With two-time major winner and putting guru Dave Stockton, ask and ye shall receive.
‘So far, I’ve worked with everybody’s that called for advice,’ Stockton said Thursday on ‘Morning Drive.’ ‘Some take it better than others.’
The 1991 Ryder Cup captain cited Hunter Mahan as one of his better students.
‘He came over, we worked about three years ago, and we moved on. You want them to be able to teach themselves,’ he said.
Weeks before his major breakthrough last year at the U.S. Open, the current world No. 1 worked briefly with Stockton.
‘With Rory McIlroy, for instance, it was as much mental as a physical thing. He was one of the few that was too fast, so it made it easy to fix,’ he said.
For all of the great players Stockton has helped, there are others still he hopes to someday have the opportunity to fix.
‘I have my wish list. There are just certain people I look at and shake my head,’ he said.
‘I had a couple of days with (Lee) Westwood last year in Akron. He had just started working with (sports psychologist) Bob Rotella at the same time that week, and kind of went that direction. I look at Westwood, or Sergio, or Michelle Wie now, Ernie Els – people that I really respect and you would just love to have 10 or 15 minutes of their time because you know you can fix them.’
Stockton credits his budding business to the freedom pupil Phil Mickelson gave him to work with other players.
‘Phil is my key person, yet he’s given me free range,’ he said. ‘When we first started working together, he said, ‘You’ve got to work with Adam Scott. He’s got the worst stroke in the world.’ And that took 20 minutes.’
