It’s been a while since Nacho Elvira realised that golf isn’t the only thing in life. Yes, of course, it’s his profession, his way of earning a living, the future he always dreamed of as a child. Of course, he still wakes up at night lifting trophies and aims to play many more majors, climb the world rankings, and achieve the highest goals he can. But all this is not incompatible with knowing how to put success and failure into perspective. He has learned to enjoy all the good and digest the bad as soon as possible. Yes, you have to digest them, but not torment yourself. He knows that victories and defeats are part of top-level sport. And if the world doesn’t end when you win a tournament (he knows this from experience because he has won two), much less when you don’t.
This Saturday it was important to make birdies and stay at the top of the tournament. But much more important was knowing that Cristina, his wife, his two daughters, and his sister-in-law had arrived safely in Dubai on the night flight from Madrid. The little one, poor thing, has some sores in her mouth that are causing her a lot of trouble. He was also making sure they had everything they needed on the course while they walked the 18 holes, and even asked some of those outside the ropes if they were staying hydrated, as windy days in Dubai can be treacherous, with the wind chill not being so high. Nacho is very clear that there are many things in life beyond golf.
This attitude can only be a good thing for this Sunday when he faces the final round of the Dubai Invitational with a two-shot lead over the second-placed players. Whether he wins or not, this kind of good karma can only work in his favour. And it must be said that his caddie, David Morago, plays an essential role. He handles it wonderfully. He always has a good story to tell his boss to ease the tension in time.
In addition to this good attitude, Elvira will need his putting to maintain the good performance it has shown so far at the Dubai Creek Golf Club this Sunday. He is the best in the tournament in this area, tied with the Scotsman Ewen Ferguson. They are 1.74 strokes ahead of the field average. The change he made midway through the Alfred Dunhill Championship is working for now…
Nacho is fundamentally a traditional guy. You won’t see him with flashy golf equipment. He likes the classic. He’s also not one to change anything that works well. Don’t think his kind is so common in the professional golf scene. However, in the last tournament of 2025 in South Africa, he was already a bit dizzy with the putter and decided to change the grip. It was hard for him, but he did it. “I wasn’t putting badly, but you know golfers are a bit crazy,” he points out.
“We decided to give the claw grip a chance, as the numbers on the Vertex (a device used to assess performance on the greens) in training sessions were better than with the traditional grip, especially on greens with a lot of grain. In the last two rounds in South Africa, I felt much more comfortable, and here it’s going well so far… touch wood,” he explains to Ten Golf. In reality, it’s only been five competition rounds with the claw grip. The data is very good, but the feelings not so much. The great paradox of golf. In fact, Elvira doesn’t hesitate to clarify that its days are numbered. “Honestly, I don’t know if it’s going to be definitive because I feel very strange, but well, in the end, it’s about getting it in the hole,” he says. We’ll see what happens if he wins…
In any case, he wouldn’t be the first to do something like this. Sergio García, for instance, won the Masters at Augusta with the claw grip and changed it shortly after. He never liked it or felt comfortable, even though the numbers were always better. The quirks of golfers. Afterwards, he has gone back and forth with that grip. We’ll see what happens if Elvira achieves victory this Sunday in Dubai.
