Sussex Pro's Championship....

Hey folks. I played the Sussex Professional's Championship this week at West Hove and very nearly put in a great performance.

I played very solidly in the first round. I putted well and recovered well from trouble (quite a few times as my long game was 'loose' to say the least. I chipped in for birdie at the last green for a round of 71 (+1) which saw me make the cut by 3 shots! I was thrilled with myself. I think its a pretty good effort to make the cut in my first Pro tournament that has a cut. A 100% record you might say. This was the best I had felt about my golf game for a long time and precisely what I needed for my confidence. My bro Sam, made the cut too so we were both happy.

I returned on the 2nd day just trying to have a solid performance and round the tournament off nicely. I would have been happy to shoot somewhere around the mid 70's area.
To be honest, it was a VERY nervy start, dropping 3 shots in my first 6 holes. However, I rallied well and continued to battle as my long game was very average once again and on the 14th tee I was +3 for the round and therefore +4 for the tournament. If I had parred in from here, I'm sure I would have finished somewhere around 15th spot and would have won maybe about £200 which would have been sweet! However, I suffered one of my now trademark (from playing tests) collapses and stupidly threw 7 shots away over my last 5 holes for a humbling round of 80. I'll be totally honest, at that time and for the rest of the day (and still am slightly) I was absolutely livid with myself for throwing away such a good position. I felt that all that hard work I had put in to that point had been completely wasted. I am very critical of myself and it is only now that I am looking at the positives of the event (such as winning my 2nd paycheque in two events!) and what to learn moving on:

1/ Not only did I make the cut at my first attempt, I put myself into a great position overall,
2/ I have a fantastic ability to scramble when I am playing poorly from tee to green,
3/ This will stand me in good stead for future events as I know I can compete,
4/ My temporament needs reviewing again although it was perhaps poor decision making that cost me those shots on the last few holes. I do however need to 'lighten up' more on the course and learn to accept the situations that do not go my way in a more 'professional' way.
5/ Its all a learning curve so DONT FOCUS ON THE NEGATIVES! I am convinced that there is an art to being able to do this. Maybe it just comes with the experience.

I have one more tournament this year. It is the Sussex Open. This is a big event that is open to professionals and all amateurs in the county with a handicap of 5 or lower. Again, this an event with a cut after then first round so I will feel more confident about this part.

My build up to this tournament will include continual work on my swing (I have a lesson booked in this week) and a lot on work on my pitching and putting.

Thats all for now folks. Till next time.....

Toothectomy and Pro-Am Pay-cheque!!!!

Hello again. I had my tooth pulled out this week. It wasn't the horrible nightmare experience I feared it would be, it was quite funny actually looking back on it. The tooth needed a lot of encouragement to come out and I needed a lot of anaesthetic. Eventually it was out and I was relieved it was all over. I'm still in a bit of pain now but am glad I went through with it. £44.50 was a much better price than the £700 I thought I was looking at initially. End of tooth saga....

We had the Mid Sussex on Friday, my first ever Pro-Am and all in all it went pretty well. I was extremely nervous to be honest, as I thought I would be, but I guess my experience of playing with nerves and pressure in my PGA tests stood me in good stead here as I can say I performed fairly well. I shot 78 (+7) which wasn't a great score but it wasn't an embarrasment thankfully. It certainly couldnt have been any worse a score. My putting was downright abysmal and needs come further work this week. I 3-putted three times and missed 4-5 birdie chances from inside 10 foot. This was extremely frustrating as I feel I have identified a fault in my swing which has been giving me problems lately and have made an instant improvement in that area. I just need to start holing some putts and I could be shooting some good scores. On the bright side, my team came third which earned me my first pro paycheque of £50! Happy days!!!

I have the Sussex Professional's Championship this week at West Hove which i would love to do well. I will be over the moon if I can make the cut but I know that I will have to shoot 1 or 2 over par at worst whic can only be one by putting better than I have been. We'll see what happens in due course......

Toothache and professional debut!!!

Hello again. Its been an eventful couple of weeks, so eventful that this has been my first opportunity to post an entry on here. As mentioned in my last blog entry, I have now fully turned professional. I received my PGA card yesterday so this makes it feel properly official now.

I received an email last week asking me if I would be interested in participating in the Assistant and Trainees Professional Championships. Obviously, I jumped at the chance. It was weird though because the tournament was held at Clandon Regis, where I have flunked playing tests twice by one shot! The day could have been reasonably succesful had I not completely screwed up the final 10 holes of my afternoon round. I learned a lot about myself and my potential because I can only describe my play on the day as 'dismal'. Despite that, to shoot 77 (+5) in the morning, and then to be stood on my 8th tee in the afternoon still at +5 for the day in my eyes was a gritty respectable performance. Unfortunately from that point on, the 'wheels came off' and a late treble bogey resulted in an unfortunate 81 and a very humbling tie for 49th spot!
Nevermind, the whole thing was great experience and I very much look forward to future tournaments. I certainly learned that I do have the ability to score when not at my best which is very good for confidence. Just wish I could put some decent form together and shoot some better scores, although at Hollingbury last week I did shoot 69 which is my best score for quite a while!

I have the Mid Sussex Pro-Am this week, which I would love to perform well in.

Also this week I am having a tooth pulled out. Last Sunday at work I was chewing some gum and suddenly I was hit with the most outrageously painful toothache! This persisted right through the night into monday and thus I got myself to the dentist sharpish!
The following statement is an example of the liberties taken in the dental industry and I was furious!

I checked into a local dentist and was given x-rays and a check up etc only to be told that I would need root canal treatment and a crown, which would all cost over £700!!! I barely have £7 to my name let alone £700!!! "That's ridiculous" I thought. I had to pay £60 for that shite information anyway! I thus promptly checked into another dentist on tuesday for a second opinion.
At the other dentist I was given the same diagnosis but told that it would be best to take antibiotics for a week to lear the infection in my gum and then have the offending tooth removed - £50!! No brainer really. Simpler and much much cheaper.

When I asked about root canal treatment the lady said it would be a waste of time on a back tooth that isn't visible, not to mention expensive! Also, she said that it isn't always necessarily successful either so I'd possibly end up needing it removed anyway!
When I heard this I was certainly relieved, but also livid that it was so obvious that the first dentist was out for my money and couldn't give a 'rats-ass' about my dental health!
I'm tempted to name and shame the dentist and dental practise but I won't.

That's pretty much it for now.
Will write about the pro-am, hopefully with good news....