6 MIND GAMES Think conservative aggressive

A consistent golfer can always recognise the point in a round where they need to play ‘conservative aggressive’. When I won the 2017 BMW Championship, I teed off on Sunday five shots ahead, with players like Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose chasing. I was a little less aggressive than in the first three rounds, just trying to give myself chances. I thought if I kept trying to make birdies without doing anything stupid, hopefully it would be enough to hold them off, and I managed to do it.

For amateurs, especially when you’ve got a good round going, there might be a stretch of holes on the course that are notoriously difficult. This is where you need to think through tee shot options that make bogey your worst-case scenario, while also keeping birdies and pars on the table. It might be a 3-wood or driving iron instead of driver. From there, aim for the middle of the greens and pick shot shapes that, if struck less than perfectly, miss on the side where saving par is easier.

Mechanically, this is a really sound swing. Andy is a bit like Lee Westwood – a noted fader of the ball – and at set-up you can see that the ball is a little more towards the heel, which is a classic fader’s position.

The big thing then is his very wide, connected takeaway. See how his body is coiling and how much the club is outside the hands going back. For such a small guy he’s creating an enormous amount of width, but from a very stable base. Many club golfers trying to generate width tend to slide a bit and get out of position. Andy retains a really solid lower-half base reminiscent of Ian Woosnam.

I love his dynamic pre-impact position in photo four. His hips are cleared and there’s loads of lag in the club – there’s no question of that turning over. Top-quality faders do clear their hips well, and Andy creates a lot of space so he can just fire it down that start line. No wonder he hits so many greens – about 70 per cent last year.