Warming Up with Shane Lowry

Shane Lowry insists he could never spend all day on the range, he says — but here he spends an hour with our Dylan Dethier. Dive into this episode of ‘Warming Up’ for a conversation that’s one part golf, two parts life as Lowry goes deep on his surprising origin story, which weeks he loves most, his PGA Tour friendships, advice he offers amateurs, how he ‘hits the shots he sees’ and much more. You’ll come away armed with a swing thought and a strong desire to travel to small-town Ireland.

Enjoy!
—–
At GOLF.com, we’re here to help you live well, play well. From the Top 100 Courses in the World to the Top 100 Teachers in America, we connect you with the places and people that make golf the greatest game in the world. Our personalities provide exclusive access to Tour pros, celebrities, and golf’s colorful characters. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, visit GOLF.com, and follow us for the latest Tour news, interviews, gear reviews, and features you won’t find anywhere else.

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/golf_com
—–
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golf_com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GOLF_com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/golf
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@golf_com

so you’re you playing a lot of prams do you give advice or you just bite your tongue and sort of chuckle my favorite thing in the world to do is give someone a quick tip and then they start playing well for the rest of the program and then they think you’re an absolute hero yeah so what what’s the most common thing you tell people I always say to be honest I always say to my I ask them how much golf did they play and then they’ be like oh this is my second game this year and I’m like well I’d be [ __ ] too if I any twice a year so that’s kind of that’s what I say you’re in expectation management as somebody I say I say to them now as well I say I say to them I’m like I play golf for the best players in the world every day you’re not going to impress me today so don’t try to you know what I mean yeah so I think that’s a good piece of advice because they’re generally very nervous right you know you go out there and they might be a few people out watching and very nervous a lot of performance anxiety happen it’s it’s an intimidating place like if you put me in a I don’t know on a football field or soccer field or something and got me to try and do that in front of loads of people i’ probably you know have a little bit of anxiety right in soccer field I could kick it be great at running but [Music] from Central Ireland all the way to the Farmland of Central Connecticut Mr Shane Lowry do thanks for being here thank you uh we are not at TPC River Highlands we are down the street and we’ve found nice little uh patch of Farmland Chris Cody’s performance center and uh we’re just going to have you walk us through your warm-up Shane so thanks for being here yeah my warmup um I probably have a shorter warmup than a lot of people but you don’t like spending a ton of time on the Range I don’t spend a lot of time on the Range I generally practice on the golf course I play golf that’s so I don’t like hitting too many balls I don’t like thinking about it too much most my practice probably done on my wedges my short game and my P so uh yeah before the round in the last year or so I actually i’ I’ve added in I do now I go I do like a I have like a little wouldn’t that’s not work out it’s just something with my physio like 20 minutes that I do so I get to the course maybe an hour and a half for the round I do that and then I go to the range I always meet on my caddy on the pudding green maybe 45 minutes before the round you’re saying this like a little bit reluctantly like oh I see the physio now like did you just roll up and go the r a year ago yeah like when I was like I could Rolls Royce and no problem like a few years ago but now I’m getting older and I remember a year ago at the Players Championship was my fifth tournament a row and I that’s when it kind of you know it hit me that I’m like well I’m getting older it took me longer to get out of bed in the mornings longer to get moving so uh I do that now just so I’m more ready to go when I get to range all right so you probably haven’t done your physio routine today no not today but uh what club do you have in your hand what are you going to start I always start my 50° my gap wedge and I I do the same thing every day I do 50° 8 iron 6 iron four iron and then I hit all my longer cloes my three iron my fivewood my driver excellent all right let’s hit us a couple 50s here no pressure I literally just I’m like you can ease into things what are you what are you feeling here I I’m just trying to loosen up uh not really thinking about much other than making contact yeah um you know i’ like if if I’m on a Thursday of a tournament and I’m playing well I’d like to I don’t really have many thoughts if things are not if you’re not playing that well or not feeling that good you might have something that you’re working on but generally when things are going well I’m not really thinking about much other than you know I’ll hit some I’ll hit some like 100 yard shots with this and then I’ll hit a few full ones and I move down to my adarn and I’ll hit some different shapes Fades and draws and yeah and stuff like that just to kind of see what way I’m hitting it that day do your warmup change at all if it’s hot like it is today versus cold windy rainy anything else well if it’s raining I tend to spend less time out there I would think so uh but no not really no it’s pretty much the same every day do you guys have a lot of days like this growing up in Ireland Ireland get hot in the no no hot Day in Ireland is probably 75° okay yeah so that’s a real nice summmer day I think it’s 87 right now yeah so it’s a little bit hotter here today but there’s a bit of a breeze so it’s not bad when what was the first year that you really spent most of your time in the states like I I start started from 2015 2016 hward I started spending like four or five months a year in Florida and then I’d spend like that first half of the year and then I’d spent the second half of the year in Ireland and then and now when my kids my eldest daughter started school uh we spend all our time in Florida now really well we spend the summer in Ireland but you know the school year we spent in Florida it’s got to be an adjustment for a proud Irishman it is yeah it is yeah um but it’s great life is good down there it’s I mean great weather Great Golf we’ve been lucky we’ve met some great friends down there and you know life is pretty good down there now so yeah the kids are happy my wife’s happy and you know if they’re all happy I’m going to be happy too that’s right yeah you got to smile just saying that yeah all right hit us a couple more here and then we’ll flip down to what eight irons the next Club yeah fly lie out here huh it is a lot of wind out the right as well so I also um I’m very particular about the spot I pick on the Range to warm up are you yeah where do you like to be depending on what I’m working on um or what shot shap I’m hidden uh if I’m working on a fade I go down the right side of the range I’ve working on a draw I go the left side I never go into the middle of the range so I’m guessing this would be the opposite of what you would pick today because we got our right to left wind and we’re on the far right side of the well sometimes though um I I I get a spot and I like it like say at the US Open last week um I didn’t play great the Sunday before so I spent like a a good while on the Range on the Monday and I found a spot down the bottom corner of the range I was pretty quiet pretty nice I had some nice targets and for the whole week that’s where I warmed up they had good targets and the it’s the Cradle right it’s the uh yeah it’s that part three course yeah but they um yeah they’re good targets it was a good range it was a nice nice setup last week yeah all right so now you’ve got an eight iron are you are you gearing up a little bit more like into hitting full shots or you’re still just trying to find yeah I’m still just trying to not really I’m not really hitting it full full I’m kind of you know say 85% that’s a pretty straight you’re work are you going to work it a little bit yeah I would be so I I my my natural shot sh but the shot I like to see is a little fade so in this right to left wind I’d see myself holding it up um so try and just hit like a few little cuts into it pull that one but um has your swing changed much over the years since a good Irish am say so it has it used to be long inside and long and across the line it still gets a little across the line but not as long anymore but it hasn’t I haven’t like actively tried to change it it’s just come from playing I don’t know playing on tour and practicing and playing golf maybe getting older and stiffer I can’t swing this long anymore but well I don’t know I mean I think people still think oh Shane Lowry and they go straight to your short game like your your wedges that’s not very good in my short game the last couple years I wasn’t going to put it that way I was going to say your stats are tremendous with with an iron in your hand my iron play is probably strength in my game and that’s you know uh yeah that’s like and it has been that way for a few years now where I dve the ball pretty good pretty straight um my arm play is pretty good my short C numbers are not maybe as good as I would like them but you know it is what it is and then I always say when I go to a tournament that if if I hold a few puts I can be dangerous you know that’s kind of all that’s how I feel all the time so I used to be very draw biased and I think that’s why my arml got better like my missen it out yeah my Miss is like my Miss is almost like a wipy cut which I think like in golf you can deal with that yeah you you cannot deal with the ball going the other way especially you know on tour where the courses get firm and fast if you’re getting him going quick left at all you’re going to be in trouble whereas he can play with a big high cut like and and get get it around the golf course and I think when we’re playing on tour I think that the your good days are always going to be good but you want to make sure your bad days are better than you know what I mean than the other play the other people so if your bad guys are still good you’re going to be a good Tour player I remember Jordan spe I think would talk about that where when he was in his Peak run of form his Miss would just be short right it’s like you can live with short right and that’s why I I think that’s what like so muchat separates Scotty I think Scotty’s bad shots are so good like his bad he looks like he he misses one and like still on the green or his driver still hits the Fairway and I think that’s why he’s so good how far is it eight iron carrying say there were no wind and we were just out here no in like 170 172 that right yeah that’s pretty far yeah I be I’m I’m good I can I can get my irons going a decent distance if I need to um especially into a wind I can really flatten my ball flight and get it out there uh sometimes I struggle on really firm golf courses because I don’t spin the ball a whole lot um but um and is that something you’ve worked on with like gear choices over the years have you gotten I’ve thought about like even you know we go back to Pinehurst like the greens were so firm there I thought about maybe could I change the ball for the week and go to like a Spiner sh on ball the you know the other one the the I use the XV so would be the the Diamond but then I’m like for one week I don’t really know how far it’s gone my eight is going to be gone maybe 168 instead of 172 and I could get caught out there so I just I figured it out as the week went on but it was a little bit too late you’re having your best FedEx Cup season yet so far I think at least to this point yeah what what do you attribute that to I don’t I I don’t know like like I always say to people people ask me about this and I’m like professional golf is just full of ups and downs like and it’s like it’s a roller coaster and when things are going well you just need to ride the wave and then when things are not going well you just need to battle through it as best you can and I feel like you know over the course of your career you’re going to have good years you’re going to have bad years you’re going to have average years and you know thankfully this year so far has been pretty good like I I haven’t changed much um feel like I’m doing the same things I’m just doing you know each things a little better and then you know I got took a couple of chances like you know I got an invite to Bay Hill played well finished third there obviously one zor with Rory which was really nice some great ftic C points there and you know any chances I’ve got you I’ve kind of played well at the weekends and stuff so yeah you ready for a six iron yeah is that what you said next yes right always even clubs always evens never that’s what Brook said the same thing he just Brook Brooks is odds I just listen to his one yeah I don’t know why I you guys just have half your clubs that never get hit yeah how much time do you really spend on the Range though I guess that I was one of the things I was most interested to hear from you is like you don’t really like to practice on the Range you like to practice on the golf course is that right yeah I think if I like if I go to the range let’s say I if I spend an hour on the Range hitting balls and I feel like I’m hitting pretty good like I feel like you know what’s the point being here any longer like I I feel like I go to the course and figure out how to do it out there um you know even when I’m at home on an off week like I I practice you know most days probably every day I you I just use the range more often than off for my warm-ups um and I don’t know I I just love playing golf I I like been out there and I like you know playing again my friends or whatever and even it’s funny you talk about like my my chipping and stuff my coach always says I chip my best when there’s no chip and green at the tournament seriously yeah it’s like it’s like I almost go to Chip and green and I start just thinking about it then and you know trying to figure out how to do it or get better and you know it’s almost like I’m better when I don’t think about it yeah yeah yeah yeah well we’ll try not to make you overthink this stuff too much uh how about setup stuff you’ve got a six iron now so like where’s the ball in your stance so I actually play with the ball position like quite a bit forward um and that encourages a fade you know clob eggs EG is more left um and it’s probably the main thing that I work on with my coach is setup stuff make sure as long as my alignment posture ball position all that stuff is is pretty similar to what it is I’m going to play well and when I’m not playing well it that just gets off um you know I had a really bad weekend at Memorial uh a few weeks ago and you feel like a million miles away I spent like a couple hours under the range of my coach it was just my setup I was aiming way too far left I was getting the ball too far back so I was getting like a two-way Miss and was with with my IRS and it just kind of spooked me because my arm play have been so good all year but it’s generally something pretty straightforward when it’s the it’s like the dumbest thing it feels like the most complex Sport and what I keep hearing from you guys is like oh yeah I was just aiming left yeah but it’s true and I always say I play like loads of prams and uh you see guys coming out and their setup is so wrong but they’re working on doing something with the club back here and I’m like if you get your setup correct you’ve got a a better chance of hitting a good shot anyway you have a chance yeah all right let’s see a six iron here so the ball’s a little bit up is everything else pretty neutral yeah I would say I kind of feel like I’m behind it so the ball position forward so I feel like my head’s a little bit behind it but from here like you know I just pick my Target and the only thing I’m thinking about here today is like kind of down and left and you know that helps promot fade so wait what’s down and left so I’m trying to swing the CL down so from when I get to here the only thing I’m trying to exit the club like down and left that’s kind of that’s all I’m thinking about really let’s see it we don’t we don’t need to introduce too many intrusive thoughts to my eye that’s just a dead straight ball right yeah the wind’s out are right so it’s yeah but that would be like that was probably caught in like a fraction but yeah um that would be the the shot sh I would like to see in this wind cuz you get it going too much it doesn’t go anywhere so we had Bryson on and asked hey Bryson how how often do you play golf outside of tournaments he said never not ever he just spends his time on the Range they were all different can you imagine doing I couldn’t I couldn’t spend a full day on the Range yeah um you know people when I’ve gone through my bad stages of my career you get The Outsiders looking in going well he doesn’t practice you know what I mean but like I you know from 8 or 9:00 every morning till evening time I treat it as a job like I’m out there all day every day uh doing doing something to work on my game and um yeah I I believe what I do is the right things other people believe what they do is the right things but you know you’re it’s a very individual based sport so you have to do what’s right for you obviously that works for Bryson he’s a pretty good player seems to be doing all right but what what but if I if I didn’t spend if I spend all my time on the Range I think I’d just be thinking about it too much and when I start thinking about it that’s when it goes wrong all right let’s see another one of those perfect one yard win draws oh I got Quake from the top there so just yeah you were talking about the the perspective of you know golf is a roller coaster ride you’ve got ups and downs is that uh that’s flush is that easy to remember in the moment when you’re hitting a bad shot in the middle of a turning around no not at all I I am yeah no it’s not it’s it’s it’s hard game and I uh I go back to the memorial I the worst score in my professional career two week ago yeah 85 I shot like it’s like I was distraught after it I was heartbroken yeah uh like I I I couldn’t believe it and um I gone from shooting 68 on Saturday to 85 Sunday and you’re like you know you’re trying to figure it out in your head and it’s very hard to bring yourself back to it’s only one bad day you know I’ve had a lot more really good days this year you kind of focus in on the one bad day and you kind of need to get away from that and look I a good team of people around me I do so um my good chats with people and my coaches and all that over the the few days after and that kind of got me back um but yeah it’s it’s hard at times to yeah it’s hard I mean I I was a really bad low-level pro golfer for a couple years and getting away from the idea that you are your score is really was really difficult for me at least yeah it’s very results space isn’t it you know it’s very like you know that’s the that’s where you finish that’s the score you shoot you can’t get away from that right no matter how you feel like you’ve played or you know even there’s days where you feel like you’ve played really bad and you shoot a good score you know you might play bad on a Sunday and someone hand you a tournament and you win the tournament it kind of papers over the cracks but um yeah it is very hard to get away from that but that’s the kind of business we’re in it’s a results based business business so um at the end of the day like in a year’s time or 10 years time you know the result will be the result it won’t be anything else so yeah gosh that’s true here’s a four iron we’ll leave these odd clubs right where they are so you’re you playing a lot of prams do you give advice or you just bite your tongue and sort of chuckle I’m not very um so I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t be a good coach uh not very technically minded with the game but but I I can give like I can give like quick tips that will fix someone and my my favorite thing in the world to do is give someone a quick tip and then they start playing well for the rest of the Prime and then they think you’re an absolute hero yeah so what’s what’s the most common thing you tell people oh god um I try and fix their setup yeah and then I always say to be honest I always say to my I asked them how much golf did they play and then they be like oh this is my second game this year and I’m like well I’d be [ __ ] too if I played only twice a year so that’s kind of that’s what I say to you’re in expectation management I see sobody I say I say to them now as well I say I say to them I’m like I play golf with the best players in the world every day you’re not going to impress me today so don’t try to you know what I mean yeah so I think that’s a good piece of advice because they’re generally very nervous right you know you go out there and there might be a few people out watching and very nervous a lot of performance anxiety happen it’s it’s an intimidating place like if you put me in a I don’t know on a football field or soccer field or something and got me to try and do that in front of loads of people I I’d probably you know have a little bit of anxiety in a soccer field I could kick it be great running but all right forarm is your ball position moving at all here I’m not really thinking about it it’s just kind of feels the same it will naturally be a little bit further forward than the drift up a little bit yeah um just because a longer club and from here it’s pretty similar thoughts pull that one a bit got going on the wind but like I’m not really when I’m warming up I’m generally I’m generally just trying to hit the ball solid you know for the most part and then at the end of like when I’m finish with my sixth arm my last six arm will have to be a nice one so I won’t put it back in until I hit like a nice shot of it yeah that’s kind of before you put it away before I put it away so hopefully I haven’t screwed you up with any of these so far then or if I take my 4 iron out h with the longer clubs if I take it out and I hit one really good shot with it I’m like well I can’t can’t hit any better than that so I just put it back in work yeah do you like chatting like tournament day on the Range would will other players come by and say hi or are you more tunnel vision in your own Z no I I generally be a talker like I I talk to people and walk down the range and say hello to people and stop and there’s one of my friends there I’ll stop and watch them hit a couple and ask them how they’re doing and yeah so are there a lot of guys you’re close with on tour it wouldn’t be a lot but it’ be a few yeah a few like obviously Europeans like Rory Tommy Fleetwood Terrell um who there’s a few others like say become friendly with like Eric Van Ruan we lived in the same neighborhood so you know people like that you kind of yeah you start playing practice rounds with them and you just kind of started hanging out with them but I think that’s the part that we probably forget from the outside is like all right you and Rory that one makes sense same age same island Etc but then there’s guys that you just live down the street from that like Eric is the perfect example him and his wife Ros and my wife Wendy uh we’ve got kids similar ages and we live like 400 yards from each other so they hang out so we end up hanging out and you know because of it and then how far is this flying uh my 4arm Gos in around about two 20oo that was a proper golf shot there that was a nice hit there yeah are you feeling a little more limber as we’re yeah I’m feeling good now yeah spending some time feel like I can hit it a bit harder now 90° yeah and how long have you and Rory been close friends Ian you’ve known him for forever but were were you guys always yeah I wouldn’t say I’d say in the last 5 years we’ve only become quite close um same thing like our wives become really close like they’re like you know they’re as close as sisters and our kids similar ages they hang out a little bit so uh yeah obviously I’ve known him a long time but become really close them over the last few years and um yeah it’s like it’s it’s great because when like I play a lot of golf with them and when you’re playing against one of the best players in the world it kind of brings you or drags you towards that level um so I’ve been looking I always say I’ve been lucking with the Irish players that have been on tour since I turn proba like Harrington when as majors and GMAC and Rory and Darren Clark and when you get to hang out with those people you obviously you kind of you become to people to hang out with so uh it’s nice that’s right I remember reading your you’re the average of The Five People You spend the most time with or something like that exactly yeah yeah have you known Patty for forever yeah and uh I’ve only I met him when I turned Pro uh um but become very friendly with him yeah over the years and you know when he was out on the PJ tour fulltime and I was there like we were every day like we share houses practice rounds every day we’d have dinner every night really yeah yeah like we were yeah very close for two people who are not you know he’s was he 15 years older than me so we’re not that close in age but we we get on very well and two very different people as well but um yeah he’s great for me I missed him out on tour actually yeah I like when I have them around you know weeks of the majors the PGA the open I like back up on the champions tour guys but yeah he’s still he still is around for a bunch of those majors [Music] and my wages are I’ve Carry Three well four wages a pitching wage but uh I carry a gap wage at 51° a sand wedge is 55 and my low wedge is 59 and then my six iron to pitch and wedge is ZX7 Shon Z x7s have a bit of a combo set and my four and five are the Z x5s are just a little bit chunkier help me get up honestly they transformed my long them like they really have and then my Tre iron is the shcks on like utility ZX uh 20° pretty strong plug uh and then my driver is the zx5 Mark I 8 and 1 12° uh I’ve used that shaft for years and I just anytime to come out new driver I just get to put in all right what what do you want next three is next so I go I go and just I always you do sneak the three iron in even though it’s OD even though it’s odd this is one I can hit high and low and work it and is that your favorite Club it one of yeah yeah I like hitting it off the tea I can hit it really far off the tea like hit it really low how far um like carry it like 240 okay but if you give me a firm farewell I can get it going a long way yeah um so yeah all right let’s see one uh yeah what kind of all right what’s what’s a good aiming Point here that red pole out there yeah I would like to go to the yellow one if I the yellow one yeah what kind of shot shape do you want to hit so I’ll hit like a low fade here all right like low Holy One are you picturing like a fairway are you picturing like the number 14 out there or no I’m just trying to I’m I’m just trying to get it finishing on the yellow pole and that’s why the range can be dangerous place at times as well because you stand here like and let’s say I I stand there with a three iron and I I hit it and it misses my target by like 10 yards on the Range that doesn’t look like a good shot but on the golf course it’s a good shot when you’re playing a tournament you know what I mean yeah so um that’s why I think the range can be you can almost try to get too precise when you’re under range and it be it’s like a never ending battle then do you get down if you have a bad range session or you just know from having enough range sessions that it’s not like a direct translation from there to the course yeah I would um I I would not before I went out I I’ve been in like I’ve had some of the best warm-ups in my whole career and went out and shot 75 and I’ve been the other way I’ve hit the ball really badly and it’s almost like the other way around is when things are not feeling that great it kind of focuses you in more to go out and just try and shoot the best score you can whereas when you’re feeling great and hitting the ball well I almost feel like you get like a little complacent or something that makes sense I mean it doesn’t really make sense but it makes sense because I’ve heard enough people will say it by now do you get fired up for like the linkx golf portion of the schedule yeah I I like uh I have like my favorite weeks of practice as well so like the week for the Masters is like my favorite week of the year cuz I’m home in Florida I always spend two days at the gusta so I go up on the Monday Tuesday before mhm spend two days there I come back to my house in Florida I just practice every day in in bed early every night taking it easy I love it and then the week before the open as well I’m in Ireland and I go and I play Links Golf around Ireland I’m with my friends I love it like it’s yeah yeah getting ready for the open you know it’s just it’s just such a good I it’s just such a good Buzz getting up for the big tournaments like even you know the US Open the PGA is the same right when you when you’re on the flight on the way to those tournaments that’s that’s it like I always say that’s why we do that’s why we play golf that’s funny cuz I I would it makes sense oh you’d have favorite tour stops but you have favorite practice weeks before certain tour stops you never quite heard that and interview other weeks where you know it’s it’s quite hard to get yourself motivated to get going for a tournament this next we look we obviously play all the tournaments we play are big but it’s just easyier to motivate yourself for certain ones it’s a hard thing of the PJ tour is like you have your you’ve got your Signature Events you’ve got your Majors but then you don’t want to call the other events anything lesser they’re still like these are PJ tour events and if you’re to win one it’s it’s amazing but well and for you you have to balance then the your obligations on the DP World Tour I don’t even know if you want to call them obligations it’s like you get to go play the Irish open yeah I’ve been playing quite a few tournaments this year on uh in Europe so yeah it’s it’s a pretty big it’s a hectic schedule like this is this is nine this is my ninth tournament in 11 weeks this week with three majors and four Signature Events so that’s crazy yeah and then now because they’re Signature Events it’s almost like they’re try and get the golf course to Major standards we to start making them harder mhm and it just takes so much out you so do you like that do you like a harder golf course I do like a harder golf course but I like it in the right part of the schedule like Memorial the week before the US Open is just they’ve already they just undid that they just announced they’re not doing that anymore yeah it’s uh that’s hard and even like qu Hollow before the PGA turned out to be really hard yeah um but anyways would you ever cut this club you ever hit a cut with this yeah yeah so my normal shot would be so if I was to hit I hit it like I’ll hit like a high so I can hit this really high okay and so like go for like a high fade oh yeah that’s kind of holding off into that right left that was PR nice you like that one I I like that shot so that’s going to land at what two 240 with no wind that’s like a 235 shot okay and then I’ll hit like a low one I go cuz I’ll hit like the different shots I need to hit in the course mhm and when you’re switching from the high fade to the low one are you are you thinking about what you’re doing mechanically or you’ve just you’re just wired now to you just think low so we do it so I always say this we do it so much we do it every day it’s just becomes instinctive and you know I I’ll I’m trying to explain this to my friends as well you know guys are a good golfers and got this one friend I want name him but he doesn’t hit the ball very high and I’m just all I tried to get him to do is like look in the window look like look higher and he’ll start to think higher and naturally he’ll just do everything to try and hit it higher but he won’t listen to me I it’s a good thought cuz yeah I I would just like picture the shot in my head and then I just get in I kind of feel it and then I’ll just hit it yeah is it easy to keep that during a tournament round just to not not overthink it still like you have to keep yourself from getting the wheels turning during yeah sometimes it’s hard um I always say like I need to play tournaments uh like playing golf instead of trying to when I’m out there trying to swing the club or sorry trying to I need to try and hit the shots so instead of trying to swing the club or do what I think I should do to hit the shot I need to just go and hit the shots you know and go and play golf and you know because you go out there and you hit I don’t know however many full shots you hit a day and you hit a few chips and puts or whatever you know you’re not going to hit they’re not like there’s only a small per uh percentage them are going to be good you know what I mean so you just have to manage your way around the golf course well and I think that’s what the best players do like I go back to Scotty Sheffer I think that’s what Scotty does I think Scotty manages wear in a golf course better than anyone I’ve ever seen his bad shots you don’t really even know that they’re his bad shots yeah it’s he goes down he gets up and down for power or you know he doesn’t make many bogeys you know so he’s we were looking at the stats he makes the most birdies and the fewest bogeys that’s pretty good pretty good combo that’s kind of like yeah this is where you want to get yourself um all right then you want to turn one over for us hit like a okay all right it’s firm it’s fast pretend it’s downwind in your mind this thing’s going to go 280 I flighted draw okay a flighted draw so I’ve kind of feel like I’m starting to think about what I’m doing I Just sh my feet get my left foot a little bit get it back and then I’ll just try and feel like I’m swinging in out as opposed to down and left beauty that come out how you want it yeah that was pretty good yeah did you get satisfaction out of working the ball yeah yeah yeah I always say like I think I would have loved it back in the like golf is great now don’t get me wrong uh but like back in the old days when you know players work the ball and like Travino and these guys I love like watching all them and how they do it or did it maybe we’ll be headed that way with a spinni I don’t know yeah I don’t want to plunge you too far into the roll back debate here but I just not looking forward to playing a ghosta national with a ball that goes 10 yard short or Pinehurst or these places oh can you imagine some of those Pinehurst scens that you just played with two more clubs or something yeah no into like 15 hidden five iron instead of seven IR yeah yeah all right hit us one more and then we’ll uh then we’ll hand you a wood God that’s smoked that’s a good FL uh what’s this right here so that’s a fivewood I don’t carry a tree wood anymore no and well you hit and you hit this pretty far too so yeah I I’m I’m in I’m in the middle of trying to get like a new Forwood but everyone I keep getting built is it goes too far um nice problem to have which is yeah but it’s I need something that I can carry like 255 260 okay um which this I can carry like two early 250s but I I like it and I know what it does so um yeah at the start of the year I looked at my wedge stats from like 75 to 125 I wasn’t very good it’s like right I need to get better what can I do so I added like a middle wedge so I used to just have a 50 and a 58 yeah and now I have a 50 54 and 58 it’s actually 51 55 59 really1 55 59 you don’t see those a lot so like I make sure my L wedge I only hit like 90 yards I won’t hit any further than that I I can hit it 100 yards you try to juice it I can hit it 100 yards if I want um and then my 54 I hit like 112 and then that I hit like 125 128 Beauty all right then this is going 250 to 2 this is like 250 yeah oh not hit like that it’s not that was a bit uh spinny we’re still warming up that’s the whole point do you have a favorite golf course in the world um my favorite tournaments are probably like like I love the Masters but I think that’s a bit everyone might say that Hilton Head is one of my favorite tournaments interesting um so that’s a good stretch for you then the Masters Hilton Head back to back I haven’t played well at Hilton Head last couple years but before that I’ve played pretty well around there I’ve had a couple of chances to win and stuff um then I love wentward is like my favorite tournament in Europe um like my favorite golf course in Ireland uh you know down Southwest of Ireland TR all these places there’s a there’s a new course down there that I just joined called hugs head which is in Waterville oh yeah so they’ve got two unbelievable courses down there now um so that’s where I’ll hang out the week before the open be nice uh all right what shot shape are you hitting here um tell me after the shot also a little fade but it won’t be like really be straightish I mean yeah that was straightish with a little fade so is it just a distance thing when you’re making the decision okay am I going to hit three iron or five wood what what go like off the I’ll I’ll very rarely hit this off the te okay unless I need really need to um like the reason I don’t carry a tree with anymore is like if I need to hit a if I need to hit a fair I actually prefer hitting driver I’ll hit like a low drive or you know take a little bit off a driver right rather I prefer to do that rather than hit a rewood and then I’m you know in my head I’m like do I really need to be going for power fives where I have 280 into a green with a three-wood you know I don’t need to do that I can miss in the right spot you know with a five wood or lay up and have a wedge so I felt like I got more benefit I putting an extra wedge in than having that Freewood which goes higher the uh three iron or the fivewood all the fivewood yeah yeah all right yeah so if the greens are firm if I need to hit one into a power five do go go land soft yeah to that one a bit that was smoked yeah I just turned it over a bit but it was a nice shot uh let’s see all right hit us one more of those and I’ll hand you driver it’s interesting because I feel like growing up that that was still the logic was oh no you know driver is such an aggressive Club you wouldn’t want to hit that too much yeah but turns out it’s the biggest one and maybe the it’s the most it’s the most forgiven and I think that’s I think if you look at this way the game is played now on tour where people uh people just hit driver everywhere now how do you see yourself when in in in the hierarchy of you know guys that hit it super far uh like bombers verse short hitters you hit it pretty good I’m like I’m like below the bombers and above the shorter hitters yeah so I’m like in between but you’re prob you you’re above average in terms of length right I would say so I’m like uh I I’m like I’m like 176 mph ball speed yeah 75 mid mid 170s has that gone up have you worked on speed training in the yeah I I I do a little bit my trainer um and just over the years with uh just over the years with you know working out and getting stronger I feel like I’ve definitely got strong over the last few years uh that I have just you know hit the ball further I think we hit it harder now than maybe PE you know you’re more aggressive than you were 10 years ago as well and I think that’s why people and also the golf courses are just longer so you have to yeah I mean you stand up with like courses like qu Hol you have no choice but to stand there and hit the driver as hard as you can right um so yeah all right you’re standing up on a on a t box here are you thinking oh I love to hit a little draw with this or does depend on the whole it depend yeah so it’s the shot I see so I’ll um I’ll play you know I’ll play the course obviously play practice and I’ll see what shot I want to hit down there and uh like I’ll visualize whatever shot I see I’ll go for so I play the game the way I see it like if I can talk you through like the t-sh shots I hit around the gusta I hit the same t- shots like like say down the first M I hit like a low cut down the second I hit a high draw third I always was lay up five I hit like a low cut seven I hit a low cut eight I hit a low cut nine I hit a really high one I try and hit as high as I can down there 10 I hit a high draw 11 I hit it high down there 13 I try and draw one obviously and then 15 I go for like a really low cut 14 I try and turn it a little bit as well so I kind of have does it ever change or have those like it hasn’t changed and do you think that’s what the golf course is asking of you or that’s just how it trans to your brain see that’s just how I see it cuz some of those like 10 obviously you’re going to hit a draw yeah but like even like like the reason I go for a really high one down nine that’s what I was going to ask it’s funny right it’s funny that I played with tiger for three rounds in 2020 and I learned like so much from him that you’re just like like he hits if you watch him down nine all the time he hits a big high one because there’s a tree down the left that overhangs and if you pull it a little bit with like a mid height it catches the tree but if you hit it high it’ll carry over the tree so little things like that actually make a big difference what else did you learn from Tiger um like when you watch him play a gusta like he just doesn’t I mean obviously he he doesn’t win it every year but when he plays a good like I remember the first day I played with him he shot 4 under and I was like he didn’t even play that good but he just like you know up the fifth hole he would never hit in that bunker on the left you know he’d always make sure he hits it like his second shot on 15 you know he hits a kind of long right of green where is the best leave he just leave he leaves himself in the best positions and I think austa is nearly about that it’s about playing away from the trouble a little bit and been kind of playing a game of chess around there it’s funny I think people have this vision of him as like the most aggressive golfer ever and there’s parts of him that are actually quite conservative in his approaches to yeah like and the the third Hol go like I always lay up on the third but I hit like a three iron low uh get it up like there’s bunkers there but he like hits a five AR off te so he doesn’t even take the bunkers into play but he can do that because he’s as good with a nine Aron as most people are with a sandwich so all right what what what hole do you want to te off on here number one at Augusta isot what that is that a nervy t- shot it always is because the first hole of the Masters yeah um and you always want to hit a good one up there and and the first hole actually plays deceptively hard you know it doesn’t look that hard but it does the second shot the Green’s a bit funny and stuff so um I go for like a low kind of drill fade one up here finishing just right at that yellow Pole I pulled that a bit smoked it though huh yeah I hit it pretty good did you hold the Fairway would that hold the Fairway yeah yeah that was like beauty that was what that would maybe about 8 yards left to my target well that’s yeah and that’s kind of what you’re were saying is like out here oh you missed the target technically by a few yards but actually but on on the golf course that’s actually a really nice drive so I vary my shots a lot like I play I feel like I play golf you know a lot a lot of modern players they play golf I’m not saying they’re onedimensional but you know that’s the way to play the game you know to hit like stand up and hit the same drive all the time back to Bryson yeah he likes that same kind of high draw and he he wants to perfect that one golf shot yeah whereas I feel like I tried to hit them all you know what I mean all right so I want to see a couple I mean what should we should we go number two then at Augusta now you’re going to turn it over a little bit Yeah so I lay him down right here and try and one over and hit it like a kind of quite aggressive swing on this quite high and smoked it yeah I hit it pretty good probably just put D would probably be in the bunker just hung it out a little just H it out a little bit but was a nice it’s so are you aiming at that bunker and then trying to turn it off try to turn the left of it yeah and then that kind of forces your decision of oh can you go for it yeah if I hit it in that bunker I can lay up and I’ve got got a wedge in it’s not too bad yeah are you doing this in your warm-up session like are you visualizing the golf course no no no [Music] um because I I don’t do that because sometimes I’m under the range I struggle to see different shots I’ll vary my targets you know like I might stand here and hit one well way right or stand there and hit one towards that house on the left so like I’ll vary my targets to what I’m doing all right let’s yeah let’s pick a different uh I mean there’s that yellow checkered flag over there see that one yeah I’m not going to hit it too far out there no so if I I’ll give you an example yeah please so if I’m if you’re trying to get me to hit a that checker flag like instantly I just see a draw up there you know what I mean I but if you’re trying to get me to hit it at the last flag on the right there I see a fade yeah and then you just think fade yeah and you do it yeah people laugh at me when so yeah this this this one here roasted that’s nice see if you come down on the hood of that car that’s that was pretty nice you take those yeah is there anyone that you like warming up next to so did you ever think about that never know how about play actually if there’s some players won’t name any names can get like quite talkative under range I don’t like that definitely B all means name names I like just been in my own kind of yeah like I said earlier I talk to people but I won’t you know you like a driveby more than yeah a drive by yeah yeah yeah some people will talk you through their whole warm up if someone was doing what I’m doing right now before your tournament you probably wouldn’t be crazy about it no or else you know like they each their own but then if their coaches with them and they’re working on something and you’re listening to what they’re working on it’s kind of it’s quite button you know cuz you you will you have headphones in no never no no you’re old school yeah like even like you know um you’re not going to have headphones in the golf course even like alignment sticks you’re not going to have alignment sticks in the golf course yes I’ll use them briefly to try and to make sure I’m you know if I’m feeling a little bit off to make sure my alignment is good or whatever but you don’t get to use them on a golf course you you know sometimes you just have to play with what you have really 18 at austa what are you hitting 18 so I always try and hit just like a a high kind of solid drive you know at the right edge of the bunkers and it nearly moves like a little left right but just it’s very neutral okay sort of shape on it like just falling a little bit right and let pull that one you’re in the bun in yeah well that will be in the if you’re lucky that would be in the bunkers that might be in the left of those is that shoot as narrow as it looks it is yeah it’s narrow but it’s I mean I I I’ve never had the privilege of stand there with a one shot lead of the Masters I’d imagine it gets narrower if you’re in that position but I’d say uh it’s it’s not like ridiculously narrow but it is narrow yeah um and then if you will you hit like the same shot a bunch of times in a row on the Range or does every ball different I’ll hit the same shot sometimes and then I’ll finish with like maybe the drive I have off the first all right so I know like what shot I need to hit off the first and I’ll finish with that one so right now do you want to visualize number one at The Travelers Championship yeah that’s that’s like downhill I’ll probably hit like a little low fade off that te okay do you Tee It Up any differently if you’re going to hit it low or you just make the adjustments with your yeah I I know I I similar height if I want to hit a real high one I’ll hit up higher but very similar height like T is mid height um I feel if I if I’m trying to hit a low one and I te it down too low I kind of get over the top you know I mean and try and get down after it so um I actually think it’s an easier to hit a low drive from a high te interesting you cover it a little bit better and sometimes then like my drive won’t even it won’t be 100% it’ll be like an 80% shot kind of that’s got to be perfect that was pretty good yeah it’s moved under the into it but yeah how do you figure that a guy from a small town like you ended up being one of the best golfers in the world no idea I honestly I count my lucky stars like most says what was your X Factor you work harder you’re more talented you’re more athletic you’re I think my uh I think my competitiveness I think if you talk to anyone that knows me they’ll say like I don’t I want to win everything I ever do like uh so I I think my ultra competitive I think I got that from my dad’s side he was a decent Sportsman yeah uh and um you know over the years I’ve built up everything else I feel like my work EIC is very good now uh when I was at the start maybe I didn’t know how to work work hard or you know apply myself well and I honestly feel like moving to Jupiter showed me what I need to do you know he I go down to the range at the bearub The Grove remember like two of the most amazing places to be a member and like you know rarely do you get to the range and Rory or Justin Thomas or MAF Patrick these guys will be won’t be under range you know what I mean so um if these guys are doing it they’re are the best you know you kind of figure that you have to do it as well so do you pick those guys’ brains do you ask questions about oh how do you do this or how do you do that or not really no I wouldn’t no no one other than Rory really um and even at that like I feel like everyone’s different like I couldn’t work the way mafis Patrick does and I’m sure he couldn’t do it the way I do it um F50 SP more time writing notes than he does hitting shots yeah but he’s always at the range of the Grove and he’s setting up drills he’s always doing drills I think drills are great I think that’s a great way of practice them G like games games yeah so like you know uh testing yourself against and that’s what I do in my wedges like I I have like a 75 a 50 to 75 and a 7 to 125 game that I do and I send my results to my coach and he just keeps tracking them that’s fantastic and his driver the last Club you’d hit on the Range no I always go back actually and I hit about three sand wedges 54s and then I hit a couple of 58s all right let’s let’s uh Let’s do let’s do one of each to finish here okay you have a childhood Nemesis someone that was like a Ireland uh junior golf rival or anything no I don’t think so I guess you were were you a bit of a late bloomer I was yeah so I um like I got on the I got on the Irish Junior Team say under 18s I didn’t even get on the team I got in a squad was like a squad of 14 people This was um when I was 17 and the only reason I got on it was because Rory pulled off it because he didn’t want to play junior golf he just wanted to play men’s golf no kidding and then the following year then when I turned 18 that’s when I kind of I won a couple of Junior events and then the following year after that I started winning the men amateur tournaments back home and um from there on I was like you know I was pretty good I was making all the teams and I was doing well and I was winning tournaments so but up to that I mean when did you know that you were going to be a full-time professional gol I was naive when I was 16 I thought I’m going to be a professional golfer always but I was like a four handicap I wasn’t very good so um I was naive and maybe that was a good thing maybe it just wow you just inspired a whole Legion of four handicaps to Greatness here yeah so but the one thing I do I would say about it is when I was younger when I was like age when I started playing the game when I was like properly started playing the game when I was 12 or 13 to the age I was 15 it’s all I did I I played other sports but any chance I get was on a golf course on my own playing golf um that’s all I wanted to do was play golf I just love the game yeah was there pressure from people around you to to play golf and to be great at it no my dad didn’t even know partly what golf was like when I wanted to join the local golf like what do you want to join in the golf course for why would you want to do that it’s a pretty good decision now like but um but yeah I uh yeah I I just love the game like I just love playing the game and I still do I love competing at it what are you going to do with this shot I’ll just hit like a full this be like a 110 yard shot sort of at that flag that’s nice high soft one yeah people uh I think have this image of you like that after each tournament round you’d go have a few Guinness in the in the clubhouse bar and celebrate the way you did after port Rush how accurate is that to to your day-to-day week- to week life I wouldn’t say it’s very accurate at all but I let people think what they think I’m like I’m pretty easy going I I do love having a good time with my friends when I get the chance but you don’t get that much of a chance anymore married with two kids now and you know D up most of my time but one of one of my favorite things to do in the evening is sit down and have a Diet Coke right yeah yeah people think I I love uh people think I love drinking so much but I love don’t get me wrong I like having a drink but uh sitting back having a Diet Coke I’m pretty happy man Peace Quiet cold in the evenings and a coffee in the mornings and I’m pretty happy that’s a great way to leave it all right let’s hit a perfect shot to end here if you do win though what’s your what is your drink of choice uh so I drink um I love red wine but I drink there’s a Irish cider called magners oh yeah wait I was asking uh Steven Sweeney I was ask what what I should ask and he he said I need to ask what your favorite between two Irish cers what’s the other one now I’ve gone and screwed up your mag bulmer it’s called bulmer back home yeah um what do you like about it just the refreshingness of a it’s almost like a soft drink all right maybe I’ll maybe I’ll go find one of those Shane thanks so much for hanging out with us cheers now you’re all warmed yeah ready to go she hit it all right too I think so huh proper warmup session yeah uh played the Dual in pitchon putt have you played there funny story about that remember we there for that br oh yeah yeah that wasn’t doing that was oh wasn’t that this Kinder there’s a pitch and P actually the Irish open was on the hinch in 2019 so two two weeks before wind the open and we got kicked out at the pige and put one night cuz we drove down our house was really close and it was like 9:00 at night and the weather was really nice and but it was closed so we just jumped the gate and we didn’t play next thing the owner was like honestly he was like not far off yeah he went bananas oh no he didn’t know it was me no no um but we were going to drop in the money the next day like we weren’t trying to play it for nothing but yeah it’s funny