The reason of my visit was at the request of Henrik Stenson and Martin Kaymer, both of whom I have been working with. As both their schedules are international, their last event we were able to meet and work was the Dubai Desert Classic, so the both felt they needed to schedule in this week as a good time for a check up and to help prepare for the first major of the year at Augusta.
On the Tuesday morning at I met up with Henrik and walked the course with him in his practice round. Walking the course was a great opportunity to watch Henrik off the practice putting green and on the course.
The tournament course at Redstone is relatively new and specially designed by the renowned course architect Rees Jones for this PGA Tour event. Tree lined with plenty of water and large undulating greens Redstone is easy on the eye. The undulations of the greens are used well to split the greens into different segments, a feature which leaves it easy to imagine possible pin locations, but meaning your approach shots have to very precise to score well.
Despite the proximity to the Maters the Redstone course does not resemble Augusta physically but the demands placed on the golfer and the need for accurate approach shots do. Also the way the PGA tour had set up the course this week has been an attempt to recreate the feel for Augusta. Most of the guys were complimentary in that respective.
Specifically, the rough is pretty much existent, with there just being a very small first cut. While also they t have prepared ultra quick surfaces, shaved the banks of the greens and fairways and run off's into the water to resemble next week's test.
Unfortunately the practice round was cut short due to a storm so shelter was taken and then after the storm had passed it was off to the green to do some more work with Henrik and also to meet Martin.
Martin was happy with the changes we had made in Dubai which he has been working on, so this week it was a case of making sure he was comfortable with those changes and giving him feedback on his progress.
The Wednesday was pro am day, but with neither of them playing, I was able to spend some time with them both on the green consolidating on Tuesday's work.
With Henrik we spent some time on the SAM system which measures over 27 different parameters of the stroke, to assess where he was at. One of the benefits of the system is that you can collect a database to chart their progress as you go through technical changes. This library of information can show the player's improvements. Also when he is putting well what his stats are, so you have a baseline to work back towards if you get off key. The SAM showed his stroke was looking good.
Unfortunately the plan of walking the course following the players on the Thursday was ruined due to play being stopped in the afternoon because of extremely high winds. The unusual weather front was causing the ball to oscillate on the super slick undulating greens, so play was suspended. Combined with a 2 hour thunder delay in the morning this meant that both Henrik and Martin never made it out.
However both looked in great shape and state of mind going into the next two weeks. All in all an enjoyable and productive week.
