This week it was back to a course that I really enjoy and have great memories of; in 2013
I shot a 3rd round 64 (-8) and finished 9th that week, which then got me into my first European Tour event the following week in France.
It may sound funny to some of you, but I like the grass out there, it’s lush!! My previous caddy (who many of you know, Steve Tooby) and I always used to turn up to events and get quite excited when we saw a course like this, so it was fingers crossed I could feed off some good memories!
Talking about caddies, this year I’ve been very fortunate to have someone on the bag each week. And this week was no different…
A good friend of mine Gary Shuttleworth (Bradley Hall) took the time off work to spend a week looping my bag round and I can’t thank him enough! On and off the course he’s a great laugh, and that’s exactly what you need when in the heat of battle!!
He’s also going to treat you all to a blog of his experience as a caddy from behind the ropes at a Challenge tour event, I’m sure it will be a fun read, so keep your eyes peeled for that blog…
Thanks for your help Gary!!
Also this week my coach (Mark Pearson) came out for two full days to help with my game. Once you get into the season it’s tough to find time to get lessons booked in the diary and sometimes sending lessons over email on video is not enough.
So to have Mark out in person this week was fantastic, and really came at the perfect time. Over the last three events my driving has slowly got worse and worse and I needed to press the reset button and get those good feelings back!
After getting to the course Tuesday afternoon we spent a good hour on the range and then as we stepped foot on the first tee the heavens opened! We battled round in the rain for 12 holes and then finally got our reward of a perfect evening’s weather, which thankfully dried us all out.
I also got my reward in the sense that I drove it great on the back nine and that filled me with bags of confidence for Thursday.
Wednesday we did some all round practice, and as the game felt good we spent some time with some ‘different’ shots you rarely get but are at times very important… Such as the long bunker shot when you want it to release up the green and not spin – very tricky!
So after promising Gary a proper steak Wednesday evening (400g steak with a beer for under £10) I was ready and he was definitely ready for round 1 the following afternoon.
I started my round on the 10th and after a decent 3 wood into the right semi I had a pretty straightforward 9 iron from 148 yards. The bad news was that I misjudged the amount the ball may fly from the rough, so saw it take a big hop long into the knee high rough which led to an opening triple bogey 7 – ouch!!!!
Not the ideal course to be taking such a backwards step when the scoring like most weeks is very good!!
I battled all day, drove it great but some up and down play and a three putt on the last meant I signed for a 76 (+4) and I already knew I would need my best in round 2 to be able to play the weekend!
As always I gave it 100% in round two and so badly didn’t want to miss the cut!
I threw 7 birdies at it through 15 holes, and one solitary bogey had me at -6 with three to play. The 16th was a relatively easy par 5 and always a chance at birdie… But from an ok position off the tee I made a shocker of a swing, pushing it way out right into the water and then after a career bunker shot I made a decent bogey in the end!
A birdie birdie finish was needed and I had to settle for two pars… Again a close week out on Challenge Tour but that’s not good enough and my simple scoring needs to improve, NO sloppy bogeys!
Some confidence has to be taken from the week as there was a massive improvement from Austria, and the positives of some better driving will get me going for next week!
Another positive note, but not one I wanted, was the benefit of playing early on a Friday as it sometimes means the chance to get home if you miss the cut… This week we did but it was a crazy rush through Prague traffic, luckily an easy run through security, and we made it with ten minutes to spare!
We managed to fly to Manchester with the slight issue of the car being parked at Leeds… But that’s only a minor issue as at least we were back in the UK and not stuck till Sunday night.
I’ve got four days to work hard at home now, and be ready for Switzerland next week, so a few visits up to Woodsome and a few to Pure Fitness and I will be firing on all cylinders -hopefully!
Maybe I have to wait another week for the ‘bounce back’
Olivia loving Daddy’s Taylormade hat!