Updating you all...
Well, it's been a while since my last post which certainly was not my intention. I have had a busy start to the year and have been meaning to get round to writing this post for a while but things have been pretty full on since mid January both on and off of the golf course. I will start by telling you a little about my trip in mid January when I went to Naples, Florida for two weeks practice in the sun. I can tell you now, the guys over there don't know how good they have it, I wore a sweater once in two weeks.... IN JANUARY!! It was amazing and the work I got done on my game was great. The past few years have taught me that it is essential to get away in the winter months and have some time in the sun working on your game, I can honestly say that in the two weeks I was in Florida I got more productive work done than in the two months leading up to it. I played every day and worked hard in the gym and the range on getting myself where I wanted to be.
The whole trip came off the back of the US Open last year at Erin Hills when I met the course designer Dana Fry. We got along well and he ended up inviting me out to get some sun and practice over the winter months, an offer that I couldn't turn down. As the trip got nearer he was keeping me updated on the weather and raising my excitement even more. To add to this, he also secured us games at The Bears Club and Seminole, two courses on my bucket list, and two very good golf courses I must add. The locker room at Seminole is arguably the best locker room in golf, the names on their winners boards ranging from Hogan to Justin Rose to Rory McIlroy, it's quite the place. The Bears club was equally impressive, with memorabilia from Jack's wins and reminders all round the property that the greatest golfer ever designed and loves this place. It is certainly an experience I won't forget, and the people I played with I will keep in touch with for a long time.
The highlight of my trip though, has to be winning the Member Pro Invitational at Naples National Golf Club with Jeff Stuart. It was a 36 hole team event with an individual stroke play element to it too and we both had a great weekend. Unfortunately we lost in a 3 team play off for the team win but I managed to get the individual win. It was a great feeling to get my game in good enough shape to compete so early in the year and also proved to me that I was working on the right things. My driving was better than it has been and I had made up and down with lofted chip shots and short sided shots more times than I can ever remember. It was a great feeling to see the hard work paying dividends. Unfortunately, all these trips come to end and this one did at the end of January and I headed back to the UK to try and keep things going in the cold.
Within two days of being back in the UK I had booked myself on a trip out to Portugal to play in the Algarve Tour at the end of February. Having been back for two days and seen the golf course shut or on temporaries I knew it was the right thing to do. However, I still had two weeks to grind it out back home and get myself ready to compete again. I tried my hardest, hitting balls, putting on the artificial green at Portsmouth Golf Center and then chipping when the greens weren't frozen. I would say that in two weeks I went backwards a bit, only playing three times and trying to get ready to compete is not the right way to be doing things, but you have to learn to make do with what you have. I love using skills testing to try and simulate tournament golf and it is at these times you need some good tests. You need to feel the heat of drives that have to hit the fairway, iron shots that need to go close and pitch shots that need to be got up and down. It's tough but I always give it one hundred percent and I left feeling ready to compete.
It's a quick turn around on the Algarve Tour, almost back to back two day events with a practice round. For me, I felt this would be a great test for getting ready for last minute calls on Challenge Tour this year, I needed to figure out the best way to prepare at a days notice and learn a new venue. The first event was at Penina and I got out early, 8am, for a quick 18 hole round. I focused mainly around the greens as I knew I hadn't got to work on my short game as much as I would have liked. My game felt good and everything looked like it would go well. The first tournament I would make a lot of course management errors, attacking when I shouldn't and hitting it in to 'no man's land' which is an area between 30-50 yards that I'm not too fond of. I actually played not too bad but had several dropped shots on holes that are the scoring holes, a tied 20th on a tour that only pays the top 15 was not how I wanted to start.
Next was Palmares, another great golf course and again I spent a lot of time on and around the greens trying to get things tightened up. I came up with a plan and told myself to stick to it to which I did. I played some good golf and finished in 4th place on 8 under par. A much better tournament and one I was more pleased with. There was still some rust, I hit a few poor shots on the back 9 that cost me having the win, a double crossed 6 iron and three pars on par fives during the round isn't how to get things done but I felt more optimistic about my game.
The final tournament was back at Penina and again I felt well prepared. However, on the first round I just didn't feel comfortable off the tee, I like the fade the ball and a snap hook off the eleventh set the tone for the round. It was a real grind, I was in the trees, bushes, rough, I was everywhere but somehow managed to hit thirteen greens and shoot two under. It was one of those rounds that could have been five over but could have also been six under, it was a strange day. A quick messaging session to my coach Simon Andrews and I hit the range, I had some feels to work on to get the driver going straight and left the range positive about how the next day will go.
Laid in bed that night, strangely I was thinking about how you could shoot 59 round this par 73 course. I don't know why it crossed my mind but its definitely a weird coincidence given what I was going to do the next day. I figured you would need to shoot 28 or 27 on the front nine to allow you to have a chance on the par 38 back nine.
I had a good warm up on the final day and headed to the tee confident, although I ended up hitting three wood off the first tee as I didn't fancy driver. I pretty much stuck to this all day and to be honest, I didn't really drive it that well, I just found a swing to get it in play. I birdied 2, 4 and then hit 3 wood so far right off 5 it went over the hazard and onto some grass in the trees. I cut a 5 wood round the trees to ten foot and made it for eagle. I then birdied 6 and 7. Now I'm feeling a bit nervous, thinking about the previous night, I knew I needed to birdie the next two for 27 on the front nine and have a chance of the 59. I hit it to twelve feet on 8 and shaved the hole and a similar distance on 9 with a similar fate. Turning in 29 for the first time in a tournament feels pretty good though, but I knew that was only half the job, I had figured I needed to get to ten under total to have a chance of the win. I birdied both ten and eleven and then played solid up until 16. A long par 3 where I missed the green right and chipped to twenty foot. I really didn't want to drop a shot, and I guess that will must have forced the ball to drop for par. Now two par 5's to finish, I honestly wasn't thinking about the win now, I was thinking about personal bests. I've shot everything from 1-9 under par before but never more, so I needed two birdies for my new best.
17 I pulled driver and pounded it down the middle leaving me around 230 to the pin, a nice 5 wood to the heart of the green and a two putt birdie followed. 9 under heading to 18 tee. 18 has a 320 yard run out to a ditch and I knew pumped up I could get three wood into it, so I went with the five wood again. I actually hit it 300 yards and then hit 8 iron just left of the green. A chip to 2 foot resulted in my final birdie and a 10 under par round.
My first win as a pro officially, my first 29 in a tournament and lowest tournament and personal round. It was a great day and trip. I now head back to the UK to get ready for more practice in the cold. Next up for me is the Sunningdale Foursomes with Neil Raymond.
I hope you enjoyed the long read,
Scott
The whole trip came off the back of the US Open last year at Erin Hills when I met the course designer Dana Fry. We got along well and he ended up inviting me out to get some sun and practice over the winter months, an offer that I couldn't turn down. As the trip got nearer he was keeping me updated on the weather and raising my excitement even more. To add to this, he also secured us games at The Bears Club and Seminole, two courses on my bucket list, and two very good golf courses I must add. The locker room at Seminole is arguably the best locker room in golf, the names on their winners boards ranging from Hogan to Justin Rose to Rory McIlroy, it's quite the place. The Bears club was equally impressive, with memorabilia from Jack's wins and reminders all round the property that the greatest golfer ever designed and loves this place. It is certainly an experience I won't forget, and the people I played with I will keep in touch with for a long time.
The highlight of my trip though, has to be winning the Member Pro Invitational at Naples National Golf Club with Jeff Stuart. It was a 36 hole team event with an individual stroke play element to it too and we both had a great weekend. Unfortunately we lost in a 3 team play off for the team win but I managed to get the individual win. It was a great feeling to get my game in good enough shape to compete so early in the year and also proved to me that I was working on the right things. My driving was better than it has been and I had made up and down with lofted chip shots and short sided shots more times than I can ever remember. It was a great feeling to see the hard work paying dividends. Unfortunately, all these trips come to end and this one did at the end of January and I headed back to the UK to try and keep things going in the cold.
Within two days of being back in the UK I had booked myself on a trip out to Portugal to play in the Algarve Tour at the end of February. Having been back for two days and seen the golf course shut or on temporaries I knew it was the right thing to do. However, I still had two weeks to grind it out back home and get myself ready to compete again. I tried my hardest, hitting balls, putting on the artificial green at Portsmouth Golf Center and then chipping when the greens weren't frozen. I would say that in two weeks I went backwards a bit, only playing three times and trying to get ready to compete is not the right way to be doing things, but you have to learn to make do with what you have. I love using skills testing to try and simulate tournament golf and it is at these times you need some good tests. You need to feel the heat of drives that have to hit the fairway, iron shots that need to go close and pitch shots that need to be got up and down. It's tough but I always give it one hundred percent and I left feeling ready to compete.
It's a quick turn around on the Algarve Tour, almost back to back two day events with a practice round. For me, I felt this would be a great test for getting ready for last minute calls on Challenge Tour this year, I needed to figure out the best way to prepare at a days notice and learn a new venue. The first event was at Penina and I got out early, 8am, for a quick 18 hole round. I focused mainly around the greens as I knew I hadn't got to work on my short game as much as I would have liked. My game felt good and everything looked like it would go well. The first tournament I would make a lot of course management errors, attacking when I shouldn't and hitting it in to 'no man's land' which is an area between 30-50 yards that I'm not too fond of. I actually played not too bad but had several dropped shots on holes that are the scoring holes, a tied 20th on a tour that only pays the top 15 was not how I wanted to start.
Next was Palmares, another great golf course and again I spent a lot of time on and around the greens trying to get things tightened up. I came up with a plan and told myself to stick to it to which I did. I played some good golf and finished in 4th place on 8 under par. A much better tournament and one I was more pleased with. There was still some rust, I hit a few poor shots on the back 9 that cost me having the win, a double crossed 6 iron and three pars on par fives during the round isn't how to get things done but I felt more optimistic about my game.
The final tournament was back at Penina and again I felt well prepared. However, on the first round I just didn't feel comfortable off the tee, I like the fade the ball and a snap hook off the eleventh set the tone for the round. It was a real grind, I was in the trees, bushes, rough, I was everywhere but somehow managed to hit thirteen greens and shoot two under. It was one of those rounds that could have been five over but could have also been six under, it was a strange day. A quick messaging session to my coach Simon Andrews and I hit the range, I had some feels to work on to get the driver going straight and left the range positive about how the next day will go.
Laid in bed that night, strangely I was thinking about how you could shoot 59 round this par 73 course. I don't know why it crossed my mind but its definitely a weird coincidence given what I was going to do the next day. I figured you would need to shoot 28 or 27 on the front nine to allow you to have a chance on the par 38 back nine.
I had a good warm up on the final day and headed to the tee confident, although I ended up hitting three wood off the first tee as I didn't fancy driver. I pretty much stuck to this all day and to be honest, I didn't really drive it that well, I just found a swing to get it in play. I birdied 2, 4 and then hit 3 wood so far right off 5 it went over the hazard and onto some grass in the trees. I cut a 5 wood round the trees to ten foot and made it for eagle. I then birdied 6 and 7. Now I'm feeling a bit nervous, thinking about the previous night, I knew I needed to birdie the next two for 27 on the front nine and have a chance of the 59. I hit it to twelve feet on 8 and shaved the hole and a similar distance on 9 with a similar fate. Turning in 29 for the first time in a tournament feels pretty good though, but I knew that was only half the job, I had figured I needed to get to ten under total to have a chance of the win. I birdied both ten and eleven and then played solid up until 16. A long par 3 where I missed the green right and chipped to twenty foot. I really didn't want to drop a shot, and I guess that will must have forced the ball to drop for par. Now two par 5's to finish, I honestly wasn't thinking about the win now, I was thinking about personal bests. I've shot everything from 1-9 under par before but never more, so I needed two birdies for my new best.
17 I pulled driver and pounded it down the middle leaving me around 230 to the pin, a nice 5 wood to the heart of the green and a two putt birdie followed. 9 under heading to 18 tee. 18 has a 320 yard run out to a ditch and I knew pumped up I could get three wood into it, so I went with the five wood again. I actually hit it 300 yards and then hit 8 iron just left of the green. A chip to 2 foot resulted in my final birdie and a 10 under par round.
My first win as a pro officially, my first 29 in a tournament and lowest tournament and personal round. It was a great day and trip. I now head back to the UK to get ready for more practice in the cold. Next up for me is the Sunningdale Foursomes with Neil Raymond.
I hope you enjoyed the long read,
Scott
Really good read. Enjoy following. Have a great season
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