Diet:

My philosophy on diet goes like this....

It is needless to say that you need to eat well to get the best out of your body. I grew up in a household were food was very important. Our evening meal was the only time that all the family was together so it was not just good, mainly healthy food it was the biggest social event of the day. 

That is how I look on food today. Yes, it has to be mainly good healthy stuff but it is more than that it is something I look forward to. I’m not a health freak at all, I just like to have a nice meal with family and friends, have a good chat and eat some good quality well prepared food.

That is what I want my kids to associate food with, quality food and quality time. It is not just about getting the body what it needs and it is not just something that needs to be done quickly, it is part of what I call LIFE!

Let me put it this way, I see more the Miguel Angel Jimenez in me than I see the guy eating a piece of fish with steamed vegetables with a glass of water in his own hotel room!

Exercise:

I don’t know if I have a philosophy on exercise really. Exercise has always been a huge part of my life and it is something I love to do. When you love to do something it often makes you feel good, that his how I feel about exercise.

As a youngster I played every sport possible, football, tennis, badminton, running, swimming and of course golf. Today I still run and swim but my exercise for golf is mainly core stuff and lots of stretching.

I travel with a swiss ball and rubber bands and I exercise 7 days a week, 365 days a year....including CHRISTMAS! My work out takes about 40 minutes a day and then about 10-15 minutes of stretching.

It just makes me feel good. If I come back from the course tired and do my work out it actually gives me energy and I feel ready for the next day. When I’m home my kids like to do the exercises with me which is kind of fun.

Golf is quite tough on your body plus the travelling really beats you up so you need to put work in to feel good but also to avoid injuries....

My work has helped me a lot and every year I feel stronger and stronger.....

I get physio every Monday between tournaments where Mary McKay comes to my house and gives me proper tough massage that makes my muscles relax. After seeing Mary I’m ready for another week on the road......

In General:

Like I said before Commitment and Discipline I learned at home but before I could call it a philosophy I needed Direction.

That direction came from the most important person ever in my professional life, Colin Smith.

I met Colin when I was 17 and Colin became my first coach and mentor.

Like I said I had discipline and commitment and could sort of play the game but I knew nothing about the game and how to improve.

What Colin taught me was a hard work, what is important, no bullshit kind of approach.

That meant working hard on my short game, the part of the game that is more important than anything else. We worked hard on my long game but generally through ball flight so I didn’t get caught up in super-technical stuff.

We talked a lot about attitude and discipline on the course when things were tough. We analysed my game thoroughly and always focusing on what was REALLY important not length, flashy 2 irons but solid stuff you can do day in day out. Basically what Colin did from day 1 was to prepare me for professional golf where you need to be reliable on the course.

More important than any of this was that Colin believed in me more than anybody I had ever met before (and since)

Colin saw that I wanted it badly and because of that he was never in doubt that my potential was big.

That really is my story so if I had to sum that up my philosophy is all about attitude, discipline and commitment and not very much (if any) about what people call talent. That stuff that makes the 12 year old hit beautiful 3 irons on the range because that really wont give you any indication of if there is a big potential. Big potential is between the ears!!!