Justin Rose hopes to "trend towards" Roger Federer
Justin Rose admits he doesn't take inspiration from other golfers but looks at tennis superstar Roger Federer as someone to look up to.
Ask most professional golfers who they look to for inspiration and you'll find some common answers. Some players had heroes growing up, like how Jon Rahm looked up to Seve Ballesteros, while some want to emulate the likes of Tiger Woods, who dominated the sport for years and came back from career threatening injuries to win another major championship. Ask Justin Rose a similar question and his answer is a little different...
The former world number one has been in the news lately after he was spotted using a bag of new clubs, even though he has a contract with HONMA Golf and although we still don't know what's going on with his equipment deal, we now know who Rose takes inspiration from and it's not a golfer.
In a recent interview with Forbes, the Englishman said that he'd like to trend towards Roger Federer towards the end of his career, adapting his game to suit his strengths.
“I don’t take inspiration from other golfers as much," Rose said. "Tennis is one area. I love to watch Roger Federer play tennis, and if I could trend toward that—clearly I’m not going to win 20 (golf) majors the way Federer has won 20 Grand Slams, but if I could, I’d trend toward the end of my career as someone who plays freer and freer. Thing is, he had to evolve and learn to become that way over his career.
“Roger is at the back end of his career, so it’s incredibly effective. So yeah, I’m not going to be a 185mph ball speed guy and if I chase that, it is going to hurt me and it’s going to hurt my swing and body because you’ve got to reabsorb that force.
“But I can serve it 121 in the corners is kind of where I’m at. And for me, that’s like 172 - 175mph ball speed. I carry the ball 300, so if I can carry the ball 300 in the air, I can compete on any golf course against any player. So that’s kind of my benchmark.”
It's been a difficult year for Rose, who has struggled since his last victory at the start of 2019 when he claimed the Farmers Insurance Open.
Whether or not his HONMA equipment to blame is debatable, but it's clear that Rose isn't happy with something, hence why he has been trying a range of new clubs.
A statement from HONMA was expected last week but it seems there has been some kind of delay and now with the PGA Tour suspended for the next four weeks, we may have to wait even longer to get some answers.
