I’m writing on my flight back from Paris – what a trip, won a cheque at the event, backed a winner at the Chantilly horse racing today and got lucky with a free extra leg room seat from Easyjet on the flight home……how much better can it get ??
I was across for the Marc Farry Tour event at Golf d’Ableige just north of Paris.
The excitement started on the trip out on Thursday evening when Easyjet sat boarded on the tarmac at Edinburgh for about two hours due to thinking we had an extra hold bag that was unaccounted. With the one hour difference, and despite my calls to SIXT, the car hire office was closed at Charles De Gaulle Airport when I finally got there…
I had a tee time of 12.10 on Friday having never seen the course so it was looking like a night in an airport hotel and straight to the tournament in the morning, until a fellow passenger found a SIXT office open at another terminal. I ran along there and got to them just as they were switching off terminals. After I cemented Scottish / French relations and invoked the Auld Alliance they were great and got me a car there and then. In all this excitement I overlooked my lateness for the hotel, so I pitched up at about 1.15 in the morning to darkness, “oh no” I thought or words to that effect!!
I phoned and could hear the phone ringing though the darkness…..at this point I had options, either sleep in my car that I’d fought so hard to get or be a pain in the ass and wake someone. I chose the latter….after some time banging on the door the night porter arrived half naked, waving his arms in the air and shouting some bad stuff in French….ooh lala! Things were all good between us though in the morning and we got on famously after that …..
And so to the golf, a tough and tricky course with some shots you just had to commit to as there was no room for bailing out, which probably helped my positive mindset which was on shot-making from start to finish over the two rounds. It may also have helped my mental focus that I had never seen the course before so had to work each hole out and plot my way round. The result was some good golf and many holed putts to finish 5 over, a birdie count of 6 and tied 8th with my first cheque of the season. This combined with amazing French hospitality made for a great few days.
So another big lesson in preparation and mindful approach, intensity and confidence being the big difference this time I feel.
Next is the Pollok Open on the Paul Lawrie Tour next week…..looking forward to it already.
All the best
Calum