A blog written by our most-recent addition to the Player Development Coaching Team, Benn Barham, in which he tells our Members what it’s like being a coach at the US Open!

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Arrival

We landed into Raleigh Durham on Monday lunchtime. Lexus are the car sponsor this week, so we picked up the luxury TX SUV and it was 1 hour & 15 mins to get to Pinehurst. It’s a beautiful place which is built around golf. It is the American golfing Mecca. There are 38 courses in a 15-mile radius. Residents can be seen driving their buggies around the resort and the village. Pinehurst itself has recently opened its 10th course.

Number 2, lots of changes since it was last played here in 2014. The layout has a different look with waste areas instead of rough, but the main playing difference is the grass. The course was mainly bent grass but now is Bermuda. Bermuda greens when cut down can get seriously fast. You may have seen on the coverage the greens are slick! Around the greens it can pose a problem. Down grain it’s relatively easy to chip using a lob wedge or sand wedge as the sole of the club glides with the grain. Into the grain it’s a different story, regardless of what bounce is on the wedge it can dig into the grass and cause lots of duffed chip shots.

Robert and I spent loads of time around the greens in practice working on a strategy. It is as follows. It’s all about the lie and reading the lie.

• Down grain – any club for chipping including putter
• Firm into the grain – 56 degree with 10 degrees of bounce works better than the 60 degree 6 degrees of bounce
• Soft into grain – (Pray)

This is the hardest lie, if there is nothing to go over, a bunker or severe slope then it’s a putter for sure. A good bit of learning we have done this week is that when putting into the grain of Bermuda grass add some loft to the putter by just having your hands behind the ball at address. It just gives a slight launch to the ball, so it doesn’t hit the grain early and pop up initially.

I have no idea what the winning score will be but whoever has the best up and down stats and putts from 10 feet and in will have the best chance. It’s 5.30am, first round start time 08.24, got to go.

Tournament Day 1

Friday 4.27am.

About yesterday….
8.24 tee time.
Left the house at 6am, 8 minutes to the course.
Breakfast in the player’s grill.
Warm up began at 7am which started with 7 iron to get loose, then building up swing speed with 6 iron.
It’s noticeable how the carry distances vary when it’s cooler in the early morning. Once it warms up around 9.30 – 10am the ball starts to fly further. For instance on the 4th hole the 528-yard par 4…. Rob hit a great drive and had 230 yards to the pin. Normally he hits his 4 iron 205 carry. He hit a solid 4 iron and carried 220 into the middle of the green. The temperature is 93 degrees.
The warmup continued moving up through the bag. He hit a few 3 woods and drivers picturing some of the early holes on the golf course to get into playing mode.
He then hit some wedges at various targets on the range.
We then went to the short game area and spoke a little more about the lies, hard to recreate on the chipping green but we worked on a slightly different technique for the into the grain shot.
Using the body pivot to move the clubhead up and around through impact to eliminate being too shallow and hopefully eliminating the chunk. It worked well but on occasion would be hit slightly bottom groove.
Turns out he didn’t need that shot today. He did have 2 green side bunker shots, he up and downed both (leading the sand saves stat, 100%). Putted about 6 balls 40 feet through the fringe and up onto the putting surface before heading to the big putting green.

Using 2 balls (not sure why 2) he hit putts from varying lengths before heading over the bridge and into the underground tunnel that brings you out near the 18th green/ 1st tee area.
As we walked to the other putting green near the 1st tee, I said to him “this round is going to be like a boxing match, you switch off for 1 second you will get punched in the face”.
I promised him a cold beer after the round if he avoided a knockout.
I watched every shot, he played great. played great. He 3 putted for bogey from 20 feet on the 4th which he was furious about. I managed to speak to him as he sought shade after he hit his tee shot on the 5th. I said, “that’s just a jab, you’re going to have to take bigger punches than that this week, keep going”.
A huge moment came at hole 7, he was 3 yards off with his tee shot which found the fairway bunker on the corner of the slight dogleg right. He caught the approach heavy and short sided himself into an average lie in the waste area. This was a potentially tournament wrecking moment. At this point I was watching knowing that 5 (bogey) would be a great score. He then semi thinned the pitch through the back. He was no faced with a 30 yard up and down. Played a nice pitch to 6 feet and rolled it in.
Momentum, that was huge, to keep the round going. (He told me after the chip was lying downhill, down grain)

It started to get really hot out there and I could see his back was giving him a bit of discomfort. On hole 12 there is an on course First Aid tent and grabbed an ice pack. For the last 6 holes he tucked it into his trousers (removing it to hit his shots) to help the lower back pain. Just in case any of you were wondering what it was on the tv coverage.

He was super focussed and switched on all day. I could see him working so hard to stay switched on. He said a few things after the round ‘I haven’t had to try that hard for a long time’ and ‘I think we got the strategy just right’ I said I thought that was the hardest round of golf he has ever played in perfect weather, he agreed.

Playing at 2.09 today, it’s now 5.14am and still dark.
My plan, go to the gym at the golf club (about 8 minutes away) with Carl, his mate who is caddying for him. Carl caddied for him at the qualifying at Walton Heath, so Rob asked him if he wanted to caddie in the tournament.
Walk some holes to watch the early starters to check out some pin positions and other course info. It’s due to get hotter today, around 95 degrees so we need to be prepared. We grabbed an umbrella for Rob to use for shade on the course today, look out for a black Pinehurst brolly!

He drove the ball well – hit 11/14 fairways
Approach play was precise, it has to be – 13/18 greens in regulation
Putted good in treacherous greens -0.07 strokes gained.

All in all a good day on the course.

Tournament Day 2

It’s 6.57am
Jet lag easing, we had a later night than previous days.
We got off the course at 19.45.
This is how yesterday went.
On the way back from the gym (Hovland, Jake Knapp and Hatton were in there doing a pre-round warm up) me and Carl stopped off at the supermarket to get some food for breakfast.
At around 8am Carl rustled up poached eggs, avocado and bacon on toast, it was delicious.
Spent most of the morning watching the golf on tv, sounds odd but it’s a good way to get a feel for how the course is playing, a look at the pin positions although you get a pin sheet but generally something that most players would do if you had a late tee time. I remember watching the coverage of the opening tee shot at Carnoustie in 2007 even though I was not teeing off until 2pm that day. The golf channel has pretty much been on continuously in the house since be we got here. Rob loves golf as much as me.

We left the house at 11.30 and this was the plan. Get the course, valet parking, head straight to the locker room, which has a pool table in (random) sort the golf bag out. Take anything not needed out and make sure everything is organised. We then headed to the player’s grill. More informal than the players dining area, this is a huge marquee area behind the range that players, caddies, coaches, players guests can get food. It opens from 5am through to 10pm.
We worked backwards from Rob’s 2.09 start time from the 10th tee. That meant we had to be in the shuttle at 13.40 to the 10th tee which meant an hour warm up started at 12.40. Again, started with 7 iron, moved up through the irons onto the woods. A few people stopped to chat whilst he was warming up which was fine as it was 95 degrees so taking it slower than normal was fine. Brad Faxon stopped for a chat and filmed some swings, later to be seen on Instagram Dana Dalquist, Bryson’s coach, filmed some swings and for some reason wanted a picture of me and Rob standing together. He also invited us to a course he coaches at in LA supposed to be incredible, will find out the name. The warmup was good, as it had been all week.
We then went to the putting green; the greens had started to get shiny. After about 5 putts Rob said to me ‘I am starting to really like these greens’ that was music to my ears. We had arrived feeling somewhat scared of them, but he was now feeling very comfortable with them. I was hoping this was a good sign.
Some pitching, chipping and putting from on the short game area and the. Back to the range to hit 5 drivers in preparation for the opening tee shot on 10.
Believe me when I say this, there is literally no easy hole on the golf course when it is playing firm as fast. So any par that you make is a well-played hole. We spoke all well about making good bogeys, avoiding doubles.
10 was a good par. Excellent wedge shot for his 3rd from the waste area, 2 putts.
The 11th tee (his 2nd hole) is where this tournament could have gone differently.
He pushed his drive right into the pines and into the sandy path that runs all the way up the right side of the fairway. He had 200 yards to the flag and 2 options.
Go 45 degrees left with a punch shot, the problem was overhanging branches, but he needed to carry the ball over the waste to get it back on the fairway. Underdone and it stays in the waste, over done it goes through the fairway to the other ways area.
Option 2, there was a small gap up the path line which meant he would have to hit a 7 iron of a sandy lie up quickly with hook to get it turning left to get it near the green.
He went with option 2, the kind of thing you do in a 4 ball better ball or a stableford, not the US Open! He flushed it, sand and dust flew everywhere, and the ball flew straight through the small gap high in the pines and landed 40 yards short in a bunker. The crowd that had gathered in a semi-circle around him went crazy and couldn’t believe how good the shot was, he walked off like Seve back in the day leaving the crowd behind him still in disbelief, high fiving each other.
This is where it would have been a good bogey. The bunker shot was 40 yards to a back pin, long is a no go area. He caught it a bit heavy and got it to the front of the green 40 feet away up a tier. 3 putts later and it’s a double bogey.
He told me after the round when I asked him about the tee shot that the wind was off the right and there was an overhanging tree on the right just off the tee. It just made him lose concentration for 1 second and he pushed it. This can happen so easily.
He steadied the ship with 3 good pars which included holing 2, 12-foot putts.
His playing partner on 15 hit 7 iron to 20 feet, Rob hit the same club, good shot, took a firm bounce on the middle of the green and went through the back. Chipping back up to the green with the green running away. Hit a good chip that ended up rolling off the front of the green, putt back up the hill from 30 feet to 8 feet and missed. Double bogey.
Now a mountain to climb. 16th is 536 yards par 4 playing into the wind. Drive 2 iron front edge, good chip to 8 feet miss. Bogey.
Just like that 5 over after 7 holes.
That is the US Open right there.
Rob knew the cut line was 4 or 5 over, he gave himself some good chances coming in but chased too hard and fell short.
We chatted afterwards and he was hugely disappointed and felt he only hit 2 bad shots .
The drive on 11 and a wedge shot on the par 5 5th that missed the green.
The feeling of missing a cut on Friday evening is one I remember well, it’s awful, especially when you feel like you are playing ok, especially when it’s a big event, especially when you had a chance on the back 9. The mood was quiet and subdued back to the house.
Rob said ‘I feel about as good with every department of my game as I ever have, seems strange that I have retired’
Maybe there could be a comeback……

Thanks for all the messages of support, have passed them on to Rob.

Day off today, haven’t booked a flight back yet, will head back when the time is right.
Today we will watch a bit of golf and trying to get a tee time at Tobacco Road, which is supposed to be nice.