Decent Poultry Interview ....

...quite a good read this, much as I dont warm to him its a good, interesting read. Intriguing to hear his take as to why he doesnt take advice.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/17577069
That said I do like this more typical Poulter comment -
"I've come close; I've finished second in majors."
Should maybe read
"I finished a distant 2nd once in a major 4 years and apart from that my record is very average"
But this is Ian Poulter after all, we cant expect too much modesty.

He makes some good points I think. Certainly seems a bit more level headed, I didn't actually realise he had that decent a Masters record.

He certainly has the short game for Augusta so i'll expect him to make the cut.

Do players really listen to the likes of Jack even when they do have a chat?

I had always assumed they were just being polite in public and sucking up to people like the golden bear but really ignoring everything they had been told.

well i dont really get faldos comments on this- due to the fact that he has allways hailed(and even sung) that he allways did it his(my) way!!

Faldo had very little time for his piers when he was a player. His personality, behaviour and dedication to success made him an isolated and not much liked player (he was respected as a golfer, but probably not even respected as a person).

I get the feeling Faldo's desire to give current players advise is more to do with his own ego and giving him talking points when comentating.

If I was from Welwyn Garden City like Faldo, I doubt I'd care much for coastal structures either.

ScottieD18 wrote:I get the feeling Faldo's desire to give current players advise is more to do with his own ego and giving him talking points when comentating.

That may well be true, it doesnt mean that he still wouldnt have some good advice to give though.

I've always seen Faldo as a Hoddle like character, always frustrated that the people he would captain/manage/mentor etc don't have as much talent as him.

I think the only advice people need is not how to play the course, but what it feels like to play in these events and what they might expect, people like Poulter have been there plenty times to know themselves.

As usual with Faldo he's damned if he does & damned if he doesn't. He had his own way of playing, but the "my way" song was very much a two fingered gesture to the press who doubted him. What Poulter is missing is not learning how to play the physical shots, but what it takes mentally to win. Perhaps that is the difference between having a good record at Augusta & actually winning.

If Faldo didn't offer any advice to the current crop that would be an ego thing as well I suppose?

Dont get me wrong Faldeos biggest fan- i am a massive faldo fan. Maybe he has a point- however he was very much an individulist himself

I think its the mental advice that he could give that could be useful. The problem is that I really believe the likes of Poulter and Westy feel they are too good to take advice but I cant believe that Faldo couldnt impart a few pearls of wisdom on what mindset you need to win a major. You would think it would be at least worth their time having the conversation even if it was dismissed out of hand afterwards.

Glad to hear there is more than one of us Mysti!

If it wasnt for faldo i am not even sure i would have played as much golf as i did!! remeber watching him win at muirfield when i was 10 and that was that.

I also believe he was the source of many of our current crop as well!

Diggers.You are spot on. Talent wise I think Lee is probably as good if not better than Faldo,but & it's a big but, he hasn't got over the line in majors & Faldo did 6 times. There may just be some mental tricks that could make the difference for him. What has he got to lose by just listening? Same for Poulter.

Why should anyone listen? Faldo won 16 years ago. Can't see what Faldo could impart to Westwood or Poulter that they don't already know.

Same for me Mysti. I was 12 when he won the PGA for the first time. He was only 21 himself & became my sporting hero from that point on. I know I would not have taken the game up so early if it wasn't for him. I know Rory was part of his Junior series as well.

For a start he could tell them what it feels like to win one, they dont know that. I think there is plenty that he could tell them personally, dont really see the relevance of his last one being 16 years ago to be honest.
I believe McIlroy has had a few conversations with Nicklaus and he has done what LW hasnt and what Poulter clearly never will do and thats win a major.

Knowing what it feels like once you have won is irrelevant.
How to win one is what matters, and they all know how they have won tournaments in the past, once you start putting extra emphasis on it because it's the Masters then you've already lost.

Agreed, I doubt Poulter will ever win one, especially an American one.

How many majors have Poulter & Westwood won S_R? I don't think the end game of golf has changed in 16 years has it? The objective is still to win & at Augusta they haven't. Faldo won as much as he did by learning from all sorts of people. If you don't listen you don't learn.If they know it all already then fine, but the best players never stop learning IMO.

I didn't realise Faldo thought super was coming back in his next life with spina bifida???

super_realist wrote:Knowing what it feels like once you have won is irrelevant.
How to win one is what matters, and they all know how they have won tournaments in the past, once you start putting extra emphasis on it because it's the Masters then you've already lost.

Agreed, I doubt Poulter will ever win one, especially an American one.

Coming down the stretch in a major is clearly more pressure than in other tournaments. Even if Westwood were to ask Faldo how do I make it feel like just another day would that not be useful, because its clear to me that he hasnt worked out yet how to treat a major as just another week.

Did Faldo seek the advice of anyone? Or is he just hoping that some smoke blown up his backside from Westwood and Donald might be good for his ego?

Surely Westwood, Donald etc would be just as well asking Woods, Weir, Cabrera or Mickelson?

Why does Faldo think he has the monopoly on advice?

I think faldo is just being patriotic SR, i think he is getting miffed out there working in the states seeing so many english players doing well yet ultimaetly failing when it really counts(major wins). he may feel abit responsible especially faced with possibly a million and one questions about it stateside!

Nobody is saying that they shouldnt ask anyone else for advice, its just that Faldo is there offering it on a plate. I doubt that Woods or Mickleson are likely to dole it out quite so freely and Cabreras English isnt great and he is apparently a bit of a grump at the best of times.Im sure Weir would oblige though.

He just strikes me as a bit Alan McInally Oakey, you know the whole "When I was at Bayern" thing.

Rather smug, self satisfied and happy to stand alone as the most successful British player rather than actually genuinly give British players helpful, insightful advice.

I think he is a bit missunderstood to be honest- he hasnt got the best rep and i dont really understand him half the time myself- but i genuinly think he wants the best from british(esp english) golfers

Well he ran the Faldo program for long enough, surely that was an altrouistic way of bringing through British talent ? I think he is a bit of a patriot to be honest and Im sure he'd like to see a Brit win a major especially if he could give himself a bit of credit for it.
Who cares, if it worked everyones a winner.

Suppose so diggers, although I sometimes feel there is an obligation to have such a programme, I'm never certain it is truly altruistic.
I'd probably welcome a chat if was a poulter or a Donald, but everyone is different so I don't think that faldo should really be saying what is best for them should he?

personally i reakon westy needs to go up some mountain and see a guru and chill out for a month. Or get bagger vance as his caddie

No Super, he should just be saying I'm here if you want a chat but nobody here is saying slick Nick is a modest man. To be fair him and Poulter should get on famously though maybe Poulter just gets intimidated being near a proper golfer.
Re Faldo seeking advice his hero was Snead and he made a few trips to see him I think , but doubt he'd have got through the door unless he'd already bagged a few majors.
Maybe Jacklin gave him a few pointers, no other Brits to ask really as Im sure he never asked Sandy Lyle how he broke his duck.

Like I said Faldo is damned if he does & damned if he doesn't. Just trying to think of all the well known programme's the likes of Woosie & Lyle have done. It's not obligatory at all & he was one of the first pioneer's of it. To be honest if the like's of Alliss etc can have an opinion about what is good or not for the current crop of players then I am damn sure Faldo has a right to one. I'm not sure he is any more egotistical than Norman,Player or Nicklaus to be honest, but it seems to be dragged out time & time again by people who simply don't like him.

Diggers. He also to see Hogan. What a honour that must have been.

Yep, I'm sure Ben was very chuffed to meet Nick!!
No, I do think Fakdo gets a bad press. Sure he is a bit quirky but arent we English meant to be eccentric. I'm sure the British golfing establishment would have preferred someone like Monty to be the one true modern British great player rather than Faldo but I'm sure glad it didn't turn out that way.

I would have thought Faldo has a lot to offer but seeking and offering advice is a two-way street, as in any walk of life.

There's the image right now of McIlroy, Schwartzel and Bradley making a "young guns" pilgrimage to Nicklaus's throne but that's not for everyone.

Perhaps Poulter has other "mentors" that he doesn't talk about, he certainly learns from other golfers, how can you not?

Good for both of them.
Faldo for standing ready to offer advice.
Poulter for wanting to go it alone.

I've a feeling they're both doing alright for themselves.

(Poulter looked in pretty good nick (ugh, pun not intended) two weeks ago, and he knows his way round Augusta - quite impressive record of consistency really - and I reckon he's the type of "feel" player who could have a very good week.)

Always worth remembering the spin that the original quotes probably came from. Now with the Internet you generally get to see/read all of the interviews and then see how the press spin it.

I suspect the original interview with Faldo went something like,
"So have any of the English golfers come to you for advice?"
"No."
"Are you surprised at this."
"I suppose so."

FALDO SURPRISED AT ENGLISH GOLFERS NOT COMING TO HIM FOR ADVICE

Maybe I am just becoming more and more cynical of journalists or maybe its because I read the Telegraph and they seem to have hired the headline writers from the News of the World or maybe its because they continue to pay Oliver Brown to either slate professionals for earning money or report on golf as though only Tiger plays.

Where did that rant come from? Back to topic. I thought Poulter put his point across fairly. I'm a little surprised that Faldo hasn't been asked by the English players but I suspect that they found him a little difficult to approach so have found other ways.

spot on two- i am not sure if this was the case this time- but your scenario happens time and time again

super_realist wrote:I've always seen Faldo as a Hoddle like character, always frustrated that the people he would captain/manage/mentor etc don't have as much talent as him.

Hmm, not sure about that. I always thought Faldo's success was due to his mental toughness and his singlemindedness. With the greatest of respect to him, I don't think he was as talented as many of his peers (or coastal structures sticking out into the sea) but beat them because he out-thought them.

George- Golf at the highest level is about visulaising the perfect shot based on risk and reward and then pulling that shot of. If the perfect shot is to risky then another shot may have to be played. When your closing a tourny its about playing the right shot for the right occasion.

Anyway my point is . Golf is about thinking and then reproducing that thought process with your body!

Faldo could do that better than anyone in peak- therefore he was as talented if not more so than any other player in his time!

Well as its current let's say what Faldo did very well was avoid the big miss. He was a great course manager and a very good putter, and he had plenty of shots in his bag if needed.

Interesting that Jason Day tells the story of seeking advice from SirNick last year prior to becoming as close as a rookie's come to wearing the Green Jacket since Fuzzy.

Agree exactly with Diggers about Faldo, even better than Tiger at not beating himself.

So....considering Westy came close again but no cigar and Poulter wasn't far off a challenge...would a chat with Sir Nick have done any harm? It's pretty obvious LW needs something extra to be able to win a major, personally I think it's mainly believing he can win one which I'm not sure is the case right now.
I know you can say that coming so close means they you must win one sooner or later, but what is also true is that however good you are you only get so many bites at the cherry and LW has already had a good chomps.

Imo LW only has the rest of this year and the 2013 season to win a major. Simply because I believe there's only so many chances you can give yourself until you start thinking the worlds against you. Its possible he already feels that way after seeing him at this years Masters.

LW could do with some pearls from major winners but Poulter I believe has the confidence to go all the way if required in majors, still not a fan of his or LW's though.

Diggers wrote:So....considering Westy came close again but no cigar and Poulter wasn't far off a challenge...would a chat with Sir Nick have done any harm?...

Harm? Probably. SNF can't explain how to hit a fade/draw properly so I don't see how he's going to rectify the technical issues with LW's chipping/putting.

Not sure what a non technical chat about what it takes to win a major has to do with hitting a fade or a draw. Nobody is questioning LW's golf swing or suggesting Faldo is going to become his coach.
I would question his ability to stay in the zone though, something Faldo was a master of.

Diggers wrote:Not sure what a non technical chat about what it takes to win a major has to do with hitting a fade or a draw. Nobody is questioning LW's golf swing or suggesting Faldo is going to become his coach.
I would question his ability to stay in the zone though, something Faldo was a master of.

Didn't think that was LW's issue; more his weakish (relatively) putting/chipping.

Personally think its more in his head, possibly manifested in the weaker parts of his game.

Possibly but I think you can only be strong mentally if you're convinced your game is as strong as it can be. Don't think LW's belief in his putting, in particular, is that solid.

No I'm sure you are right, I doubt he has any real faith in his putting.

A chat with SNF a week or two before could easily have done him harm, he would have done all his mental and technical preparation by then, and Faldo coming in with some completely different ideas, even if they were correct, would've just left him confused. Faldo may well be good for advice on the mental side of winning a major (though he was a nearly man for long enough), but it needs to be a long term thing, you can't just get overnight success with "sports psychology"

I don't get why putting is such a problem for some top pro's. It's the simplest action in the game, has anyone got anyone got any insights into what seperates a Lee Westwood from a Ben Crenshaw?