Justin Rose On Channeling His Federer Speed

Defending Farmers Insurance Open champion Justin Rose has returned to Torrey Pines in search of his first win since last year’s incredible 21-under-par performance.

While his press room sessions are always enlightening, the reflections on the state of his game, the Presidents Cup and where he’s at with game analysis proved most interesting.

This is in response to a question I asked about his successful pursuit of “speed” while not letting other parts of his game to suffer. His thinking provides a stark contrast to some peers pursuing speed.

What do you attribute your ability to do that, gain speed, and not have it hurt the rest of your game?

JUSTIN ROSE: Well, I think, yeah, I definitely had a Project 300 in play since 2015, 2016, and although it didn't help my game, maybe it did help my body. I think I paid for it actually in 2016. The back wasn't that great, so I've had to learn to go about it a slightly different way.

I look at it now in terms of, I look at Roger Federer. There's guys that serve at 135, but he serves at 121 in the corners. He's at the back end of his career, so it's incredibly effective.

So yeah, I'm not going to be a 185 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, 175 ball speed. I carry the ball 300. 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.