Sitting down with Swindon golfing star David Howell to discuss the highs and lows of his career

Howell has gone on to enjoy a career which has seen him secure five European Tour wins; spent time inside the world’s top 10 golfers and become one of the most likeable players on the tour circuit.

However golf can be a very lonely sport and less than a year after reaching the peak of those dizzy heights things began to spiral out of control for the Swindon-born star, both on and off the course.

Sat in the clubhouse of Surrey’s Wentworth course ahead of the PGA Championship, following two second placed finishes, the Broome Manor pro seems to be very content with how things were going. However the experience of such lows in 2007 will ensure that he will never get too carried away as he looks to carve out an Indian summer for his career.

“2006 was probably the biggest year for me to date,” said the 39-year-old.

“I won twice in the tournament season of 2005 (BMW International Open and HSBC Champions Tournament) and I think I won three out of 11 tournaments and got to ninth in the world.

“That was my highlight career-wise that year and then it all came tumbling down.

“Life sort of happened and I had some off course troubles and unhappiness set in a little bit.

“It coincided with injuries, loss of form on the course and some massive life lessons.

“You think you have it all and then six months later you have nothing, it is amazing how it happened.

“I could hardly hit a good shot for two years and there were some very dark times directly after the very best of times.”

Howell reads the green at the Dunlop Masters in 2005

It was a family holiday to Marbella when Howell struck his first golf ball at the tender age of five. He honed his skills on the playing fields of Liden School, playing holes through the goal posts and into the long jump pit.

It wasn’t long before Howell paid a visit to his local club, Broome Manor, where he started playing regularly from the age of 10.

Even at that age the former Churchfields pupil was learning some tough lessons as Jean Gee, who is still at the club, penalised him two shots, on his way to winning the Hills Junior Open, for picking the ball out of the hole after it got lodged between the pin and the edge of the hole.

“That was my first little tournament victory and then Broome Manor was my second home from that point on,” said Howell with a big smile on his face.

“It was the best place in the world to learn to play golf. It is incredible and the people are great.”

Howell played against Jason Hempleman, who went on to be Howell’s caddy, and Gary Harris as they developed. It wasn’t long before Howell had to choose, like many sportsmen do in their teenage years, between pursuing football or a career in golf.

“I remember coming home and telling my parents that I wanted to quit football,” added Howell.

“They said I was crazy, but I said I would rather play a good round of golf, so that is when I quit club football to concentrate on having a bit more time with golf.

“So I guess then I started to think, I never dreamed I would have the career I have had, that I wanted to be a proficient golfer.

“Then at 16 I won the county championships mens event. That was my first significant victory and made it into the men’s county team.

“I say that was the first real step up on the ladder.”

After managing to persuade his parents that he wasn’t going to college Howell began to carve out a career for himself alongside working for his friend’s company Croft Cladding and packing books at Readers Digest in West Swindon.

From the age of 16, when he won the county championship men’s event, in the following four years, with no real coaching, Howell went on to play for England Juniors, Youths and Mens, then Great Britian in the space of four years before he went for his tour card.

In his first pro event he found himself in the last group on the last day of the South African Open , playing with two big guns Ernie Els and Mark McNulty.

“When I look back at that four year period, from a two-handicap lad wanting to leave school who was pretty good at golf, to playing against Els and McNulty, still baffles me now that I did it.

“It was just dedication, desire and drive more than anything, you are just driven to do as well as you could.”

Howell got his first taste for professional success in 1998 as he won the Australian PGA Championship by seven shots which gave him his confidence before a freak accident saw him get his first setback of his career.

Howell flew back to Swindon after the win and while playing tennis at Delta with Mike Reynolds, who was known in the town because his dad used to string racquets at Wimbledon, Howell twisted his knee and ankle.

Howell had three months rehab at home and missed the start of the 1999 season, but made it back the week before the Dubai Desert Classic for an event in Malaysia thanks to the help of Swindon fitness guru Chic Carvel and the injury had not knocked the golfers confidence.

“Low and behold the second week back, the Dubai Desert Classic and I won by four,” said Howell.

“That was a real thrill. Jason Hempleman was caddying for me back in those days, so it was a nice moment for both of us, bearing in mind we had played golf together since the age of 10.

“I remember being stood on the 18th green with a five shot lead, knowing that I had won the tournament and it was literally a pinch myself moment.

“I couldn’t believe that I had won on the European Tour and in Dubai, which was a big event, it was a sweet moment.”

In 2005 Howell began to find his rhythm and started to become a house-hold name in the sport as he picked up the BMW International open and the HSBC Champions Tournament before landing the BMW Championship at Wentworth the following year.

Despite the success the mild-mannered pro took it in his stride and admitted that just being involved with golf on a regular was enough for him.

“As driven as I was, I also wasn’t that ambitious,” added Howell.

“So had I ended up working at Broome Manor or any other golf club teaching golf, I feel like I would have been content with that.

“My dream was to play but I wasn’t ambitious in any other way.

“What I have been lucky in my career is that I have won nice tournaments. I have only won six, but they have all been quality tournaments.

“The biggest being the BMW PGA Championship, I just saw my name on the board for 2006.

“That is the biggest win of my life and still my proudest moment, that trumps everything.”

Howell with the BMW PGA Championship trophy in 2006

It was in China during the HSBC Champions, where Howell held off his final-round playing partner, Tiger Woods, to take the victory that he picked up his nickname ‘Cool Dude’ from the former world number one.

Despite playing down the achievement of beating one of the greatest players to play the sport in the peak of his powers Howell still uses that win to inspire him even now.

“I am not sure whether I have made enough personally of the fact that I beat Tiger or that people have made too much of it, but it certainly gave the win a whole lot of credibility,” said a modest Howell.

“Not many people have beaten Tiger face to face with a tournament on the line.

“I have drawn a lot of strength from being able to do that over the years at different times.

“That was clearly something I look back on and draw strength from.

“It doesn’t mean I am going to win the next tournament but when needed it reminds me that in the greatest company I can still play my game.

“That is what golf is all about.

“It is not about beating somebody else really. It is about whether you can gain control of yourself in the toughest of circumstances and that proved to me that I can do.

“He gave me the nickname ‘Cool Dude’. I am not sure why he said that.

“I am not sure if it was the way I played or whether something was said when we were sat there, but it was a little line that stuck and I came out of that looking pretty good.”

Howell and his European tammates after the 2004 Ryder Cup win at Oakland Hills

Success on the course earned Howell the ultimate call for any European golfer in their career, a place in the Ryder Cup team in both 2004 and 2006.

In Europe’s 2004 nine point win at Oakland Hills Country Club Howell played only a small role as he picked up one point alongside Paul Casey but at the K Club two years later Howell picked up two and a half points out of three to help secure the victory.

“The next goal after winning in Dubai was to play in a winning Ryder Cup team and to contribute a point,” explained Howell “That set off the best part of a decade journey to try and achieve that.

“I played a pretty minor part in our guys victory and secured a point at a pivotal moment so I got my point and we won.

“I remember being on the 18th green with Paul Casey and I don’t know if he felt exactly the same as me but I just remember thinking, ‘wow we have just won a point in the Ryder Cup’.

“I was pinching myself and that did feel like a bit of a culmination of an ambition.

“In 2006 it was a more comfortable Ryder Cup experience.

“I had some nerve wracking moments that week but again we were in a strong winning side and that was an amazing experience, they both were.

“The party in Ireland always felt like it was going to be a special Ryder Cup and one I really wanted to be part of.”

While Howell was riding the crest of the wave in 2006 it looked only a matter of time before a major win would come calling, but little did he know what was waiting around the corner.

Instead of making the next step in his career the golden path that was in front of him began to crumble away as he was plagued by injury and off the course his relationship with Emily, who he has since married in the summer of 2009, began to break down as the trials of being a professional sportsman began to take their toll.

“It was the perfect storm,” explained Howell.

“I was badly injured. Not so bad that I needed an operation but I don’t think I realised how affected I was by my lower back and I played a lot of golf when I probably wasn’t fit and that was a mistake.

“The relationship with Emily obviously ended, which we thought was the right thing at the time, but proved not to be.

“It just became de-stabilised. I wasn’t living in Swindon, I was living in Surrey and tried to make life work up here.

“I never got to the point where I thought I would give up.

“I got to the point where I thought it might be forced upon me because I might not play well enough again.

“I am not sure if I went back if I could do anything differently. I was so miserable at home I didn’t want to be there anyway, so time off didn’t seem like a great option either.

“I never fell out of love with the game and actually as hard as it was playing badly it probably kept me sane in some ways because at this difficult personal period and still being able to go and do a job I love and enjoy was probably my saviour.

“Slowly but surely I managed to turn it around, but it was a long affair.”

Howell with the Alfred Dunhill Links trophy after his win in 2013

Four top ten finishes on the European Tour to date this season suggests that Howell is finding his way back to the form that saw him shoot up the world rankings ten years ago and as he took to the course at Wentworth, despite missing the cut, he played with a smile on his face, a clear sign that he is back enjoying the sport he fell in love with on the south coast of Spain as a child.

Despite trying his hand at commentating for Sky in recent years Howell has not begun to think about retirement, far from it.

The 39-year-old is hoping to emulate the likes of Spanish golfer Miguel Ángel Jiménez and enjoy a successful twilight period of his career that his children, Freddie, aged three, and Charlie and Sam, both 18 months old, can be a part of.

“Since I have started to come back it has been a nice steady progress.

“With my recent form I really feel like I have turned the corner and I am on the up hopefully, but I am not naive enough to think it will stay like that forever.

“I want to get back to where I was.

“My intent is to get back into the world’s top 50 and play in the biggest and best stuff for the next five or 10 years.

“Hopefully I can have a bit of an Indian Summer of a career.

“I’m not quite 40 yet but I have won six times and if I could win seven times in the next 10 years, bearing in mind where I have been, that would be a great achievement and would mean that I have had a fantastic 30 year career.

“Along the way if a huge championship comes my way, be it a major or a few Ryder Cups, then great, but it is more about continuing to play good consistent great golf.

“It would be nice for my kids when they are old enough to see me playing great golf as well, I think that is something that helps me stay disciplined and have the desire.

“I would love them to see me do some great things, rather than have a look back through the photo albums.

“Who knows maybe the best is yet to come.”