Jan 12 Karlsson

Robert Karlsson

At the end of 2005 all Robert Karlsson had to show for 14 years on Tour were memories of four victories and a world ranking of 217. Twelve months later, a bout of sustained excellence had brought him two further tour wins, 4th place on the order of merit with €2m and a Ryder Cup berth – where he played solidly, gaining two halved points. Out of the blue, Robert Karlsson has gone from journeyman pro to being a genuine force on the European Tour.

His success, he argues, is actually down to no longer caring if he is successful or not.

How do you explain the amazing transformation in your game?
In May 2003 I started working with a lady called Annchristene Lundstrom. She is not a psychologist, more a life coach. She has taught me to take responsibility for myself on the course. I have stopped blaming caddies, or bad luck. I have stopped carrying a bad shot with me. When the shot is over, it’s over. I try to come back to zero after every shot. I did that the whole year. It’s allowed me to say I’ve done my best on every shot. And that’s made the game a lot more fun.

But how easy is it for a Tour pro to have fun on the course? This is, after all, your livelihood?
It is all about letting go of the results. If I can go out there and have no desire to play well, I can have fun. I just want to free myself up as much as possible and go and play.

Can you give us an example of how this approach has worked for you this year?Kingsbarns was a great example. I have had big problems with the course in the past. I finished third there in 2005, but I shot 75 on quite an easy day. I shot 79 once too. But on my last visit I took the view that the course was there to be played, and I just went out to enjoy it. I never brought past experiences into it.

Also, at the World Match Play, I ended up playing Jim Furyk. I managed not to get caught up in the fact that I was playing the world number two. I went out playing my ball, not caring what he was doing. My only focus was to take one hole at a time. And one shot at a time within that, for as many holes as it would take. Lose or win, it doesn’t matter. Just take one shot at a time.

This is all mind stuff. Have you worked on anything technically?
No. I’ve not done anything to my swing. I do not even have a coach. For a couple of years I’ve only spoken to my caddie, Gareth. We talk about set-up, and just keeping the swing short, together and simple.

So your improvement is purely down to mental techniques?
I don’t like to put it that way because that sounds like I’m trying to learn something. In fact, I’m trying to de-learn. This is going back to how I was in the first place, when I started playing golf, and it was really fun. It’s important to me to make that distinction.

After turning pro in 1991, your career struggled to ignite. You have tried some quite off-beam things in the name of improvement. Can you tell us about some of them?
I am very motivated to improve, and I am curious to try new things. I wanted to recreate how it feels when I get tired and frustrated on the course, so I came up with the idea of staying up all night hitting putts. I tried to hole 10ft putts on the floor the whole night… apart from the times I went out running in the snow.

Running in the snow?
Yes. I did this in Sweden, shortly after Christmas. I hit putts for three-and-a-half hours. Then I was up running in the snow for an hour. Then I did another two-and-a-half hours of putting, then another one-hour run. Then more putting. I started at 10pm and ended at 6am. While I was putting I had a friend there, giving me a bit of light-hearted grief for missing. “Ah come on, you can’t miss that one…”, that sort of thing, just to crank up the challenge a bit.

What did that teach you?
That it’s a bad idea to go running in snow in the dark! Seriously, the first thing it told me was just how much energy I had. That just because I feel a little bit tired I don’t need to fall into a big black hole and disappear. But also this was one of the first times when I really felt I had a choice about how to react. I could have got angry, or I could have got tough. I chose to get tough.

Is it true you also went on a milk-only diet for a while?
No. I had a little bit of bread too. My wife Ebba and I spent a week with an Austrian doctor in the Swedish Archipelago, pretty much living just on non-pasteurised milk. I felt cleansed and relaxed at the end, but it didn’t do anything for my game. What’s made a difference to me – my work with Annchristene – has been so much easier than that stuff. Anyone can do her stuff.

You had to wait 15 years for your Ryder Cup place. How did it live up to your expectations?
The atmosphere was better – not just out on the course but also between the players on our team. I had thought there might be tensions between some of our players but there weren’t at all. We got together as a unit and just rolled straight over them. It never became tough or nervy.

How did you react on being paired with Tiger for the singles?
Great. Someone’s going to have that honour! I really enjoyed the match. Tiger is the best. People talk about his long game, but he is a fantastic putter. You can’t give him holes and I gave him one on the 3rd when I didn’t trust myself to hole a putt.

You couldn’t even beat him with 13 clubs?
I heard the splash, but thought it was a towel. Tiger told me he’d lost his 9-iron on the way to the 8th tee. I thought, “Yeah, right”. But then Gareth and I looked at his bag and it wasn’t there. I whispered to Steve Williams (Tiger’s caddie) that he should have dropped the putter. Steve said, “I don’t think Tiger would have been so happy if I’d done that.”

You must have been pleased that the approach that’s taken you so far this year stood up to Ryder Cup pressure?
It’s very pleasing. I managed to keep the same attitude I have at every tournament. My focus was simply playing my ball, point A, point B, one shot at a time. That was my focus. As long as I’m letting the last shot go, indifferent to the result and in total control of my decisions and reactions, it’s moving forward. Then I cannot miss.

So, after such a tremendous year, what goals have you set yourself for 2007?
I don’t have any. Well, one, simply to focus on what I can do and to see what happens. I just want to make sure I keep enjoying the game. That’s what’s taken me to this point.

See the full feature in the March issue of Golf World….