few practice rounds with Henrik Stenson and I wanted to hit it like him, basically. I asked Pete Cowen if he could help and started working with him and Mike Walker in March 2015. We had success early on, but I just struggled with one or two moves which affected my confidence. For whatever reason, my body wouldn’t allow me to swing the way we wanted and we couldn’t figure out the answer.
Q. Do you regret what you did? Not at all. I changed for the right reasons. I wanted to be a world-class player, and I went to Pete because he’s arguably the best coach in the world. It just didn’t work out, but I still gained a lot from the experience. I went back to my old coach Alan Thompson and we’ve been able to do stuff with my swing we couldn’t do before.
Q. When did everything start to click? Last summer. I played awful at the Open, and I was really struggling at the French, German and Scottish Open. I then lost in the first round of the Paul Lawrie Match Play to Stormy, but that was the first time I didn’t really hit a bad shot. I just got beat by a better player on the day. I was gutted driving home, but that was the first sign my game was coming back. It was probably the best loss of my life.
Q. Are you happy with your swing now? I feel like I’m a much better player. My long game at Abu Dhabi was as strong as anybody out there. I used to play with a draw, but my ball flight is a lot straighter now and my swing path is a lot more neutral. Hopefully that will serve me well because I will have more control.
Q. What would you say to someone considering a swing change? I was probably a little naïve in that I didn’t realise how difficult it would be to change my swing. My advice is to get better at what you’re doing and stick to what you know. Every golfer has their own tendencies, and something they struggle with. But the most successful golfers understand their swing and accept their flaws. If you don’t know what you are doing, or why things are going wrong, that’s when your confidence goes.
‘It got to the point where I was quite happy if I found my ball in the trees’