Peter Cowen is acknowledged as one of the world’s leading golf coaches. He is recognised for teaching many great tour players including Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Thomas Bjorn, Ian Woosnam, Simon Dyson, Paul McGinley, Henrik Stenson and David Howell...
the list goes on.
His straightforward approach is based on recognising that players need consistency which is best achieved through the philosophy of simplifying the fundamentals of the golf swing.
Peter also believes strongly in the importance of the short game and focuses heavily in this area. All of these techniques are reviewed, developed and practiced at his specialist teaching academies. EAT GOLF! caught up with him for a chat.
Interview
Can you tell us a bit of your background and how you came into teaching?
I have been a pro since 67. I played the tour from 70 to 79 with the likes of Seve, Sandy Lyle, Woosie, Bernhard Langar, In the 70’s there wasn’t a lot of money. 1979 was my last season and I finished 54th in the order of merit and I couldn’t make any money. I had a family so I decided to take a
club job.
As a player I was very interested in technique and the natural progression was that if I couldn’t be the best player in the world then I wanted to be the best coach in the world. People don’t know me because I don’t promote myself. Never have done, never want to. I’m so busy, I couldn’t be any busier. I’ve got 13 pro’s on the European tour and out of the top 125, there are over 50 who have had my information.
Players come and go like Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke but they always come back because they know the information they had from me led them to 4th in the world or 8th in the world or whatever it was and they won so many tournaments with me but then go searching to try and move that bit further. But they go backwards rather than forwards, so they tend to come back.
Do you find that frustrating?
Well it is frustrating but I knew that as a player. I was always searching for the perfect golf swing as a player. People think that golf lessons are expensive now. Well in 1978 I tried to get lessons from Ben Hogan which was impossible, but Gardner Dickinson who used to work with Hogan was giving lessons in America. So I went to him in 1978 and he charged me 200 dollars an hour. That was a lot of money nearly 30 years ago... I had 10 lessons off him in a two week period and learned an awful lot. 2,000 dollars was a lot of money. I asked him if I could go and watch Ben Hogan practice and he said he could ring and ask him. But he said if I were you I would stay here - in West Palm Beach - and watch Jack Niklaus be coached by Jack Grabb. So I did that. I watched Niklaus for two weeks which all enhances your knowledge of the game.
Were you watching them being coached up close?
Right up next to them. I was allowed to because I was getting lessons from Dickinson. He had a special area on the practice ground where only pro’s were allowed to go. But I’ve played with most of the top players. There isn’t a top player I haven’t played with.
In 1979 I went to Australia and played alright, ending up 54th in their order of merit. People say “why do you think you didn’t succeed?” when even now I can hit the ball as well as most people. But my attitude was appalling and I didn’t have a good enough short game, not particularly bunkers and chipping, but putting I was really suspect, a bit like Langar. I didn’t work out a way to putt like Langar did. I should have worked out how to do it and then I might have carried on playing a lot longer.
If you could would you prefer to still be on the tour?
Oh yes. Absolutely. There’s nothing like playing. If you’re interested in this game and if you’re going to be a good coach, you’ve got to be able to demonstrate, because these guys on tour want to know it works. If I say “well I read it in a book, it works”, they’ll say, “well anyone can read it in a book, how do you know it works?” “How are those mechanics going to make me a better player?”. “How do you know that system you are asking me to swing works?” How are you going to explain it them? The golf swing is a sequence of events. You’ve got to know the correct sequence for a fade, a draw, straight shot, a low shot, a high shot.
It’s like playing music. If there are 10 different tunes, there are different sequences. Golf is the same. If you wanted a bog standard shot, it’s a very simple sequence. But if you’ve got a simple sequence, it’s very easy to move it into the other sequences. If you’ve got an extremely difficult sequence, it’s difficult to make all sequences work. If you understand all that, then the game becomes a lot easier and to tell people how to do it.
Of course, I’ve been lucky. When Lee Westwood came to me in 95-96, he was going to lose his card, and within 4 years he had gone to number four in the world and won the European order of merit and 25 tournaments, which was phenomenal. Then Darren Clarke came to me, and they became the backbone of the Ryder Cup. And then Paul McGinley came to me, David Howell came to me, all those guys came on the back of Lee and Darren. Then Thomas Bjorn, and Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Mark James…you name the names, they’ve had my information.
