Duncan McCarthy’s course work keeping golfers driving in right direction

Sometimes you turn left, sometimes you turn right.
Open course work: With Duncan McCarthy.Open course work: With Duncan McCarthy.
Open course work: With Duncan McCarthy.

Duncan McCarthy’s job is to give you the correct mental tools to know which direction to take.

Take Marcus Armitage for instance, a professional golfer from Huddersfield trying to make his way on the European Tour, who for the duration of his journey has had McCarthy on his team as performance coach.

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Four years ago at the Abu Dhabi Championship, he turned left, much to the consternation of McCarthy.

Performance coach: Duncan McCarthy.Performance coach: Duncan McCarthy.
Performance coach: Duncan McCarthy.

“The driving range at Abu Dhabi is split into two parts,” begins McCarthy.

“The left side is always busy, there’s a lot of noise, a lot of players. First morning we got there, he walked left.

“If I stepped in there and said ‘let’s go down the right’ then I’m not giving him an opportunity to show me where he’s at, what decisions he’s making when I’m not around.

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“So at lunch I told him the morning had been a waste of time, he’d spent more time yapping.

HELPING HAND: Marcus Armitage, pictured at the ProTour Golf final at Huddersfield Golf Club in October last year.  Picture: Bruce Rollinson.HELPING HAND: Marcus Armitage, pictured at the ProTour Golf final at Huddersfield Golf Club in October last year.  Picture: Bruce Rollinson.
HELPING HAND: Marcus Armitage, pictured at the ProTour Golf final at Huddersfield Golf Club in October last year. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.

“I said when you get on that range this afternoon, turn right, so we did that. No-one was there and we had a brilliant session, we were focused, and as we’re walking off we saw Henrik Stenson, Danny Willett and Matt Fitzpatrick down that right side.

“Those are the decisions you’ve got to make if you want to be a top player.”

Armitage is back in Abu Dhabi this week, now teeing off as a fully-fledged member of the European Tour, having finished in the top 60 on the money list last year.

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Armitage will have turned right on entering the driving range at the start of the week, McCarthy is confident of that, having spent the last decade providing counsel to the 33-year-old.

Performance coach Duncan McCarthy has helped get a number of golfers get their game in order. Picture kindly submitted.Performance coach Duncan McCarthy has helped get a number of golfers get their game in order. Picture kindly submitted.
Performance coach Duncan McCarthy has helped get a number of golfers get their game in order. Picture kindly submitted.

McCarthy, 40, from Leeds, has made it his life’s work to help sports professionals better prepare themselves mentally for the challenges ahead.

A good footballer and a good golfer in his own right – he was part of Leeds United’s academy and played on the EuroPro Tour in his 20s – once he realised he could not make a living out of either, putting his degree in sports psychology, health and fitness to good use was the next best thing.

“I knew Marcus and Chris Hanson from playing county golf with them. 2011 was my third year on the EuroPro Tour, I’d had a leg injury from playing football that wasn’t great but in truth I was playing poor golf,” says McCarthy.

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“It was a look-yourself-in-the-mirror moment. I just thought ‘I really love helping other people and seeing them improve, I have a genuine passion for it’. So just thought let’s go for it.”

He set up his first company which has now evolved into Underpin Sports, offering everything from pure sports performance to the management of a player’s life.

“I used to work with footballers, swimmers, gymnasts, even business people because there’s a big overlap,” he says.

“In sport you’re trying to get results through people, in business you’re trying to get results through people.

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“Every player I work with wants something different from you, even though it’s all geared around how the brain is working, how can we get more out of ourselves.

“Marcus is very much an exception to how I work with most people. We can be speaking about something that’s happened to him personally, some thoughts he’s had. The more a player gives me the more I can help them.”

So why is a sports psychologist important?

“You can’t hit a golf ball with bad thoughts, they can get in the way,” says McCarthy, whose younger brother Nick is, by Duncan’s admission, a better golfer and trying to make his way on the Challenge Tour.

The elder McCarthy tells a story about Danny Willett that illustrates the importance of preparation.

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“I got to know Danny when I came into the Yorkshire team in my late 20s. We once roomed together for Open qualifying,” says McCarthy.

“We had a friendly at Moortown, we were having a drink and a laugh and he said: ‘right I’m off to get warmed up’. He did his putting drills, a bit of work on the range, then he went and got a yardage book from the shop. We were having a laugh: ‘you won the Yorkshire Amateur around here, you don’t need a yardage book’.

“But it was him who took the money and drove off in a Porsche.

“It was just how he went about it, he gave himself the best opportunity to play well. He doesn’t leave any stone unturned.

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“He was a professional before he was a professional. I categorise golfers four ways: amateur amateur, professional amateur, amateur professional and professional professional.

“The second word is the status and the first word is how you go about your business.”

McCarthy’s job is to make sure it is the right way.

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