Process, process, process! NEW Blog – Germany

Another week off flew by and it was back to Germany once again for the BMW Open, which this year would be played in Munich.

The week at home was great, some nice time with the family, and a first to actually spend Father’s Day with the kids! On top of that I had some solid practice days and kept building on the areas that needed the most attention!!

Like most jobs, and plenty of golfers, we all have times when the game/work feels tough, doesn’t go to ‘plan’ and you feel like you’re not getting your rub of the green.

But the most important thing is how you react to those times!

I’m my biggest critic; I feel I’m pretty honest with my own assessments and never hide away from advice or views from the people in my team who I trust!!

So, I feel I have a great plan and process in place to hit the middle of the season strong!!

But social media really does make me laugh sometimes, some of the comments and little gems of knowledge you receive from people who think they know the ‘answer’, and many times from people who have never played the course or never even met me.

I don’t know how people like Rory, Willet, Poulter and many more of the players in the social media spot light deal with it.

“You’re making too many bogeys” – sorry, never noticed…

“Your par 5 stats are poor” – have you played them?

“You need a new coach/caddy” – why? It was me who hit it…

“Why did you make 7 on that easy hole?” – did you realise it was a 30mph wind and raining?

“You need to make cuts, Chris!” – really?

“Why did you hit driver in the trees?” – Wasn’t trying to…

“If you’d made par there you would not have missed the cut” – good maths…

I’m not trying to sound like an idiot here, but sometimes people really don’t think before they tweet!

As golfers, we all try hard, at the time you do things for what you feel is the right reason, as I would like to think everyone does…but we are humans not machines and we make mistakes…that’s golf, that’s life!

In fact, I bet even machines would make mistakes if they were to play golf!

It’s like you’re not allowed to play bad – Rory got so much criticism for missing the cut at The US Open…golf is hard!!!!

Steve Elkington even claimed he’s bored with golf, he’s won enough money so isn’t interested! That’s laughable!!!

I think also people forget that there is more to a player’s life than golf, and you rarely see what’s going on ‘behind the scenes’.

All I can say to you guys is I give it 100% every time! And maybe that’s why the frustrations feel worse at times, hence this bitter last few paragraphs….

I had a good group for the first two rounds, Lee Slattery and Nino Bertasio, both great guys, chatty, good attitudes and very professional! They both had good caddies too, so it was always going to be a fun round, and that sometimes can make a huge difference.

We all played ok in parts but made a few silly mistakes between us. I shot 71 (-1), Lee 72 (lvl) and Nino 70 (-2).

I saw a lot of improvements in my game from over the last few events and felt really comfortable on the greens, which is always a nice feeling.

I can also safely say it’s the most enjoyable round of golf I’ve had in 6 weeks, it just felt better. I probably smiled more in one round than I have in the last six weeks on a golf course too.

Round two started poorly on the 10^th, I missed a short putt, then down the next all three of us hit it in the water off the tee.

We could see my ball, actually thought it was semi playable and at one point I had my shoes and socks off. I didn’t go through with it, but that didn’t stop Steve trudging through the water with his trainers on to double check if it was my ball!

We then had 16 holes of trench foot and squelching shoes!! Daft bugger, but as ever he took one for the team!!

I made a solid birdie down the next, and another on the 17th. I really should have entered the two’s club again as I would have been in serious credit this year!!!!

I was playing nicely enough, a perfect birdie down 1 and I was back inside the cut line!!

I felt in control and I actually felt I had it this week! But as I’ve mentioned before, that’s when golf bites you in the a**e the most!!

Bogey, bogey, bogey and it wasn’t to be! A sad way to finish off but plenty signs of promise!!

If there is a good thing to take from this poor run of results, it’s that the good stuff will feel even sweeter when it comes!!

I can’t wait!!

So, after a day of practice Saturday, Sunday was then a travel day to Paris and a week I am really looking forward to!

Paris National is an amazing course and will be a great Ryder Cup course when they host it next year!!

I’ve been going through the course in my head from last year; there are 18 challenging holes where good shots are rewarded but anything wayward and it’s seriously tough!

UPDATE: The #CharityBall (4th August)

I just wanted to share the link with you for our JustGiving page which so far has raised £1150.00 towards our £15k target, and that’s before what we raise on the evening!

Not a bad start!!

We are also looking to create the biggest and best raffle anyone has ever seen so people on the night really dig deep as already there are so many prizes you will want to win….

If this is something you think you maybe able to help with that would be fantastic.

Thanks as ever for your continued support

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/thecharityball