Exclusive:Scottish golfer links up with top coach and also hires legendary looper

Grant Forrest has enlisted the combined 148-year experience of two legendary figures in golf in a bid to hit the heights in 2025 and is happy that neither are the type to “blow smoke up my a***!”

The 31-year-old is now working with Pete Cowen, one of the game’s best-known coaches, and also has Dave McNeilly, who holds a similar standing in the caddying ranks, on his bag.

Grant Forrest chats with his new coach, Pete Cowen, on the range at Emirates Golf Club ahead of this week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic | National World

“We are going for experience this year,” said a smiling Forrest, speaking to The Scotsman at Emirates Golf Club ahead of his appearance in this week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic. “They have 148 years’ experience on this planet as they are both 74, both love the game and love being out here.”

Cowen’s current star pupil is five-time major winner Brooks Koepka while the Yorkshireman also works with another leading LIV Golf player, Joaquin Niemann, as well as Padraig Harrington.

“I started with Pete in Abu Dhabi in November and it was more to build for this season,” added Forrest, who is among seven Scots teeing up in this week’s $9 million Rolex Series event in the UAE. “He is looking after everything - full swing and short game - and it certainly makes it a bit clearer and less complicated.

“His reputation obviously precedes him. It was always in the back of my mind that I would like to work with him and I spoke to Stoddy (Iain Stoddart, Forrest’s manager) as I know that he doesn’t take on that many guys. I was delighted when he came back to me saying he’d be more than delighted to have a look at me.

“I don’t know what he’d seen in me or heard about me, but he was obviously willing and happy to take me on and things are definitely going in the right direction as we are noticing some differences already.

“Putting it into tournament play could take a little bit of time, but I am feeling better and better every day and more comfortable with what we are doing. So I am feeling positive about the direction my game is going and, to be honest, that’s the first time for a while that I have really felt I am making some gains.”

Cowen, a former professional himself who played in the inaugural Desert Classic in 1989, is a no nonsense Yorkshireman and Forrest admitted: “That works for me. I like that. There’s no point in having smoke blown up your a***, so to speak, and, if he thinks you can do something better, then he will tell you. If it’s not good, he’ll say and I’m okay with that.

“Look, nobody is going to be harder on me than me myself, so I can take it. It doesn’t hurt me in any way or bother me as I would rather have it that way.”

Grant Forrest pictured with new caddie Dave McNeilly on the chipping area at Emirates Golf Club | National World

McNeilly, meanwhile, picked up Forrest’s bag for the first time in the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa last month, the legendary looper from Northern Ireland having caddied for some of the game’s top players, including Nick Faldo, during his lengthy career.

“Dave is just a great guy to be around, having seen it all and he’s got a few stories to tell as well,” said Forrest with a laugh. “Even at his age, he’s still fit as a fiddle and still likes to feel as though he is learning out here.”

The East Lothian-based player, who landed his breakthrough DP World Tour win in the 2021 Hero Open at Fairmont St Andrews, is hoping the combined efforts of Cowen and McNeilly can help deliver a strong season for him after narrowly missing out on making it to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai last year.

“My game wasn’t good enough last season and that was through the bag,” said Forrest, who became a dad for the first time in November following the arrival of son Spencer. “I had a couple of results towards the end of that season that kind of masked a season of pretty below average golf that I played.

“I’m just focusing on getting my ball-striking more consistent and feel I have more control of the golf ball and sharpen up the short game as well. I feel that was missing a bit and, if I can get that back into place, I can then get some confidence back and that’s when good things can start to happen.”