Friday 22nd June (Laura’s birthday), strolling slowly down the streets of Cologne to find the nearest supermarket to treat myself to a disposable razor and maybe some sort of food to consume in the room that evening, I found myself writing the start of this blog…

I’m 100% living the dream, I know that before anyone says they would swap places, I’ve always wanted to be a pro golfer and nothing else!

In fact, I have no idea what I would do if I wasn’t – I have no other job experience, no CV and never had an interview!

But there are parts of this dream that I never dreamt about!

After a windswept and tiresome second round 82 on the golf course that morning, off the back of what felt like decent round one, it meant only one thing – another missed cut and five in a row, which for the second year around this time is pretty much a repeat!!

But I only know one way and that’s to knuckle down, work hard and build confidence through believing in what I’m doing.

It’s just sometimes hard not to think in reality you’re just not playing well enough and you’ve spent over £10,000 in the process trying.

There is certainly no easy route in this game, but I feel I’m getting some direction back and clearing up some off course issues.

It’s certainly not just as easy as playing golf, despite all the ‘good’ advice you sometimes get along the way!

I can certainly say I’ve been ‘away with the fairies’ on the course over the last few months and that’s no way to play golf, especially when you haven’t got a smile on your face!

That’s why in round 1 in tough conditions I felt I had really made some positive steps, improved my focus and reaped a few rewards in the process!

But round 2 then made it clear it was still work in process!

But as I’ve said numerous times, with golf when you feel you’ve got it, it certainly bites you in the bum …. and at that point even though you’re closer, it can feel worse!!

So it was a Saturday of practice and then a Sunday road trip with a few others! Adrian Otaegui, his caddy Ian, Alex Björk’s caddy Oli, Bradley Neil and my caddy Steve.

We hired a 9-seater between us and headed six hours down the road to Versailles near Paris for the French Open around the amazing Paris National, home of this year’s Ryder Cup!

Everyone was pretty excited to see how the course would be set up, it was the perfect test for the RC!

And it didn’t disappoint!

The definition was outstanding, the LONG knee deep wispy grass was back and looked so intimidating!

You pretty much know if you hit it in there you won’t see it again, it’s that thick!

The fairways are pure, there was a fair first cut of rough, and then a deep second cut before the FPS (Fooking Pink Stuff).

It doesn’t need to be windy to make this place a challenge, so to have the strong winds Thursday automatically made the course two shots harder!

Overall I played nicely in round 1, bar the double on the 5th from the FPS, I was +4 through 17 and nowhere near out of the tournament.

But the 18th has to be one of the most demanding holes in golf, and looking at the scores through the week on there, it proved it!

I wasn’t the only person to take 8 down there, and in doing so that meant I shot 79 (+8) and had a lot of work to do Friday!!!

Friday I played some of my best golf of the year, and it’s always positive when you shoot under par around this course, but after that finish in round one it had given me too much to do and I missed the cut by three!!

So the torrid spell continued but we battled on, I did some practice Saturday and then was lucky enough to get a ride with some good friends back to the UK where I crashed out at Gatwick airport before a really early flight to Belfast on the Monday!

There’s not much to say at all about the following week in Ireland!

By the time Thursday came around I couldn’t keep off the toilet, out of nowhere I picked up a sore knee, limped my way around the course, then after hitting my tee shot on 14 and throwing up in a bush, I was done!!!

My first ever withdrawal from an event, I felt pretty sad about it, but it was the right thing to do as playing those last four holes was doing no one any favours!!!

It was all about trying to get fit for Scotland the following week!!

I managed to get back to Huddersfield for a few days to rest up with family before heading north for the Scottish Open, some battered Mars Bar and a can of Irn Bru.

I played nine holes Monday afternoon and was shattered…but after a good sleep and some comfort food I felt fresh and ready to get going again Tuesday!!!!

It was great to have some support up there through the week, you can always hear the volume of the claps or cheers slightly raised when you have some of #TeamHanson the other side of the ropes!

Day one I battled with my swing off the tee, but some clutch putts meant I hung around and ended the day +1!

I got it under par for a bit of the round, and it would have been great to close that out, but I guess from where I was off the tee +1 was a pretty fair reflection.

Day 2 I knew I had to go low, but many people were, so we set a target: three birdies front nine, three back nine!!!

Of course, no bogeys was the plan but that didn’t happen; in the end I rolled in a 30ft birdie on the last to have another great day on the greens and my 7th birdie for 67 (-3).

It was a valiant effort and I was a different player off the tee!!

But the game sure isn’t going my way in regards to results at the moment!

It’s been tough…and one question you constantly get asked is are you still enjoying it?

The travel? Not really when you’re scoring poorly, journeys sure feel a lot longer!

The practice? I always enjoy trying to become a better player and asking questions of myself!

The competition? I think it’s the competition that keeps me going, the buzz of pegging it up, the battle against the course, yourself, other players.

Being away from home? Nothing to enjoy about that when you don’t get the reward for the sacrifice.

But one thing for sure, success always tastes sweeter after a spell of failure!!!

On an extremely positive note, I am excited to announce my new charity partnership which is very close to my caddy Steve’s heart and one which I am truly honoured to support.

ROYAL NAVY AND MARINES CHARITY

www.rnrmc.org.uk

With Steve serving in the Marines for 25 years I’ve heard first-hand what they do and the sacrifices they continue to make and if together we can help raise awareness and support them in any way, that would be fantastic!

So along with flying their colours on my PEGolf driver head cover, we are going to run a small fundraiser over the Irish Open and Scottish Open Rolex events (July) where for each birdie I make I will donate £5, and each eagle £10 to our fundraising page.

(Just giving page to be set up)

This is something we would love you to be part of.

Whether it’s £1/£2 or £5 a birdie or whatever you choose to commit to, it would be great to get you guys involved.

So, please do get in touch on hansonprogolf@googlemail.com if you would like to pledge your support.

Thanks as ever

Chris & Steve

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COMPETITION TIME

Fancy winning a super cool personalised PEGolf  (www.pegolf.se) head cover similar to the ones I use…?

Well all you have to do is answer the question below and I will get Steve to pick the winning name out next week at the French Open!!

PEGolf will make you a black leather driver/3wood or rescue cover and let you choose what  colour writing/names you have on the cover and send it to you asap!!

Here are some examples of what you could win….

QUESTION: This year will be my 3rd BMW International Open in Germany, which year did I finish T38th on a score of  286 (-2)

Please email me your answer (hansonprogolf@googlemail.com) and enter by Sunday 24th June!

GOOD LUCK

I didn’t play well in Belgium and there is not much more to say really; it was a shame, as the course suited me on the eye from the start, very tree lined and playing quite tricky. But after a few poor tee shots early on I lost a bit of commitment and trust to some shots.

I battled hard in round two and pushed for the big result, trying to make eagle down 17…but in the end I missed the cut which left me searching for some answers.

The good news was I felt I found them.

So, it was onto Wentworth for the first Rolex event. I was pretty excited to go back too; I played the PGA Championship last year and the event sure lived up to the expectations.

This year I felt more prepared, I knew the course now, felt I was starting to turn a corner after ‘finding some answers’, and was really looking forward to the challenge.

Laura was with me for support which is always great, she also has so many friends on the Tour and it’s nice to have her walking the course with me.

Unfortunately, in round one there was nothing really to cheer about for 17 holes; I was four over par, struggling away on the scorecard and not really making huge errors, just letting the odd shots slip away.

The 18th is a good chance, but also tricky if out of position. I played it perfectly; you have to hit at least a 20-yard cut around the corner to give yourself a good chance of going for the green.

I then hit a five iron to around 20ft and rolled it in for eagle – what a bonus and that gave me a fighting chance Friday to make the cut!!

I was near enough last out Friday. 3.10pm is a later than normal tee time due to the one tee start (like The Open), so killing time in the morning is always tough as you never want to do too much, but you don’t want to just do nothing and waste the morning either.

I did some laundry in the local town, had a quick swim, then headed up to the course for an hour’s practice prior to lunch.

I was up for it, I played pretty much perfect stuff, or should I rephrase that, I managed my game perfectly and through 12 holes I was three under and -1 for the tournament.

I felt the cut would probably be level par, so I was back in the tournament.

15 is a pretty horrible looking tee shot to me, I was a little scarred from a poor shot there last year, but after a good one this year in practice and a great one in the first round, I knew what I had to do.

But today wasn’t the day; I hooked it left, had to lay up short of the green and made a bogey. There are then three good chances to finish but a bit of a miss on fourteen and maybe the wrong shot on 16 led to another bogey.

In the end I needed that eagle up 18 again - another perfect drive and an ok second shot into the green, I made birdie but in the end it wasn’t enough.

Gutted to miss the cut again, as nobody wants to miss the weekend at Wentworth. But that’s golf and you have to just pick yourself up and go again.

The great thing is that it was back to back Rolex events, so I was Italy bound for the next one and the fabulous Lake Garda!

Wentworth was a great test, firm and fast greens, and amazing condition, but this week’s venue couldn’t have been more different. They didn’t have the weather prior to the event they wanted, thunder storms and rain led to a super soft course, which made the fairways wider due to no run or bounces off line, also the greens were like puddings, so not quite as much imagination was needed and that also led to the greens not being quite asgood as they hoped!

I was cruising along nicely through 9 holes on two under and the game felt in control, but some poor bogeys and a loss of momentum down the back nine meant I had to birdie the last for level par.

Again, slightly on the back foot after round one, meaning a challenge Friday morning to make the cut and get back up the leaderboard. I played some good stuff, made some good birdies and gave myself a chance coming in. I missed the best chance on 16 and in the end finished the day -3 and unfortunately missed the cut again by one shot.

I was left a little frustrated, working hard, feeling I’m making improvements and not getting anything from it.

 

From there I was scheduled to have two weeks off, missing the event in Austria, but after some persuasion from the team I managed to get an invite back into Austria, where hopefully I could turn a corner and maybe change my luck a little.

I’ve played the event three times at this course, I know the place quite well and have a top ten to my name there; it’s always firm and when windy can get very tricky.

The only difference this year was that it was the new initiative of the Tour – The Shot Clock Masters!!

Each group had a ref with them, every shot got timed and if you didn’t hit your shot within the allocated time you received a penalty shot on that hole. No one was sure what was going to happen, how the event would pan out, and how many people would be handed penalty shots.

I think I speak for most players when I say I was a little on edge for the first nine holes, I had one eye on the stop clock and one on my shot.

I played ok, settled into the round but could only post level par, that left me just inside the cut line so it was ‘game on’ Friday.

In the end the cut fell at +2, which I guess was due to the tricky afternoon wind. But for me it didn’t matter in the slightest.

After a poor front nine I somehow eagled my 10th (1st) but from there I fell apart, that hasn’t happened in a long time, but everything became tough and it felt like the golfing gods were swallowing me up. I wanted out of there and just couldn’t find that fighting spirit I seem to find 99% of the time.

I let myself and my team down, and no one is more disappointed than me!

So, another early bath for me, and missing cuts sure doesn’t get easier!!!

I’ve now got that much-needed week off to regroup, work hard, give my head a good shake, sort out a few off-course things, and come out fighting for the middle of the season!!!!

Bring on the challenge!!!

The week in China felt a bit different from all previous visits; we were in the countryside and it was actually quite nice.

Before, it’s always been pretty mental, very busy, main roads and high-rise buildings etc!

But at Topwin we were 20 minutes from The Great Wall of China, surrounded by hills, mountains and it was pretty green!

A lot of guys went to see the wall and that was my plan too, but after round 1/2 of hitting my irons so bad my priorities soon changed and I needed to practise.

So, the closest I got was the view from the course and that was impressive anyway!

Apart from the food, the first challenge you have is sleeping, and getting on the correct time zone, as it’s an 8-hour difference from Morocco.

We landed at 4am Tuesday and got to the hotel around 7.

I decided to get three hours sleep, shower, change then head up for my practice round!

Whichever way you do it, you’re going to be tired come 9pm! It’s just whether you can get to sleep or not!

I did pretty well for the week, the only night I had a problem was Thursday night. I had a 4am alarm and didn’t get to sleep till around 12, after three hours of counting sheep!!

 

The course for the week was pretty decent; we played preferred lies all week as it had lacked a bit of growth, but in general it was very good!

There were some reachable par fives and three reachable par 4s which still asked you the question…. “what’s the best way to play this hole?”

Not really risk and reward as playing it either way could be very tricky!

Over the first two rounds I really struggled with my irons and the approach shots; I battled and battled and couldn’t solve the problem on the course – very frustrating!!

I somehow shot 71, 71 to make the cut, and if it wasn’t for some good putting down the back nine I wouldn’t have been around for the weekend!

Saturday, or “moving day” as it’s known, was a good one for me, and would have been even better if it wasn’t for a three putt off the fringe on 18 for par!

But 67 (-5) moved me up the leaderboard 25 spots and earned us a lie in Sunday!!

I guess the overnight WhatsApp lesson with coach Pearson helped!!

So, it was one last round and then I could get out of China and back to see my girls for a couple of weeks before the Belgium knockout (missing Sicily).

I shot 70 (-2) in round four, so it was pleasing to have four rounds under par, but even though I played ok it always feels worse when your playing partner shoots 64 and again I three putted 18 for par!!!!!!!!!

Believe it or not, though, I’m pretty happy; I played decent in Morocco and built on it again in China, maybe another week of golf would have been good for my game??

But as I was writing this on the way to the airport Sunday night for a 2am flight, I knew I’d much rather be going home than onto another event!

It’s been a long three weeks on and off the course with quite a few distractions off the course which we didn’t need and have been tough for the family.

So, some time together then my run of events looks like:

Belgium 

England – PGA Wentworth (Rolex event)

Italy – (Rolex Event)

Bring it on!!!!!

On another note – thanks for all the entries into my little competition last week, everyone who entered got it right (Spider-Man) and the winner from Twitter was: Neal Gladwin

After four weeks off and some decent practice, I felt I was set for the event in Madrid. But I guess because you haven’t actually competed for four weeks you’re just never too sure how match sharp/ready you’re going to be!

The weather for everyone’s prep was shocking – rain, windy, cold, and the wind chill must have been minus degrees at times!!

I was one of the last few groups out in round one and felt that may be a better time as we didn’t get the really cold early start.

But I think the general consensus was that we got the tough side of the draw, it was wet from 5pm and that, with the wind, made it so cold again!

I was a couple under for half the round, then through the rain I let a few weak shots cost me bogeys and, in the end, carded a 73 (+1).

A shame after being under par and it then left me plenty of work to do, thinking the cut would probably be -2/3 come Friday evening.

Through 10 holes of round two I was +2 for the tournament but battled hard, dug in and birdied 2, 5, 6 and 7 to give myself a chance.

A par save on 8 then a great shot into 9, I trickled a smelly putt down to a few inches and thought maybe I had a chance on -2 total.

As did many, many other people, after the number of messages I received for my battle!

In the end it comfortably missed as it fell to -4, which if you think about it, it probably should have been expected as there was no rough on the golf course!

A bit of juicy semi rough but smash it way off line past the semi and you were on hard pan or another fairway!!

It was bomber’s delight, and paradise if you hit the odd wide ball as you were never losing it!

Not my cup of tea, as normally you get a good reward and a fair driving exam!!

Roll on Morocco!!

So, after missing the cut, I got to explore the city of Madrid with the family which was great, the kids loved the national science museum! We then got home early for a day of practice with Steve before heading out to Morocco!!!

And this year a slightly new challenge in Morocco was waiting.

After receiving an email from the Tour a month back with details of all the new green changes, it sounded like the course was going to be incredible.

It’s already a great course, narrow fairways and small greens…so how good could it be? Could they make it better?

Four greens were the same as previous years but they have all been re-laid and the other 14 have had elephants buried underneath them!

Nearly everyone’s instant impression was they hadn’t made it better….

Some greens now looked crazy and possibly unplayable in parts. If you got chance to watch it on TV, I hope they showed the 4th, 9th, 10th and 17th where the pin positions are now so limited!!

Anyway, I still love the place! It’s a fact that if you now play bad you really don’t have a chance and if you play good you’re in the mix!

Very similar to India this year!

Good morning practice Tuesday, 18 holes prep, then back to the hotel gym for a session with the Tour Strength and Conditioning coach!

Wednesday saw the arrival of coach Pearson!!!! So I just knew it was going to be a productive day, and a great laugh!!

#TeamHanson spirit is through the roof, it’s always a day of total piss take, normally at the expense of Steve, and as always he takes it great and gives it back in equal amounts!

In this team no one hides away from criticism, everyone is super keen to learn and do whatever it takes to push closer to our goals!!

The environment we work in is first class and I’m sure in every business it’s something they all should be striving to achieve!!!

It’s a team effort! Even if Steve does think he hits the shots (that’s a caddy joke, promise).

So, as expected, a great day of practice, a quick session on the Tour fitness truck and I was set for round 1.

Round one went ok, it didn’t feel great, but Steve and Mark both felt we managed it well.

In the end I shot level after holing a nice birdie putt on 18, and then to see my ‘strokes gained’ stats relative to the field as all positive, it was a pleasing thing to see!!!

Round two…today we were in for a battle!!

Starting on 10 I flushed my tee shot and we were off! Missed a great chance on 11… but it felt good!

15th I made birdie and was under par, but not for long, following it with a bogey! I made a great up and down on 18 to turn in 1 under and was in good spirits!!

But this place is just tough and doesn’t offer up many chances, my game started to get a little scrappy and after a poor tee shot on 6 I made bogey.

I thought the cut would probably go to +3 and I’m not going to lie, it was in the back of my mind.

Down 7 I found my drive stuck behind a lone tree, I tried to chip 5 wood as I had no follow through and use the spring face to get it up near the green.

Another bogey, I was now +2 with what should be a birdie chance par 5, and then a tricky island green par three!

It was far from a straightforward finish, I pulled my tee shot, and again was stuck behind a tree, I had to play a sand wedge left handed out of a rough lie…. I made contact and it flew across the fairway into the rough/trees at the other side.

I was now knee deep, I hacked it 70 yards forward then thankfully held my cool to hit a 7 iron to 15ft and rolled it in!!!!!!!!!

I missed a great chance on 9 but was happy to hang onto the right side of the cut line, it’s felt like a while since I’ve played a weekend!!!!!

I set off really nicely in round three, with birdies on 2 and 5, it kind of felt in cruise control, but I guess the minute it normally feels like that the game then bites you!!

Soon enough I was +1.

I played some great stuff from 11 through to 15, with a birdie on 12, but didn’t capitalise on lots of good chances.

If you miss the fairway on 16 it’s tough, a bogey there followed by the worst bogey of the day on 17.

A birdie on 18 would have made the day feel a lot better, and after a perfect drive I left myself a number where I could find the green. I’m not one to hit many high draws on demand, so to hit a high draw with a five wood from 270 and see it pitch on the green was pretty satisfying.

Unfortunately, it bounced through the back and I failed to get up and down! Argh!

I hit a few putts that afternoon, smashed a strong gym session, then got back to the hotel, packed up and chilled out ready for one last round before heading to China!

Round 4 – it felt again like every round this week, really good, got it under par through half way and then stumbled over the finish line either level par or over par!!

I had a good chance to go to -3 on the 13th but missed that and from there it went the other way with bogeys at 14 and 16! Soft bogeys too….

18 is a chance if you smash a tee shot up there…did I?? Nope! I smashed it into the trees, tried to get a free drop for animal scrapings, which the ref was having none of!

So, a penalty drop, a crap lay-up, but saved by a nice 18ft putt for par!!!

T41st 72, 74, 74, 72

Was it a good week? It was ok…but what was very satisfying was the progress I have made on a couple of aspects of my game by applying some new processes to them over the last five weeks!!

I’m pretty excited, as most of the time it’s easy to see the changes in practice but then on the course is where it counts!!

Already I’m looking forward to competing in China!!

Let’s hope for some more progress!!

 

*COMPETITION TIME*

It’s been a while since I ran a competition, so here goes….

Fancy winning a dozen Titleist ProV1’s and a Callaway Tour bag towel?

Then email or contact me on social media with the answer to the below question and if it’s correct then you’re in the draw!

• Which superhero is on my new custom www.pegolf.se three wood head cover? It’s also my youngest daughter Olivia’s favourite character!!

Clue: the answers in this blog

*entries close 29 April – with the draw done the following week*

I think I’ve told you this before but Richard Finch tells everyone I.N.D.I.A stands for….

“I’ll never do it again!”

That rule doesn’t really apply to me as there probably isn’t anywhere I won’t travel to…my motto, as I’ve also told you, is:

“Have clubs will travel!”

The only place I struggle to visit is China, and I’m going back there again next month, so I can’t be that bothered!

So, this year it was back to New Delhi and the DLF golf course; last year the Tour made a re-visit to the redesigned course and it received mixed views!

It’s a Gary Player designed course, but many of us weren’t too sure if Gary Player himself had actually stepped foot in New Delhi . . .

If he did he must have been a few sheets to the wind, or really didn’t want the Indian golfers to enjoy our beautiful game!

For Joe public this golf course could well be one of the most brutal tests out there. I was thinking about it whilst trying to count sheep on my night flight and failing to nod off – there really isn’t an easy hole, and many of the holes have punishment both sides of the fairway too!!

Then if you do manage to navigate the fairway, the greens are pretty damn tricky to find, and then once you’re on them ‘Gary’ decided to make them undulating!

By the way, I’m not complaining, that’s just my view, I was there and ready to embrace the challenge!!!!

Aside from the above, though, the condition is world class, and on the eye some of the holes are breathtaking!

17 sure stands out, but the 2nd shot on 18, if you’re going for the green in two, looks simply stunning!!

That, Gary, you did a good job with!

 

So, a nasty night flight as I mentioned, 5 hours into Istanbul, then five hours into New Delhi, then with a time difference I made it to the hotel for 6am ish.

Which is pretty much 2am in the morning, so shower, changed and up to the course for what felt like night golf! (On my time zone!)

The key is to stay awake, not go to sleep too early, hopefully then when you do hit the pillow you are so tired you sleep through your original time zone and magically wake up on Indian time feeling fresh as a daisy!! Sounds easy . . .

But what normally happens is you wake up through the night as your body doesn’t know what’s going on!

I had two solid days of practice Monday/Tuesday but very quiet, I’ll explain why soon!

My aim was to keep my intensity up from the prep I did in Qatar, make it hard, get myself frustrated with failing my tests and really try to switch on to competition mode!

I was also testing some new irons which I felt were going to offer more to my game than the current irons I was using!

I hit a lot of ‘knock down’ shots and like to fade the ball with my irons, or at least try to fade it…that’s my swing feeling! So, having irons which have no offset (hence traditional blades) should make that a lot easier!

After two days’ of practice and then playing the pro-am, I settled into the new Callaway APEX MB irons very well!! In fact, I love them!

Three days of prep completed and around six curries consumed, I was ready for round one!

Pretty good draw too, Robert Rock and Daniel Im, both great guys, good on course attitudes and with fun caddies too – it would make for a fun few rounds!

You still wondering why I had two quiet days?

It was quite funny in the end, as thankfully it worked out ok, but me and my coach had joked for a few weeks that after receiving a Facebook msg from an Indian local caddy that Steve would be getting the sack and I would be taking the local caddy Gourav for the week.

So, when Steve arrived at Manchester airport on Sunday to have his visa rejected and be told he couldn’t fly, Gourav was all of a sudden on standby!

However, my quiet two days came to an end Tuesday afternoon when I heard Tooby strutting his way across the putting green! He had made it!!!

How did the golf go?

Let’s wrap it up pretty quickly, as the result wasn’t what I hoped for!!

Over the 36 holes I actually played quite nicely, I hit 4 bad tee shots and round that golf course you don’t get away with any!

Lost balls, unplayable lies, hazards!!

I made some big numbers and lost two balls in two shots off my 11th hole in round 1!

But after nine holes of round two I gave myself plenty of chances to make the cut and I really tried to dig in!!!!!

77, 75 +8 M/C

I believe in everything I’m doing, will continue to work hard and I’m looking forward to those tournaments where I get that reward, as it’s going to really feel sweet then!

So, it was back out to the desert for the second desert swing of 2018!

This time it was Oman followed by Qatar.

The last time I was in Oman was for the Challenge Tour grand final in 2015, when it was pretty much an ‘all or nothing’ month in my career as I was at a very low point financially and mentally.

I had an average week there but then went on to get my card at Q-School and then started the next chapter in my career the following season on the European Tour.

I did play the Qatar event last year and finished mid pack, so it was nice to go back and play both these courses in 2018.

After a pretty long travel day, and then a night flight Monday, landing 8am in Oman Tuesday morning, I headed straight to the course and was showered and on the range by 9am!!

After a quick warm up I was straight out on the course. It’s a great track – to me it feels like a little bit of a mixture of desert and heathland by the sea – it has the potential to be very windy!!! The condition was perfect too!

Wednesday was my normal practice day with a slight twist at the end – five pros were asked to play a five-hole junior pro-am; it was good fun and the kids in my team were great!!

Round 1 got off to a crap bogey bogey start!! Not ideal at all and, in the end, I dug out a round of level par with a battling finish down the last three holes!! I made a great 5 on my 16th with a penalty drop, holed a great putt on the next, and made a nice save from 7ft on the last!

Scoring-wise I was relatively happy, but performance-wise it felt a little scrappy!!

Round two started the total opposite and finished the total opposite!!!!

Two under through three and then threw all that away with some mental errors and just some all-round crap golf!!!

From that start there was no way I felt I should have missed the cut, and it’s a shame as it really did feel like a golf course that should suit my game! But I’m old enough and wise enough now to realise that’s not the case and golf will always be the winner!!!

So, it was a re-set over the weekend, be more competitive in practice and look forward to the next event in Qatar!!!

After a busy weekend of practice, it was then straight into it Monday. I didn’t feel my driver was quite right in Oman, it’s probably the fastest driver I’ve used, distance-wise it was performing but dispersion-wise it wasn’t good enough.

So, Monday and Tuesday morning I did some thorough driver testing and took them all out to play nine holes each day. I think that’s something I’ve probably not done enough of when testing – you can always get a driver to feel decent on the range, when there is no fairway definition, pressure, or other elements.

Monday, Tuesday it was very windy too, so it was great to hit plenty drives on the course with different directions and strengths.

I ‘gamed’ the Callaway Sub Zero Rogue last week, but like I said it wasn’t quite right.

So, I tested:

Callaway standard Rogue – Tensie Orange shaft

TaylorMade M3 – Tensie Orange shaft

Ping G400 LST – Tensie Blue shaft.

TaylorMade was great on the range, but over the course of the two nine holes I played, the bad shots just weren’t good enough for me, maybe the twist face was not for me.

The Ping really surprised me, I normally wouldn’t have tested it, but my good friend Adam Walker had just been fitted for one and said ‘give it a whirl’. I did and it was fast, and pretty straight too…it was in contention!

The Sub Zero head didn’t quite sit square enough for me, so once I got my hands on the ‘standard’ head with the right loft I loved it, it sat great, felt great and again came off the face as fast as the Sub Zero did!!

On the course it went well, and it totally reined in my dispersion with my bad shot being just a tad blocky with a bit too much spin – it was very safe though!!!

We had a winner!!!!!

 

It was two great days of testing, and two great nine holes where me and Steve set loads of competitive games whilst on the course…points for hitting fairways, greens, up and down challenges, bunker tests and holing out!

I was very lucky to have my good friend Gary Dunkley out to support me in Qatar. Gary currently lives in Georgia, so it was a short flight over to Qatar. We stayed in the official hotel which was a cracker!

The St Regis!! Gary didn’t get in till Wednesday so, unfortunately, he missed out on the welcome party, but me on the other hand…I took full advantage of the five-star buffet beach/poolside on the Tuesday night!!

With my category position slightly improving this year, I seem to be getting some nice draws. In Oman I played with Pepperell (won in Qatar) and in Qatar I got Marcel Siem and Scott Jamieson.

I had dinner with Marcel the week before just by chance, he’s a character for sure, great fun, but had heard on the course he can be pretty fiery.

Over the first two days we had a good laugh, we all played some mixed stuff but pushed each other round, and all three of us sneaked the cut in very different fashion. Scott scrambled home with a few mistakes, Marcel cruised to a stress free 6 under, and I hung in there till the end birdieing 7, 8, 9 to shoot -5 and make it on the mark!!

A great group, good players and also great caddies, it makes your first two days at work a lot more enjoyable when there is some good chat, some fun stories and plenty of banter!

I was delighted with my finish, and Steve and Gary certainly were too. I was pretty certain the cut was looking at falling at -4 – the weather was good, the wind hadn’t stayed around from Tuesday and the standard, as you know, is pretty damn good!

There were a few holes which offered up some pretty straightforward chances: 1, 10, 16, 18, but the rest you needed to get it in position and hit some very good shots.

I started on 10, and made a perfect birdie! Made the easy birdie on 16, and then holed a good putt on 18 for birdie, so cruised through the front nine -3 without really doing anything special.

I didn’t take my chance on 1 but the key moment of the round was holing from around 18ft for bogey on the 3rd. It’s a tough par 3 playing over par for the week and I tried to make a meal of it.

I then had 6 holes to chase three birdies to play weekend golf – missed a chance on 4, parred the next two and then it was make or break!

All you can do is give yourself a chance, give yourself a putt at it…and I did better than that as I nearly didn’t have to putt!

7th – 3 wood, 95 yard LW to 3ft = birdie; 8th – 6 iron, 185 yards to 3ft = birdie; 9th – driver, 4 iron, 110 yard LW to 3ft = birdie.

 

WEEKEND GOLF! Now that finish felt like a nice reward for the preparation I had put in!

Over the weekend I shot a pair of 71’s, so finished the tournament -6 and 53rd, not a great week in terms of position on the leaderboard but I had plenty of my own little wins in there to be proud of!!!

I’ve now got five days with the family, as I’m missing the Tshwane Open, and then I fly back to India to play the super challenging DLF golf course!

If you’ve been there you will know…but if not, the best way to describe the temperature is “it’s like sticking your head in an oven!”

You can feel your skin cooking, sun cream just sweats off you, it floods off the tip of your nose, dripping onto your ball…

It runs down your arms onto the grips, ruins your glove and if you’re getting the picture well enough, you can tell it’s pretty uncomfortable and I personally don’t like it!

This is not complaining by the way, I’m just telling you how it feels to me!!

So, it was my first time to Malaysia; my third year on Tour and the previous two years my category hadn’t got me into the event.

It actually didn’t this year either, but a top 10 in Dubai made sure I got my place on the start sheet and getting on the flight felt a lot better than travelling as a reserve which I had planned to do!

I hadn’t heard much about the course, although I’d seen from previous years that the scoring can get as hot as the weather! But on arriving and seeing the condition of the greens you would expect it would have a negative effect on the scores.

It’s always tough playing the Asian players in their own back yard; I’ve mentioned plenty of times how the grass plays so differently!

To be honest, the course layout, condition and greens couldn’t have been more different to the event in Dubai last week!!

It was time to adjust!!!!

I checked into my hotel Monday lunch time and had the day off from golf; I had a decent gym session but other than that I just chilled out and tried to stay awake.

There were three official hotels to choose from…having not been to Malaysia before I thought I would take the easy choice as I didn’t know the area well.

I soon found out I was the only player in the hotel, which was also 30 minutes away from the course and downtown too.

It was going to be a lonely week, I had dinner for one every night…sometimes it’s not quite the lifestyle and social scene some people think it is!

The golf course wasn’t long and with the heat the ball was flying a little further too…

When you walked some fairways and looked around you would think you were in a rain forest and you were trekking through the jungle!

Monkeys surround the course, big lizards swim in the ponds and you have to keep your eyes peeled for King Cobras!!

Steve…. “help!”

In round one I played solid, I went bogey free and started the round with three birdies…that was also off the back of three birdies to finish in Dubai and back to back bogey free rounds which always feels nice!

I think that’s already 4 bogey free rounds for this season, maybe more than all last year combined!!!

Round two was equally as steady, one bogey from a poor second shot after just missing the fairway by inches.

But other than that, some good birdies and I posted 70 (-2) to make the cut which fell at -4.

That’s -9 minimum you needed to make the weekend these last two weeks, and this week it nearly went to -5 again!

The standard is good, in fact it’s better than good, you can’t not be on your game!!

With fears of more thunder delays they sent us out in 3 balls and a U draw early Saturday, so with me being middle of the pack that meant an early start as I was second group out!

Playing with Beef and Manassero should always be fun, nice guys and both have good caddies on the bag.

For me though it wasn’t fun (the company was fun). I was on the back foot from the start, clawed it back, let it go again, clawed it back, then blew out in the end to miss the third round cut!

I bet Steve wanted to hang me playing the last two holes!!!!

To quickly explain, there’s a new rule when 80+ make the cut; they chop it back down to 72nd and ties after round three…there are many reasons they do it, but you still get paid even if you don’t make day 4.

So, to sum up round four, I was utter crap, the good news…I get to start the mammoth journey home 24hrs earlier and now have a full week off before heading back out to the Middle East for Oman and Qatar!

After today I feel I need a re group, give my head a shake, brush it off and be ready and excited to get going again next weekend!!

And more importantly, rest up and enjoy some time with my girls!!!

Blog again soon!

This year the desert swing was shortened because the Qatar event has moved to late February alongside Oman, which is a new addition to the schedule (it had previously been used as the venue for the Challenge Tour grand final which I played in 2015).

So, as my last blog mentioned, I am on the road for just over three weeks – Abu Dhabi, followed by Dubai and then Malaysia – if my ranking were actually to get me into the event. When I set off to travel I was surprisingly around 10th reserve, so either needed plenty of guys to withdraw or to finish top ten in Dubai!

After some good weeks of practice, I felt I was pretty much ready to start the season in Abu Dhabi. Of course, I expected some rust from not being too competitive for a month but what happened in round two certainly knocked me back, or should I say made me aware of what I still needed to focus on.

In round one I played ok, I made a few poor errors but made enough birdies to end the day one under and not in a bad position. It was a really strong field that HSBC had assembled (with rumours that appearance fees were totalling over $6 million), so the scoring was impressive.

After a relaxed evening with Mark (coach) and Iain (mind coach), I was up for the Friday challenge… and boy was it a challenge!!!

I started on the tenth, made a pretty perfect birdie and then quickly followed that with double, double, bogey…ouch, now to come back from that was going to be a huge ask!

And to cut a long story short I didn’t and, in the end, I was lucky to break 80! So, the first event of the year and I was propping up the field.

That’s never a nice feeling and believe it or not I still gave it 100%! Missing the cut by ten or missing the cut by one in golf is still the same result, you go home with nothing, but it does feel different, it hurts your pride!

But as my coach said, great things can always come from failure…how else are you supposed to learn?

And over Saturday and Sunday we sure talked a lot, discussed managing my game on the course, landing spots, finish spots and the ‘actual yardage’, which is never normally the yardage you start with!

I will leave that topic for another blog one day, but I promise it’s actually a lot simpler than it sounds.

Saturday, we spent the day at Abu Dhabi, then Sunday I joined a couple of friends at Yas Island Golf course to put the game to the test again and discuss in more detail the ‘actual’ yardages.

As a team we worked very hard and were excited to head to Dubai Sunday tea time to get set up for the next week! Abu Dhabi was then a thing of the past!

One last thing from Abu Dhabi which was pretty cool and I have to mention, is the F1 track at Yas Island where our hotel was. Every Tuesday night they open up the track to runners and cyclists – it’s 3.4 miles round and it was a heck of an experience/atmosphere running that evening in the floodlights!

So, 1 hour down the road in Mark’s Chevrolet Spark hire car, we were in Dubai. Mark dropped me off at my hotel then headed off to find his hotel and battle the crazy Dubai roads, traffic jams, road works and in the process let his car RUN OUT of petrol – not ideal!!

So, now back at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, an event I’ve watched for years on TV! Last year I missed the cut by one shot, so it was time to try and make amends!

I do like the course, the layout is great, so nice on the eye as the definition from sand to rough to fairway is amazing – the green keepers must be so proud of their work!

The rough I felt was pretty juicy, the greens firm, and with quite a few doglegs I thought it’s a tricky test…but experience sure plays a huge factor, as trusting some lines off the tees can make some holes so much easier.

13, 14, 17 and 18 all need some serious trust as to where you’re starting those tee shots, and I’m sure next year I will take some much stronger lines on 13 and 18 especially to try and take advantage of those holes.

Anyway, me thinking it was a tricky course was pretty silly when the scoring in round one went crazy! Guys shooting 7, 8, 9 and 10 under just shows how good the standard is on the European Tour!!

The social media world, and especially Twitter, went crazy with people as ever complaining about technology and course set ups etc. For me, Paul Waring summed it up pretty well in this tweet, which was a good explanation of why scoring was better than other years:

Round one I set off with a crowd pleasing three putt bogey! Not ideal for the confidence, but bounced back quickly, holing for birdie from 7 feet and 9 feet on the next two holes!!

I played pretty solid and stress free for the rest of the round and it was nice to shoot 67 (-5). Even Coach Pearson was happy from the side-lines – which takes some doing – it was a good day for #TeamHanson all round.

The scoring in round two was set to be as hot as the weather, and at one point it looked like the cut might go to a crazy -6, that’s madness!!

I started poorly, two over after 3 holes, and my game felt off, my head was spinning a bit, it was elsewhere! I dug in, Steve kept me going, we battled back and it was probably a good thing to get called off for darkness through 10 holes (due to the morning fog delay).

A fresh start was just what I needed, and I came back early the next day and finished the last 8 holes with pars and a birdie!!

Cut made and into the weekend I went, in around 30th position on seven under.
Saturday, I spent most of the day hitting my second shot first of the group – Nicolas Colsaerts and Andres Romero don’t hold back and were giving me twenty yards at times!

But I played my own game, continued to hole some nice putts, and in the end just made the one bogey on my last hole, three putting from the fringe, to shoot 70 (-2).

It’s not often you shoot under par and move back 12 spots on the leader board but guys were still ripping it up!

But I had round 4 to look forward to, I was putting points on the OOM and building some confidence with my game…the wind was also forecast to get up, sand was blowing everywhere, a tree actually blew down and it was a little trickier, which certainly showed in the scoring.

I played the front nine nicely, made two good par saves and a pretty straightforward birdie on the 3rd, so 1 under I was cruising along ok.

Back nine charge maybe?

I hadn’t birdied ten all week, and I’m pretty sure it was playing stroke 18. Today I did, from the trap. I then holed from 15ft on the next for birdie, went for the power play on 13 with a bold tee shot line, that paid off and I made an easy birdie…all of a sudden, I was -4!!

Mentally I was in a good place, I like the wind and felt I was moving up the board, I had momentum…

On 16 I got a flyer from the rough, I was through the green in the rough. With Iain (mind coach) we focus a lot on self talk and how you see the shot, it helps a lot!

Steve actually asked me: “what do you see here Chris?”.

Me: “it’s perched up pretty high on the rough so I don’t want to go under it, I’m gonna open the loft, keep my speed up and clip it off the top, if I land it next to Jamie’s marker it’s got a chance”.

Where did I land it…?

Next to his marker and from there we watched it trickle down the hill finding the bottom of the hole. A birdie there, I drove the next green and made another birdie…and then finally hit the 18th fairway over the dog leg!

250 yards to the flag, over the water, I hit three wood back left and made a great up and down from next to the grandstand. And to make it better, as the 7ft putt rolled in, the roar from the #TeamHanson support team was heard all around!

Thanks guys…Ben Johnson, Eddy Brown, Andy Brown, Bob Whiteley, Michael Major and some more friends of theirs!!!

It was a great feeling, and then to walk into the score tent to see that I had moved up to third in the tournament was pretty special.

 

In the end I finished T6th which, from starting the day where I did, was a great result and hopefully something I can build on going forward.
I’m not sure 12 years ago, when I set out on my journey, I saw myself -16 round the Majlis Golf course finishing T6th in the Desert Classic!

I’ve sure come a long way!

 

So, here we go again, 2018 has now started for me and it commenced with me sitting on a train from Malaga to Madrid – It certainly was a travel day!

It was an early taxi up to the station, 3-hour train to Madrid, then a direct flight out to Dubai for two days’ practice before heading up the road to Abu Dhabi!

As a family, we had such a fun month together after I returned from Australia. We had a hectic and busy nine days in the UK over Xmas but then had some really terrific fun family time back in Spain too; I also got to enjoy some practice in far better weather than I’m used to at this time of the year.

It’s crazy how quickly my children are growing up; they’re both great fun, don’t listen to daddy at all, but I’m amazed how switched on and clever they both seem to be. Jessica just wants to learn all the time, whilst Olivia just wants to cause as much chaos as she can – it’s brilliant, and crazy how different they are!

We tucked them both up in bed on Sunday night, and it was time for me to say ‘bye, as I was up early for my taxi before they would be awake. I’m away for just over three weeks and that’s stretching our ‘family limit’ of time apart – in fact it’s overstretched it!!

We still don’t know if Jessica understands the timescales of daddy’s travels, but she certainly understands I’m away for a good few bedtimes this time. And last night was the first time we’ve had tears from her and asking for me not to go away!!!

That’s a tough pill to swallow for me and Laura, seeing Jess sad, and something which at times I’m sure will make 2018 harder.

But as soon as she gets back to school the next morning and sees her friends, daddy will be forgotten – ha ha!!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m under no illusion that it’s only me going through this… As in all walks of life and like many other jobs, we all make sacrifices and that just happens to be mine…I’m very lucky to do what I do, it’s just a selfish profession whether you want it to be or not!

So, after my full travel day, I landed in Dubai around midnight and grabbed a taxi straight to the hotel near Jumeirah Golf estates where I’m spending day 1 of my practice.

It’s a quality set up, and where the European Tour Performance Institute (ETPI) is based. My plan is to get up there in the morning, spend the day practising, and then at 4pm I’m meeting the Tour Fitness/Physio team for a few hours of testing, as I’m going to start working with them very closely in the 2018 season which is something I’m very excited about.

Having the Physios, Strength & Conditioning coaches, and nutritionists, at each event throughout the season surely should lead to a better chance of progression, improvement and maintaining the good habits!!

What an opportunity!!!!

Sunday, I’m going to head across to The Emirates course where the Desert Classic is played following Abu Dhabi. I’m meeting with Callaway at 10am to test the new Rogue driver, which will be fun!
I’m currently using the Callaway Epic driver since my contract with TaylorMade finished in January, and I’m actually a free agent for 2018 in terms of clubs, with my only commitment being to use Titleist/Footjoy ball, shoe and glove.

So, let’s see how the Rogue performs!!!