Martin Kaymer's settle into swing pays off

A swing change that Martin Kaymer started in 2011 to improve his play at Augusta National Golf Club did just that last year in the Masters Tournament – and helped the German to a banner year.

Kaymer, who calls himself more of a “complete player” now that he can work his ball flight from right to left off the tee when he wants to, had his best finish in the Masters in 2014.

He went on to win The Players Championship about a month later and the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in runaway fashion in the summer.

In about 11 months, Kaymer moved from 61st in the world ranking to 10th during the Florida Swing before this year’s Masters.

The swing change started in 2011 because Kaymer was frustrated that he didn’t have a draw (right-to-left shot) at Augusta National, which is the preferred shot off the tee on dogleg-left holes Nos. 2, 5, 9, 10, 13 and 14.

After missing the cut in his first four Masters, from 2008-11, Kaymer made the cut in 2012 and has improved each year since (tie for 44th, tie for 35th and tie for 31st last year).

“That is why I can play Augusta as well as I do now,” he said of the swing change. “It makes a big difference to have a 7-iron or 8-iron playing into the 10th, or if you can go for the green at the 13th all the time. That’s all because you are able to draw the ball.”

Having the draw in his arsenal “makes you more comfortable when you stand on the tee box,” Kaymer said. “You know exactly that you can trust every curve you want to hit, and it makes you more relaxed. You know if you miss the fairway on the left or the right, you don’t have any problems to get the ball on the green.

“It calms you down a little bit, and therefore, you have a little bit less stress and all of a sudden you play a little better because you are more free. So therefore, I could enjoy playing Augusta a lot more the last two, three years.”
Kaymer started making the swing change while being ranked No. 1 in the world. It was a spot he held for eight weeks, including during the Masters.

The pressures that came from being the top-ranked player were much greater than those he felt from making the swing change, the introspective Kaymer said.

“It was more off the golf course, handling all the situations that Rory (McIlroy) went through when he became No. 1 in the world,” he said. “For me, it was even more dramatic, more difficult, because I was not that kind of person who is always in the spotlight or who likes to be in the spotlight. I like to have dinner somewhere at a place where not many people recognize me where I can actually eat.

“So for me, it was very difficult to be all of a sudden the German golf face, and it took a lot of time to realize my new position in Germany and to get used to it and to feel comfortable with it, because in the end of the day, you can’t avoid it,” Kaymer said. “You just need to find a way to feel more comfortable with it, and then you can move on and focus more on the golf again.”

He was able to do that, in part, because he received some sage advice from fellow German Bernhard Langer, a former world No. 1 and a two-time Masters champion.

“Well, the funny thing is it probably has nothing to do with golf, just how you express yourself, how you are as a person, how calm he is, how much harmony there is around you,” Kaymer said. “Because he always said, you know, you have to be happy off the golf course in order to be happy on the golf course.”
Kaymer said it has been a journey to reach where he is now – and it helped him enjoy the U.S. Open victory more than any of his previous wins.

He said Langer told him people don’t listen enough to themselves to achieve calm.

“That is something that I needed to, first, reflect on, what it really means, and therefore, when I won the U.S. Open last year, was probably the most enjoyable win that I ever had, because I was really part of the win,” he said. “I was part of the whole journey. I was there.

“And that’s why it was such a great experience for me to be the No. 1 in the world and go through all this, and then it was a great experience for me as a person, and obviously if you are growing as a person it makes you better playing golf, too.”