- 28/05/2025
In the next episode of Monthly Meets, Dan Parker sits down with English journeyman tour pro Robert Rock who is arguably known for having one of the best golf swings on tour as well as overcoming Tiger Woods in his prime to win the 2012 HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. He talks about qualifying for the US Open at Pinehurst No.2, his golf swing philosophy, how he plans to spend his retirement from playing professionally and, of course, that famous week in the desert.
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00:00I thought I was good. I got my first handicap at 27 so I wasn't because golf is difficult
00:04and changing your swing is even harder. Actually I'm hitting it better than this guy. Then I panicked
00:09because I knew what I'd sign myself up for. Thomas Bjorn sent me a message saying don't
00:13make a fool of yourself and I wanted hopefully at the end of it for him to maybe go he's all right
00:20there. Right Robert thanks for joining us on Monthly Meets. You've been back in the news
00:31this year with your US Open qualification. You've had a couple of months to sort of reflect
00:36on that now, that period. What are your reflections on it and that sort of couple of weeks of
00:42golf? Well it was a brilliant experience. It was something I obviously hadn't planned on
00:47doing at all this year. I retired in 22 and I would have liked to have retired but still
00:57play the odd event but that wasn't possible so I played a qualifier and I got in which
01:04I didn't think I would get in that at all but the point of the qualifier was just getting
01:09me to play amongst a great field which is it's always a great field at Walton Heath and at
01:14the Open qualifiers. It was a chance to see where my game was at after a couple of years
01:19out. Played with a good pal James Morrison and we just had a good day. Both played well.
01:24I played better than I thought I was going to. Well actually putted better than I thought
01:28I was going to. I was hitting the ball pretty similar to how I do if I put a bit of, a little
01:34bit of practicing. And then that took me to Pinehurst which of all US Open venues now, that'sā¦
01:40Was that right up there for you? It's the best tournament I've ever been to.
01:44Really? Yeah, I was really surprised. I'd not been a massive fan of American golf events
01:49up to that point. Played two US Opens before that. And they were just, they're just hard.
01:55But Pinehurst was different. Pinehurst is, I can see how vast that area is and how many
02:03golf courses, how many great golf courses there are and how it's just a golfing area, right,
02:07great weather. So it's difficult to not like it. And it was a really, really tough test,
02:12which I wish I'd been able to try when I was playing my best. I mean, I played, I played
02:17really well the first day, but I wasn't tournament practiced for, playing 72 holes is hard, right.
02:23And I sort of forgot a little bit of how demanding a full week's major tournament is. And I was
02:31exhausted. So after the first round, I just had very little left in the tank for the second
02:35day. Second day was even hotter. Course was a little bit firmer, but the golf I played
02:42between the two days was so similar. One was level par, which felt like six or seven under
02:47par. And then the second day ended up being nine over, which felt like only two or three
02:53shots worse, right. But obviously a lot worse, but still a great experience to have played another
03:00major. Yeah. And obviously that wasn't part of the plan initially. It sounded like the qualification
03:03was just to... I don't recommend trying a major after two years out. It's not the smartest thing
03:09in the world to do. That's why I'm always so surprised, right. Because you did the qualification
03:12sort of on a whim, I guess, a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. And you happened to fall into it.
03:16Yeah. Then I panicked. Then you... Because I knew what I was... I knew what I'd sign myself
03:21up for, right. And you're two years out playing against the best players on a really hard course.
03:28You can make yourself look a bit daft. And Thomas Bjorn sent me a message saying,
03:33don't make a fool of yourself. That's what you want to hear, isn't it?
03:36That was Thomas saying, well done, I think in a way, but... And then I thought, yeah, he's right.
03:42So I panicked practice for three weeks and managed to get one decent round in. So I was quite happy with
03:46that. Well, it was brilliant. And it was great to watch. And so it's coming from the back of that
03:50retirement you spoke about. I've seen a lot of great athletes and other people retire from sport
03:55recently, Andy Murray fairly recently. And I just want to sort of get into your mind about the
04:00retirement process. Like where did the decision come from? How quickly, how long did it take you
04:05to decide that and why? And what's the transition like from professional sport to not doing that?
04:11That's a good question. It was more timing in life rather than me saying that my golf game wasn't
04:19up to it anymore. It was basically my son. He's now 16, but he was 14 when I chose to stop completely.
04:30But in the previous years, I was slowing down, trying to play every other week so that I could
04:35be at home and take him to his football because he's a really keen footballer. And we've been playing,
04:40we've been going to Chesterfield now, which is part of their academy. We've been going there for
04:43four years. So it was trying to slow down enough that I could do that. But then the football training
04:53gets more and more intense and I needed to be there all the time. So I decided to put, I thought when
05:00he got to the sort of 15 age group, that'd be when it gets a bit more serious and can't afford to miss
05:06anything. So I thought that's a good time to stop. And the COVID time gave me a little bit of a break
05:13that I needed because I did nearly 20 years straight. So that gave everyone a little bit
05:19of time at home, didn't we, thinking about stuff. And it also gave me a rest because I actually really
05:25hurt my thumb, my left thumb, and I was battling through that. And then that period allowed it to
05:32heal. So I started that back up quite fresh. And then we, I think we overplayed during COVID.
05:38We played nearly every week, didn't we? And that sort of made me want to tone it down a bit. So
05:45yeah, I decided 22 was time to stop. I'm sure during that COVID period,
05:48golf wasn't that much fun. It was the perks weren't there that you were having when you're normally on
05:53tour and there's crowds and there's everything that comes with an event. All the cool bits disappeared.
05:57Yeah. So it's sort of like, maybe we'll take a rest there then. And how are you finding it then?
06:02How have you found that transition into not playing professionally?
06:04It's difficult. Yeah?
06:05Difficult. Every time I see people now that are retiring from sport early, I fully understand
06:13what they're probably going to go through in the next year or two. My first year I panicked and sort of
06:18threw myself into almost everything to try and fill the time and feel like I was busy,
06:24which I shouldn't have done. And now I think I've found a little bit better balance in what I'm
06:30doing. But it's what gets you out of bed every morning. Right. Yeah.
06:36And I didn't want to, I'm not very good at sitting around doing nothing. So, and I really enjoyed
06:42hitting balls. I really enjoyed practicing and I'm glad I finished without actually really
06:49disliking golf. Yeah. You've not fell out of love with the sport at all. No. So I'm really,
06:56really grateful that I actually managed to call time on it a little bit early, keep some of the
07:01interest there. Yeah. And now I still hit balls when I can and try and play the odd little
07:08one or two day event. But yeah, still like playing. Yeah. Well, that's good. And we'll come on to sort of
07:14what you're doing now and the future for you in a little bit, but I want to take you right back,
07:18right, right back. When did you first pick up a golf club and why? And at what point in your
07:23youth did you realize that golfing some guys was going to be your career?
07:28I think I just picked up some old clubs in that I found in our shed at home. They were,
07:35I didn't even know what they were actually. I think one was probably a putter. Yeah. It didn't look like
07:39much of a potter, but it was a potter. And I think the other one might have been a nine or a six iron.
07:43And I don't, I think I can remember not knowing which way around the number was supposed to be.
07:47I think that's, that's, that's about right. So, uh, start with those. And then there was a few
07:53people in my area played, um, wasn't my family's game. They didn't play. Okay. But I had some friends
07:59that played. We had a local course at the, at the town played a bit. That was just a nine hole par three
08:06course. Actually, no, sorry. It was a nine hole, but it was a short course. Had threes and fours.
08:11Yeah. Played that for a year, year or more. Joined a club at 13. Thought I was good. Got my first
08:19handicap at 27. So I wasn't. That comes down quickly though. Yeah. And then, yeah. And then a few years
08:25later I was down to sort of five handicap and got on well with the assistant pros. And they told me what
08:33the PGA training was all about and what standard you needed to be to start that. Yes. And then
08:38that's when it became clear, well, this is something I can actually do. It might not mean that I make
08:42money out of actually playing golf and winning competition money, but I could be a club pro.
08:47I could be a teaching pro. Um, so then that route was pretty obvious. Yeah. And that, and that was
08:54something that appealed to you then, you know, forgetting obviously the tour stuff that came later,
08:57that probably wasn't part of the plan initially teaching and coaching the game. Something that appealed
09:02to you pretty quickly. I hadn't had a coach up to that point, give or take a few little
09:08maybe county lessons or the assistant pros helping me out. Um, but physically didn't have a permanent
09:14coach cause it just, that just wasn't an option. So I studied a lot of the game, but I read as much
09:20as I could at that point. And I would always try and probably annoyingly so past that little bits
09:26that I thought I'd figured out onto me mates you were playing with. So I was that start of your
09:31teaching. I was that fellow. Yeah. That was doing that. Um, but that, that made me think that,
09:37well, I, I quite like figuring stuff out and trying, seeing if it works for other people,
09:42cause that's different. Something works for me, doesn't necessarily work for you. Uh, and trying
09:46to find the link of all those things is, is quite, was quite interesting. So I knew I could be a coach
09:51or I could try to be a coach that way. Um, and I know it could be a club pro. Yeah. So, you know,
09:57you're one of the few sort of people who went through that route and then made it onto the tour.
10:01Why do you think so few sort of actually have that breakthrough and, and what would you,
10:06what kind of advice would you give to the people doing that course right now or yourself back in
10:10the day to, to help that push through that extra little bit?
10:14I was always desperately, desperately searching ways to make my golf better.
10:21I think I had written off a playing career because I wasn't as good as some of the key
10:25players at my age group. So, but I, I was interested enough to just keep
10:31studying and practicing. Um, and when you're working in golf, initially you don't get time.
10:37So you're in the shop or you're teaching and you don't have time to practice. So my game took a little
10:42bit of a backseat for a while, even though I was still always reading and, and trying to find out more
10:48info, um, I didn't have time to play or practice. And then when I became qualified, then, and I became
10:55self-employed, then the whole world's your own, isn't it? It's how much you put into it. And
11:00I was able to, to coach at certain times in the day and then, and then practice the rest of the day.
11:09And I practiced from that point onwards where I was probably, what would I have been? Um, I think I
11:15was around 19, 20. I practiced every hour I could find. Yeah. It's constant. I hit millions of balls.
11:25Yeah. And I just got, I just kept getting better and better and kept winning different things
11:30in the assistant pros game or in the, in the Midlands pros, which we're at now. Um,
11:36and then there was some good players in the Midlands that, that were ex tour players. And I
11:41just started to gauge my game off those. And, and then, then I got my chance to play in tour events
11:46and it went well. Now that was the, that was the key part is those went well. Yeah. It's not your ideal
11:52route to the tour. Right. And it's not one that I don't think if you're serious about playing the tour,
11:57you should really chase cause it's too difficult. Um, but I hadn't got real dreams of playing the
12:04tour at that point. I just played well, qualified for these events. And then I played well in these
12:09events cause I was really prepared for them and things went my way, but having a serious mind on
12:16tournaments, you've got to go through mini tours, tour school, challenge tour, DP world tour, play your way through.
12:24Right. So just touching on that then, and you're sort of the way you learned the game and were taught
12:30the game. I saw you saying in another interview that you used to collect golf magazines and read
12:34them religiously, golf monthly included. Yes. So thank you for reading that back in the day.
12:37You're welcome. I bought a lot of those. I'm sure you still do now.
12:39My mum bought me a lot of those. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a mountain of them.
12:42And so, you know, would you call yourself a real student of the game? Did you always have that
12:47sort of thirst for knowledge on the swing of, of how the game works, the intricacies of it all? Was that
12:52always a little sort of bug in your mind? Yeah. Yeah. It was, I think I was fascinated by the swing
13:01and golf magazines were really the only access point at that time. Right. So you do your little
13:07pieces where you were chatting to people about their swings or you do the swing sequences in the
13:12magazines, which the ones that I liked, I sort of saved in particular magazines. And I built a whole
13:20little, my own sort of volumes of magazines that were the bits that I liked, whether it had been,
13:27whether it had been Faldo, Seve, Woosnam, David Ledbetter. What else would there have been? Like
13:35Greg Norman. Just all your features on the players that I liked, how they played. And then you try and
13:44find some common ground, which is a lot easier these days, but doing it, the magazine pictures was hard.
13:51So I loved it. That's it, isn't it? That's why I always thought you were a bit of a student of it.
13:55You clearly enjoyed that. Um, obviously nowadays we've got YouTube, the internet, thousands of
14:01sources for golf swings. It's too easy now. Yeah. Right. Too easy. Would you have used YouTube,
14:06I've got two questions here. Would you have used YouTube back in the day? Absolutely. It would
14:09save me years. So years of sort of, you know, archiving stuff. And, but do you think it's a
14:14good, useful resource as good as it was back in the day, if not better? Um, it's better because
14:19everything, everything's on there. It's on your phone. You can, you can go through it slowly and
14:26you can see the missing gaps that in your original swing sequences, we would, there'd be big chunks
14:32missing because the cameras wouldn't pick them out or you wouldn't be able to publish a, I don't know,
14:39like a 30 frame sequence, would you? It'd take up too many pages. Exactly. So, but the YouTube and
14:46slow-mo video that everyone's got on their phones now makes it, makes it so easy. And all the bits that
14:51I figured out for myself are now pretty much on YouTube or on your phones for free. You did the hard
15:01work. I feel like I did. I probably would have liked to have, I don't know, I'm just probably,
15:06probably wrong. So I wouldn't have liked to have done that because that's what, that's what really
15:09got my interest every day. It's part of it. And I think it was anything, any hobby or interest you
15:13have, it's the, I wouldn't be in this point now if I hadn't have done that. Yeah. Put it that way.
15:17So where does your philosophy on the golf swing come from? Who are the sort of coaches and the sort of
15:23people in the swing thoughts that you latched onto early doors and kept throughout your career?
15:27It was probably a combination of all those people that I mentioned and more. Some random
15:35swings that I think, well, that's interesting. That looks good. Why does that look good to me?
15:40Right. And I think simplicity is the best thing. I'm trying to remove, I wanted a, what I was searching
15:49for, I think when I was younger was a standard golf swing. Right. And there wasn't one.
15:54A blueprint. Yeah. Like, cause everyone had their own little bits that they put in that
15:58make their swing look like them. Um, and I wanted to compare mine to something and I didn't know
16:07what that was. And I felt like there was something or there ought to be something there a bit more
16:12basic than, um, or a bit more human than just a golf robot. Right. I thought there must be
16:18someone somewhere that is close to what we might eventually say is the easiest way to swing the
16:27club. So that's all I was looking for and trying to strip out the little bits from each pro player
16:33that I think didn't maybe didn't add too much, but there was just unique to them. And they try and
16:40just find a lot of common ground really. That's all I was trying to do.
16:42I mean, you're quite regarded as having one of the better swings in the game. You know,
16:48do you think that yourself? Are you always trying to work on bits? Where have you pieced your swing
16:51together from over the years? It's, it's, it's from that. And if you'd say that, that you like my
16:57swing and my swing was just my swing and that was just how I hit balls and how I'd always hit balls,
17:02I'd take that as a compliment and that, but I wouldn't actually say that that was
17:06a particular great swing, swing as such, but I feel that my swing I've put together purposely.
17:14So it has to be what I want. Right. It would make no sense. Would it to build something that I didn't
17:20like? Right. So I like mine because I've put each bit together and I know how long it's took me and how
17:25hard it's been. Um, and, and it's not been easy and I don't find hardly any of it easy because golf is
17:31difficult and changing your swing is even harder. So it's a mixture of all great players, all bits
17:40that I think just make golf shots look simpler. It isn't, it isn't perfect. And if I could keep it
17:47in balls as much as I had done in the past, I think I'd probably add just a couple more bits to it,
17:53but I can't do my swing as fast as I used to. I would like to put my swing up now with the speed I
17:58might've had in my early twenties. And then I think that would be something that I'd really,
18:02really like. And I would, I would be more content with, but it's just took a long time. And then
18:08your body starts to give way a little body's certainly saying no at the moment. Yeah.
18:12Uh, so obviously you enjoy, uh, the teaching side of it, you know, is that,
18:19you know, the actual act of teaching yourself, taking golf out of it, passing on knowledge,
18:22helping others out. Is that something you've always sort of enjoyed and sought to do,
18:26or is it the golf that brings you there first? Yes. It's the golf. Yeah. It's the golf. I'd like,
18:30I'd like to be able to help people that are as keen as I am or was, um, at any stage. So whether
18:40they're just starting, but I can tell they're really keen and they want to, to learn stuff fast,
18:48or whether it's a pro that really is frustrated by something that, that they can't seem to change.
18:53Those are the bits that I find interesting. Um, and hopefully some of the bits that I've got,
18:59that, that I've learned and the movements that I've managed to practice and understand
19:05can just help somebody quickly. Right. That's what I want. I don't want to give lessons to say,
19:09I'll go away and practice for a month and it should work. I want, I want to see some pretty
19:15instantaneous changes if I can get them right. Yeah. That's the test for me. Yeah. Can I get it right
19:20straight away and change this guy's swing so that he changes what he doesn't like and starts hitting
19:27better shots? Yeah. Yeah. And that doesn't always mean lower scores, does it? But if I can change
19:31some, how somebody hits the ball straight away, then I feel like that they've probably gained
19:37something from coming to see me. And who in the modern game right now do you think has one of the
19:42best swings either aesthetically or just sort of mechanically? Everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone's got a
19:46good score because they're at that level. So it doesn't matter to you. That's the beauty of how
19:49things have changed, right? Everyone's got the access to everything. And if you haven't got a
19:53good swing, you ain't got much shape, I don't think these days, right? Because there's, there's thousands
19:58of people that got great swings, right? So you, all coaches have got, all coaches are getting more
20:04towards a standardised, ideal looking swing, I think. It's, it's easy to, to, to find the,
20:15the errors or the faults and it's, and it's, it's easier now to put them, put them together. So
20:21very, very rarely see a pro with a bad looking swing these days, especially on the tours. Yeah.
20:26Right. Yeah. And even people watching amateur golfers at home, if they're getting around and they're
20:30enjoying the game. Yeah. And they're scoring how they want to score. That's a good swing to you
20:34in a way, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Swing your swing kind of vibe. Yeah. Well, if you're,
20:38if you're subscribed to, most people nowadays can hit drivers pretty well. Yeah. Right. Our young
20:43juniors can all hit drive as well. Quite often now the starters that are kind enough to start all
20:49the kids off. So watched all day and didn't, didn't see any bad drives. And you don't like,
20:53because the driver's easy, right? His driver's easy. They're not going to whack a driver.
20:57Yeah. Basically. Yeah. Cause you've only got to get it airborne,
21:00hit it somewhere on the face. It goes a reasonable way, doesn't it? So that part isn't,
21:06isn't really the skill anymore. Um, but yeah. So, uh, before we start wrapping up and talk about the
21:13future and why we're here today, um, back to the sort of, uh, the heyday of your career,
21:18I guess at 2010 to 2012 period, tied seventh at the 2010 open, won the Italian open,
21:24beat tiger at the HP championship in 2012. Um, what about your game in that couple of years was firing
21:31so well to allow you to be so successful? Can you, was there something in particular?
21:35My eye on play was really, really good. Yeah. Yeah. That was the bit I tried to
21:40build and in from, from 2005 to 2008 was where I really sort of rejigged my swing a little bit.
21:48And that took, that's where I hit the most balls. And that's the period in 2008,
21:53I started to feel like I'm hitting some really nice shots here and I understand what I'm doing.
21:58And my iron play is getting really good. And my, my short game and putting wasn't really as,
22:02as good as it probably is now, actually, it's probably better now, but, uh, my iron play was good.
22:07I used to do it close, like almost to inside three feet, a couple of times around. Yeah.
22:13Whether that be with a medium to short iron, but I used to count on that. And that, and that,
22:19that was how I put my rounds together. And from 2008 onwards, my confidence just got better and
22:25better with how I was playing. And then I started to like how I was playing, right? Which I didn't
22:31before. And that was important. I started to feel like I was a, I was a pro.
22:35So was that like a mindset thing? Like you didn't feel like you're quite a bit of imposter syndrome
22:38sort of thing. Didn't feel like I belonged there or did you feel like I could go and
22:42get over the line? No, trying to win tournaments. Right.
22:44I felt like I was on the tour and I could probably stay on the tour, but I was in that lower part of
22:51it where you're really looking at the order of merit at the end of the year to see if you kept your card.
22:57That was difficult. Yeah. I didn't want to stay there. Um, cause it was taking a lot of work,
23:02a lot of traveling, not earning loads of money, doing okay, but not nothing that was probably
23:08I couldn't earn actually just staying put. So, but from 2008, I started to feel some signs where
23:15actually I'm hitting it better than this guy. He's winning tournaments. Right.
23:17I'm, my time might come. Um, and then that progressed into actually having chances to,
23:26to win, messing up in the final round or final two rounds, but continuing to play good, really good golf.
23:34So that 2012 event, the HB Championship, you played with Tiger. I saw an interview you said,
23:39sort of going into that at the time, you were like, if anything, I'm going to have a front row seat here to a
23:43Tiger Woods round of golf and potentially a win. Right. Was that always, we just sort of touched
23:48on it there though. Was that your mindset of being the underdog slightly in those situations?
23:53And was that something you sort of reveled in? In other tournaments, even the tournament before
23:58that, I played really well and felt like I had a chance to win and, and, and was pushing myself.
24:03I'd, I'd, I'd won a tournament in Italy a few months before. Yeah. Um, no, albeit that didn't
24:09have the same sort of marquee players as the Abu Dhabi one did, but I was getting closer and I'd
24:16got to 20 under par, which had, which was a milestone for me. Right. That's a big number.
24:20That's a big number, isn't it? Right. And, and lots of tournaments get to 20 under,
24:23but you've got to get to 20 under. You've got to be there. You've got to get there.
24:26You've got to be the one that gets it. Yeah. And that, and that means playing well,
24:29four days, hole in putts for four days, keeping your scoring boots on, not slowing down, not 18
24:37pars in your last round. Don't do it. Right. So, um, but then Abu Dhabi came along and I knew I was
24:43playing all right. I actually played one of my best rounds on the Saturday before I played with Tiger.
24:47And, uh, I just wanted to play okay on Sunday so that I wasn't in the way or didn't feel in the way.
24:57I wanted to watch him do his thing. And I wanted, hopefully at the end of it, for him to maybe go,
25:03no, he was all right, player. That was your goal going into it. Pretty much. Yeah.
25:07Pretty much. Just not make a hash of it. And could I take everything that I'd learned up to that point,
25:16like being on my own, hitting balls on my own, building my swing that I, I liked, could I actually
25:22trust it and get it to work under that sort of pressure, which was something I'd never felt
25:27before. That's mad. What, what a sort of, uh, you know, everything's led to this moment kind of
25:31feeling, right? All you've done, all the balls you'd hit, the swing you'd built to the final round.
25:35Wasn't interested in winning. No. Not interested. You were just wanting to do...
25:38And you shouldn't be, right? And that's probably, if you do, you might not, you're not going to perform
25:42as well sort of thing. Well, I guess the people that were much better ranked than me, if you're a top
25:4710 player in the world and you're playing with Tiger Woods, you're trying to prove a point, aren't you?
25:50You're right. Yeah. And you're trying to see, how am I good enough? I didn't think for a second
25:58that was, that was my approach. My approach was just, just, just see if you can play your golf,
26:03right? Yeah. See where that puts you, right? It might put you, hopefully I can still perform
26:09a decent round and I honestly didn't care where I finished. And that worked though, didn't it? And so
26:13was that quite gratifying to go in with that mindset and just to go, you know, I just want to
26:17do what I've done, go through the process I've done for all these years in this situation.
26:21How gratifying was that to then actually get over the line at the end of it?
26:23I basically just wanted to play the first few holes well, you know what I mean? And not just
26:27ruin the day with all the people watching thinking, and have people go, oh, he's just crumbled straight away,
26:33right? I didn't want to be that fella. Yeah. And then, but the first few holes I played,
26:38I played brilliant. I was three ahead after six. And then I thought, this is too good now not to
26:45finish this off. So was it at that point you went, okay, let's forget the mindset from the
26:49first tee. We've had a good start. I've got three shots on him. Let's see if I can give him a good
26:55run to the end. Um, I still expected to lose, right? But I thought, right, I'm going to be,
27:01I'm going to be neck and neck then on the back nine. And that is just priceless. Yeah.
27:05So I kept waiting and waiting for this big moment, you know, that you always did where he would chip
27:12in or hold a long pot or something. And it just didn't happen. Might be one of the only occasions
27:17and he played in the lead in the final round in the final group and didn't, didn't actually do
27:22something like that. So I felt very lucky. I hit some magic shots right at the end. And there was two iron
27:29shots that, so I started off the round trying to think, can I actually just hit a normal drive,
27:36get it on the fairway, right? A bit, but as basic as that. And then I got, can I hit a wedge off this
27:41tight lie and not duff it and look like a, whatever. Um, and I got through that process thing, right,
27:47I can actually hit balls now. I'm all right. I'm comfortable. I can tick along today and be okay.
27:50And then I'm three ahead after six. And then we, I think I lost, lost one, one shot early on in the
27:58back nine, maybe the 12th or 13th. But anyway, on the 14th, I just did one of our best fairway
28:04bunker shots ever to, well, the best fairway bunker shot I've ever hit to 15 foot with a seven iron,
28:11which I struck absolutely perfect. I'll never forget the feeling. I was, I'm still over it thinking,
28:16I haven't had one of those. Can I hit this properly? And I struck it, not just like clean or
28:21normal. I just hit it perfect. That one where you feel like you've hit it kind of flush.
28:26This is the moment where I'll just determine whether I've got a chance of winning this or not.
28:30Because it could, I mean, it was a nice shot, but it could have come down a little short in
28:33the bunker. It could have gone over the green and it come down 15 foot away. I thought, right,
28:38I've got all that. Yeah. And now I've got a really good chance. And then the 15th,
28:42I hit an even better shot with a five iron, which landed pretty much within a couple of yards as
28:47where I was trying to land it. My standard sort of faded iron shot at the time. But as soon as
28:53I started my downswing, I knew I did a good shot. And that was, that's the best feeling
28:59from hitting all the balls my whole life. Yeah. I knew, I knew this is good.
29:05So it sounds like then you did have, my next question was, did you have a chance during that
29:08back nine to enjoy it, to take it in, to realise I'm going toe-to-toe with Tiger Woods here in a
29:13pretty big tournament? I totally enjoyed that bit. Oh, brilliant. That's great though.
29:16Even, but even hitting those shots, I still have to hold the putts. Of course.
29:21Putting wasn't my area at all. So is that a little bit sometimes a bit?
29:24I felt like I was in control early on with how I was hitting it, but I didn't know whether I was going
29:29to hold putts. Yeah. So those two iron shots, they still had 15, 20 foot putts to hold,
29:33which I could have easily missed. I could have three-putted them. Yeah.
29:37The way I've putted in my life, right. But I hold both of them and that put me right in it.
29:44And I was still expecting an eagle on the last or whatever. Just didn't come. Just didn't come, no.
29:50But what a, what a crowning achievement for your career then. Would you, would you have said overall,
29:55I think I've got my, I've got your start down here, but I can't see in the sun,
29:57465 events over 25 years. Would you have said what you've come out with the other end was an
30:03overachieving career, an underachieving career or something about right? If you take that one
30:08day out, I'd have been really disappointed. That they capped it all off. Wow. That's huge.
30:16It's a nice way to reflect on it though, isn't it? Yeah. I feel lucky that I grafted for that long and
30:21got, you get, the game gives you stuff in random times and you don't, and you don't know what you're going to get.
30:27Do you? Yeah. But I got that out of it. Brilliant. And so like I said, 465 starts
30:32on the tour, European tour sort of journeyman, I guess, absolute warhorse for the tour. Were you
30:37sort of like a proud European tour member and what's your reflection on the way it's developed
30:41now into the DP world tour and how it now sits in the sort of hierarchy of professional golf?
30:47Yeah. I always, I always call myself a European tour player. I'm not a massive fan of the name change,
30:54but such is life in it. And not overly proud of what's going on with pro golf at the moment. Yeah.
31:03So I'm sort of a little bit glad that I've been out of the, the chats on the range must be tedious
31:11every week now. So I'm, I'm not involved in that and that's quite a good thing. Where it all sits,
31:17I have no idea. And it's way above my, way above my head to sort that out. And you know, if, if I
31:25were to give you the war chest and I could, I could put it all out in front of you. Yeah. Professional
31:30golf. Yeah. Have you had a thought on how you might like to see it work? Is there something that you want
31:36to see happen either reversing what's happened recently or back to the way it was? Is there
31:42something you've seen that I do that or are you just sort of trying to keep away? I'm not bothered.
31:46Keep away. Yeah. They can, they can, they're doing a good job messing it all up on their own. I don't
31:51need to get involved in that. It was cool when I started. I loved the job when I started. I loved it
31:57all the way through till probably, I don't know, 2015, 16-ish. And I think when the European tour got
32:06its Rolex series off the ground and we missed, we missed stars coming to play. Yeah. And it was sad
32:14that we had to keep paying them to turn on. But that's, I think that's just sport, isn't it? So, yeah.
32:21So lastly then, Robert, we spoke about your retirement and, and, and how that's all been. What's the future
32:26for you now? We're at the Belfry today. It's the final Robert Rock Junior tour. What's, how's that
32:32come about? What's it all about? And how do you see it going forward and your kind of involvement in it?
32:36So it's something I wanted to do, um, always really, but trying to put good events on while I was playing
32:45the tour was pretty possible. Yeah. Um, so Natalie Haywood, who's a PGA golf pro from, she was from
32:52Derby at the time. She, she approached me and said, could she run a few trial junior events, which I
32:59said, absolutely. Let's, let's see what we can do. So seven years later, we've now got last,
33:05we've had, we had 25 events. Yeah. Uh, we started doing international ones. We're doing world ranking
33:10ones. We're doing mini tour events, which is, let's see, putting the T's halfway down the fairway and
33:16getting driving range kids to come and have a taste. Like I said, what's the age range of people that
33:20play? It's everything. Like five upwards to, we will be doing under 21s next year. Yeah. Um,
33:28and then because of the places that I was going to whilst Natalie was running this,
33:31I managed to T places like this and some other great courses that we go to. Uh, and I wanted the
33:37juniors to have a taste of playing great courses with a load of other juniors, uh, of all different
33:45standards, um, and feel like they're part of a sort of a big, big group. Yeah. And it's gone really,
33:52really well. Like people have really got on board with it. The Belfry have been awesome. We've got
33:56Callaway, Ping, Adidas, Titleist, PGA. Yeah. DP World Tour. They're all, all involved and supporting.
34:05Um, I haven't forgot somebody there and I tend to when I'm doing these things. We can add it in if you
34:10haven't. Well, hopefully add it in. Thank you to those people. Yeah. Thank you to everyone that's
34:13doing it because it's, it's hard because obviously you can make a great event if you charge people
34:18loads of money because you just buy everything. Yeah. But for, I wanted it to be the cheapest junior
34:25tour going around the best courses with good prizes. Yeah. So we've asked a lot off all the
34:31manufacturers and they've all been just incredible. They give us so much stuff to, to make sure it's a
34:37nice prize table, prize table for the price point that doesn't look like we can afford it.
34:43Yeah. So it's, um, um, I've put quite a bit into it and now it, now it sort of ticks over nicely.
34:49So it's packed here today for the finals. We're packed. This is, this, sorry, I should have said,
34:53this is the British junior British masters. Got you. So I wanted that to be sort of a
34:59preceding event to the British masters, which is in a couple of weeks, which is a couple of weeks time.
35:03All these kids will be coming to watch. Nice. Um, last year I dragged a group
35:07and more up and down the range. They met a few of the players. They were able to watch quite close.
35:13Um, so they're going to get to play the course. They're going to see the, the big guys play on
35:18in a couple of weeks. I did, I did that. Proper tee boards up, like the, as you would see at a tour
35:25event, but slightly sort of scaled for the tees. Um, and then they're doing all the staging work
35:30already, aren't they? The, the, the grandstands are going up. So the course is looking great. Um,
35:35yes, they get to see it in a real, in tournament format. So hopefully that I would have loved that
35:41when I was younger. Right. Right. I came to play here in a, in a four, four ball event with a mate
35:48just in the winter. And that felt like I was playing a, a great course that had to ride a cup.
35:54Right. It was not even close to the right time, but now they're playing it two weeks before. So
35:58we go to, yeah, loads and loads of great courses. So massive thank you to all the courses that
36:04don't charge us very much. Some let us have it for free. Right. That's what you want to see though,
36:08that kind of community building around it. And is that what inspired you to do it? It's like,
36:12I'd love this as a kid. Yeah. And here's a great opportunity. It's, it's better than a, it's like a,
36:17um, it's like a collection of all the junior opens you might play around the best courses, but you're
36:22playing them as part of a series and you can play. It's, it's all contextualized. Yeah. And you can
36:28play at any stage. So you don't have to handicap. Oh really? Yeah. Jeez. Brilliant. Well, and so
36:34we got that, we got the tour still doing your teaching, obviously. Yeah. Do bits of teaching
36:38here and there, not too much. I'm doing one in a minute. I've got you in 10 minutes.
36:43He'll be warming up. Um, and then what else am I doing? My son's a keen footballer. He's signed for
36:50Chesterfield. And you've had to learn football. I've had to learn football. Where are you at with
36:53that now? It's still pretty poor. I would say around there. Have you picked a team? You're just a
36:56Chesterfield fan? I'm Chesterfield now. Yeah. Chesterfield. Chesterfield. Yeah. Yeah. I
37:02probably, I reckon I'm like a 20 handicap. Oh, 20 handicap football IQ. Yeah. Okay. Maybe, maybe
37:08worse. Do you like football? It's a case of safe space. I forgot it was a golf YouTube channel. Yeah,
37:12no, I didn't used to, I didn't used to get it, but now I get starting to see the tactics behind it. And
37:19I'm starting to see the, that some footballers that I've met through golf, they use loads of golf in
37:26terminology when they're describing how they kick a ball. So I can do that. Yeah. Are you like
37:30picking out a footballer, kicking a ball and getting your swing mechanic brain on and going? I did that
37:34the other day with David on his free kicks. Yeah. Yeah, I did. I was like, what, why is that,
37:38what's that making that spin like that? Right. Cause your foot isn't flat, is it? Right. So I was trying,
37:43trying to work that out. You can't switch off, can you? No, no, no. But yeah, it, I don't know.
37:48Yeah. It's, it's interesting, but I'm enjoying it. So with all of that then, lastly, what do you
37:53think and what would you want your legacy in the game to be? Is it a greater sum of your playing career?
37:58Is it the stuff that you're going to be doing with your juniors in the next, you know, however long?
38:02What do you think your legacy, Robert Rock will be in the game of golf? Not bothered. Not bothered?
38:06Not bothered. Just keep going. People will make their own minds up. Yeah. I'll be dead.
38:11Nice cheery way to end. We've got the same stylists. Hopefully my swing will be on YouTube for a
38:17while so people can take that and use that as they please. So when we're all dead,
38:21Yeah. Even you watching, we'll still watch it. My swing will be on YouTube, hopefully, yeah.
38:25We'll all be dressed the same. Don't delete it. Yeah, we'll wear our stuff. We'll wear our stuff in the
38:29beautiful heat. But Robert, thank you for joining us at Monthly Meats. Really appreciate it.
38:32All the best. Thank you. Pleasure.
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