Hi everyone!
It’s been a while since I last blogged, and it’s felt like a crazy and non-stop last 3 weeks! In fact, last 7 weeks! Think I have only been at home for three full days…
As always there have been many ups and downs along the way, but overall my golf has been quite pleasing and I feel I’m learning all the time.
Austria…
Austria was definitely one of the downs, though, it felt like my worst playing week in a long time, but I felt the performance had been coming as a few bad shots had started to creep into my game the weeks prior.
Looking back I was slightly harsh on my overall game that week, but compounding two bad tee shots with two equally as bad provisionals made it feel a lot worse.
I still had a realistic chance of making the cut even playing poorly, so I guess that shows that I’m starting to make the most out of my game when not 100%.
The honeymoon suite next to our hotel… something different!
Anyway … the best thing about missing a cut is that you get to go home sooner – most of the time – if it’s cost effective and there is a flight! So this time I was very lucky to get back, even if it meant sitting on the floor of Munich airport from midnight till 6am, I was going to do it!
Getting back also meant I got to play in the Woodsome Hall Foursomes on the Sunday and play with my good friend Gareth Cooper.
We had a great laugh and finished T3rd shooting +7 & -1, the scoring on the day was really tough with the course in the best condition it has EVER been!! The greens where running at 13.1 on the stimp meter, which is easily Tour standard.
Chris Dyson and his team should be extremely proud of their work! As should Richard Holt and his team for the success of the event, I’m already looking forward to next year’s event!
The Woodsome Hall Scratch Open Foursomes!
Onto Germany…
Before flying back out for the next event in Germany I managed to get to see my coach: that was exactly what I needed, a bit of positive reinforcement that the things I am doing in my swing are correct – and I was not far away.
Just for Mark to see my swing and help me build a little trust and confidence was great!
So from there I headed out to Germany, played nine holes on the Wednesday evening and got set for a late tee time Thursday.
The first round saw me shoot 65 (-7), so not a bad way to build some confidence. I played solidly, missed a few short putts but holing from 25, 35, and 40ft always helps.
After round 1…
Overall, a bit of an up and down week but nice to finish T21st with scores of 65, 74, 68, and 73.
Back to Swiss…
What a beautiful clean country – but one of the most expensive countries I have ever visited!
So, to try and make this week cheaper this is where we stayed….
I have certainly stayed in bigger rooms…
It felt like my first school trip away from home 🙂
We had four of us in here, which was a snug fit, as you can imagine, but we made the most of it, had a great laugh and saved ourselves about £60 for the week, which always helps.
It’s also pretty hard to get a meal out here for under £20, so we found ourselves eating in the motorway service station a few times and making the most of the food in the players’ lounge for lunch.
I played with one of my room- mates for the first two rounds, too, Wallace Booth. He played Walker Cup a few years back and if it was not for a string of injuries he would probably be on the main Tour already.
But again that was an experience, as now I have played with the 4 longest hitters on the Challenge Tour and to see their 3 woods comfortably sail past my best drives, and to see their drives comfortably sail 50 yards past mine, it really does open your eyes!
So I have started not to watch them hit it, and keep reminding myself it’s the end result that matters, and how many shots, not how far! Ha ha!
Here is the big hitting list…
Daniel Vancik = brute force
Wallace Booth = pure strength
Tapio Pulkkanen = fastest hands ever
Nikolas Lemke = perfect golf physique and great technique
Results…
On the course this week was pretty fun, I felt after last week I had built some real confidence in my swing and some good trust over the shots, and on the range Wednesday evening I managed to do some decent work on my game to get ready for the first round.
- Round up of the week and the standard of the Challenge Tour
Over the 4 rounds this week I actually only made 5 bogeys, which I felt was pretty solid. The rough and the semi rough were so brutal in places you could not advance the ball 100 yards, never mind get it to the green.
Throughout the week I made some great putts to save pars but just never made enough birdies. The winning score of -19, which did include some bogeys, just shows the standard out here.
You have to putt so well every week to compete and the player who putts the best each week 99.9% of the time wins!!!!
I finished T13th with scores of 68, 68, 69, 68 – Total -11.
It really is an eye opener out here that to perform well you need to drive the ball straight and in play and have an awesome short game. That sounds so obvious but until you play on courses set up like this I don’t think many people will truly understand.
I can’t imagine how tough the US Open must be set up!
I remember coming off the back of my good year on the Europro in 2011 and sitting down with Mark (coach) at the end of the year to plan the season ahead. We were looking through my stats and he said… “you don’t drive the ball straight enough”
There was me thinking that’s the best part of my game… but with 55% of fairways hit, and on courses throughout the UK where you don’t get punished for playing from the semi rough, he really was right when I soon came to play on the Challenge Tour and experience semi rough like this.
I’m now back home for the week, as I’m taking the week off the Challenge Tour in Italy to get some practice done, see my coach, play a pro-am and have some quality family time, which I really need!
After this week off I then head out to France for Challenge Tour and hopefully to keep building on my last two weeks of T21st and T13th.
I will keep you posted.
Thanks as always.
Chris