LAWRIE RUMBLES TO THE TEE
Peter Lawrie hugely misses the white-heat of competition. But even though he’s busy pushing to make his BookGolf365 platform the go-to tee-time booking system in Ireland, he took time out for a Quick 18.
New booking engine has Peter fired up
1. How’s your golf? I am playing very little. But I was in Spain and Portugal for the last two weeks and played two rounds on both golf courses and actually played quite well. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
2. So what are you up to? You were Director of Golf at Luttrellstown Castle for 18 months, but you’ve moved on.
I really enjoyed my time at Luttrellstown Castle because after working on the other side of the fence for 20 years, it really helped me get to know the inner workings of golf clubs. And thanks to that I saw a niche in the market. So I’ve left to dedicate myself to BookGolf365 full time. It needed me more.
3. BookGolf365 is the tee time booking engine you’ve been working on. What makes it different to the big booking engines clubs are using now?
A few things – its ease of use, its easy integration into existing systems and the elimination of the barter model that clubs get caught up in when it comes to selling their tee-times. Clubs don’t realise how much they are giving away. They believe they are getting something for free, but as we all know, nothing is for free.
4.TheGUIandILGUare preparing to integrate BookGolf365 into Golfnet.ie, which is great news for you. But don’t you miss the cut and thrust of tour life?
I really miss competing. I don’t miss going in and out of airports; kissing the family goodbye and saying, ‘See you in a couple of weeks’. But I really miss the competitive element. It’s very difficult to find that in other things, even in business.
5. How did you get started in the game in the first place?
My dad. He used to bring me up to Newlands on Saturday and Sunday mornings before Iwaseven10.I’ddomy practice and then caddie for him on the back nine for my reward of a Dairy Milk and a Coke afterwards.
6. Driver or putter?
Putter by a long shot. I was always more comfortable on the greens. When I was starting, I was physically slight. Everyone else was bigger than me. But the putter was a great equaliser.
7. Links or parkland?
Links. You can manufacture shots – the little bump and run, the high shot, the low shot. There is always lots of variation.
8. When were you happiest on the golf course?
My happiest moment was playing with my brother in the Dunhill Links, and we finished sixth. That was one of the happiest times.
9. Who was your sporting hero?
Seve Ballesteros by a long shot. He was just finishing as I was starting but watching him at the British Open on TV, and in the Masters, he was my greatest hero by far.
10. Which tour player impressed you most? You must have played with all the great Europeans of the last 20 years.
I did. But not one of them had everything. Adam Scott was most the impressive ballstriker and swinger of the club, but his short game wasn’t as good as other people’s. Ernie [Els] got it around the golf course exceptionally well.
Rory, from the tee, was just magnificent. And Lee Westwood too. But I never got to play with Tiger and never saw a fella with the full package. Monty? He was brilliant in the Ryder Cup, but he never had the full package from top to toe.
11. Name your dream fourball.
Greg Norman and Seve had flair and then Tiger and Jack Nicklaus. If you pressed me to pick just three, I guess it would have to be Seve, Tiger and Jack.
12. Where would you play your last game of golf?
I’d probably go to Crans. It’s one of my favourite places. It was never a basher’s course. It was always about accuracy. If a golf course described my game, Crans was it.
13. I thought you might say Royal County Down considering you beat Garth McGimpsey to win the Irish Close there in 1996. Who was the most impressive amateur from your era?
It had to be Garth, or Noel Fox, even though Noel did turn pro in the end.
14. What’s your favourite par three?
I had around eight holes in one in my career, but my favourite came on the Asian Tour in the Casino Filipino Philippine Open in Manila in 1999, which really kickstarted my career. I aced the 193-yard 17th at Southwoods with a seven-iron and won a Jaguar XK8 and bought a house with the proceeds.
15. If I gave you a mulligan in your career what would it be?
It was the final round of the BMW PGA at Wentworth in 2012, and I made a triple bogey seven, a very good seven, at the eighth hole. I pulled my second off a sidehill lie, straight left. I went on to finish fourth, but if I could hit one shot again, that would be it.
16 Do you have a treasured possession?
My wife would probably say my mobile phone but apart from that, no.
17. If you could change something about your game or yourself, what would it be?
I’d like to have had more belief in myself. I was probably my own worst enemy in that sense, and I was hard on myself rather than believing I could do it. If I had had Ian Poulter’s attitude and self-belief, I might have done better.
18. What’s your definition of perfect happiness?
A family picnic on the beach.