Golf is a sport where you talk. If you arrange to have a meeting with someone, you get a half-hour slot. But if you meet them on the golf course, you can have breakfast, play golf, get some lunch, etc, so it’s a whole different thing.
People want to come to places like Wentworth and other famous golf clubs to walk in the footsteps of Seve Ballesteros, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, the greats. And you don’t have to be a great golfer to do that.
Sportspeople who retire from rugby, cricket, football — the ones who think they still have something to offer the corporate world — have to turn to golf. Clients want to meet them, so they invest in golf days. You couldn’t meet Lawrence Dallaglio on the rugby pitch, but you can do it on the golf course.
Golf transcends every age. Modern equipment, like the big titanium drivers, graphite shafts, the buggies and power caddies, means that people can now play golf into old age. The greatest example is Tom Watson at last year’s Open, when he came second at almost 60 and with a hip replacement. We could never have done that before.
Anyone could play golf against Tiger Woods or Greg Norman and have a chance of winning, because of the handicap system. You couldn’t do that with Federer in tennis. He could give you a two set start and still win easy.
The Ryder Cup isn’t really a team game. As a captain you’re quite happy for the players to play as they do individually. The only team aspect is when you practise and you have to keep a happy team room, so there are no egos conflicting.
The captaincy of the Ryder Cup starts about a year before the tournament — speaking to your players, knowing what they like, what they dislike, who they wouldn’t like to play with, but doing it
in a subtle way.
Identifying your star players and getting their input is vital. In my day there were players who were obviously going to be on the team. You garner their support and draw knowledge out of them, and get them to help prepare the more inexperienced team members.
I was very relaxed off the course. I didn’t care if they smoked, if they had beer or glasses of wine — they had to do what was best for their game. I was confident they would prepare themselves for the Ryder Cup in the same way they would for their own individual events. They could have whatever they wanted as long as it made them feel comfortable.
It’s been good for the Ryder Cup that America won last time, and I never thought I would say that, but it shows how important the Ryder Cup is for the US. So we’ll have to win it back this time. I’ve got very high hopes for this year.
For information on Wentworth, visit wentworthclub.com.
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