Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who took part in the Arrow Golf day last Monday!
Despite some HEAVY showers, the feedback from the day was fantastic and once again I really enjoyed organising it, along with Amanda from Arrowselfdrive.
So, after a busy day at Woodsome, it was home that evening to finish packing and start Tuesday’s adventure to the course.
05.45 alarm
06.00 taxi to Huddersfield train station
06.30 train to Manchester airport
10.00 fly to Stockholm and connect
14.00 fly to Helsinki
17.00 collect hire car (2hr drive)
19.00 arrive at accommodation in Turku
The ‘dream’ life of a journeyman playing the Challenge Tour right there for you!
Finland is not a cheap place, but nowhere in Scandinavia is really, so this week accommodation was tricky…
You may have heard of ‘Air B&B’ on the web…a few guys have started to use it and it seemed the best option this week.
Myself and Wallace Booth managed to rent someone’s apartment for £350 for the week … not bad really, as the players’ hotel would have cost that each at least!
But it was slightly different…The people actually just moved out of the apartment for the week…It’s not a rental property they own…It’s their actual home!
So, the kids’ toys were out, food still in – they literally just handed over the keys! Thankfully, they had not left the washing up for us to do!!
But it worked well for the week and I’m sure I will check out ‘Air B&B’ again in the future.
The course was short, tricky and had great greens. It was looking like a low scoring week in practice but with tricky winds over the first 2 days, I felt the course was perfect for me.
A level par cut also showed that it was not so simple and for once someone did not shoot -8 in the first round!
I played decent day 1 and didn’t really hole anything…But a disappointing bogey on 17 left a sour taste in my mouth, as it was a pretty straightforward hole.
So at close of play it left me only 1 shot outside the cut and fairly optimistic about my chances Friday!
But as I tweeted, a dose of the ‘man flu’, a sore back and some poor golf led to a round of +3 on day two! Obviously not enough to make the level par cut and another poor week on the back of the disappointment in Northern Ireland!
Then to make things feel a little bit worse, I wasn’t going home for the weekend … Each time I’ve missed the cut this year I’ve made it home early, but with playing the Rolex Trophy next week in Switzerland, and that starting Wednesday, I was stuck on ‘misery hill’ with a large bucket of range balls ironing out any problems over the weekend!
It can be a lonely sport at times, a few guys stuck on the range whilst watching the leaders tee off, then heading back to someone else’s home on your own for two nights (Wallace went home) and trying to find the answers to your game!
And at the same time, always wondering what your friends and family are up to without you – again!
I don’t want to sound too negative, but these are the moments when this career path I’ve followed is tough and it makes you think twice…
So looking forward with a smile, two days to get better!! And a week in Switzerland to really look forward to; I’ve only heard great things about the event and with a totally different format to normal, it’s going to be fun!
There’s no cut, everyone gets paid, a pro-am format every day with a new team, and my good friend Mike Ockenden on the bag!
I was the last player to automatically qualify for the event as only 42 actually play so I kind of feel lucky to be there.
But I suppose I just got enough cash on the OOM to qualify, so no luck there I guess…
Anyway it should be fun!