Richie Ramsay reaps rewards of £15,000 TrackMan purchase

Richie Ramsay forked out around £15,000 to join golf's growing band of TrackMan owners but has wasted no time in seeing a return for '¨that significant investment in his game, writes Martin Dempster.

Richie Ramsay lines up a putt on the 18th green during the final round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Since buying the launch monitor, the 34-year-old has raked in around £55,000 from his opening two events in 2018 and is now aiming to build on that promising start in Malaysia this week.

“To be honest, I don’t want to say too much about my TrackMan because I’ll give them free advertising,” said Ramsay, laughing. “But, if you want to get the most out of your game, it is a smart thing to have as the margins are so fine in this game.

“Over the winter, I sat down and analysed everything that I did last year and, along with my coach, Ian Rae, we just felt I need to increase it by a little bit more.”

The three-time European Tour winner saw signs that he’d achieved that straight away with an encouraging performance in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship a fortnight ago and feels even more confident after then finishing joint-sixth in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday.

“I have no equipment contracts at all this year and buying myself a TrackMan on the strength of what I did last year [finishing 31st in the Race to Dubai] was an investment in my game as those one per cent gains are huge,” he added.

“It is even more important for Scottish players because we come from freezing conditions to warm conditions out in the UAE, so the ball flies completely differently and you need to be on top of distances and shot shapes.

“It sounds funny, but I see it as like a business that has a good year and has to then produce another product or improve a product and 
that’s exactly what I’m trying to do.”

Ramsay is among four Scots teeing up in this week’s $3 million Maybank Championship at Saujana in Malaysia, the others being Scott Jamieson, Marc Warren and Stephen Gallacher in a field that is headed by 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson.