Taming the instinct of a wild thing

Five years ago a young man came down from the big camp on the river to a much bigger camp by the bay called Melbourne. A talent had been spotted in the Aboriginal-named Wahgunyah on the Murray river which separates Victoria from New South Wales. There was no golf course in this town of about 200 people. Golfers had to settle for a neighbouring sand-scrape course. James McLean's rare golfing talent was not going to develop too far on this course where the greens are a sand and oil mix which need to be constantly smoothed over. If your ball landed on the green it would bounce a further 50 yards. So it would be hard to hone golfing skills that demand accuracy of approach shots.

So McLean was relocated to Melbourne, became a member of the Southern Golf Club with, ironically, arguably the best putting surfaces in the famous sandbelt area of Melbourne and enlisted in the Development Elite program of the Australian Institute Of Sport. The young Victorian had obvious talent which needed to be disciplined. He had a wild looping swing which resulted in the ball travelling at high velocity, destination unknown. So the wild thing from the bush arrived in Sandringham, the headquarters for the golf division of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). The Australian government, through some gentle persuaders like Ross Herbert, recognised the necessity of early grooming for young players so when they arrived on the professional scene they would not be overawed by their surroundings.

Herbert recognised the deficiencies in McLean's swing and went about rebuilding it, much like David Leadbetter did with Nick Faldo in the mid-80s.

While the modern game demands that players hit the ball hard and long, this must be combined with control. Nick Faldo is a classic example of a good player who spent his whole career trying to hit the ball with control and not force.

Unfortunately for Nick the game has moved on. Just as he has perfected his controlled approach, the power now rests with the long and controlled exponents of the game. I had the opportunity to observe this new talent from Down Under. McLean has been living until now in the shadow of the two other young hopefuls from Australia, Aaron Baddeley and Adam Scott, also products of the AIS. McLean has the potential with some fine tuning to be better than either of them. Being somewhat out of the spotlight has probably worked in his favour so far.

Michael Clayton, the veteran player turned golf writer and commentator along with running an active course design business, is also a very good talent scout. He asked me if I would be interested in caddying for a young hopeful in the Victorian Open at the Cranbourne Golf Club, south of Melbourne last week.

Clayton figured McLean needed someone on the other side of the bag keeping a tight rein on his destructive instincts. The idea of getting a chance to impart some advice to a talented player interested me, so I spent a very enjoyable week caddying for James at the Victorian Open.

McLean hits the ball 300 yards with his three wood. He is certainly the most impressive player I have ever worked for. I mentioned to his new coach after the third round that McLean's wedge play was inferior in comparison to the rest of his game. McLean spent the next morning, before coming to the course for the final round of the competition, working with his coach on the four wedges he carries. He shot 64, a course record, to finish third. He did not cure his wedge play overnight but he did show he was prepared to do whatever it takes to improve.

It was an emotional week for McLean. Herbert, his coach and mentor in his formative years, died of cancer the previous week. Ross was only 41 and dedicated to McLean.

Herbert was still coaching his student from a chair set in the shade of the range at the Sandringham AIS base a couple of weeks before he passed away. He was too weak to stand.

Despite the fact McLean spent three years in the University Of Minnesota in the US he always came back to Herbert for lessons. Whatever future success is in store for him I have no doubt he will attribute much of it to the encouragement of Ross Herbert.