Garrett spoke with Denny McCarthy on how he likes to prepare at The Open Championship for the specific challenges he knows he’ll face and how to be as practiced as possible with the long game and his putting.
All right, Garrett Johnson here with Denny McCarthy at Caves Valley, not too far from where you grew up here in Maryland. But you know what? I want to get into the open championship because we got a huge major coming up. You just played the US Open. What is your How do you get ready on the range for conditions you’re going to play when you’re at the Open when you arrive on a Monday? Yeah, I’ve already kind of started to hit some shots that, you know, I might see at the British Open. Um, and so, you know, I played Port Rush actually in the British AM back, uh, 2014, and I really like the place. So, I’m I’m really looking forward to getting back there. So, um, I know most of the holes they added, I played the old course where the old 17 18. I think they added two new holes um, kind of in the middle of the course. So, um, yeah, I’m really excited to get back there. Like I said, I’ve already started to kind of hit some shots to to prep for the week. And as you’re there on that Monday getting warmed up, like what is are you thinking wind? Are you thinking what are the prevailing winds? How are you studying for the open that week? Yeah, I think you know my caddy and I will get together uh we typically look at the forecast and when we’re playing practice rounds or on the range, talking about the course, you know, this is the wind, these are the winds we’re going to get. Um and then start talking about some T- shots. This is the wind we’re going to get. um could be really downwind and you want to hit something high. It could be really into the wind um and you want to kind of keep something out of the air, hit something really low and driving. So um those are all things we’re always thinking about um you know the wind, what direction certain holes are going to play and what kind of shot you see off the tea or into the green on certain holes. So um yeah, we’re doing a lot of that prep work on the range. Um, it’s nice to get on the course and do it, but also talking about on the range and kind of practice those extra reps on the range is is key on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. And speaking of those extra reps, like are you thinking 18 as you’re standing out? This is a T- shot at 18. This is the approach on seven. Like these are the two shots that really give me an issue. Yeah, for sure. And and you’re you’re trying to get a feel on the range um to get comfortable at that. And so, you know, if you know, one day the shot on 18 could be this with this wind. Um, could be the this other one with with the with a total opposite wind. Um, so yeah, those are things that we’re we’re prepping for and you know, you’re making sure you’re getting comfortable with on the range. Well, with the range and your your routine, how long is it normally? And you what do you really want to get in your fields? Is there a go-to drill that’s really helped you in the last few months? Um, yeah. I’d say mainly for me it’s kind of my posture and how I’m taking it away. Um, if I can get a good loaded uh back swing, I feel like I’m going to go be able to kind of go down through the ball and hit the shot that I want to. Um, what does loaded mean? You’re saying like you got everything to to the right. It’s really just some postural tendencies that I have. I creep into um some bad posture tendencies and yeah, it’s really hard to load. Um, so when I think about loading, almost think about, you know, hitting a, you know, a baseball hitter like really loading into the right side or a pitcher loading, um, get getting ready in their wind up to kind of go down the pitcher mound. That’s kind of, it’s kind of a similar feel loading up in the golf swing. I want to feel like I’m moving downhill and not fighting against it. Um, so yeah, I try and keep it as simple as possible. Um, you know, some some people like to be really technical. Um, and I I like to kind of try and keep my feels as simple as possible. Speaking of feels with putting, how different is it? You know what I mean? You’ve gone through fast greens here in America and you go How do you prepare like like what little games can you play to prepare yourself for those greens? It’s It’s kind of hard honestly. I mean, typically greens over there don’t have that much break or that much slope and you’re when it’s windy, you’re almost playing you’re almost playing more wind than you are break. Um, so when the wind’s really blowing, uh, if if you, you know, if it’s blowing 30 miles an hour off your right, but it’s a left to right putt, it it might it might end up breaking overall right to left just because the wind is so strong. So people don’t realize how much of an effect the wind can have on your ball in putting. So, um, if it gets to those conditions where the wind’s really blowing, those greens aren’t that slloppy. Typically, they’re slower. So you you know you’re playing more wind, like I said. Um and they’re typically a little slower over there because of those wind speeds. They’re always somewhat cautious. So it’s definitely a little bit of an adjustment. You feel like you can be pretty aggressive and and you need to be on certain putts, especially into the wind. If you have into the wind putts over there, they’re they’re really slow and you need to give them a good whack. So um you know, it’s stuff that you kind of you you figure out in the practice rounds Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and on the putting green. um making sure you’re comfortable when the tournament starts. Speaking of those practice rounds, like what kinds of things, games or or or mental thoughts are you going through to get ready on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? What does that look like for Danny McCarthy? Yeah, it’s typically on a normal tour week, uh nine Tuesday and then the other nine holes Wednesday in the proam. Um I’ve played all those places enough to where you know, you know where you know what to do on on all these places. Obviously going to an open championship venue that I haven’t played that much. I might sneak in another nine holes or a couple, you know, it might be might be a full 18 one day. I don’t know. I don’t like to typically play 18 holes. Just takes a lot of energy. That the practice rounds are typically somewhat slow. So maybe nine Monday, nine Tuesday, nine Wednesday. I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like. Sometimes that’s weather dependent. Sometimes you get out there and you get this wind on Monday, but we’re not going to see this wind the rest of the week. So, it could be somewhat, you know, it would be nice to still get out and see the course, but almost counterproductive because you’re not going to see any of the shots. You’re going to be hitting totally different clubs and the holes play totally different. So, the wind plays a factor in, you know, how much you do on the course Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It just kind of depends. I don’t have like a set I have to do this every single Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday. It just kind of depends on kind of how I’m feeling from the previous week and what the weather is doing. Yeah. A couple more quick things. You mentioned the weather and the wind. What’s just the right attitude for you as Denny? Like what’s the right attitude to have about the wind during an open championship? You know, what’s worked for you? I I typically play well in the wind. I live down in Florida where it gets quite windy and so um you got to have an aspect of really controlling your ball. Um and that’s something I feel like I do really well when it gets windy. Um abbreviated followthroughs or what kind of things help? It just depends. Yeah. If it’s into the wind, maybe. I I I don’t even know. You just kind of get into your own little world and kind of play the wind and, you know, let the wind dictate what kind of shot that you want to hit. I feel like you start getting into playing golf shot more than golf swing. Um, you start having to be a creative um you have to be really creative in terms of what you’re doing with your ball flight. And um I kind of I like those rounds. I feel like I lower my expectations. I go out and I just I I play freely and um I try and have as much fun with it as possible. I know you got your caddy out there you’ve had for a while. What do you guys do so well together? Get the best out of you. I think we just we stay within our limits. Um I have gotten better and have added more shots to my arsenal, but that doesn’t mean I can go take on and try and hit the hero shot um all the time. I think we do a good job of managing our game um missing it in the right places. Um, you know, sometimes there’s a lot of times we’re like, “Yes, I can hit this shot, but the percentage is really low, and if I don’t pull it off, it leaves us in a really bad spot. So, let’s hit this club.” And, you know, it’s still got a chance to be good. And if it misses, um, you know, it’s a much more manageable up and down, higher percentage to save par. So, I think that’s some of the stuff that I do really well is kind of thinking my way around the golf course. um knowing knowing my game, knowing my strengths, um just knowing how to pick apart a golf course and you know not trying to be the hero and and and you know trying to trying to go out and kind of game plan and try and just shoot a score. We always want to be the hero. That’s the name of the game in golf, right? But always appreciate the time. Great to see you and good luck at Port Rush. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it, Garrett.
