Ernie Els pays tribute to former coach Jos Vanstiphout

An emotional Ernie Els has paid tribute to former coach Jos Vanstiphout, who died on Friday night.

“It’s really devastating for me," said and emotional Els on Saturday afternoon at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City. "He meant so much to my career. We really connected and there was a genuine love for each other there. It was a love-hate at times as everyone will know but the stuff he taught me and the way that he did it was totally different. His approach was unique and I know he got under a lot of people’s skin but for me he was just brilliant."

Jos Vanstiphout had worked successfully with many other top players, including Retief Goosen, before Els teamed up with him at the beginning of 2001. The following summer Els won his first Open Championship at Muirfield.

“He gave me the absolute honest truth at exactly the times when I really needed it," said Els. "The biggest one was obviously Muirfield in 2002 and he took me to one side and was just all over me. He just told me to pull my finger out of my backside in no uncertain terms and told me to do what he had trained me to do. He taught me to think in a certain way and was so good for me. He really helped me win that Open, no question. We probably won 25 tournaments together in a short period.

“I will never forget the time I shot 60 at Royal Melbourne. I walk on to the range and he is all over me again. I said ‘what?’ and he looked at me and he said ‘you know and I know that you should have shot 58’! That was the way he was and he knew me very well and was one of the only people who could say that to me."

Jos Vanstiphout was born in Belgium in 1951, one of 10 children, and didn’t become interested in golf until he had just turned 40. The defining moment occurred when he bought a copy of Timothy Gallway’s book The Inner Game. Jos was impressed and utterly consumed by the subject. What’s more, Jos clearly had an aptitude for this aspect of the game and a gift for communicating his own personal thoughts and ideas to players in such a way that they could improve their performance.

Soon Jos was in demand on both sides of the Atlantic, travelling around the world and essentially living the life of a tour professional – lots of air travel, long days on the practice ground, practically living out of a suitcase. Not that he would have swapped it for anything. He loved his work and the rewards, both financially and emotionally, made the effort more than worthwhile. As any teacher knows, there is great satisfaction in contributing to other peoples’ success.

Jos was something of a pioneer in a world where some were perhaps rather cynical of the benefits of sports psychology. Jos was not concerned with such trivialities. He once memorably observed, “You can’t take a mule and make it win the Derby”, but the truth was many of the players he worked with were able to elevate their careers to greater heights. Jos Vanstiphout didn’t shout or boast; his record spoke for itself.

“I am just so sad for him and I felt it all day today," Els continued. "I just feel really, really bad and wish that I could have seen him one more time before he went. That is the one thing that I will regret a little bit. I just wish I could have given him a hug or something.

"It’s really tough. I was hoping that he would have pulled through but he had gone downhill since the accident. Hopefully he is in a good place right now because he was a fighter. He had a lot of bravado but deep down he was a genuine, genuine man. He came from a tough background where he had nothing. He didn’t have the education but he understood the psychology of how things worked and he gave that to me.

"I will be forever grateful to him for that. He changed my life and I am really going to miss him. I know you shouldn’t have regrets but I regret not seeing him before he left us.”