GEOFF OGILVY: The players I like to study

Walking past the range or the practice green at a tournament, it isn’t often I stop for more than a second or two but there are exceptions.

If Rory McIlroy is hitting balls – especially with his driver – I’ll take a few minutes to enjoy his swing. He is so impressive with the longer clubs in the bag. His shots make “that noise”, the distinctive crunch that confirms proper contact between club and ball.

When I was a kid growing up in Melbourne I attended maybe 25 events in which Greg Norman played. In probably 10 of those he was still using wooden woods. I would sit at the back of the range and watch him hit.

No one else’s shots sounded like his. They were just different. If I close my eyes, I can still hear the noise his shots made at impact. And Rory creates that same sort of sound when he hits the ball. It is just so square and so flush. He “squashes” the ball a little harder than anyone else.

Rory McIlroy is so impressive with the longer clubs in the bag. PHOTO: Getty Images

It’s fun to watch someone so “free,” one with no sort of “hang on” in his swing. Most people have that, but Rory doesn’t. When he is playing well, he releases the club so beautifully and hits the ball so hard. Plus, he’s the best player in the world. Why would I not watch him in the hope that his innate rhythm and timing will rub off on me?

All pros are like that. We are all constantly working on something in our games. Rightly or wrongly, we constantly chip away at things we don’t like in our actions. I know I do. And when I watch Rory, I look to see how he does whatever I am working on. I check him out. And I know a lot of other guys do too.

I hope this makes sense, but I like to look at Rory’s swing slightly “out of focus.” So I scrunch up my eyes a little. I want to sense the motion, rather than getting too caught up in the technical stuff like grip, ball position and posture. I don’t necessarily want to see where he has the club at the top of the backswing. It’s an overall feel of the flow and the rhythm and the sounds I’m really looking for, not positions. In other words, all the best parts of golf.

There is one other guy I pay particular attention to on the range.

In my view, Louis Oosthuizen has the most balanced and technically sound swing in the game right now. His method has a rare ease and nonchalance about it. He never looks rushed or stressed. I can’t help but look at what he does and think that’s how I want to play golf, at least with the full shots. It looks like fun to create such effortless power. Plus, he can move the ball both ways in the air. He’s one of the most versatile and complete players out there.

Louis Oosthuizen has the most balanced and technically sound swing in the game right now. PHOTO: Getty Images

When it comes to the short game, I must admit I don’t watch many guys around and on the practice green. There’s a good reason for that though. In my first couple of years as a pro on the European Tour I was spoiled in that respect – I got to watch Seve Ballesteros chip every day. And if he didn’t happen to be around I’d watch Jose Maria Olazabal.

No one in the game today has 50 percent of Seve’s short game. No one. Not even close. Chipping and pitching he just looked “right.” A man from Mars could drop out of the sky, watch every player on Tour chip a few and immediately point to Seve as “the guy.” He was the best.

Fellow players would gather around when Seve was practicing his short game. PHOTO: Getty Images.

Seve loved to show off too. He knew guys were watching him and he would play to his audience, hitting all kinds of different shots with almost every club in the bag. He was so happy when he was chipping and pitching and putting.

To be fair, Olazabal was/is the cooler of the two to watch out of bunkers. Jose can create spin or roll, anything to get the ball close. I know most amateurs live in awe of how good most pros are from bunkers. Well, from a pro’s perspective, that’s how I feel about Jose. He is amazingly good.

The only guy who comes close to the two Spaniards these days is Phil Mickelson. For a long time, Tiger Woods had the neatest and tidiest short game. But Phil has the most shots. Yes, he tends to mess up sometimes on the simple ones. But give Phil a tough chip – one where he fully engages – and the result is invariably stunning. He’s just so excited, which is how I feel watching him.