So, back to South Africa again for the Tshwane Open in Pretoria, but this time I was returning with more experience of how different the golf is out there.
Having played at a similar altitude in Joburg a few weeks back, it would be a pretty straightforward adjustment, but the biggest challenge would be from having three weeks in the cold and only playing once off English turf, to heading back to 30 degrees, with dry green grass!
Even though when I did play it was at the fabulous Hillside GC, where it was bone dry and world class for the time of year, the grass in South Africa as I mentioned before is nothing like the UK.
At times it makes people look silly (even the local players), you can so easily go straight under the ball when chipping from the rough, it’s wiry and the ball nestles down to the roots where the ground is firm.
Or you can chop through the long rough thinking it will come out soft, then bounce the sole of the club off the firm ground and send the ball way past the flag, or get one too good and you miss it!
Day at Hillside in 30mph winds with Andy/Brian from AZ Intec and John from F&G
I had a pretty long journey out to Joburg: a decent flight time Sunday from Manchester (9am) but a connection through Istanbul with Turkish Airlines of 8 hours before flying onto South Africa in the night.
Not the best flight path, although certainly the cheapest, but the best flight for getting into SA Monday morning for three days’ practice before the first round.
I’m not too sure, but I think I managed around 5 hours’ sleep on the second flight…that’s enough to head straight to the course, shower, lunch and get out and play 9 holes!!
The course is very old school English in the way it plays; quite short and tight, but a big reward if you hit it a long way…but that came with risk! At the end of the week, Charl Schwartzel was the runaway winner and after watching the TV coverage, he and plenty of other local players hit driver a lot more around the course than nearly all the Europeans I spoke to.
The practice round really gave quite a false impression that the course was easy and scoring would be low, but it sure showed its teeth once the swirling wind picked up!
Par 3, 16th hole, 185 yards
My preparation for the week was great; I have some new putting drills and games I have been playing and I really enjoy them. They really help as it keeps me interested and motivated, as sometimes you end up just going through the motions with no real purpose!
That’s when you stop improving!!
I played pretty solid in the first two rounds, but I seem to keep making simple or silly errors…but I feel I know where these errors are coming from and a key part to my development as a player is improving my course management and becoming a more patient player!
At one point in round 2, I actually fell outside the predicted cut mark by two shots (+4) and again needed a late charge to make the weekend. I knew scoring was tricky and the average score on day two was +2, so I knew to hang in there – and I certainly never give in!
I birdied the par three 5th from off the green, then gave myself a great chance on 6, 7, and 8, missing those was tough but 9 was always a birdie chance if you got the tee shot in play, so I was slightly confident.
I’ve really started to see a distance gain, and down 9 it showed and helped; the water down the right was a 280 metres carry, the hole played slightly down wind and I bombed it 310 metres – so around 340 yards. That then left me a 6 iron into the green from the semi rough which left me 40ft for eagle.
I felt a two putt birdie had me safe inside the cut mark, so to then hole it was a huge bonus and in the end I cruised the cut by two shots and was in 28th position.
I was up for it over the weekend, my game felt good, and I was very positive!
We can now practice in shorts!!!!!!
After a perfect tee shot down the first I left myself 6 iron into the green. Playing safe into the heart of the green I slightly pulled it, but seeing it pitch on the green I was sure it was safe.
So to walk up there and see that it had bounced off the green, down the bank, over the path, through the rough and finish an inch from a 12ft wall was very disappointing.
I tried to play it off the wall like the famous St Andrews ‘road hole’ and ended up making a triple bogey seven!
I eagled the 9th again, but ended up shooting +3 and falling down the leader board to 52nd!
So one more round before heading back home, and I had my mind set on shooting a great score knowing that anything under par would shoot me up the board. My best finish on the Tour was back in 2014 when I finished T39th in Denmark, so I thought that wasn’t a bad target!
Cruising at -3 through nine holes everything felt great, a bogey on 10 but a birdie on 12 kept me going, but with a three putt following up 13 it set me back and stalled my momentum!
Then after using up all my luck in round 3 on the 15th it came back to bite me big time in round 4…
A poor iron off the tee left your typical nasty lie in the South African rough, the grass is thick but I felt I could get an 8 iron up near the front edge of the green… but how wrong could I be, the ball came out low and left and flew maybe 70 yards nose diving into the water!!!
A double bogey 6 and back to level par, and that’s how the round finished, parring in for level!
71, 70, 73, 70, for a +4 total.
I left the club in around 50th position, so on arriving at my friend Wally’s house prior to heading to the airport, it was great to see I had moved up another 10 places which probably earned me an extra €1000, and I ended up one place off my best finish.
I will get it soon!!
So overall another successful trip to SA. I’ve played 5 European Tour events in SA and 4 in this Race to Dubai season making the cut in all the events. That’s a pretty good record but it sure would have been nice to convert a few of them into higher finishes!
A huge thanks as always for Steve’s help on the bag, and to Wally and his family for their amazing support again during the week!
WOODSOME PRIZE DRAW – WINNER!
And the winner of a night for 2 in the new Woodsome Hall Dormy House and a round of golf is…
ROSS ANDREW!
Congratulations from everyone at Woodsome!
The winning entry was drawn by Dave Carlisle (manager) and Adam Durie (professional) at Woodsome Hall