Whether you know him for the flowing locks on his head or his unshakable precision on the
golf course, Tommy Fleetwood has been an ever-present at golfing’s top table for the past decade. Fleetwood’s impressive list of achievements reads 10 tournament victories, an estimated $50 million in career earnings, and a pivotal role in the victorious 2023 Ryder Cup team.
The Brit has made the most of his recent relocation to Dubai, not only by dramatically winning the Dubai Invitational tournament earlier this year, but also for his commitment to nurture the next generation of golfing talent by setting up the Tommy Fleetwood Academy at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
He spoke to Esquire Middle East as he was unveiled as a brand ambassador for Dubai-based company DP World.
Golf is a game where you can play consistently for 20 years and still be terrible at it. Fair comment?
Ha! Sometimes it can feel like it! But honestly, it is all about mindset. You can either look at it as you’ll never be perfect, or that you are always learning. I still feel like the game is still teaching me things, and I still wake up every day excited to be chasing the same goals and dreams that I had as a six-year-old. I get to live my dream through golf because I am always looking to improve myself so I can reach my goals of being world number one, or winning a Major. I love that for me, and I want as many people to have that same opportunity, which is why we set up the Tommy Fleetwood Academy at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
You’re now officially a Dubai resident. How long ago did you move here? Was the possibility of doing things like opening a golf academy one of the reasons you decided to move?
As a dad, I now tend to think of time in terms of “school years,” so it’s been about a year and half since we moved here—or, as I would say, we’re in our second school year! Dubai is a special place. Golf is very, very popular here, but there are also plenty of opportunities in the developmental side of things. I feel like golf, and the lessons you learn in golf, will help you succeed in any walk of life, so setting up the Academy and teaching kids is something I’ve always been interested in. Being here more permanently has definitely allowed me to further pursue that.
What kind of ‘life lessons’ does golf teach?
On a basic level, golf is a very social sport and the health benefits of being outdoors and walking the courses are great. Also, it is a skill-based sport, and learning any kind of skill is beneficial—especially if you dedicate time to improving it. If you commit to it, it teaches focus, dedication, a desire for self-improvement, and the process of working through a system step-by-step. The more you want to get better at something, the more you have to
stretch your abilities and take yourself into a place where you feel uncomfortable. I am a big believer in lessons from failures. The only way you improve is by messing up, but also by being in an environment where that is okay.
When you’re not playing as well as you’d hoped, how do you handle that mentally?
All of us playing at this level have such high expectations of ourselves, so when we play amazing we just sort of accept that as the standard. So when it doesn’t go well you can tend to fixate on what’s gone wrong and how you can improve—but it is important to have a healthy way of going about that. Nobody gets to the very top level without being hard on themselves for making mistakes, but you have to try and correct them, and to do that starts
with acceptance. If I make a consistent mistake, then I like to work on it immediately, just to get it out of my system so I go to bed that night knowing that I’ve already
taken steps to address the problem.
By its nature, golf is a pretty solitary sport…
I was joking about that with some friends the other day, we were saying that golfers have no social life! If you’ve been playing all your life, like I have, you will have spent thousands of hours by yourself on a driving range hitting balls, lost in your own thoughts. Then, when you’re playing, you try to stay focused on what you’re doing. I’m not saying that we’re all loners, but it helps being a professional golfer if you are comfortable in your own company. It would be a difficult existence if you weren’t.
So, moving from the individual aspect of the sport to a team one. You famously earned the point that sealed the Ryder Cup for Team Europe last year. Rather than allowing you to make your birdie putt, [Team USA’s] Ricky Fowler conceded the hole. Did that make the moment less sweet?
No way! I was happy he conceded the hole—it meant that I didn’t have to go through the nerves of making the putt! I will never forget the tee shot that I hit on that hole [17th]. I can still remember every single second of it. It will be one of the most memorable shots I’ll ever hit in my career.
There was a lot of tension on that final round. Did you have a feeling that it would come down to you?
I was really hoping it wouldn’t! I was hoping we would have had it wrapped up by the time I was playing, but the tension started racking up the longer the day went on. I was so nervous, but you grow from it. I have never been so nervous playing a back nine in my life, but I handled it really well—making that shot on the 16th hole—and when it was over you’re just grateful to have had the opportunity to have been able to test yourself.
That’s all part of being at the elite end of sport…
Totally. You dream of having those moments, but it is terrifying. That’s what all those thousands of hours of practice prepare you for. The best players in any sport want that. They need to test themselves under the most extreme pressure. They need it.
Your hair has become somewhat of a trademark. Does it give you Samson-esque powers?
Who knows, I’m lucky to have a good head of hair and I’m not going to cut it off any time soon to test out your theory! I swear there was a time when I was more recognisable for my hair than I was for my golf game. If I did ever cut it off and I started playing badly, I would immediately blame it on Esquire.