Month: September 2020

So my journey moves on, and this time I didn’t play myself out on day one.

The Paul Lawrie Tartan Pro Tour hit St Andrews the last two days, with a mix of pros including many Ladies European and Europro Tours arriving to take on the New and Jubilee Courses.  The weather couldn’t have been much more Scottish if it tried – we were met with flat calm and 20 degrees St Andrews on day one (yesterday) and a 20mph North Easterly wind and 13 degrees today.  The overall scoring was very good with the winner, Jamie McLeary, posting 9 under.  The results can be found at https://tartanprotour.co.uk/

You will have all heard and possibly experienced 1st tee nerves. Well…….yesterday I was in the first group off, with around 20 onlookers – including Open-winner, Paul Lawrie and my son Gav.  I was addressing the ball thinking: if I keep my head the same distance from the ball then impact will occur and something will happen – and it did and off it went down the fairway.  I exaggerate but it is, and always will be, a great feeling to get the first one away!

I finished 7 over: +2 yesterday and +5 today, which pretty well reflected my golf and the conditions.  Good not to shoot any big numbers though.  I was comfortable and played good confident golf on day one but today my swing felt off from the word go, so I was pretty pleased to hold the round to 5 over.

One thing I need to do is work on my shotmaking in a left to right wind – I find it a challenge.  I’ll share what we work out to improve this in a future blog.

I played a with some good golfers from the Europro Tour so learned a bit from them – gosh they do play and walk quickly though!

So what now?  Practice for a couple of weeks ahead of the next tournament in Germany early October at the Olching Club, Munich.

I’ll leave you with a line from a song…… 
“Dance your own dance, sing your own song and live the life you dreamed of till the dreamer is gone”

See ya
Calum  

It’s the Paul Lawrie Tartan Pro Tour event over the New and Jubilee Courses at St Andrews this week so I was working on my alignment and swing this weekend. I figure if I aim in the right direction there’s more chance of the ball going in the right direction.  Sounds simple I know but if your like me, and get a bit “alignment lazy”, it can creep off.
I’ve also been working hard on my organisation while playing, with the help and guidance of Peter Whiteford.  Trying to get into the habit of preparing for the shot a lot earlier while still walking towards the ball.  It all makes sense and I am convinced it will shave a shot or two off my scores – but, as with everything, it is hard to change.  I’ll get there though. 
I also had a session with Sandy Smith to help improve my ball striking.  His guidance helped me produce a better and more consistent ball strike. It will take some work but again I’m convinced it will help me improve.
So I’m now looking forward to St Andrews as I wait for the draw to confirm that I have a starting place tomorrow (Tuesday).
Catch up soon
Calum