The Mcilroy Syndrome!

After last months Open Championship, Rory described his golf as 'brain dead' and also said it was like he was 'walking around unconscious'...well I seem to have caught whatever he had! I cannot pin point why or how to stop it, but the last 2 weeks more than most have been completely numb, brain dead and unconscious golf!

In Finland I actually was playing fine, nothing amazing but pretty solid, yet my mind was nothing short of horrific. It completely cost me a job for the weekend, and the most frustrating part is that my mental resilience has always been the strongest part of my game...anyone that knows me knows that I will regularly grind a decent round out, using my good short game and a hell of a lot of patience. However, in Finland my ability to grind it out was about as poor as it ever has been, and that made my temper even worse because I know that just isn't me. This eventually affected my game and it soon spirals into a bad score.

Onto Norway and much of the same in a way, apart from my game was left in Helsinki I think. Golf is pretty hard at the best of times, but trying to play at a good level when you have zero game is not far off impossible! Then on top of that, again my mind was completely unconscious and numb, my temper was short to say the least and my scores reflected this. A first round of 3 under could have been all sorts, a couple of long putts dropped but on the flip side I missed a couple of short ones and hit it in the water with possibly the worst 6 iron of my life! To compete the mystery round, the resulting 100 yard shot from the drop zone went to about a foot, to cap off a bogey and sum up a roller coaster round. Because of the heavy rains, I didn't get to play any golf on the Thursday so it was 36 holes on Friday and the second 18 went very similarly to the first round apart from the score! My head is just not in grinding golf mode at the moment for whatever reason, so I have a week off now (due to no tournament on the schedule) to relax and sort it out, quickly!

I hope I come back out in Northern Ireland with a refreshed attitude and a brain that is switched on, as I need a big finish to the year now...nothing else will do.

Thanks for reading again,

Tom

Last 3 Challenge Tour events...

I've been slacking a little bit recently with my blog, so since my last post I have travelled to Germany, Switzerland and France.

Starting with Germany, in short it wasn't the best week as I missed the cut by 2 with a double bogey on my last hole! I was faced with a pretty tricky 4 iron out of a fairway bunker over the water to a small green and in truth I would not have taken the shot on if I didn't think I needed a birdie to make the cut. But I did go for it and found the water on the right unfortunately. As expected I was pretty gutted as I came off the course but even more so when I found out I could have made par to be there for the weekend! If I knew this then a lay up and trust myself from 50 yards would have been the plan....oh well, I will live and learn!

The week after Germany was in Switzerland, so a few of the players got a bus in between that just took the 8 hours! Having eventually loosened the back off we got a practice round in and to be honest it was one of my favourite courses of the year. The rough just off the fairway didn't look much but it played pretty brutal! If your ball slipped just a foot off the fairway it was followed by what can only described as a hack out! The course wasn't the longest however so good scores were definitely out there. I can't say I played my best but made the weekend which was nice because it was up there with the best events we have had this year. I finished the event by holing a curling 30 footer as well, much to the delight of the crowd! The sponsors did a great job with everything to do with the week, including a very nice players party on the Saturday night! The free bar was not taken advantage of though by myself!

After Switzerland I took a week off as I didn't want to play 6 events in a row, so had 2 or 3 days off and managed to spend some time with my girlfriend, something that hasn't been possible for a long time! I think it's extremely important to have a good balance as it is easy to become engrossed in your golf and all that goes with it, forgetting that golf isn't the only thing in life! So after a recharging of the batteries I was planning on getting back to practice for 4 or 5 days before my next event. However I picked up a virus and was knocked for six for the 4 days! Not ideal as I didn't eat anything and must have lost a lot of weight (anyone that knows me will realise that is the last thing I need!) Anyway I thought I would at least make the journey to France and see how I felt come Thursday. I drove down with my brother who was caddying, and the 7 hour journey passed without any issues. A quick note to my car sponsor Burnt Tree, who have supported me for just over a year now. The car they supply me with is quality for such a long journey and I realise I'm extremely fortunate! The branding in the sides of the car gets a lot of looks as I drive up and down the UK and French motorways!

So onto the golf, first things first I did peg it up on the Thursday, despite feeling horribly weak! I am not what I would call a 'power player' so plotting it round is right up my street anyway. The first round was a little scrappy but -3 was half decent. A second round of -2 ensured I was there for the weekend and after getting a few meals down me eventually I was definitely feeling more normal. Round 3 didn't start til mid afternoon on Saturday due to some storms that delayed play on Friday therefore meaning we didn't finish the 3rd round in Saturday. I left the course on -3 for the day and came back on Sunday morning and added 3 more birdies to finish with a 66 -6. So at -11 thought three rounds I was in a gret position to post another low one and produce maybe my best finish of the year....however this didn't materialise! A steady front 9 of -2 was followed by 2 dropped shots on the back 9 and a level par 72. It was a disappointing way to finish but a worthwhile week and a bit more money on the board.

My next destination is Helsinki for the Finnish Challenge followed by an event in Norway. Quite bizarrely, I am posting this while on the plane to Finland, I've never had wifi at 40,000 feet!

Anyway, quite a long blog this time so I better keep it more up to date and less boring!

One last thing actually, a huge thank you to Nick at Tour X for helping me with an emergency club repair in between France and Finland...you genuinely couldn't get that service anywhere else. For anyone that has never been/heard of Tour X then you're missing out, it's a golfers paradise.

If you've made it all the way through the blog then thanks for reading and I will update after Norway.

Cheers,

Tom

Last 3 weeks...

After a few hard months of travel and getting used to life on tour, at last I feel like I've started the year now. I've hardly been making the headlines but the last 2 weeks have meant I got some money on the board and put myself in a position now to kick on and have a strong second half to the year.

Having not made a cut since Kenya, it has been a bit of a struggle and a massive learning curve. The event in Czech Republic was a huge week for me, as I played some of the best golf I can play yet missed the cut due to some bad mental errors and a poor mindset. I really learned a lot from the week and I don't think it was a coincidence that I went on to make the cut the next week at the European Tour event in France. My mindset was much improved and I was much more relaxed and positive on each shot, proved by a birdie on my last hole to make it on the mark!

I then went on to Aviemore, Scotland for the Scottish Hydro Challenge...and managed to clock up my first top ten of the year. I was right in contention after 2 rounds and played some really controlled, solid golf for -10 and just 2 behind. On the Saturday I think my inexperience caught up with me and I had to settle for a 1 under par 70...on a day that I felt my par was around 68. But no disaster and a good last round would leave me with my best finish so far. As it happened the final day was halted several times due to some brutal weather but I ground it out really well to finish off with a level par 71 and that left me in 10th place. I needed a last hole birdie to creep into the top 10, a target set by my girlfriend Sophie before the round...my top psychologist! Anything to keep her happy!

As much as I wanted to do better over the weekend, I have got to take away a lot of confidence from the week and really push on now for the rest of the year.

I had quite a few tweets during last week so thank you to those who continue to support me, it makes a difference trust me.

For now it's onwards and upwards....starting in Germany next week

A quick and big thanks to my dad and brother who have caddied the last 2 weeks, they were a big help and I hope I wasn't too bad to caddy for.

Thanks again,

Tom

Patience!

Since my last blog I have continued on an annoyingly downward spiral, resulting in missed cuts and plenty of weekends off to think about where it is going wrong!

I could rant for a long time about numerous things that are doing my head in, but I won't and I'll give you the short story. For years now I have been fairly weak with my long game but generally very sharp around the greens and tidy with the putter, meaning my scores were probably better than I played. This is a great trait to have and I enjoyed out-scoring opponents who out-played me. However, the tables seem to have turned and the scoring aspect of my game has gone awol. I have been 3 putting for fun and not holing anything of any note for a good couple of months now. So where I should probably be shooting around 2 or 3 under I'm actually shooting 2 or 3 over. The difference is obviously huge, yet the margins are so miniscule. It really has started to test my patience and made me question everything I am doing in search for better scores! One thing that I have changed fairly dramatically is my putter. For the last 5 or so years I have used the same putter, with a 2 thumb grip, and it has been my biggest strength by a long way. This year however has been a different story, as I mentioned earlier. So a change of putter and putting technique it is. After hours of trial and error I have found what I think is my best bet to holing more putts, and it is completely out of my comfort zone.

Before my next Challenge Tour event, this week in Czech Republic, I wanted to put the new technique into play so I entered an 1836 Tour at Caldy GC last Thursday. The greens weren't great at all but I could still get a good idea of how I was feeling with the putter, and I was fairly tidy. I did have a 3 putt and also missed a short birdie attempt from around 3 feet however. I managed to shoot 70 -2 and I missed out on winning by 1 shot. Overall it was quite encouraging but the real test will be this week, I've only travelled with the one putter so it better work!

I'm currently writing this on board the flight to Prague and feeling like I just need a couple of long-ish putts to drop this week and the whole thing is turned on its head...if it doesn't happen then it won't be from a lack of effort!

I do hope to give the people that follow me something to cheer about soon. If everyone could will the ball into the hole for me this week that would be greatly appreciated!

Enjoy the sun and hopefully my scores,

Cheers

Tom

Challenge de Madrid & Montecchia Golf Open

Well I haven't blogged for a while, mainly due to the lack of Challenge Tour events since India and Kenya. We had around 7 weeks off in between events, so last week in Madrid felt like the real start to the year on the Challenge Tour. 

As everyone in the field, I was keen to get off to a good start but unfortunately that didn't happen! I have been working so much on my long game in recent weeks that its become maybe too much of a main focus and the scoring part of my game has suffered I feel, whereas normally my short game and course management is where I save my shots and how I manage to have the odd decent score! Mentally I have been very poor recently, due to a few things and I have felt quite detached from my golf and I've felt quite numb to it all when playing local competitive events...but I think I have ironed out a couple of issues and as write this I am en route to Italy feeling a lot more positive about things, I just hope my scores reflect my mindset!

The course last week in Madrid was not your average design, at 7,700 yards it was pretty long and also had the strangest greens I've ever played on! It hosted a European Tour event back in 2011 (where Lee Slattery won) so it is obviously a good venue for a tournament, but it just didn't quite suit my eye nor my game. I haven't heard anything about the course this week in Italy, but I will have it all mapped out over the next couple days in my practice rounds. I saw a friend of mine, Chris Hanson, tweet this week about hating practice rounds, and I have to say I totally agree! But they have to be done and it's all part of the preparation for what is hopefully a good week! 

I have had quite a few people ask me what my schedule is looking like over the next few weeks, so here goes....

1st-4th May- Montecchia Open, Italy

Week Off (no event)

16th-19th May - Madeira Islands Open, Portugal (European Tour)

23rd-26th May - Telenet Trophy,Belgium 

Week Off (Fred Olsen Challenge de España)

6th-9th June - D&D Real Czech Challenge Open, Czech Republic

13th-16th June - Najeti Hotels et Golfs Open, St Omer, France (European Tour)

20th-23rd June - Scottish Hydro Challenge, Scotland

That's where I am up to for now, and I will keep it updated every few weeks on here for anyone that is interested!

As always you can keep track of it all on www.europeantour.com and I'll be trying to give people that follow something better to look out for, rather than the drivel of last week!

One more thing....thanks Sophie, top sports psychologist!

Thanks for reading!

Tom

Barclays Kenya Open

I am back in the UK, at last, having just come back from my second Challenge Tour event in Kenya. After the disappointment of missing the cut in my first event, I was pretty determined not to do the same again! Thankfully I didn't repeat the poor performance of India, and managed to make the cut finishing in 45th place.

I can't say I am over moon about the finishing position, but making the cut is just another step forwards and again I have definitely come back a better player than when I went out there. 

I began the event with a really solid first round of -4 with a bogey free card, I was extremely pleased with that having struggled a bit the previous day in the pro-am. This left me in 2nd place just one shot behind, a great start! This might have been down to a last minute putting grip change, going from my normal '2 Thumb' style to a left hand below right grip...as my girlfriend pointed out it was a pretty bold and maybe stupid move on the first day of an event, but it seemed to work out and I felt really comfortable on the greens. 

Going out for the second round I didn't feel quite as good in the warm up and it showed on the course. At the first hole I hit my approach shot to no more than 2 inches for a birdie start but it was downhill from there! A run of 4 holes where I dropped 5 shots meant I went out in +5 for the front 9 holes, and suddenly the cut mark was looming! I was pleased with how I dug in on the back nine, getting it back to +3 for the round with 3 to go, and looking fine for making the cut. I did however proceed to make 2 silly bogeys down the 16th and 17th to shoot 76 +5 and leaving me a shot inside the cut line....job done, just!

It was really satisfying to be playing over the weekend, compared to India where it just felt horrible watching all the guys go out to compete while I was left on the range with the other miserable pro's! I suppose the experience must have helped, although it wasn't nice at the time, so that's another positive from the first two weeks of the year.

Over the weekend I didn't have my A game really but had 2 reasonably solid scores of +1 and Level par. The course at Karen Country Club was really nice, with narrow fairways and tough, horrible rough. It really put a premium on solid golf, as it was hard enough finding the ball in the rough, let alone reaching the green from it and stopping the ball on the firm fast greens. It has got to be good for my game playing in different climates and conditions, especially like this week at altitude where distance control was really tricky. 

Kenya as a country, what we saw if it, was really good. The people were really friendly and I got on really well with my local caddy Jessy, and the guy who looked after the range called David, who I gave a couple of lessons to. I also gave him a glove which he was over the moon with, they really appreciated even the smallest of gifts! Jessy was chuffed with his Srixon balls and was great all week, reading putts well, standing in the correct places, and even pointing out the odd bit of wildlife on the course, a monkey being the highlight! However I do blame him for me being in the left rough every day on the 3rd, as in the pro-am he informed me there was a leopard on the loose in the trees down the right!

Anyway, as I write this I'm on the last leg of my 18 hour journey from Kenya to Dubai, Dubai to Birmingham, Birmingham to home.....I'm ready for my own bed!

Thanks to the people who tweeted supportive messages this week, hopefully the experience I have gained from this week and India will lead to some positive results once the Challenge Tour kicks off in Europe, in April.

For now thanks to the people who read this, hopefully it isn't too boring and mundane!

Cheers

Tom

Disappointing Start...

Well, my first Challenge Tour event did not go to plan!

Having travelled half way across the world, to Ahmedabad in India, a missed cut feels horrible I can assure you. I feel embarrassed by the score I shot for 2 rounds, but as always, every round has its own story.

I started off on Thursday feeling OK about my game, having worked hard on Tuesday evening and Wednesday and thinking that I had found some sort of reliable swing feeling. As it turned out, this wouldn't be the problem! I played really nicely from the tee, hitting it as solid as I can, but the approaches to the greens halted my progress. The conditions out here are very different to anything I have played before, with the rough being so unpredictable and it provides you with little or no control over how the ball reacts (this is due to the type of grasses out here). The solution to this is obviously don't hit the ball in the rough, but when the fairways are so narrow, particularly on the back nine, and the ground is so firm and fast, sometimes a good tee shot can end up just a foot in the rough and it leaves you with little chance of hitting the green, let alone the correct section of it! I think I had 7 or 8 times where this happened, with the ball no more than a yard off the fairway. I recall on one hole, I hit a 9 iron 192 yards in total! Yet on another, I couldn't reach the hole from 120 yards away. (This is in rough 2 inches high!) The problems then continued around the greens, meaning my games best asset was missing. I just could not get used to how the ball was reacting, sometimes duffing it 2 feet in front of me and other times getting a flyer and watching the ball run 20 or 30 feet too far, frustrating! All of this plus 6 three putts in 2 rounds meant I was not in the best position! It is just the nature of the course though and its just tough luck.

It has been horrible having to stick around knowing that I'm out of a job for the weekend! I took it pretty hard yesterday, and maybe this is down to a couple of mistakes I've made. Coming into this week, and during the week, I haven't contemplated missing the cut to be honest. Reflecting on the experience, this might have been an error, but I'm sure to make more of these along the way!

All in all as hard as it is, I've just got to put this week down as a good experience and one that will make me a better player in the long run, sounds very cliched but it's just how it is.

Sorry to the people supporting me back home, I did try my best though.

I now move on to The Barclays Kenya Open starting on Feb 14th, hopefully I have a better week!

Tom

All my latest news and links also available at www.tommurraygolf.com
 

Gujarat Kensville Challenge

Welcome to my first blog from abroad!

I am currently at the Kensville G&CC in Ahmedabad, India, preparing for the first Challenge Tour event of the year. Having got here at 6:30am on Monday, after what seemed an eternity of travelling, I am feeling slightly tired but up for the scrap this week.



I have now seen all the course, having played 9 holes on Monday and the other 9 holes today. After all the snow at home (it is 30 degrees and cloudless here!)it is nice to see what a golf course actually looks like! The layout is fairly straight forward, although the rough and bouncy, firm greens make for a reasonably tricky challenge. Chipping around the greens is especially hard, with the rough making some shots come out either completely dead or loop up and run on with zero spin. So hitting greens will be key this week, and hitting them in the correct spots will also be of benefit. Some of the greens are very slopey and there is a fair bit of grain, not something I am totally used to.

My preparation isn't going completely to plan I have to admit, my swing feels a bit dodgy and having seen it in video, it looks dodgy too! But after a good session this evening on the range I tried to iron out a couple of glaring faults, mainly my set up. My alignment with feet, knees, hips and shoulders seemed to be a bit jumbled up, so with the use of my new (very useful) iPad I have addressed these issues and hopefully they improve my performance a bit!

This is my first trip to India and its been an experience so far, it's definitely not a world I am used to. When you see kids playing around the course in the dust and dirt, with nothing at all, it kind of opens your eyes. In some ways it's a shame we are enclosed in a nice resort, sheltered from the 'real' India. One thing i have never seen before is someones home that is built around the base of a tree that is 5 yards from the edge of the fairway, it was a strange sight.The people at the resort have been great with all the players, they can't help you enough and it's nice to see them all clearly buzzing about hosting this event.

I start the event on Thursday in the last group out at 1:20, until then I wil be working on getting things better on the practice ground!

A final thanks to the best invention ever, wifi! Being able to FaceTime at night is keeping me smiling and sane!

I will blog again when I can......I can't tweet as India seem to have banned it!

Thanks for reading, and follow the scores at www.europeantour.com

All my latest news and links also available at www.tommurraygolf.com

Challenge Tour & ISM

Welcome to my new blog!

A new year has called for a fresh blog, therefore www.tom-murray-golf.blogspot.co.uk is no longer running!

I am currently getting everything together for a 3 week trip away, marking my debut on the Challenge Tour in India. As you would expect, I am pretty excited about getting going. I'm sure I will make a few mistakes along the way, but all the experiences on my travels will be useful for me as I pursue a successful career on the European Tour.

The season kicks off with the Gujarat Kensville Challenge in India. I have heard great things about the event from past years, so it will be a good place to make my debut. There is sure to be a buzz around the place as cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is set to play in the pro am, and I don't use the term legend loosely in this instance!

There is also a major winner in the field, Rich Beem. It would be great to get paired with him at some point, I'd love to find out how he felt battling it out with Tiger Woods down the stretch! Another player who I would like to get partnered with is Oliver Wilson, ex Ryder Cup player. I'm sure he has a few stories to tell as well. That brings me to ISM, my new management group. I made the decision to join the world renowned stable just before the new year, and as it turns out, so did Oliver Wilson!
ISM are run by Andrew Chandler, known by most as Chubby, and they have players such as Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke & Charl Schwartzel on their books, so I know I am in the best hands possible!

Back to my trip away, after the event in India I have a week off before the second Challenge Tour event in Kenya. Again, I'm very excited to see how I handle it all and I hope to make a quick start to the new year.

A quick note to say thanks to my sponsors IVL Flow Control, their continued support is great to have as we embark on a worldwide journey!

Thanks for reading my new blog, and feel free to pass it on!

I will continue to keep it updated on my travels with anything interesting that comes my way.

Cheers!


http://www.kensville.co.in/gc_home.htm

http://www.europeantour.com/challengetour/season=2013/tournamentid=2013705/videoaudio/videoid=183026.html