I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. My wife and I had a wonderful time visiting family in Newcastle and from what I’ve been told, the best man speech went very well!
After my relaxing break over the holidays, I had 10 days in Orlando with my coaches, Andrew Nicholson and Andy Paisley, to cap off preparations for my start of the 2016 season, the Desert Swing. It was a productive camp and I flew to Abu Dhabi full of optimism.
It had been two months since my last tournament and unfortunately, I quickly learned that I needed competitive practice to knock the rust off.
No matter how good your game feels in practice, it does not necessarily translate to good tournament play. The golf courses in the Middle East are very demanding and my slightly rusty form just simply was not up to the test.
For me, it is important to get a couple of competitive rounds under my belt to make sure I am firing on all cylinders, even if that means playing in some pro-ams or mini-tour events following an extended break.
Thankfully, the hard work is starting to pay off and my game is coming together again. I am sitting here in Johannesburg at the Tshwane Open currently tied 14th, with two rounds to go to hopefully move myself up the leaderboard. It’s amazing what a bit of playing time and a couple of minor tweaks will do.
Contrary to the previous few weeks, I feel full of confidence and I am looking forward to an exciting weekend.
After this tournament, I have a three-week break. We are heading back to Florida for a few weeks, then I will be flying back to the North East to catch up with my team before heading to my next events in Thailand and India.
From what I hear, the weather back home is horrendous so I am sure many of you haven’t played golf for a while. Learn from my mistake, and make sure you get some competitive practice in before the first monthly medal of the year!
