Ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, three-time winner Martin Kaymer talks the course, normality, golf’s ups and downs, the off-season, training, relationships and more…
If you can find one or two golf courses in your career that just click with you in the same way that Abu Dhabi Golf Club does with me then you can never complain. It is a place I enjoy in every way. I just see a lot of positive shots here, even before I hit them. And then when you pull them off, which has happened a few times over the years here, you get some confidence from that, too. It’s a cycle of success.
The lifestyle here is another factor. The food, the hotel we stay in, the people, the whole atmosphere – everything that comes into play at a tournament – they all make me feel very comfortable here. And of course, when you win once somewhere then it validates that feeling and makes you realise you can have even more success here in the future – which I managed to do on a couple of other occasions fortunately.
It’s nine years since I first won here, but I still remember the moment as clear as anything. My second shot on the 18th hole was a three wood from the fairway, a high cut which came up short of the green, and then I two-putted for birdie. Now, whenever I think about Abu Dhabi, for some reason that high-cut three wood comes into my head.
It’s not all been smooth sailing here, though, and two years ago was one of the defining moments of my career. At one point in the final round I was ten shots clear and ended up finishing third. That’s not to judge it as either bad or good but that sort of experience is an important part of the game we play. There are good and bad experiences in professional sport, some are more extreme than others, and you have to be philosophical; it was a poor back nine that could happen any time but this happened to be on a Sunday afternoon and that makes it more dramatic, of course. I made a couple of mistakes and the others made a couple of birdies which magnified things. Mentally it was a rollercoaster, yes, but I would say you learn as much from that sort of experience as you do from winning. That’s the game we are in.
I had a busy but enjoyable off-season. First I went to Bali for a week, where I relaxed, saw a different part of the world and even spent a bit of time with Matteo Manassero, Nicolas Colsaerts, Thomas Pieters and Rafa Cabrera Bello, who were out there for some of the time. Then I had a weekend in New York, then New York to Phoenix for three weeks of practice over Christmas and New Year, then back home to Germany for a week to see my family and friends where I rested my hands and body after all the work on my game. Then last week I headed to Dubai to the European Tour Performance Institute at Jumeirah Golf Estates to do some practice with my coach.
In the winter of 2014 and 2015 I didn’t do my traditional practice sessions and that might have been a mistake – I feel those three or four weeks of hard work in Phoenix set me up very well for the entire season. I can really focus on myself, reflect on the season and at the same time work on some things that perhaps didn’t go as well that year. But there was also some time for fun, too, like when I took on my brother in nine hole left-handed contest. I shot 11 over, if you’re interested. Not bad!
Last drive for the day, will post the scorecard within the next 15 min 🙈 pic.twitter.com/G7smeVJi8x
— Martin Kaymer (@MKaymer59) 29 December 2016
It’s a bit sad, but as a professional athlete – if you’re doing it right – there is not much time for other hobbies. But I do like going to other sporting events such as football (proper football not American football!), or just being at home. I like seeing friends from school; I find it very interesting to compare our lives to theirs to see what a normal life looks like because ours, as golfers, is not really much like 98 per cent of the rest of the world’s population! To understand both worlds is key – it would be confusing to live in just this weird world we have without hearing the experiences of other people my age.
I still think I am only 60 per cent of the way to understanding the best way to condition my body, even after ten years. Every year you are still testing and trying out new things. If I have four or five weeks off – like I just have – I take a week off everything and then I’ll go three weeks very hard with heavy weights, a lot of training and get really tired. Then I’ll have a bit of fine tuning – for the muscles, for the feel of the body – and then another week off nothing before this week’s tournament. It seems to have worked fairly well for me! As a golfer, I don’t want to be too big so I choose exercises that won’t do that; I like the flexibility, the mobility because I know how important it is for feel. If you feel strong from the inside, I think it helps in how you approach your golf swing. You are a lot more powerful – even without the big muscles!
I had a couple of seasons where I think a blind person could have caddied for me but then other times you need a lot of help. When you don’t perform the way you want to like in the last couple of years, when you’re not winning, you need someone who keeps you going, and that’s what Craig does for me. We stay on top of things and we look together at what things to work on. Sometimes that side of things is actually more important than getting the right yardages or golf course preparation. He is also a very balanced character, and that is important in a caddie. In an ideal world you want someone who is serious when you practice and when you play but when you’re off, you’re off. Some caddies don’t find that switch. It’s about being honest with each other, too, and not taking things too personally because we both have the right intentions and success in our minds.
My brother Philip is also my manager and that is a unique relationship. Firstly, there is never any doubt – he has my complete confidence and trust and also you know as a family member he always has my best interests at heart. Secondly, whatever he does it’s always “you’re first” and that’s sometimes difficult to find in other managers in any sport. Thirdly, just like with Craig, I can be very honest with him and he can be very honest with me. Sometimes when you are an athlete people have a tendency to always say “yes” and you can’t improve like that. In order to get the best out of yourself, you need people around you who are very authentic and tell you what you don’t want to hear sometimes.
My main aim for 2017 is to be more consistent again. I want to get myself into a position to win again because I haven’t done that for quite some time. Specifically, there are a number of things for me to work on in my short game because at the end of the day, if you look at the last few Majors, it all comes down to the short game. You want to be able to have a bad day but scramble well around the greens to shoot par or something and I’ve not quite had that the last year or so. Plenty to work on!
