2014...

Well after a tough 2013 season, that had plenty of highs and lows, I am now very much gearing myself up for the year ahead. Having not had a great year by any stretch, I feel that the lessons I have learnt will stand me in much better stead to push on and enjoy more success.

Having not kept my full Challenge Tour status I will have to take advantage of the events that I get in to, but there will plenty ahead for me to get my teeth into and give it a real good go. If I compare my overall game now to my game a year earlier, then I'd have to say I'm significantly better. Every aspect has improved, and that's not just the technical stuff like my swing but also the mental side of it. I'm far more confident going into 2014 and I'm raring to go.

My season starts at the end of February with a ProAm in Qatar, an event I played last year, and that should set me up well for the start of the Challenge Tour as I will go straight from Qatar to Kenya, a tournament that I really enjoyed last year.

As for the winter golf in England, I've tried to be very selective with where and when I play, as sometimes it really isn't beneficial to be out there braving the muddy conditions and getting frustrated with it. So when I have played it's generally been on links courses with half decent greens. In terms of the work I'm doing technically, I tend to do a lot of it myself but I have bounced some ideas off my Dad and have also done some work with Peter Barber at Didsbury. Pete is a county and national level coach and has been a good friend of the family for all of my life, so to talk to someone that knows my game really well and who I can trust is very important and helpful.

So just a couple more weeks to endure this weather before the searing heat of Qatar, I'm sure I'll update again shortly with anything interesting I stumble across. Thanks for reading!

Tom

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