So the first Disabled Tour event of the year was upon us. The BALASA/EDGA British Championships were to be held over 36 holes at the lovely De Vere Belton Woods Golf Course and Hotel in Lincolnshire.
I arrived to the course on friday morning ready for my practice round and as luck would have it and the fact that we are in british summer time, the weather was attrocious. Gale force wind gusts along with very heavy rain were going to make for a very wet and challenging practice.
the course, to be honest was a bit open, which i didn't like at first. But when the wind started blowing the ball wherever it wanted, i must admit i was quite pleased it was as open as it was.
There wasn't going to be too much quality golf in the weather, but it did give me a chance to have a play on the greens. They were very slow. This was due to our terrible weather at the start of the year rather than lack of greenkeeper effort. They did run pretty much true though and the rest of the course was in great condition.
practice round over i retired to my room, had a nice hot bath and got prepared for the next morning. I would be playing with Kevin Harmisson from Newbiggin Golf Club, a very very handy 2 handicap player who is a below knee amp like myself. Kevin is a great guy and wasmy team mate in the 2011 copa del nacion where we were in the successful england team in winning the title. I was looking forward to our game.
ROUND ONE
Kevin and me were the first group to tee off and as the lowest handicap I had the pleasure of hitting the first ball of the tournament. This i proceeded to hit about 30-40 yards left of my fairway, into a bunker on another hole !! this i promptly topped and after a few more swishes i walked off the first with a solid double bogey. Great start
I then got my act together a bit better and dropped one more shot to the turn, leaving me +3 through 9. Not great but still well in with a shout. I then got on the bogey train and couldnt catch a break. even with a beautiful birdie on 17, i couldnt undo the damage a silly double on 15 and another bunch at the start of the back 9 and after 18, i was not happy but sat on +9, (2ND tied) and i wasn't out of it by a long way.
I could see where i needed to work on the course and was positive i could put a decent number in the next day and challenge for the win.
after day 1:
1st 79 Duncan Hamilton-Martin
2nd= 82 Andy Gardiner / Kevin Harmisson
ROUND TWO
So Here I was on the tee in the final round and i am only 3 off the lead. I know that a good start is imperitive if i want to challenge Duncan and Kevin, and with quality players just behind us, it was going to be a good fight to see who the winner would be.
my only thought before hitting my first tee shot was, smooth and balanced, just a nice simple tee shot on the first to set me up for the day.
I then proceeded to hit the ball another 30 yards left than i had the day before !!! after playing up towards the green and just missing my par putt, i was left with a 12" putt for bogey and then blooming missed that too !!! another double bogey 6 on the first and my second round is hanging by a thread already.
I followed this great start with bogeys on 2,3,4 and after another wayward drive and lost ball on 6 i had to settle for a triple bogey 7 and before i knew what was happenning i had dropped 8 shots in my first 6 holes. My title hopes really did look to be in tatters.
I didnt know how Duncan and Kevin were scoring but i had to assume that players of their quality wouldnt be quite as wild as i was.
Then, somehow, i started playing golf
i started to just go for everything. Going for par 5s in 2 and not really caring if i dropped any more shots, i was going to go for every flag if i could and if i had the chance, i was going to beat the living snot out of the ball with a 3 wood and go for every par 5 green.
i had played a nightmare 24 holes and dropped 17 shots.
I played the next 12 holes -2 !!!
Unfortunately, i was just too far away to climb back for the win but in the end i was only 2 shots away from the title. Next year then !! :-)
I must give massive congratulations to Kevin who won through with a great finishing 77 to win on count back from Duncan.
_full results here
so with a 3rd place, my season has well and truely started. My next event is in 3 weeks and it is my chance to try and defend my Czech Masters Title near Pilsn.
I will be hitting the course and the range and hopefully getting the big stick under control so i can tear it up in Czech.
Till next time blogaroos
monk out xx
I arrived to the course on friday morning ready for my practice round and as luck would have it and the fact that we are in british summer time, the weather was attrocious. Gale force wind gusts along with very heavy rain were going to make for a very wet and challenging practice.
the course, to be honest was a bit open, which i didn't like at first. But when the wind started blowing the ball wherever it wanted, i must admit i was quite pleased it was as open as it was.
There wasn't going to be too much quality golf in the weather, but it did give me a chance to have a play on the greens. They were very slow. This was due to our terrible weather at the start of the year rather than lack of greenkeeper effort. They did run pretty much true though and the rest of the course was in great condition.
practice round over i retired to my room, had a nice hot bath and got prepared for the next morning. I would be playing with Kevin Harmisson from Newbiggin Golf Club, a very very handy 2 handicap player who is a below knee amp like myself. Kevin is a great guy and wasmy team mate in the 2011 copa del nacion where we were in the successful england team in winning the title. I was looking forward to our game.
ROUND ONE
Kevin and me were the first group to tee off and as the lowest handicap I had the pleasure of hitting the first ball of the tournament. This i proceeded to hit about 30-40 yards left of my fairway, into a bunker on another hole !! this i promptly topped and after a few more swishes i walked off the first with a solid double bogey. Great start
I then got my act together a bit better and dropped one more shot to the turn, leaving me +3 through 9. Not great but still well in with a shout. I then got on the bogey train and couldnt catch a break. even with a beautiful birdie on 17, i couldnt undo the damage a silly double on 15 and another bunch at the start of the back 9 and after 18, i was not happy but sat on +9, (2ND tied) and i wasn't out of it by a long way.
I could see where i needed to work on the course and was positive i could put a decent number in the next day and challenge for the win.
after day 1:
1st 79 Duncan Hamilton-Martin
2nd= 82 Andy Gardiner / Kevin Harmisson
ROUND TWO
So Here I was on the tee in the final round and i am only 3 off the lead. I know that a good start is imperitive if i want to challenge Duncan and Kevin, and with quality players just behind us, it was going to be a good fight to see who the winner would be.
my only thought before hitting my first tee shot was, smooth and balanced, just a nice simple tee shot on the first to set me up for the day.
I then proceeded to hit the ball another 30 yards left than i had the day before !!! after playing up towards the green and just missing my par putt, i was left with a 12" putt for bogey and then blooming missed that too !!! another double bogey 6 on the first and my second round is hanging by a thread already.
I followed this great start with bogeys on 2,3,4 and after another wayward drive and lost ball on 6 i had to settle for a triple bogey 7 and before i knew what was happenning i had dropped 8 shots in my first 6 holes. My title hopes really did look to be in tatters.
I didnt know how Duncan and Kevin were scoring but i had to assume that players of their quality wouldnt be quite as wild as i was.
Then, somehow, i started playing golf
i started to just go for everything. Going for par 5s in 2 and not really caring if i dropped any more shots, i was going to go for every flag if i could and if i had the chance, i was going to beat the living snot out of the ball with a 3 wood and go for every par 5 green.
i had played a nightmare 24 holes and dropped 17 shots.
I played the next 12 holes -2 !!!
Unfortunately, i was just too far away to climb back for the win but in the end i was only 2 shots away from the title. Next year then !! :-)
I must give massive congratulations to Kevin who won through with a great finishing 77 to win on count back from Duncan.
_full results here
so with a 3rd place, my season has well and truely started. My next event is in 3 weeks and it is my chance to try and defend my Czech Masters Title near Pilsn.
I will be hitting the course and the range and hopefully getting the big stick under control so i can tear it up in Czech.
Till next time blogaroos
monk out xx