Tips and tuition
If you had one tip to give a 20 handicap golfer, what would it be?
"Check that your left hand is placed properly on the club. A good grip is one of the fundamentals required to be able to swing the club correctly."
What’s the best advice you’ve been given by anyone on tour, and by whom?
"The great Seve Ballesteros showed me how to play a greenside bunker shot when the ball lies on the up-slope of the bunker near the lip. It is all in the setup; set your hips and shoulders parallel to the slope."
What’s your last thought before you hit a driver?
"I am generally always target-orientated, concentrating on where I want the ball to land. Sometimes, when I want to shape the drive, I visualise the start direction of the ball flight and see it fall to the left or right depending on draw or fade. If I want to hit a big one I sometimes concentrate on a slow and wide take-away, giving myself time to build up the power."
Favourites
Favourite course and why?
"Wild Coast Sun in South Africa. It is a great designed coastal golf course built into the rugged south coast terrain with great views of the Indian Ocean. The wind, which generally picks up after noon, is a huge factor, blowing from different directions, which makes the course play differently every time. I love the different strategies you need to apply to get it around safely."
Favourite hole and why?
"Hole 13 at Wild Coast. It's a par three over a ravine that sometimes displays a waterfall. Depending on the wind it can be an eight iron or four iron, to a shallow wide green which makes correct club selection paramount."
Favourite club in the bag?
"Lob wedge."
What is your favourite Ryder Cup moment?
"My favourite Ryder Cup day was when Europe came from behind on the final day to beat the USA in 2012 at Medinah - fantastic Ian Poulter and Kaymer's putt to win."
What has been your favourite tournament to compete in over your career?
"The Senior Majors."
Who would make up your dream fourball?
"Unfortunately all passed away – Seve Ballesteros, Robin Williams and Nelson Mandela. Among the active Senior golfers it would be Tony Johnstone, Sam Torrance and Des Smyth."
Personal highlights
If you had to pick the greatest shot from your career, when and where would it have been?
"I holed out a seven iron on the 15th at Woburn Golf Club in the final round of the Travis Perkins Masters 2014, to finish second behind Colin Montgomerie."
When was your first hole-in-one (as a pro or amateur)?
"I was 11 years old, on holiday in Durban, playing with my father on a public golf course."
What and where was your first professional pay cheque?
"I can’t remember but it was probably my first year on the Sunshine Tour in SA. I remember my first sponsorship cheque from Diners Club Switzerland in 1990, 10,000 Swiss Francs (framed in my office at home)."
Memories from the Tour
What’s the most nervous you’ve ever felt on the golf course?
"That’s easy, it was the first Open Championship I played in. Hitting my first tee shot, with a 17 degree Ping hybrid, after the legendary Ivor (Robson) had just eloquently introduced me on hole number one at St Andrews, the Home of Golf. Thank heavens it has the widest fairway in the world and I managed to hit it."
The state of the game
If you could change one rule of golf, what would it be?
"Penalty drop from a bunker full of water."
What has been golf’s best technological improvement?
"The ball without doubt. I loved the Balata balls which I could shape and spin like nobody's business, but I don’t miss seeing the ball fly sideways out of bounds after a bad swing. The new balls are almost impossible to hit far off-line - in fact they almost seem to correct themselves when hit with too much side spin and end up on the fairway. A long-hitter's dream. That is why modern golf has become such a power game."
Can you suggest one idea to combat slow play?
"Ban golf psychologists, with their advice on pre-shot routine, visualisation etc, it takes forever to hit a golf ball."
What we didn’t know
Do you have any superstitions?
"I have many rituals. I am a man of habit, but I don't have superstitions. The game is tough enough without such hocus pocus."
Do you have any hidden talents?
"Only useless things like I can juggle while talking to you and staring you in the eyes. "
If you weren’t a professional golfer, what would you be doing?
"Probably a beach bum. I love the ocean, the waves, the lifestyle."
Away from the fairways
Outside golf, who’s your sporting hero?
"Roger Federer. I met him for the first time while giving a golf exhibition, he was the surprise guest of honour. What a genuine guy and oh so funny too. I made him hit a golf shot, giving him the task to hit a low four iron through a sort of tent 50 yards away. It took him only three tries and with such great sequencing in his swing just like in his tennis stroke."
Give us your best travel tip.
"When looking for a restaurant in a new town don’t look on the main street, these are usually tourist traps, overpriced and not necessarily good. Look in the smaller streets leading off the main street and look for a restaurant that is full with people, preferably locals."
What was the first album you bought?
"The Beatles, Abbey Road."
What’s your favourite type of food?
"Italian for simply great taste, Japanese for my health, Indian for their spices."
What’s your favourite film?
"Pulp Fiction."
What was your first car?
"A canary yellow Ford Escort RS 1600."
Senior Tour does Desert Island Discs – one song, book and luxury item to have when stranded on a desert island?
"The Macarena song - I even know the dance moves - my daughter taught me a few weeks ago. Dave Pelz's Putting Bible – it is so thick and technical it would take me months to read and perhaps when I finally get off the island I will be able to putt. Ping 60 degree lob wedge – who needs a luxury item when I can have fun whacking coconuts and other cylindrical objects around the island."
