Commitment To The Cause

Sir Nick Faldo tells us how determination and self-belief saw him through the dark times and helped turn him into one of British sport’s all-time greats

Sir Nick Faldo’s rise to the very top of the golfing world was characterised by a self-belief which has rarely been matched.

Nothing sums this up more than the decision to remodel his swing after reaching European No.1 in the early ‘80s. This was the catalyst for him to push on and turn tour success into Major triumph. His three Opens and three Masters set him apart as the most decorated European golfer of the modern era, and he’s carried that success into his current work as a broadcaster and course designer.

We sat down with Faldo at one of his current projects, the fabulous Laguna Lang Co Golf Course in Vietnam, and it soon became clear the single-minded approach that got him to the pinnacle of the game is still very much alive…

We all know the story. You watched Jack Nicklaus finish runner-up at the 1971 Masters and that inspired you to pick up the game?

I went to my mum the next morning and said, “Today, I want to try golf”. She knew about Welwyn Garden City Golf Club and so she took me. I wandered into the pro shop and booked my six lessons from the assistant pro, Chris Arnold. I said, “Right, I’m ready”, and he said, “No, your first one is tomorrow”. He installed discipline because the first lesson was the grip and the second was posture. Third lesson was alignment. I hadn’t hit a ball yet.

Finally, on the fourth lesson, I hit a ball. Now, if anybody wants to learn, they hit a ball within three seconds. Show me that, give me a go. Unbeknown to me, he installed that discipline of what it takes to build all of the fundamentals.