Fairways of Life is joined by PGA Tour Player Denny McCarthy as he prepares for the Travelers Championship
as we make the transition from Andrew Denny McCarthy is settling into the chair next to us right now Good to see you my friend How you holding up how you feeling uh I’m a little tired after last week Um that’s that’s uh that’s all you want in a golf course at Oakmont Um wasn’t very sharp and you’re going to pay the price for it there Um haven’t really been sharp the last really last couple events So uh I’m going to go try and dig it out of the dirt here on a Monday afternoon and um try and find a little something What it’s a complicated question I realize but what do you feel kind of flows and es with that is it always something technical or could it be something as easy as now you’re in the heart of the season maybe you’re just tired uh I think it’s a little bit of fatigue Um it gets late we start playing you know consecutive weeks late in the year after majors signature events um stretch of kind of some tough golf courses here in Memorial um and and Oakmont And so um yeah I think some of it is technical I I’m not very I’m not a very technical person Um I think I a little you know a little bit of trial and error helps me trying a feel here or there and then you know working off of that feel And so um I just got a little off I’m I’m I’m not driving it as well as I would like right now Um you know mo I’ve seen moments of good stuff just but but consistently just not there dayto day or um even for an 18hole round It’s been it’s been tough but um I still feel like I’m close I feel like I can latch on to something and and play some really good golf here soon Is that part of uh PJ Tour players competitive armor that you have to always feel like you’re close yeah I think so It’s funny It’s Yeah it’s I feel like we say that a lot and I say it a lot Um but it it’s true I mean you know you look at JJ Spawn I I think I saw something where he felt really lost after Memorial missed the cut Um couple weeks later he goes and wins the US Open And so it can be a funny game like that a lot And I feel like all of us are kind of capable of something like that where you feel like you’re lost one way and a couple you know a couple weeks later you can find something something clicks and you run with it Um and you get you get some momentum and everything feels good and you can golf and do that And so that was cool for JJ to see Um you know he’s always been very nice to me and I’ve I’ve enjoyed talking with him over the years We’re we’re we’ve spent about a similar time out here so I see him a lot Um so him doing something like that definitely motivates me It makes me believe that I can do something like that I know that I can Um that sometimes when you shoot 16 over par it doesn’t feel like you can but um it’s hard to judge 16 over on Oakmont Yeah I mean you get really exposed Um you know a ball you know five yards difference you know one’s in the fairway one’s buried in the rough and it’s a chip out So it’s it’s literally a shot penalty But those are the margins you know that it takes to win a major championship on you know a place like Oakmont where driving it straight in the fairway is such a premium Um you know I just need to be a little more under control of um you know my feels and and you know I need to produce slightly better shots How’s the family doing how’s your dad how’s your uncle doing did you call your father on father i did Well he was he was there I saw him in person He was there uh he was there yesterday Um I got shut out in the third round I didn’t make any birdies And so after I made my first birdie um you know I told him I yelled over to him that you know you might not be getting a trophy today but I at least got you a birdie Um so he he laughed at that Um yeah it was uh it was nice to have them there They’re everyone’s doing well My brother his wife Um yeah they’ve they’ve come out a decent amount They always come to Memorial and Columbus so it’s good It was good to see them the last couple weeks How hard is it to find your family when you’re there and like you know it’s just packed with people and do you just search the crowd so you know where they are or do they kind of go places you know they have a routine So you know Thursday it was tough to find them but then once I spotted them on a couple holes you know I knew where they would be You know it’s almost like they have a routine and of of how they watch certain holes So once I figure out what their routine is I know where to look for them When you go to the range and you try to find that edge again that you’re searching for right now do you start with the tried and true do you start with the putter do you start with the short game and go “Okay I know what my rock is I know what my foundation is now Let’s go work on the rest.” No not really Because I I feel like that that stuff um is always in pretty good shape It really gets too far off Um it’s right now it’s more off the tea I’d say I’ve seen some really good stuff from the irons for the most part Um I still want to work on a few things in the iron play Um it’s mainly off the tea right now I would say Um and I know this place isn’t a beast but they usually get the rough a little up It’s It’s Yeah you know you don’t you can’t spray it all over the place Um you can get some good lies and still score from the rough here in places but driving it in the fairway anywhere is is where you want to be playing from And so um that’s how you really attack a place like this is is starting off the tea So um I’m looking forward to you know this is what this is what happens throughout the season It’s it’s hap it happens a lot throughout you know a year where you know you one minute you feel like everything feels good and you got it and golf seems um somewhat I wouldn’t say easy but it it it it comes easier and there’s times where it just feels really difficult And right now is a little bit one of those times but it just takes a little something like that to snap out of that and you know get back to that feeling of feeling a little easier I’m smiling not to not to to find joy in your lament there but because there’s millions of people shaking their head right now going “Yeah that’s exactly what we feel almost on every other shot.” I I have to tell you too because you’re my friend I find it incredibly annoying that here you are saying first of all you’re not technical And when it comes to putting all you guys are saying like I if I ask you the secret of putting you I I expect you’re gonna give me the same thing that the Dave Stockton’s of the worlds and the Lauren Roberts of the worlds and they all go “Well the key to good putting is to not try.” Am I right or wrong uh there’s a little bit of that to that for sure There’s a little bit of it I’d say when when you’re when you feel like you’re hitting good putts and they’re not going in it’s there’s a sense of trying harder or trying to be too careful And I think uh freeing it up and caring less can can help I I equate it to shooting a basketball sometimes Like I miss a shot I don’t think about what I did I just keep shooting Um and you know I might make a subtle adjustment without even really thinking about So you’re reacting to target Yeah I’m I’m reacting to to target Yeah I’m uh um I’ve said it before like I just I my instincts are really good so I try and trust them and when I don’t uh when I doubt them is when I get off I’d say on the greens Um so that could just be aiming at a you know you’re hitting a big right to left bender Uh that feels most people I would say underread them This feels like I’m aim too low or I need to hit it too hard I mean you can maybe make it on that lower line but it needs to be hit too hard And like my instincts tell me that when I’m setting up like uh this feels like uh I need to hit it too hard Uh or I’m aim too low And so then I adjust and maybe like ah that that feels a little too high or I need to hit it a little too soft It might not get there and then I kind of oh this feels just right like this feels like and and my instincts tell me like okay this is the line for the proper pace Um and it doesn’t always work out like that but if I can get to that place where I’m doing that and I c I can commit to something on each putt I think that’s the people think that you know I don’t have a perfect stroke um and I don’t always read the greens right but I have really good intention and commitment to what I’m doing um which I think makes me a really good putter Do you think any of what you just described Denny is a natural gift um I think maybe part of it but you know I’ve played for so long uh so much tournament golf so much you know like my eyes just have seen so many putts you know like I’ve played so much golf my eyes see so many putts So like it’s just like it’s almost like a blueprint in my head of what you know a 10-footer a ball out looks like to me you know like I I’ve I’ve seen it And some sometimes other places can be deceiving and tricky um of what that might look like to you but for the most part you’ve got a baseline of what certain putts look like And so it’s funny like my eyes see a right to lefter really good from the other side of the hole They see it good from the ball but from the other side of the hole I really get a good sense too Left to righters I see terribly from the other side of the hole I see it much better from the ball side where I’m actually hitting it from So sometimes I don’t even bother I see like way less break from the other side on a left or right And sometimes I and so I know my tendency is is that so if I actually see a break from on a left or right or from the other side I know that it’s probably breaking more than I think or if I don’t see um that much break at all like it’s it’s it might break some or it’s just weird My eyes you know to me like a a straight putt from the other side that I actually see it as like going a little right to left It’s just my eyes have seen so many things and I know it’s what my my tendencies are looking at certain putts Um and I I know that and I trust that And so it’s I mean I guess it’s that’s hard to teach right but it’s just like I’ve done it so much where I’ve I understand um I understand what it what it feels like and what it what it’s supposed to look like I guess I don’t I don’t know It’s like it almost sounds like the rambling of a madman right now as you’re going to all the different It’d be like It’d be like Steph Curry knowing if he’s fading this way on a three-pointer he knows he knows he needs to shoot it a little farther right like if he keeps drifting and shooting it He’s going to miss it left Instinctual Exactly Correct So what putter are you using i use I’ve used the same putter for a while I knew it That’s why I was getting that is great putters don’t change putter And sometimes I try and switch and get out of it And sometimes it’s intentional and sometimes it’s not But I always end up coming back to it because it’s I’ve hit so many putts with it And I you know I’ve my my hands know the feel of how many putts I’ve and I know it’s tendencies Again like my eyes have tendencies reading the greens My putter has certain tendencies on certain putts And so it’s hard to get out of that because I just I know it so well I’m comfortable with it Um it’s it’s it’s weird I mean we’re we’re golf golfers are crazy man I mean we’re we’re you know we’re not superstitious We’re just a little stitious That’s I always like to I always like to uh call that line out It’s from the office Michael Scott But um yeah we’re we’re we’re pretty crazy breed Um everyone’s got their own little quirks um own little ways to try and get better and their own ways on how they see things And so um I just try and trust trust my instincts I’d say as much as I can It’s awesome And I see you’re well represented with your sponsors doing well Yeah everything’s everyone’s doing great I got a great team behind me Um you know great support system great family Um everyone everyone’s done an unbelievable job supporting me to be able to just come out here and hit a a little white ball around So um yeah there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes It’s not just me you know playing golf out here Um and so I’m I’m very appreciative of everyone that’s behind me and on my team That’s awesome I hope you find what you’re looking for this week Thank you very much Appreciate it Thank you Thank you As ever Okay folks When we come back I want to go into the hearts and minds of what makes this event tick There was a point in time not all that long ago that this event risked not even being on the PGA Tour cal calendar anymore And yet here we are at the pinnacle of their existence as a signature event We’ll go down that road right after this
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Lets go Denny! This is your week!