Interview: Shane Warne on his life in golf

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With a cricket ball in his hand, Shane Warne was nothing short of a genius. He took a then-record 708 Test wickets, including 37 five-wicket hauls and single-handedly removing the opponent’s entire batting order on 10 occasions. His performances across a glittering 30-year career saw him named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Century, certifying his place as one of the five most influential cricketers of our time.

TG went to see the 44-year-old Aussie as he attempted to put a different ball under his spell at the Shane Warne Classic golf day, organised by Your Golf Travel and held at The Grove, near Watford. Warne adores golf almost as much as he enjoyed bamboozling batsmen and is just a whisker away from achieving single-figure handicap. He plays as much as he can, wherever in the world his variety of work commitments take him, and boasts a best round of one-under on the Old Course at St Andrews. 

He’s ambitious, too, with thoughts of taking a run at the professional ranks and bagging a spot on the Seniors Tour. We assessed his credentials and discussed all things golf with the larger-than-life master of spin…

Playing with a stationary ball is very different to what I’m used to; many things can go right and wrong. One day you can be chipping and putting nicely, but your driver lets you down and the next day it could easily be the other way around. That’s the acid test for us amateurs – consistency with all aspects of the game. The only way you can do that is to practice and play.

I took up golf quite late, when I was 16 or 17, but I absolutely love playing. Once you get bitten by the bug, you just want to play as much as possible. When work and travel take over and the golf stops, I miss it so much.

My current handicap is 10. The lowest I’ve been is 6.7. If I haven’t played for a few weeks, it could be genius or horrific – I’ll know either way after a few holes. My weakness is my long irons; I use rescue clubs most of the time. My strengths are off the tee and putting; I’m generally straight off the tee and can be fairly long, but not massively so – anything between 270-300 yards. My putting is above average; some days I putt like a genius and other days I might as well putt left handed.

I’ve had plenty of tips and advice. The best I’ve had is when putting get your hands up and out, rather than too close to the body. Plus, when driving, try and keep the club on the ground as long as possible during the takeaway – Aussie Tour pro Peter O’Malley told me that.

I’ve been a regular competitor in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. It’s the best week of your life up there. I think I’ve played in it seven times altogether, but never made the final day, missing out on countback one year when Padraig Harrington sank a 10-footer to put myself and Peter O’Malley out. Last year was pretty memorable as I fired one-under on the Old Course, despite a double bogey on the 16th and a three-putt on the 11th. Mind you, I did sink a 125-footer on the 13th, which was quite cool. It was just one of those days when virtually everything I hit came off. My previous best round was a battling 77 at Carnoustie, admittedly achieved in favourable playing conditions – it would have been 177 if the wind had been blowing and the rough had been up!

Shane WarneI’m fortunate enough to get on a few good courses. In the Sandbelt district of Melbourne you’ve got some great courses including Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath, Metropolitan and my home course Capital GC, which is fantastic. Over here I’ve played The Grove a few times, Queenwood, which is fantastic, Wentworth and Sunningdale a lot. I love the Old Course there.

The best cricketing golfer I’ve ever played with is former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting, who plays off scratch. The best sportsman I’ve played with is Tim Henman, who is off +1 or +2. He’s the world’s luckiest golfer, too. I played with him at Sunningdale and before we started he stated for the record: “I’m bloody good… and also the world’s luckiest golfer”. Sure enough, he got some of the luckiest bounces of all time! I think it just boils down to his attitude: he thinks he’s lucky and he gets the breaks, whereas I’m the opposite. I’ll be plugged in the sand or stuck right behind a tree – that kind of thing always happens to me.

Golf is pretty exciting at the moment. There are some wonderful players and it’s exciting, the way they hit the ball. When you get the opportunity to play alongside the Tour pros it’s just incredible to see and I love watching them perform. I’ve been lucky enough to play with Adam Scott, Peter O’Malley, Richard Finch, Freddie Couples and John Daly. I haven’t played with Tiger, but I’ve had dinner with him a few times.

Sergio Garcia has become a good mate, which is pretty cool. He enjoys his poker and he’s a fairly good player – not as good as me, though. He’s got me covered on the golf side, but I’ve got him covered on the poker felt.

It’s never too late and I would love to consider becoming a professional golfer. I feel I hit the ball well enough and it would be great to make the Seniors Tour when I turn 50 in six years. Cricket and golf are completely different ball games, but at the end of the day it’s all about practising for hours on end. As far as the competitive side of golf and the pressures involved, I think I’ll be OK; I think I’ve proved I can handle pressure once or twice before! I’m very competitive on the course…

Golf is a great game and I’m right behind the decision to ban long putters in 2016 – that’s a good move. The only other change I would like to happen is to see some form of a golfing version of cricket’s T20 – a shorter form of the game. I’m not sure what, but something would be good for the future of the game at amateur and professional level. Skins and matchplay tournaments are fantastic to watch; maybe more one-day tournaments are the way forward.

It’s great to see the Aussies back winning cricket again. They’re playing really well at the moment and it was nice to give it back to England 5-0 in the latest Ashes series and to beat South Africa, the number one cricketing nation, on their home turf.

It’s pretty disappointing to see what’s happened to Kevin Pietersen. I think the world is missing a special talent, arguably the most dangerous and destructive batsman in world cricket. I think England have shown childish, kindergarten and immature behaviour and it’s disappointing to think we won’t see KP on the world stage again.

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