McDowell looks to regain swing feels of old as he seeks new success
Graeme McDowell speaks to the media in Saudi Arabia
Graeme McDowell is looking to recapture the magic of the swing that made him a US Open champion so he can win a fifth Ryder Cup cap.
The Rathmore star (41) has made just five cuts since he won the Saudi International last year but he’s confident he can still make Pádraig Harrington’s side by looking to his 2010 US Open-winning swing for inspiration under new coach Lucas Wald.
“Even though I used to look at my swing ten years ago and not really like it, I did a lot of things incredibly well,” McDowell said. “I’m trying to understand those and get back to swinging the club the way I used to a little bit more.”
With world number one Dustin Johnson heading a strong field, McDowell knows he can re-ignite his Ryder Cup bid with another strong week.
“That Ryder Cup carrot is out there dangling,” he said. “This time last year when I was sitting here, it felt a long, distant kind of dream. I feel like when I won here last year, it became very achievable for me.
“Obviously time stood still from a Ryder Cup point of view and kind of we are back there again and I'm in the fringe. So I'm four or five big weeks away from potentially being on the team. It's very achievable and I've got to keep that out there as an achievable goal.”
Getting back to what he does best is also McDowell’s hope for US Ryder Cup star Patrick Reed, who was at the centre of more rules controversy at last week’s Farmers Insurance Open.
“I felt like he pretty much went about the procedure the way you're supposed to,” McDowell said of Reed, who is one of seven members of the world’s top 20 in action at Royal Greens in King Abdullah Economic City this week.
“He’s created a name for himself which attracts a huge amount of attention when he does things. I like Patrick. I think he's a good kid. I think he's a great player. I feel bad that he has created the label for himself that he has because I think he's such a talented player.
“There is no place in the game of golf for cheating. I hate the word. Did Patrick Reed cheat last week? No, I don't think he did. I don't think he knowingly did something that didn't protect the rest of the field.”
While Xander Schauffele insisted that the Texan was "protected by the Tour”, adding that “talk amongst the boys isn't great,” McDowell was forgiving of player who was cleared of all wrongdoing by rules officials.
“People have their opinions,” he said. “I'm in the camp that I didn't see a whole lot wrong with what he did last week at all. It's a tough one. I hope we can continue to talk about his golf rather than the other stuff that he's unfortunately being talked about for.”
Reed is one of the leading players in a field headed by world number one Dustin Johnson, who finished second to McDowell last year.
“Yeah, it was a nice victory at the time,” McDowell said. “I felt like I was starting to get a little bit of a head of steam up and starting to create some nice momentum and move into the right direction and obviously that momentum didn't get a chance to last very long unfortunately.
“Listen, it was great. First time here last year. Nice, windy track. Good golf course. Great facilities here. It fit my eye pretty well and like I say, it was really important to me at the time. Got me back in the Top-50 in the world and got me in Augusta and opened a lot of doors for me.
“But like I said, obviously that three-, four-month break, it broke my momentum a little bit, and I didn't respond well when we came back in the summer. But listen, nice to come back. Always nice to come back to a golf course where you have great memories. And like I say, I would love to get some of that momentum back again this week. That would be really, really awesome.
“When you come to a place with good memories, it's easy to visualise yourself being successful around a place when you've played well, and I think that's one of the big things missing for me right now is that little bit of confidence and belief in my ability to make enough birdies to score well to compete.”
He’ll be looking to improve on his putting performances Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where he finished well down the field.
“I think probably the last two weeks, if I looked at it, I was super cold on the greens in Abu Dhabi,” he said. “I played great round one and only made one birdie. Just was a combination of not quite hitting it close enough. I think I hit 17 greens in the first round and only made one birdie, but a little bit of a proximity issue and also couldn't make a putt, and then I go to Dubai last week and I'm sure, admittedly the Emirates Golf Club would say they are struggling a little bit with their surfaces. I know they are doing a redo this summer. So their surfaces weren't up to par last week, and my short game struggled as a consequence. I really couldn't see my chips responding the way I wanted to, and I just made nothing, as well.
“It's definitely been more of a cold putter the last couple weeks than anything else. I actually feel like my long game is trending in the right direction. Definitely just need to get the putter heated up a little bit, and these greens this week look fantastic. Like I said earlier, got some good memories last year making some putts, so hopefully we can get that going again.”
As for that swing that brought him so much success from 2008 to 2012 and beyond, he admitted that he was always envious of others with more classic swings.
“I always thought it looked a little kind of reverse-Y, a little kind of underneath,” he said with a grin. Kind of my arm plane looked always kind of low and short and around my body. I think, you know, you fall into the trap of, you're always trying to get better in this sport and sometimes you don't appreciate what you've got because you're looking around at some of the most beautiful swings in the world, the Rory McIlroys, Adam Scotts, Tiger Woods.
“You're thinking -- you misunderstand kind of how these guys achieve what they are achieving with the golf swing, and something I'm working on with Lucas is what we call mental representations. It's making sure that I understand the mechanics and the body movement patterns that I'm trying to achieve. Sometimes in golf, what you feel and what's actually happening are completely different things, you know. So understanding kind of the positions that I'm trying to get into and making sure that I know how to get there is something I'm working hard on.
“Like I say, looking at old swings, I used to get into my right hip so much better than I get into it right now. I'm kind of swaying off the ball and not loading my right side very well. Looking back at swing footage 2010, 2011, I used to do that, extremely well.
“My hand path routing back in 2010, 2011, yes, it was much more inside, but my hand path now is very steep. And I know that I re-route the club a little bit with my hands, and having the club a little deeper on the backswing allows me to re-route it back on path.
Understanding some things and just making sure that I understand the mechanics correctly. Like I say, it's weird, sitting here 11 years, 10.5 years after the fact looking back at a U.S. Open-winning swing, I didn't like at the time and wish I could have it back now. Hopefully, the muscle memory is in there somewhere; that I'm capable of swinging the club like that again.”
He admitted it akin to a hunt for buried treasure, adding: “I went down this path a couple years ago, actually, with Chris Como. He came to see me in Orlando and he brought some swing footage from 2010 and said, ‘You know, this guy is pretty good. Let's try and swing it like him again.’
“I don't think I was ready for this then. I don't think he really helped me understand the whys. Yeah, okay, I was pretty good; I won some tournaments with that swing. I think what Lucas has helped me with is understanding the whys of why the swing was so good and kind of comparing that to what the best in the world do; the way Dustin, his backswing, why his backswing is so good and the way he works hit right hip and the way he works his body, that type of stuff.
“I'm definitely a why person. If you tell me to do something, I need to know why I'm out there trying to do it, and then you know, I'll be motivated and understand that I want to do that.
“But yeah, I mean, I'm enjoying the process at the minute. I'm definitely understanding my mechanics better than I have in a long time. Like I say, the ball is behaving itself pretty good, and I'm pretty bullish about having a good year. I don't want to sit here and kind of sound like, you know, my game is all over the place and I'm in this massive building process, rebuilding process. No; I feel like the changes that I'm making are very playable. I don't feel like I'm a million miles away from playing well.
“I'm excited. I think I can have a good year. I feel motivated and I feel healthy and like I say, that Ryder Cup carrot is out there dangling. This time last year when I was sitting here, it felt a long, distant kind of dream. I feel like when I won here last year, it became very achievable for me.
“Obviously time stood still from a Ryder Cup point of view and kind of we are back there again and I'm in the fringe. So I'm four or five big weeks away from potentially being on the team. It's very achievable and I've got to keep that out there as an achievable goal.
“Like I say, I think I'm good enough. So, why not.”
