- 2 weeks ago
In this video, 2022 US Open Champion Matt Fitpatrick plays a hole with Joe The Pro Ferguson caddying for him to unpack exactly how he goes about playing golf at the highest level to see what amateur golfers can learn from his strategic approach!
Matt Fitzpatrick explains how he plays golf, from the tee to the green, what he's thinking over the ball and what he writes in his yardage book.
Matt Fitzpatrick explains how he plays golf, from the tee to the green, what he's thinking over the ball and what he writes in his yardage book.
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00:00Today we are going to get in the minds of a major champion. I've got Matt Fitzpatrick here. Hello, Matt.
00:06How are you?
00:06Very well, thank you. I don't know how well I'm going to be in a minute once I've lugged this bag up here,
00:10but we're going to see how you play your golf and how you strategize your way around your golf course.
00:14So today I'm going to be your new, improved, taller, better-looking Billy Foster.
00:18That's what you told me off camera anyway.
00:20So talk me through this hole here and your approach.
00:23What the type of thing Billy would be saying to you and what you do to prepare for a hole like this?
00:27Yeah, so obviously this hole, pretty straightforward.
00:30The bunkers there, I think you told me earlier, were 3.15, so I'm not reaching that today.
00:35But yeah, we look at this hole and think, okay, well, where do we want to hit it?
00:39The bunkers obviously trouble here. We don't want to run out of that.
00:42So yeah, we'd hit it short of that and then play from there.
00:45So how much of your strategy is predetermined from your practice rounds
00:50or even in the morning before you play when you get the pin sheets
00:53and when you figure out the wind?
00:55Are you making your strategy then and sticking to it out on the golf course
00:58or have you got like a flexible plan plan?
01:00Yeah, I mean, obviously we've got a flexible plan.
01:02You think you've always got to stay that way.
01:03But, you know, we make our plan Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
01:06particularly if it's a golf course we've not seen before.
01:08We'll go through the holes as we play them in practice rounds
01:11and we'll decide on, you know, what we're going to do.
01:13Is it a hybrid here? Is it a four-iron? Is it a driver?
01:16Do we take out the bunker or not?
01:17It's, you know, there's a lot that goes into it.
01:20So from there we'll decide on what we do the night before.
01:24Obviously from then it depends on tournament situation
01:26as to whether you change it or not.
01:28So you might change that strategy tournament round
01:30depending on if you're chasing a lead.
01:32Need a birdie, you know, need to be play conservative,
01:35just get it in the house, whatever it may be.
01:37So it is pretty flexible.
01:38Right, boss.
01:39So I'm going to be caddying for you.
01:40I'm lugging this monstrosity of a bag.
01:42It's huge and heavy.
01:44We've got 316 to that bunker on the right.
01:45You told me we're not going to go in it with drivers.
01:47Obviously you're happy with driver?
01:48Yeah, if you say so, you're caddying.
01:50You need to tell me.
01:51No, I'm happy with driver.
01:52Let's go with it.
01:54So, crikey, that's heavy.
01:58Once you've teed up, tell me the process you're going through.
02:01How do you aim?
02:02Are you someone who picks out a spot in front of the ball?
02:04No, I just, you know, know where I'm going.
02:07That's my target and kind of go from there really.
02:10Obviously done a lot of practice before with alignment sticks
02:13to make sure your alignment's good.
02:14Yeah, and then you just obviously, you know, bank on your practice.
02:19I can see you're keen to get going here.
02:20One more.
02:20Are you someone who shapes the ball with the shape of a hole
02:22or against the wind or do you have your stock shot and go with it?
02:25Stock.
02:25Yeah, stock.
02:26Stock draw off the tee.
02:28So that's what I'll do regardless.
02:31Occasionally if the hole forces a shape,
02:34then obviously I'll have to do that.
02:36And so then I'm happy doing,
02:38but it's just easier to, you know, to stick with what's stock.
02:41Come on then, boss.
02:42Stock driver straight out of that marketplace, please.
02:53I like it.
02:54Up the right half.
02:55We're in good shape.
02:57This is going to be easy.
02:59I think it just rolled in that bunker.
03:01Don't you worry about that, man.
03:02It's not.
03:02This is going to be easy.
03:03Right, so we're off and away, boss.
03:06That was a great tee shot.
03:07I'm happy with that.
03:08I think this is going to be easy.
03:09Now we're walking.
03:11You do an awful lot of walking.
03:12So talk to me about the role of the golf shoe for you,
03:15how important that is,
03:16and what you like about these Skechers Go Golf blade shoes.
03:20Yeah, the thing, the biggest thing for me with the blade is it's comfort.
03:24But, you know, like I say, play 28 weeks a year, four rounds ideally,
03:31Thursday to Sunday, practice rounds Monday to Wednesday.
03:34You're always on your feet, you know, whether it's playing golf,
03:36whether it's in the gym.
03:38And, you know, these golf shoes just make a hell of a difference
03:41over the course of a year.
03:42And, you know, I've not had any soreness in my feet
03:45since I've moved with Skechers, which is obviously a huge deal.
03:48And that's like one of the biggest things as to why I moved over
03:53to Skechers in the first place.
03:54And, you know, these shoes are excellent.
03:56Right.
03:57So we are approaching that second shot after that wonderful tee shot.
04:01And I've got the club yardage book here, but I've seen on tour,
04:04your yardage books are a lot more detailed.
04:06And you're somebody who does an awful lot of writing in them, aren't you?
04:09So when I see you at the end of the hole and you've finished out
04:11and you start writing stuff down in your planner, what are you writing?
04:16Bit of everything.
04:17You know, what my target is, what club, where the wind is,
04:20how the ball's lying below my feet, above my feet,
04:23where the pin is, all sorts of things.
04:27I'll fire on that.
04:28So you're writing about a specific shot you've hit,
04:31if that ball was above your feet, below your feet,
04:33because you want to know what that did to the yardage?
04:36Well, it could be what it did to the yardage or whether,
04:38oh, there's a common theme here.
04:40You know, you're losing strokes with your seven iron,
04:43but actually every shot that you've lost strokes,
04:45the ball's been below your feet.
04:47Right, okay, well, I need to practice below my feet.
04:49Because if you think about when you're playing golf,
04:51the ground you're walking on now,
04:53how many golf shots do you hit where it's perfectly flat every time?
04:56The answer is probably 10%.
04:58You know, so why are you practicing on lies that are flat all the time?
05:04So when you get home, you've written all that information down.
05:07How are you extrapolating that or where are you putting that
05:09to make it useful for you?
05:11I have, yeah, I have a team of people.
05:15So my sponsor, Prativity, and Eduardo Molinari with Arcos Golf,
05:22you know, we sort of work together to sort of get all that information,
05:27put it together and, you know, give us the feedback that we need
05:30to, in order to improve.
05:33Perfect. Well, that's interesting.
05:34Let's go and stiff this second shot, shall we?
05:37Right, Matt, we've arrived at the ball.
05:38You've already given me my first tailing off
05:40for this running out into the semi.
05:42But little did you know, I think we've got a back pin,
05:44so I was trying to take a spin off there.
05:45Interesting, interesting.
05:46So what's the first thing you do when you get to the golf ball
05:49for a second shot?
05:50What's the first thing you look at?
05:51First thing is get a yardage, you know, get a yardage to the front
05:54and then obviously get a yardage to the pin so you know where it is.
05:56From there, you look at your book, tour books have got a lot of detail
06:00about the green, so whether there's slope short, long,
06:03obviously bunker right, left, hazard, whatever it may be.
06:06So then once you look at that, you go, okay, I've got, in this case,
06:10we've got 188, 188, we want to land it because we know it's releasing
06:15six yards, we don't want to land it 182.
06:19And from there, it's 182 is playing what?
06:22Yeah, so we've got a bit of downwind.
06:24Yeah, we might have five yards downwind, all of a sudden that's 177.
06:28Maybe it's a bit colder or a bit warmer.
06:31In this case, it's a bit cooler.
06:32So it's probably playing 170, probably back to 180.
06:36There you go.
06:37Watch 180 club, 7 iron.
06:39Okay, and when do you factor in lie?
06:41Have you thought about that already?
06:42Have you subconsciously already come up and seen that?
06:44I mean, in this case, semi, it makes a negligible difference.
06:48Obviously, if the fairway, it's not going to make a difference.
06:50Obviously, if it's in the rough, you're thinking something that might be
06:53a bit heavier, take more club, or you could be a flyer, drier rough,
06:56then obviously, you've got to think about that.
06:58Okay, one thing I've seen a lot of pros do is mark off certain areas
07:01on the planner where you just simply can't miss it to certain pins.
07:04Is that something you'd look at now?
07:06You'd look at this pin and you'd have something marked on you
07:08and you'd go, and just at the back of your mind,
07:09you'd be thinking, we're veering slightly one side.
07:11Same deal.
07:13You know, for example, if there's a water hazard at the screen,
07:15you know, you aim further left away from the pin.
07:18If there's a bunker and it's an easy up and down,
07:20then you can go a little bit more aggressive.
07:22So, obviously, you've done your homework in the practice rounds
07:24and then you can take that into account.
07:26I'm a great caddy.
07:27Of course, I've done my homework.
07:28What do we say, boss?
07:28Seven iron?
07:29Seven iron.
07:30Wrong one.
07:31That's got a passive grip on it, mate.
07:32That's illegal.
07:33Right, that's got a passive grip on it.
07:34We'll do this one instead.
07:36That's the luck.
07:37Talk me through your pre-shot routine
07:38as you're going with it as well.
07:40Two practice swings, normally.
07:44And then, yeah, away I go.
07:47Cool.
07:47You're going to need to move a hair right, sir.
07:55Cameras aren't normally that close.
08:05Right, we're going on the side of safety here, boss.
08:07I think I said it's the left edge of the green.
08:09But we can work it out from there.
08:13Right, so we've hit that second shot.
08:14I think we've missed a little bit left of target, maybe.
08:17You can blame me for that one
08:18because I think I gave you the wrong line there.
08:20As we're walking up,
08:21are you starting to think about what might lay ahead?
08:25Are you looking at slopes?
08:26Are you already getting a picture?
08:27No, no, not really.
08:28I mean, it's more like where's my ball?
08:31How close is it before making a decision?
08:34I feel like I get my best reads when I'm fully focused
08:37and behind the ball, obviously.
08:39You know, there's no point thinking about it now.
08:40I can't make a decision
08:41or certainly can't make a good decision
08:43from 50 yards away.
08:46So for me, it's just kind of,
08:48particularly if I'm on the green,
08:49if I'm off the green,
08:50you're obviously looking at the contours for the chip
08:52and what that might, you know,
08:53what you might be left with.
08:55Right, Matt, I've put you in a bad place here.
08:57I'm sorry.
08:57We've got hump.
08:58We've got downhill chip.
08:59What are you thinking?
09:01Yeah, this is short side.
09:03So that's a severe penalty in itself.
09:05And it's not a penalty for the caddy, is it?
09:08At this point, they're hitting hope.
09:09It's a fine, yeah.
09:14Oh, he's absolutely played one.
09:18He's got me out of jail.
09:20And we are in there about six inches.
09:22Boss, that was an easy putt.
09:24We don't need a putt.
09:25Good caddy in.
09:25Thanks, Matt.
09:26Well done, knockoff Billy.
09:30Well, that was a phenomenal cross-handed chip.
09:32Talking through why you've gone cross-handed
09:34and what you think the benefits are.
09:36Just consistency.
09:37I feel like I know what's coming every time
09:39and that's been the biggest thing for me.
09:42That's the key thing in chipping.
09:43You know what's coming each time you hit your chip
09:45and then you can predict what the outcome's going to be.
09:48So, yeah, it's been really helpful.
09:49A bit unorthodox.
09:50Were you nervous the first time you put it out in competition or not?
09:52No, no, no, no.
09:54I've been doing it as a training drill for a long time
09:57and obviously to take it into competition,
10:00it took a few more reps beforehand.
10:02But, yeah, I'm used to it now.
10:05Great stuff.
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