The upside down nature of the world can be found in where Graeme McDowell finds himself these days, exploring how to reinvent his golf game so that he can get his nearly 42-year-old body to perform. It’s not about retracing steps to past glories, it is about looking forward anew.
McDowell was due to act as tournament host at Mount Juliet a year ago. Of course, that never happened; a tournament was eventually played at Galgorm Castle in the September without crowds, and without McDowell. He’s back, and happy to be, for this latest edition of the Irish Open but, for a player who has suffered six missed cuts in his last eight tournaments, the priorities have changed. His recent addition as a Ryder Cup vice-captain rather than ambitions to play providing evidence of that change.
“The last couple months has been about trying to reset, reflect on where I’m at, the mistakes I’ve been making the last 12 months and realising that 25, 30 years into a golf career, I’m not really going to be changing my pattern much at this point, and I need to do the things that I do. My basics need to be done better. Just do the small things better. That’s been starting to turn the corner the last five, six weeks.
“But then it’s just the mental side of the game that’s just not there. My confidence is low. My expectation levels are high, so really I’m, trying to adjust that. At this point, I really should be out here playing golf tournaments, enjoying myself, everything else is gravy from here. If I wasn’t to hit another shot here, it’s been a great run. It’s been a great career.
“But I’m not ready to walk away. I’ve got things that I want to achieve, and it’s about kind of just refocusing on what does success look like for me now. It’s different from what it looked like 10 years ago and just making sure that I do a better job and give myself the ability to go on the golf course, relax, enjoy, the old cliché, get out of my own way.
“That’s kind of where I’m at right now. The game is probably closer than it looks on paper. I’m just not really putting numbers on the board, but I don’t really feel like I’m miles away.”
McDowell was eyeing a fifth appearance in the Ryder Cup when things first ground to a halt in March 2020. At the time, he’d won the Saudi International earlier in the season and was 51st in the world rankings. Now, he’s 151st.
A return to playing on the European Tour longterm might be a possible fix but, with young children, it isn’t a viable option.
“I’m in a little bit of a quandary right now where I need to find that right balance. So hopefully weeks like this week and next week (at the Scottish Open), I can start finding that little bit of feel and confidence that I need. That’s the little bit that’s just missing right now with my game, is that little bit of confidence.”
