I’m writing this thinking about last week’s 20 degrees of sunshine on the Costa Del Sol while storm Barra seems to be reaching us and gaining strength. We had the Marbella Senior Open last week outside Marbella played over two stunning courses at the Villa Padierna complex – Flamingos around the hotel and Alferini up through the hills above.
The courses were in great condition with fast, grainy greens. I’ve never experienced two courses with so many spectacularly stunning, tight and challenging holes. There was just no opportunity to bale out anywhere if a shot didn’t come off. The practice rounds taught me the need to commit 100% to every shot and deal with any consequences, as any attempt to reduce power or steer the shot always ended poorly. As always, I learned a lot about myself in terms of the satisfaction I felt when committing to a challenging shot and it coming off.
In terms of performance I was pleased, to be honest. I worked out how to play the holes, stuck to my plans and ground out two reasonable scores, finishing tied 10th place on 9 over par, banking a cheque for the week. I was also pleased that, given how undulating, fast and grainy the greens were, my birdie count was 6 for the 36 holes and my holing out from inside 4 feet was real solid. I did again have a couple of right to left putts that simply refused to take the break as the ball battled into the grain. Another plus was my driving – I had a new driver fitted a few weeks back and ended up with a Titleist TSi2 replacing my vintage Titleist 910 D2 . At the fitting it gave me 10 yards’ extra carry and 15 yards’ overall increase in distance with the same swing, and I’m pleased to say it was delivering this in play at Marbella.
The tournament was part of the Senior Golf Tour Europe, which travels around Europe throughout the year. I played with a great mix of golfers from Belgium, England, Portugal and Spain and learned so much, particularly from my Spanish playing partners on Friday – they just all seem to be a version of Seve!! The locals are great down there too – I found a couple of nice Spanish restaurants where I ate all week and feel like I am best friends with the owners now!!
So next is the Algarvian Invitational down in Portugal in January, a 54 hole event on the same tour so I’m looking forward to preparing for and competing in that. A bit of nostalgia as that was the tournament I played in as an amateur two years ago where a chance discussion resulted in me turning pro.
As always I’ll let you know how we go.
Cheers
Calum