Master at work
Standing close to any tour pro when they are hitting balls is a thing of wonder. The effortless power, the sound of the strike, the flight of the ball and the sheer distance it travels. To describe it as ‘impressive’ doesn’t really do the experience justice.
In the 20 years I’ve been fortunate enough to witness this sort of magic on a semi-regular basis at tournaments, golf days and clinics, the finest display came courtesy of Dustin Johnson on the range at Panmure Golf Club ( just down the road from Carnoustie) on the Monday of the 2018 Open. Johnson was due to appear to represent Taylormade and showcase a new hybrid driving iron that the brand had rushed to get ready for a week on the fast-running links. Talking to the Taylormade team beforehand, it was apparent they were a little nervous. Not about whether their man would turn up or say the right things, but rather whether the range, which measured a little over 350 yards but had a public road at the end of it, would be long enough to contain DJ’S prodigious hitting given a tail wind had kicked up.
Right at the agreed time he strolled up and nodded his hellos to the assembled media and selected retailers. DJ is a man of few words and most of the talking – about how the club was spec’d for him and what sort of performance benefits he could hope to see from it – came from Keith Sbarbaro, Taylormade’s head of tour operations.
DJ then obliged by hitting a series of absolute rockets that took off and headed for the end of the range. From the numbers the Trackman was spitting out he was getting fairly close to the road. I was stood about five yards away directly behind him and trying hard, but mostly failing, to act like the editor of a golf magazine and not a fan.
About ten shots in, Johnson hit a stone-cold top. Everyone went very quiet, unsure of how to react. A lot of players would have bristled with indignation or blamed the lie, the wind or the noise of the assembled throng. DJ just raised his eyebrow and gave a wry smile to Sbarbaro. The next strike was perhaps the purest of the lot.
How DJ treated that top was very much in line with how he treated his high-profile misses at Majors in 2010 at Pebble Beach and Whistling Straits and in 2011 at Royal St George’s; he just shrugged his shoulders and got on with things. Of course, that unflappable attitude served him well at Augusta last month. His ability to focus on the only shot that matters – the next one – was a lesson to both his peers and ordinary golfers. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more Majors for Mr Johnson in the years to come.