Cut Above
Golf’s ‘next Rory McIlroy’, Josh Berry is back where it all began to talk play-offs, pressure putts and dreams of tee-ing it up at Augusta.
INTERVIEW: KIERAN LONGWORTH
PHOTOGRAPHY: JOSH SLACKThere’s something grounding about coming back to where it all started. For Josh Berry, that place is this particular acreage in South Yorkshire, Bessacarr to be precise. Fresh off a flight from Qatar, the 20-year-old joins Pitch on a drizzly day in Doncaster. Sporting a hoodie, of all things. He’s back, and he’s at home.
Still only in the early years of his professional career, Berry has already secured a tour card twice, claimed a dramatic play-off win in Calcutta and gone toe-to-toe with major champions in the desert. World ranking climbing, confidence growing, and Kenya on the itinerary next, he speaks with the calm assurance of someone who knows exactly where he wants to be and go. That destination? The very top.
Pitch: This where you started your journey in a way. What’s it like being back here under the lights?
Josh Berry: Yeah, definitely. Doncaster Golf Club’s always got a special place in my heart. Golf has a peculiar knack of pushing certain demographics aside. When Simon Longworth – the then-Junior-Organiser brought me here as a youngster, he’d lifted all of those restrictions, so I could practice whenever I wanted.Nowadays it’s a lot better. But that’s the main reason I joined here because there were no restrictions. That we’re sat in the Ladies Lounge, probably speaks volumes.
Pitch: When did you first think golf is something you wanted to pursue as a career?
Josh Berry: Golf’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Even being in school, I was never concentrating on the schoolwork. I was always thinking about, when I could finish and go to the range. And I’ve always loved doing just that. Like most kids I played football, but as soon as offsides came in that was my role out the window.
Pitch: No goal-hanging then…
Josh Berry: No. None.
Pitch: It’d be easy to presume golf came more naturally?
Josh Berry: I’d say it did. The first person to recognise ability in me was the local pro at the range. He’d pulled me over, when I was probably about 11 and said I was a natural – he might have said that to everyone, I don’t know. The person in question coached me for quite a few years after that, so it worked.
Pitch: It was Yorkshire next, right?
Josh Berry: Everything evolved quite quickly from there, I started getting in county squads at about 14, and won the Yorkshire Amateur as a 15-year-old in 2021.
Pitch: A big part of your story is Q School 2023. Can you take us back to that?
Josh Berry: Q School is hard. I entered it because I saw someone I knew get through it, and thought, ‘I’m better than them’. I entered the first stage just like anyone else does and not thinking about getting any sort of card on tour, just to get through the first stage would’ve been good. I managed to finish tied-13th at Donington Grove (Reading), and it all went from there.
The pressure is different for me because I don’t have family at home to provide for and all of the stress that comes with that. Being on tour now for three years I’ve learnt loads. I’m a better player, and a different person now.
For context, there are three stages, about twelve rounds of golf. It’s relentless. You’ve got to shoot under par every round, there’s cuts, and a top twenty-finish is required in the final stage. Six rounds of golf. Twenty tour spots on offer. It’s tough.
“I was one shot off the lead going down the last in regulation and hit a wedge over the back from about 160 yards away. I’ve never hit a wedge that far”
Pitch: And you had to return again the following year?
Josh Berry: Yeah, I lost my card that first year which was disappointing. I was playing a bit of Challenge Tour as well, which is a tour below the DP World Tour. After a tricky season, I had to go back to Q School and luckily, I did it all again. Drawing off past memories, it was nice to go back somewhere I’d played well and rediscover some form.
Pitch: You first qualified aged eighteen. It was only you and Rory McIlroy to have done that at the time…
Josh Berry: Obviously it’s nice to have someone like Rory to look up to. If you get on tour young, you’re doing something well. Luck plays a part in that, and you need good backing. My family look after me really well, and I’ve got a good team around me. Hopefully I can make them all proud to be a part of this journey.
Pitch: What’s changed most since that first year on tour?
Josh Berry: The biggest change is that I’m now travelling the world. As an amateur you’re staying local, up and down the country. Whereas now I’m flying to Bahrain, Qatar, Kenya, you name it. It’s definitely different, and getting used to the respective conditions is a task, but I love it. It’s always been my dream.
The biggest thing I’ve learnt is you’ve got to manage your time really well. I’m someone who practises a lot, even relatively speaking, but when you’re on the road for six to 10 weeks it can take its toll. You’ve got to plan your days to the minute.
Something I’ve worked on is being match-ready come Thursday, without putting my body under too much stress through the week. As a game, golf is largely about what you can do around the greens, so that’s where I spend most of my hours. With players fitter now, more than ever, anyone can hit a ball but at the end of the day, it’s about how many shots it takes to get the thing in the hole.
Pitch: How would you describe your game as a golfer?
I’m aggressive, there’s no doubt about that, reigning myself in is something I’m working on. We can all make birdies on any given hole, minimising the damage is what wins tournaments.
My caddie has worked on various people’s bags for upwards of 30 years – which is more time than I’ve spent on this earth – he’s a top guy, and from Scotland, obviously. In Bahrain, he told me to take a drop out of the hazard, I ended up trying to play a rescue out of said hazard, and it cost me a shot. Looking back at that, I’m only a couple of shots off a play-off for winning my first DP Tour event proper. It’s a hard lesson, but that’s taught me to listen.
Pitch: You finished tied 13th alongside some huge names. What’s it like seeing someone like Patrick Reed on the leader board next to you?
Josh Berry: There’s always big names up there. To be up with them – the major winners – is where I want to be, and that’s what I practise for. That’s what excites me.
Pitch: How do you think you stack up against them, statistically speaking?
Josh Berry: Stats play a huge part in golf. Those one per cents add up. You have to miss in the right places, and where driving in my strong point – I think I’ve been number one for accuracy a few times this season – I haven’t won a tournament yet, so there’s a lot of improvement to do. Keeping the double-bogeys off the card is huge. When you look at the tournament winner each week, like Scottie [Scheffler], for example, who’s had his 17th top ten in a row this season, it’s mental. He just doesn’t make bogeys. That’s where I want to be.
The ‘top two inches’ is massive, obviously. If I miss a cut on a Friday it could be devastating, but you have to reframe it as an opportunity to get better over the weekend, ready to start again the following week. Scheffler always talks about staying in the moment, one shot at a time, and that’s all you can do.
Pitch: Your first professional win in Calcutta came with a play-off and a big putt last year. What was going through your head?
Josh Berry: I was one shot off the lead going down the last in regulation and hit a wedge over the back from about 160 yards away. I’ve never hit a wedge that far, I was just so pumped with adrenaline. Short-sided off the back of the green, I thought it was game over. That is unless I chipped in.
The guy ahead hit it to about 30 feet and left himself four or five feet after his first putt. I chipped it quite close and got up and down. He missed, so I’ve gone from being out of the tournament to in a four or five-man play-off. Which is a massive shift in momentum.
Second time round I birdied it. Left myself a 16-foot putt, uphill left to right. Andreas [Halvorsen] was right next to me getting a read off my line. Luckily, I holed mine and he just missed his. The feeling was great. Holing that putt under pressure is what I practise for.
Pitch: How do you practise pressure?
Josh Berry: It’s the repetitions. I’ve been here a million times. I don’t practise with music. I’m always in my own head – ‘This is to win the Masters’, which everyone does as a kid is actually pretty helpful. And easy to draw back to in the moment.
Pitch: Speaking of the Masters, do you see yourself there soon?
Josh Berry: My world ranking’s around 300 at the minute, and top 50 gets in the Masters. In any sport you’ve got to have big dreams, so I want to be playing at Augusta next year. That’s the goal. But I’ve got to do a lot of good stuff to do that.
Pitch: And this season?
Josh Berry: My biggest goal is to try and win on the DP World Tour, beating the world’s best. I know I’m capable of doing it because I’ve been up there a few times. It’s just seeing it through to the end.