FIELDREPORT Rock on, Robert
A new golf academy in the heart of Kent, backed enthusiastically by TaylorMade Golf, is the fulfilment of a dream for dependable European Tour professional Robert Rock, whose first love has always been to teach others how to play the game. Paul Trow attended the opening
product of hard work the old-fashioned way, he has career winnings of just under €5m to his name and, at 38, can realistically expect to pocket even more loot over the next ten years. But despite this success, he insists his true vocation is coaching.
O We met at the official opening of the Robert Rock Academy at Kings Hill
Golf Club in the heart of rural Kent. Stocked with state-of-the-art swing- measuring gadgetry and club equipment courtesy of TaylorMade Golf, it is a project that has captured his imagination despite a geographical gap of more than 200 miles from his home near Lichfield in Staffordshire. “I’ll be down here a lot now the academy is open... well, as much as
my schedule will allow,” he says. “But on a day-to-day basis Ben [Blackburn, the head teaching pro] will run the place.” Blackburn, who also oversees the indoor Radius Institute of Putting (RIP)
on the same site, has loſty ambitions for Kings Hill. “With 550 members and a few of the county squads also training here, if we can’t get at least one good junior through the ranks in the near future then I’ll be a bit disappointed,” he confides. Whether that happens, time will tell. For the moment, Rock seems
happy to engross himself in the technology on offer at Kings Hill: “Personally, I need to get my clubs to within half a degree of accuracy,” he
says. “It takes a lot of work to get the irons right because they oſten need a lot of adjusting. But it’s worth it – when I’m playing well my iron play is the best part of my game. “I only change my wedges when they wear out – like putters, they’re a
more personal part of your game. But I check the loſts quite oſten because they can alter through use. Sometimes my 54-degree wedge can get de- loſted and creep down to nearer 50 degrees for some reason.” Liam McDougall, who is in charge of TaylorMade Golf’s 17 performance
centres across Europe, is especially impressed with the way Rock gets to grips with the technical issues relating to the design and setting up of clubs. “Eighty per cent of the guys on Tour rely on the technicians to tweak their clubs, but all they know is whether it feels right or not,” he said. “We’ve got all the numbers on our monitors from Trackman, but numbers don’t give you feel. That’s why we need as much detailed feedback as possible
26 SGBGOLF
ver the past decade, Robert Rock has turned himself into one of the European Tour’s more consistent performers. Not quite a Rock star of Rory proportions, but a lot better than a journeyman. A
from players. Robert is different in this respect because he grew up working on clubs in a pro shop and can interpret his own data. That way, he gives us much more of the detail we need.” Rock concurs. “From that point of view maybe I’m ten years too old.
When you start out on Tour today, you’re surrounded by all this technology and you’ve never known anything else.” On this occasion, Rock’s priority is to identify a new driver. First up is the
new AeroBurner – “the airflow over the head makes it a lot faster to swing”. Then comes the R15, “which is already very popular on Tour”. Aſter a few strikes, a quick switch of the weights is made in the sole and a towering fade is converted instantly into a straighter flight with a hint of draw. Indeed, it looks like this R15 will be in his bag for the rest of the season. “It gives me an extra 15 yards off the tee with a bit more control and that is too much to give up. The Tour’s driving stats, based on two holes per round, have me averaging around 296 yards with a carry of about 285 yards. I need all of that and more these days.”
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