2017 starts now… NEW BLOG!

It’s been fantastic to spend some quality time at home with the family, walking Jess to school, picking her up, going out with the family for dinner, and not missing Olivia’s 2nd birthday!

But from a golfing perspective, it’s been a rather strange feeling!!

Having missed out on the event in Turkey by 5 places, which was part of the ‘final series’, that meant the end of my season.

But normally this time of the year I’m heading to Spain, either to start stage 2 or compete at final stage of Qualifying school.

So this year to be at home wishing I was playing the final series -but thankful I wasn’t at Tour School – was very different!

But I really can take a lot of inspiration from the position I find myself in, as again I’ve made a progression in my career, this time probably the largest!

As you know, I’ve improved my category on the European Tour for 2017, so I’m very excited to be looking forward and planning the year ahead!

And that starts with a trip back to Leopard Creek (South Africa), followed by a new event for me in Hong Kong the following week!

But my plan is to stop for two days in Dubai before I fly to SA! It’s a great opportunity to get a couple of quality days’ practice, which I will call my own mini ‘boot camp’.

Jumeirah Golf Estates, I hear, is one of the best practice facilities in the world, and an added perk of having a Tour Card is that you get free access to this facility!

Jumeriah Golf Estates

The weather at home has been mixed, as you know, but we’ve not had much wind so it has been mild enough to practice…but you just don’t get chance to get on good surfaces on and around the greens!

So that’s my main focus for two days, along with playing as many holes as possible!

So what have I been up to in ‘sunny’ Huddersfield before heading out to the Middle East?

With only having a 3-4 week period to develop my game and keep my swing playable for the start of the season, it’s tricky to find the practice balance…but what I do know is I’ve worked hard!!

To get together with Rachael from Dynamic Golf and make some strength progress in this short period has been fantastic; I’m really excited to see the gains in my golf game throughout the coming year!!

With Jake Hamilton at Pure Fitness

Click here for some tips from Dynamic Golf!!

With Mark, my coach, we set out a plan for the 3-4 weeks, starting with some biomechanics; we wanted to find out how well and how efficient my golf swing is.

It highlighted areas we knew were weak, and we planned over the weeks to see an improvement in how my lower body works in the swing!!

We also set out a few technical changes for the ‘short stick’ – my path with the putter is good, but we feel there is room for improvement with how I rotate the club face!

Holing putts is down to face control, so I’ve upped the intensity with my practice but all the time making sure what I do has a purpose!

Following on from keeping my card, I’ve had a couple of fun media commitments which are great to do…this time I had ‘GOLFING WORLD’ up to Woodsome for an interview and to film some instructional pieces.

Hopefully you can catch these on Tuesday night on Sky Sports 4 and get to see them online very soon!

I also got together with Stromberg to shoot the new range for 2017; we did the shoot up at Fixby on a ‘nice’ cold day!

Not really so nice to be in a T-shirt and have Rick squirting water at you, testing the new fabrics of the trousers!! But, as ever, we always have a great laugh on the shoot and I can’t thank them enough for their continued support!

As many of you may know, I spent 4 years at Myerscough College and every year I go back to speak to the students about life on Tour, my experiences and about my 4 years at the college.

This year was no different – other than I had a lot more stories and much more inspiration for them, proving that you can play on Tour from studying at the college!!

It really has been a busy spell, so to catch up with Sponsors in person has been fantastic (DPPublicity, Abzorb) and also to create some new relationships which I mentioned in a previous blog!

A huge thank must go to Steve and Kelly at Selbie Opticians for their support and eye care, such an important aspect as a professional golfer; it’s been fun finally seeing the ball land – even if it’s not always where I would like it to!

Selbie Opticians

SO WHATS NEXT?

A few weeks to start the season, a nice Christmas break and then a good run of events to start the new year – I look forward to sharing the journey with you all!!

1st Dec – South Africa

8th Dec – Hong Kong

12th Jan – South Africa

19th Jan – Abu Dhabi

26th Jan – Qatar

2nd Feb – Dubai