Party at Luke’s place! (He gets to play too)

    Writing from Lake Forest, Illinois
    Tuesday, September 10, 2013

    Once upon a time, Luke Donald scored 61 at Conway Farms Golf Club, where he’s a member.
    Someone may do that this week, for the understatedly posh club in tony Lake Forest is hosting the BMW Championship – or the 110th Western Open, for the history buffs out there – and with the top 70 players in the field and the par-71 course listed at just 7,149 yards, a 61 could well be out there. So could an aggregate of around 20-under-par 264.
    But it would be an upset if Donald, the Northwestern grad who was ranked No. 1 in the world not too long ago, was the culprit.
    He’s fallen to 13th in the world ranking now, and that’s a generous placing, thanks to how  older scores decay slowly. The more accurate ranking is 54th. That’s where Donald sits in the PGA Tour’ s playoff standings through two of the first four tournaments. Thus, he was only 17 places from not making the show he helped draw to his home club. Donald’s game isn’t in tatters, but it isn’t close to where he wants it, either.
    That’s why he’s changing teachers. Longtime guru Pat Goss, the Northwestern coach who lured Donald from England to Evanston in the first place, and has remained his main man since Donald matriculated from NU to the professional ranks, will now work with Donald only on the short game. Chuck Cook will work with him on hitting the ball longer and in the fairway more often, which has always been a weak point.
    “It’s been very hard this year,” Donald said Tuesday. “It’s been frustrating at times, and I’ve had to make some tough decisions in terms of changing swing coaches. ... I feel pretty good about where things are headed and I’m excited about the future.
    “This year? I still have time to rescue it. I’m going to have to do it this week, and that’s the beauty of the FedEx Cup. It takes one good week to kind of rescue a year. I have a great opportunity.”
    Donald’s goal has been to win major championships, and he’s rarely contended in them. Several of Cook’s students have won majors, beginning with Payne Stewart and continuing to Jason Dufner, who has the Wanamaker Trophy in his house even as we write.
    Donald has a space for it, but it hadn’t happened with Goss working on the entire swing.
    “Outside of telling my brother I didn’t want him to caddie for me anymore, it was the second toughest decision I’ve ever had to make on the golf course,” Donald said. “I got to No. 1 and certainly would never take anything away from what we did together.
    “But it’s a feeling – as a player, you always know what you feel inside, and I want to just feel a little bit more in control of my ball when I’ve over it.”
    So he went to Goss with the news.
    “He understood it perfectly,” Donald said. “I felt like if I didn’t at least try something different, I would have regrets that I didn’t at least try.”
    Donald realized something was off when he played with Justin Rose in the final round of the U.S. Open. Rose shot 70 and went on to win. Donald shot 75 and finished tied for eighth, five strokes behind. It was similar to his pairing with Tiger Woods in the final round of the 2005 PGA at Medinah, when Woods shot 68 and won, while Donald shot 74 and tied for third. He was there, and it didn’t happen.
    Now, it was happening again at Merion.
    “A light went off in my head,” Donald said. “I was just very impressed with his ball striking. Major championships, if you want to win them and be consistent and have chances to win there, there’s a little bit more of a premium on tee to green at majors than most weeks.
    “I feel I needed to get a little bit more consistency in my game. I have a little bit of an old-fashioned swing where I use my hands a bit too much and not rely on just the bigger muscles, which is what Chuck is trying to get me to do in my swing now.”
    Swing changes can take months to implement, even for top players. Tiger Woods took more than a year to get used to his new swing when he went to Butch Harmon, and a long time again when he went to Hank Haney. His switch to Sean Foley hasn’t resulted in a major yet.
    Donald went to Foley and was told by Foley that he didn’t have enough time to work with him, given Donald’s plan to work long hours on the change. But Foley recommended Cook, and after a meeting at Firestone, they began working together at the PGA Championship the following week.
    “I’m a quick learner, and I should be able to get most of it down by the end of the year,” Donald said. “So far I’m seeing results.”
    So should the Western Golf Association this week. Corporate tents have sprouted across Conway Farms like dandelions in a golf writer’s backyard, ticket sales are booming, and there’s a buzz in the air that is different from the one at Cog Hill after the Western Open was switched from July to September. Donald, involved in the process, is thrilled.
    “It was nice to have an opinion,” Donald said. “I’m not sure they listened to me or not, but they certainly asked my opinion, and it’s nice to see it finally come here. I tried to steer them towards this course. Obviously selfishly because I know it very well, and I think it’s a good place to have a tournament.”
    Donald scored his 61 when the course was a bit shorter. New back tees have been added on a handful of holes since, and the first green was reworked as well.
    “They Luke-proofed it,” Donald kidded. “No, it doesn’t play that long, but they certainly made some good changes over the last couple years, and even asked my opinion, which was nice of them.”
    Donald is in the next-to-last grouping on the first two days, playing with fellow Brit Ian Pounter and Charley Hoffman. That’s a little out of the spotlight. It’s up to Donald to make it shine more brightly on him over the weekend.
    – Tim Cronin