Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin joins Garrett Johnston to talk all things The Open at Royal Portrush. The 153rd Open Championship is upon us and the Belfast native shares his familiarity with the course and the kinds of things players need to do well there to succeed.
Eric Johnson here with Tom McKibben and and this is pretty exciting part of the year round. You got Port Rush coming up, the open championship. How excited are you for that? Yeah, really excited. I mean, um to play an open at home. Um playing open at Royal Port Rush as well, somewhere that I’ve played a lot of golf. Um is really exciting. I mean, I didn’t get I actually didn’t get to go to the last one. Um so to be playing in this one is pretty cool. So even in 2019, you didn’t get to go attend it at all as a fan. I was over here playing the US Junior. So, I was so I didn’t uh I just got to see it on TV. So, I didn’t um didn’t get to go, but this time the sort of it sort of since the last one happened, it would always sort of be a goal of mine to to play play at the next one. And um that’s happening. So, that’s pretty cool. Yeah. Well, how many times you said you’ve played it many times. How many times ballpark would you figure you’ve played Royal Port Rush? Uh I’ve played it a lot. I’ve been a I’ve actually been a member there for the last 10 years. So, um, I used to go up lots and play in the winter time when the courses were were wet near home. So, um, it was good place to play in the winter. So, I’ve played I’d say I’ve probably played over 50 times like um, but I haven’t played it too much in the last couple of years just with traveling and stuff. So, um, hopefully get up a few times before the the week of the opening and see what it’s like. Well, knowing what you know about the course and knowing your game, what do you expect and and what kinds of things do you need to do well there? Um, yeah. I mean, you’ve definitely got to drive the ball well. I think that’s key in probably most Lynx courses. Um, and then I think sort of all aspects of your game have to be good approach play. There’s few greens that are sort of raised and have quite um big runoffs, big falloffs. Um, the parries are pretty strong as well. So, um, yeah, I think again all weather dependent and things like that, but it’s uh I think everything sort of has to be pretty sharp around there. How much pride do you have being for Northern Ireland just to have an open come and for you to be a part of it? Yeah, obviously uh lots lots of pride of pride of that. Um I mean as I said earlier just to to play in an open at at home and um I’d say not many people get to say that they’ve played in an open that’s 45 minutes from their house or somewhere that they’ve played a lot. So um yeah, I think it’s going to be a really special week and something that I’m certainly looking forward to. Yeah. Well, has GMAC or Ricky Elliott, have they been able to kind of give you some insights on their home course or? No, not really. I haven’t even I haven’t spoken to any of them about it. Um, I’d say both of them are are good men to to chat to about about playing around there. Um, so yeah, I’ll definitely maybe chat to them over the next couple of weeks. Absolutely. Well, we want to get a little bit into your practice part of of your game and kind of what what does Tom like to do for his pre-round routine as you get ready for a round of golf, competitive round of golf? What’s how long is it roughly and how do you break it down? Um yeah, so it’s changed a little bit more um out here um a little bit. The ranges can be quite busy um with the shotgun start. So I think normally I used to be about an hour 50 minutes um start off with some putting, go over chip, then hit some balls. Um and then now I’d say it’s maybe around an hour and 15 minutes just to get there a little bit earlier. Just give yourself some extra time. um just you know moving from place to place and then with the shotgun sort of leaving a little bit earlier. So same sort of routine putting first a little bit of short game and then hitting the range last. I like to sort of stay quite loose. I don’t really like going from the range and then putting and not really hit for the last sort of 30 minutes or so. So um just for the feels that you need or just for the feels. I feel like sometimes if I stand around or bend, I sort of wouldn’t say get stiff, but just sort of you lose that feeling of sort of the last couple of shots you hit on the range and I sort of just like to take that feel from straight from the range straight to whatever hole I’m starting on. Is it a matter of like when you’re putting like are you looking for certain speed distance control? Like what’s kind of the focus of your putting pre? Yeah, so I would I’d always use a a Vizio putting mat. Um I’ve used that for about the last four years. Um, and I’m really using that just for start line. There’s a we sort of there’s a gate that you can put a couple of TE’s in at the end. Um, and just probably roll about 15 20 putts down that just making sure I’m starting the ball on online and after that sort of just getting into getting into the speed, trying to dial in the the touch sort of for the day. Um, and see if I’ve got it after that. I know you played in an open last year. What is it about getting ready for an open championship in Lynx golf in your pre-round routine? Is there anything slightly different about that that approach? Um, maybe I wouldn’t really say pre- round too much. Um, I’d say definitely practice round sort of getting used to maybe hitting a few more putts from off the green and the greens normally tend to be a good bit slower just with wind and stuff and so that can get especially if you play somewhere the week before that’s been quite fast greens, it can be quite hard to um, get used to. So, I think hitting a lot of long lag putts, a lot of putts from down over sort of slopes and stuff off the green. Um, and then just sort of again it’s getting used to how into the wind, how short the ball goes sometimes with that cold weather in the cold wind. Um, and yeah, it’s just there’s a lot of there’s a lot to get used to very quickly and sort of to wrap your head around. Maybe if you have 150 yards into into the wind here, it might play 140 yards for over there. It could play or sorry, it could play 160 yards for over there. It could play 170 175 yards. So, just um getting used to those in the practice days and that’s mostly because of the wind or like how do you view yourself as a wind player? Yeah, I’ve definitely gotten better at it over the years. I used to be terrible at it when I um when I was growing up. I didn’t really enjoy it. Um just cuz you hit the ball so high or how so? Yeah, I I’ve always hit the ball quite high and then when I was younger, obviously you don’t I didn’t really have the strength to sort of flight the ball properly or sort of know how to try and hit different shots. Um where now I feel like I’ve I’ve played a lot of it. I’ve played in some pretty miserable conditions, so um just getting used to seeing seeing what the ball flight does and what that sort of what the wind does to that compared to hitting it up in the air can be quite interesting. What do you want to get out of your range session overall? Like is it just a matter of certain feels you want to connect with or Yeah. Um yeah, really just sort of I like to try and do a lot of my work before I come to the tournament. So, try and get that dialed in that when I do come, I can just sort of go through a couple of small checkpoints and just warm up and go out and play. I don’t really want to be um thinking too much about it during the week of the the tournament. Obviously, if I’m struggling a little bit, I’ll do a little bit more. Um but I sort of like to if I have like last week I’ve had a week off and I just sort of tried to get really dialed in and sort of get those feels as you said, feeling nice and so this week when I get here I can just sort of warm up and go out and play. So, as you mentioned there, the work before the work, like what are a couple of, I guess, go-to drills for you that help you with those feels? Yeah. Um, I’ve been using a the is it the DST, um, compressor club, uh, recently for the last sort of four weeks. Um, and I feel like obviously you have to have a lot of shaft lean back at the ball to to hit it straight. Um, and I feel like that just gives me a real good feeling of getting the club in front of me on the way down and sort of hitting it with my stomach, sort of turning, getting it sort of out of the way a little bit. Um, and that sort of seems to get a real good feel when I go and hit my normal clubs. It sort of can transfer the feeling over very very quickly. So, so, well, it’s you got to have those go-to things. Is there anything about rhythm that helps you to any thoughts as you stand over a ball or in your work before the work? Um, not really. No, when I was younger, I definitely would have had a lot of tempo thoughts and sort of it was very I found it very easy to get very quick and wanting to try and hit the ball uh further. Um and I would have had I can’t really remember, but I definitely know I had a lot of sort of tempo and trying to take it back smooth and then hit it and not really rush. I think um as I’ve got older, I don’t really have those thoughts anymore, but it’s definitely a definitely a key. I think when your rhythm gets out or I get a little bit quick from the top, um that can sort of upset a few things. So, just really always trying to just get to the top of the swing and just sort of let the club drop down on the ball and um I don’t really you don’t really lose much speed and feeling that just feels a bit slower, but um that’s sort of what I would go to. Yeah. Has there been any oneliner that’s kind of resonated with coaches from you over the years or even just other pros that have said, you know, that really helps me in my practice. I even think to this day that helps. Um, that’s a good question. Probably uh, not really. No, I mean I wouldn’t be one that I ask too many people about stuff or or go searching for ideas. Um, you just want to be a self-made man or why would you say that? I don’t know. I just think if I I could go ask someone and I’d go try it straight away and maybe fry my head a little bit. So, um I just sort of like to go with whatever’s feeling sort of nice for me and um yeah, just keep those thoughts pretty simple. And the last thing I just want to say for amateurs, weekend golfers at home, what are things that they can do, little practical things that can help with their ball striking, you think? Um I think for me for ball striking, I feel it’s very important for like your setup to be very consistent sort of ball position. um even like how far away you stand from the ball. Like one day you could be standing nice, next day you could be standing 2 in difference and you might not feel that and that can make a massive difference um that where you strike out on the face. So I think sort of setting up consistently and getting a good solid base before you even take the club away um can definitely help with a quick fix for keeping the ball striking a little bit better. Well Tom, appreciate the time and good luck at Port Rush coming up. Thank you. Thanks. Good to see you.
1 Comment
Done a each way bet yesterday defently worth a punt at 80/1