A Quick 18 with Pete Cowen
Pete Cowen
Pete Cowen kindly stopped to give me some time during the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Here’s our Quick 18, which should whet your appetite to hear more from the Sheffield coach on the excellent McKellar Podcast this week.
Handicap: "Never had one!”
Attachment: Peter Cowen Golf Academy, Sheffield
Coach to a host of world stars from Pádraig Harrington, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood to Danny Willett, Matt Fitzpatrick and Graeme McDowell, Pete Cowen has some frank views on the game, including his choice as the best golfer of all time.
1. How did you get started in the game?
It was on the trolly. We lived near the third green of the local golf course so I took up caddying to get money to buy football boots.
2. Was football your first love?
I wanted to play for Sheffield Wednesday. Back in '66 they were a good team and everyone wanted to play for them. We lost the FA Cup final to Everton in '66 from 2-0 up. I loved football. I was quite good too.
3 When did you pick up a club for the first time?
It was in 1967 when I was 16. I got badly injured playing football, and I was told I'd not survive in the professional game, so I decided I wanted to stay in sport and asked the bloke at the local golf club for a job.
4 You clearly weren't afraid to start at the bottom.
I started by cleaning clubs and shoes. That's how it all started. I'd never played golf, never had a handicap and never got one either.
5 When did you start actually hitting golf balls?
Six months after starting, the Yorkshire Assistants Championship’ was on at Hallamshirethere nearby. I wasn't really an assistant, I was cleaning clubs and shoes, but I thought I'd go and play. So the pro gave me three new balls and I stood on the first tee with these three new balls and they all went out of bounds right and I made a 40 footer for a ten on the first hole.
6 Never mind the ten, three new balls was a big deal back in 1967.
When I turned pro, my first contract with Uniroyal was six balls in the summer and three balls a month in the winter.
7 How did it go for you early in your career?
In that first tournament, I shot 109-100, but I finished. Then in my second tournament six months later I shot 73-77, so I was kept on for a six-month trial.
8 When did you realise you could make a living at the game?
When I was 19, I played with Gary Player in the Brazilian Open, and within a year I was playing like a scratch player. Gary Player was brilliant to me that week.
9 Did he give you good advice?
Well, I remember he bought my driver off me because I hit it 40 yards past him.
10 How much did he pay you?
I was going to give it to him for nothing. It was Gary Player, and he wanted my driver! But he insisted, and he gave me $100.
11 Who made the Pete Cowen story possible?
Nobody in the family played golf and to be honest, it was all down to hard work. The real turning point for me came when I got badly injured - slipped a disc and I was in plaster jacket from my waist to my neck for six months. They had to cut it off every three weeks and replaster it. Then they gave me a plastic jacket with straps at the front that held the back in place. I had that for another six months. I didn't play golf for two years.
12 So in the end you went down the coaching route. What was it that made you follow that path?
There was no money in playing the game. Peter Oosterhuis was the top player in Europe in my era. He won the Order of Merit four years in a row. I don't think his total earnings added up to £100,000.
13 When did the penny drop, no pun intended?
My best performance on The Open was 36th at Royal Lytham in 1979, when Seve won and I lost money on the week. That was the moment.
14 There are dozens of coaches on the range every week these days. What was it like when you started?
There weren't many around apart from John Jacobs and a man called John Stirling.
15 Did you have a hero?
I spoke to David Leadbetter a lot. I knew him as a club professional when he was at Staverton Park in Northamptonshire. Then he went to America to coach the likes of Nick Price and then Nick Faldo. He's had a great career.
16 Name your dream fourball?
Sam Snead. I played with Snead in 1980 when he was 68 and he was brilliant. So I'd pick Sam Snead in his prime, Tiger Woods in his prime and Ben Hogan in his prime. I played with Nicklaus and I played a lot with Player. But those three in their prime would be my choice.
17 Who was the best of the three?
Hogan. Because he was determined to get better. Snead had natural talent and Tiger had natural talent but Hogan had to work at it. When it comes to work ethic, it's hard to look past Hogan. Today, Pádraig Harrington is probably as good as anyone when it comes to that. He's incredible.
18 If I gave you a mulligan in your career, what would it be?
It wouldn't be one of my shots. But if I could see another shot hit again, I wish Darren Clarke could replay the shot after his shank off the third tee at Troon in The Open in 1997. Or Woosie, when he had that extra driver in the bag at Royal Lytham in 2001.
This piece first appeared in the Irish Independent’s Tee to Green golf supplement on 10 August 2017.
